Role Recall: Bruce Dern on Killing John Wayne, Special Gifts From Tarantino, and More

Famed director Elia Kazan used to say that no one was going to know who Bruce Dern was until he was in his 60s. Kazan — who instructed Dern at the Actor’s Studio and directed him in his film debut, Wild River (1960) — was wrong. But he was onto something.

Dern became very well-known in his 30s and 40s thanks to roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie and Sydney Pollack’s They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, and a sterling reputation as one of Hollywood’s go-to rogues — a rep highlighted by the fact that he became the first actor to kill the previously impenetrable Western hero John Wayne in 1972’s The Cowboys.

The 79-year-old actor from Winnetka, Ill., though, has enjoyed quite a resurgence in recent years, with an Oscar-nominated performance in Alexander Payne’s indie drama Nebraska (2013) bookended by two Westerns from Quentin Tarantino, 2012’s Django Unchained and 2015’s The Hateful Eight. In the latter (which hits DVD and Blu-ray this week), Dern is at his dastardly best as a retired Confederate general about to receive some muthaf–kin’ comeuppance via Samuel L. Jackson’s vengeance-seeking bounty hunter. Dern walked us through some of the best moments from his career in our latest installment of Role Recall (watch above).

The Cowboys (1972)
Dern recalled the fateful day they shot John Wayne’s big death scene — and how the filmmakers conspired to make the killing feel authentic. Director Mark Rydell, who clued Dern in on his plan, put an extra explosive squib in the back of The Duke’s coat without telling the star so that they would get a stronger reaction from him once he was sprayed with bullets.

The Great Gatsby (1974)
The actor played a well-known literary antagonist, Tom Buchanan, in the first major screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s summer-reading classic. The trick to landing the role, opposite Robert Redford (Jay Gatsby) and Mia Farrow (Daisy Buchanan): A little bit of water in his hair.

Related: Role Recall: Robert Redford on ‘Butch Cassidy’ Part-Swapping, Upsetting 'Natural’ Fans, and More

Coming Home (1978)
Dern earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as a Marine who comes home from Vietnam to find his wife (Jane Fonda) in love with a paralyzed vet (Jon Voight). After Al Pacino quit the troubled film, costar Voight took his role as the paraplegic, allowing Dern to come onboard as the Marine. Then after one day of filming, director John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) left the project, and he was replaced by Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude) within days.

Monster (2003)
Dern has nothing but love for his Oscar-winning costar Charlize Theron after the startling transformation she went through to play serial killer Aileen Wuornos. “She was so willing to go there,” said the actor, who played a barfly vet befriended by Wuornos. “I just admire the courage of her on the set. She set a bar for actresses in this town when she did that movie.”

Django Unchained (2012)
Though Dern only had a tiny role in Quentin Tarantino’s slave-vengeance thriller, the filmmaker made him feel extra welcome by coming to his dressing room with a gift: a giant Zanti toy from Dern’s appearance on the classic 1960s TV show The Outer Limits. “It was 1963, the kid didn’t even have hair yet!” Dern remarked. (In fact it was the year Tarantino was born, though we’re not sure with how much hair.)

Nebraska (2013)
Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways) had to campaign as hard for Dern as he did for the comedic drama — about a senile Montana father and son (Will Forte) who road trip to the titular state — to be shot in black-and-white. “Only Alexander wanted me, nobody else wanted me,” said Dern, who rewarded the director with an Oscar-nominated performance.

The Hateful Eight (2015)
Dern was the only actor Tarantino allowed to improv (or drop “Dernsies,” as he calls his ad-libs). But that wasn’t the only thing Q.T. did for the screen vet. “He did the most marvelous thing anybody ever did for my career,” Dern said. “He sent me a note and he said, 'You did something for me I never expected in the role. So I’ve done something for you. When you’re killed, that’s the intermission. I want them to go out for 12 minutes and think about what they just saw.’”