Ed Burns: A New York love story
"The Brothers McMullen" marked Ed Burns debut as a filmmaker back in 1995. It was a career-changing moment -- just like in the movies. He talks this morning with Tracy Smith:
You may know Ed Burns as an actor, in films like "Saving Private Ryan," or an independent filmmaker, or the guy lucky enough to marry supermodel Christy Turlington. What you may not know is how much he loves New York City,
And "love" is probably not a strong enough word.
"It's funny," said Smith, "your eyes light up when you talk about old New York, almost like a romantic thing."
"My first apartment, I lived in the West Village on Bank Street, and I had no money," said Burns. "So the only thing that I would do to entertain myself was walk around the city. And I probably covered every block of the city for those first five years that I lived here."
It's where he's shot nearly all of his films, and where he's shooting his latest project, "Public Morals" -- a cops-and-gangsters TV series in which Burns stars, as well as writes and directs.
"The best co-star any actor could have is a street corner in New York City," he said, before being interrupted by a siren. "That's the only problem with shooting here, right?"
The show, which premieres on TNT next week, is set in 1960s New York, an era Burns wandered the streets to find.
"I would drop my kids off from school, take my phone, and then just pick a different neighborhood to walk around and just take pictures of the buildings that remained untouched," he said. "And much to our surprise, there's still a lot of old New York left."
It's a show that's literally decades in the making, inspired by stories Burns heard as a kid.
"My father's a cop. My uncle was a cop. A lot my cousins became cops. Every wedding and funeral we went to were cop events.
"I remember some guy telling about that great arrest they made. I was always fascinated by those stories."
Forty-seven-year-old Edward Burns grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in Valley Stream, Long Island. He hasn't been back inside his childhood home since his parents sold it 15 years ago.
"Wow. It smells the same," he said.
"It smells the same? What's it feel like to be walking back in here?
"It is surreal. It really is. Wow!"
Burns and his brother shared an attic bedroom. It was where, as a teenager, his parents encouraged him to start writing.
"My desk was over there. I had all my film books over there. And I would sit there working on that first screenplay, determined to somehow get into the business."
That determination led Burns to film school in New York, then a grunt job at "Entertainment Tonight." On the side he used "ET" crewmembers, equipment and supplies to help him bring to life a little script he'd written, called "The Brothers McMullen," a story about three brothers living in their boyhood home trying to figure out love.
"['I'd] be like, 'Hey, guys, you know, we got four hours free in the afternoon. Would anyone wanna go to Central Park and shoot a scene for my little movie?' And they were like, 'All right. As long as we're back by 6:00. Let's go knock off a scene.' That's how we shot 'Brothers McMullen.'"
Burns borrowed $25,000 from friends and family and shot the movie where he could do it for free: the streets of New York, and in the house where he grew up (including his old attic bedroom).
"Both of my parents were just, 'Okay, you wanna shoot in our house? Shoot in our house. Anything you need, we will support you.'"
But the real feat may have come after "The Brothers McMullen" was made. Burns had already been rejected by nearly every film festival, including Sundance, when by chance "Entertainment Tonight" landed an interview with the festival's founder, Robert Redford. Burns, knowing he could get fired, handed Redford a rough copy of his film as he got into the elevator.
"I'd rehearsed my 30-second schpiel during the course of the whole 45-minute interview with him," Burns said. " I say, 'Mr. Redford?' 'Mr. Burns?' 'Bum bum bum,' he doesn't really say anything, 'Okay. Thank you.' And he hands it to his publicist. They get in the elevator, doors close. And that's it. Until, four months later, we get a phone call from the festival that 'McMullen' has been accepted."
Now suddenly, "ET" was covering HIM, following him as he went to the 1995 festival -- and won.
"On a Tuesday, I'm making $18,000 a year getting coffee and driving a van for 'ET.' The following Tuesday I've sold my movie, it's won the Grand Jury Prize, and I know I'm flying out to L.A. to basically start talking about my next film, which will have a real budget. And that's how quickly it happened. It was like one of those American dream stories."
He made a name for himself with his own films, and his parts in movies with slightly bigger names."
"'Private Ryan' was terrifying," he told Smith. "I hear Steven Spielberg say 'Action' for the first time. I turn to Captain Miller. And it's not Captain Miller. It's Tom Hanks! And I try to speak, and my voice cracks. And my hands are shaking. And I'm terrified. And I hear, 'Cut!'"
That scene never made it into the film, but Burns made a good impression on its director. Spielberg isn't just a mentor to Burns, he's the executive producer of his new show.
And Burns impressed a certain supermodel as well.
"I took him to spend a day with my nieces and my nephew," said Turlington. "And the fact that he was willing to do that and spend a long day with these little kids that weren't his own or his own nephews!"
"That was a good day," said Burns.
"That was a really good day," she laughed. "And I remember [being] like, 'Oh, I can see that potential of a father in this man.'"
They married in 2003 and have two kids. Still, Burns' career wasn't always worthy of envy. After a number of box office disappointments (including "Life or Something Like It" and "15 Minutes"), the filmmaker felt the sting of Hollywood rejection.
"I would walk into a room and they didn't even want to talk to me. They really had no interest. I was in director's jail. And you could feel it."
"What did that feel like?"
"You knew 'I'm never getting this movie made. Nobody believes in me anymore.' Whatever the promise of 'Brothers McMullen,' and the fact that, 'Oh, this guy might be able to go make a certain type of film,' that was done."
So Burns returned to his low-budget beginnings, shooting films like 2011's "Newlyweds" for as little as $9,000. He skipped theaters, finding success by releasing them on demand and on iTunes instead. His stint in "director's jail" was over.
Now with the new TV show, which Burns considers just one big epic movie, the budget is higher -- and so are the stakes. But with New York as his backdrop, and plenty more stories to tell, Ed Burns is at home again.
For more info:
- "Public Morals" (TNT)
- "Independent Ed: Inside a Career of Big Dreams, Little Movies, and the Twelve Best Days of My Life" by Edward Burns (Gotham); Also available in Trade Paperback and eBook