In the mid-1970s, Hamill met Woody Allen at the famous New York
eatery Elaine's. The two struck up a friendship and working relationship,
begun on Annie Hall, that has spanned nearly 25 years and 22 pictures,
including Alice, Bullets Over Broadway, Broadway Danny Rose, Crimes and
Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Mighty
Aphrodite, New York Stories, and
The Purple Rose of Cairo.
When not working with
Allen, Hamill worked with
other great directors, including
Martin Scorsese on Raging Bull
("I loved working on Raging
Bull because I'm a big boxing
fan. Getting to work with
[Robert] De Niro was great.");
Sydney Pollack on Sabrina and
Tootsie ("Every day was a new
adventure with Dustin
[Hoffman] dressed as a woman. We'd go around and try to see if we
could fool people. I'd take him to restaurants or into a friend's office and
he'd pretend to be Dorothy Michaels, a soap opera actress."); Penny
Marshall on Big; and Nora Ephron on You've Got Mail. "You've Got Mail
was great, because it was the second time I worked with Tom Hanks. I
did Big with him. Hanks is such a wonderful guy. It was nice to see that
he is still the same guy, years later, after he became this big, huge star."
Hamill first worked with Barry Levinson on The Natural. Ten years
later they reunited on Jimmy Hollywood, and have since worked on
Disclosure, Sleepers, Donnie Brasco, Sphere, Liberty Heights, An Everlasting
Piece, and Bandits. "The Barry Levinson movies were great to work on,
because he's such a gifted director. He and Woody have been my North
Stars in the business."
For Hamill's success, he still considers that "[the] best work is yet
to come."
....
"Always work at
the top of your talent.
Never settle for less.
The best picture is
always yet to be taken.
You do a good job and say, `I'm going to
do a better job on my next movie.' Always,
always feel in your head that the best work
is yet to come."--Brian Hamill
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