Burt Reynolds made an appearance at SXSW to promote the documentary The Bandit and share some memories about his career. The Hollywood Reporter covers the actor’s appearance, highlighted by his stories about his best friend and legendary stuntman, Hal Needham. There were not harsh words shared by Reynolds about Needham, but there seemed to be plenty of regrets about another famous moment in his life:
https://twitter.com/osmarinamo/status/704029738457673728
That’s right, Burt Reynolds is not a fan of his nude centerfold from Cosmopolitan magazine. He’s admitted his disdain for the photo before, claiming he can’t look at it and that it hurt Deliverance’s chances at the Oscars. Now it’s come up again at SXSW and he’s added some fun details to the events leading up to the photo:
“It was really stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking,” he continued of his scantily clad photo shoot, in which he lay atop a bearskin rug with a cigarette pressed between his smirked lips. “Probably, knowing me, it was like, ‘you won’t do that, you chicken,’ or something and I went, ‘well, that’s all I had to hear,’ of course. I said, ‘yeah, I will.'”
“As long as it was only a certain amount of pubic hair showing, then I was all for it,” the 80-year-old actor said of his younger self who opted to pose in the naked shot. “The only rules I had was I wanted a lot drinks before because I was a little bit, well I have to be truthful, I was totally zonkered when we did the picture. And that stupid smile, that’s what it is,” he said before reenacting the grin.
Totally zonkered sounds about right. That’s what Nick Nolte calls “Thursday,” but Reynolds probably didn’t go too hard at grandad’s cough medicine. If he did, he might’ve gotten the photo plastered around like this:
Hmmmmmmmm wonder if I can get this wrap on a #Jeep. #BurtReynolds @THEJeepMafia pic.twitter.com/sXELDMc8xE
— Erin (@ErinsDemonJeep) March 1, 2016
Who wouldn’t want a van with that on the side, blitzing down the highway on the way to the local tractor pull? I’m upset that wasn’t included in Reynold’s auction from a few years back.
Even if Reynolds doesn’t enjoy his photo, you know your grandmother probably did. She likely has it mounted on a nice piece lacquered cedar, hanging above a mantle in her bedroom. He might be 80 now, but he’s forever trapped in time in your grandmother’s memories.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
