Tracy Letts

Uh, and, uh, and it's just like Michael Winter didn't get the memo that something interesting was happening in Hollywood at the time, because in a lot of ways it feels like a movie from 1958.

You go to see a movie and you see THX up on the screen.

I don't guess you see that anymore, but you used to for a while, see THX on the screen.

Robert Duvall was THX.

He literally was.

And he had met George Lucas because George Lucas was making a documentary about the making of The Rain People.

Of course.

So again, if Rip Torn doesn't show up, it was Duvall's introduction to Coppola and Lucas.

Is this Robert Duvall's only science fiction film?

I mean, this is kind of hardcore sci-fi.

I did rewatch it for this, yeah.

Well, it's his first lead.

Yeah.

The first leading role he's played on film.

And yeah, it's... I mean, I just admire...

It's experimental nature.

It's an experimental movie, right?

He had made it originally.

Lucas had made it as his thesis project when he was at USC.

And so then somebody gave him some money to turn it into a feature.