Actor Bruce Dern turns 90 years old on June 4. He’s celebrating early — with a trip to France for the Cannes Film Festival. The double Oscar nominee will be on the Croisette for the world premiere of Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern, directed by Mike Mendez. It bows Wednesday in the festival’s official Cannes Classics section.
Before Dernsie headed to France, he and Mendez joined Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss the project, which finds Dern in full raconteur mode – and as anyone who knows Dern can tell you, he’s one of Hollywood’s greatest storytellers. On the pod, he tells us about working with John Wayne, Quentin Tarantino, Elia Kazan, Lee Strasberg, Alexander Payne, Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis and more.
Dern and Mendez also explain what a “Dernsie” is and why the term was coined by Jack Nicholson (it has to do with inventions on set that only Bruce Dern can do). Dern also tells us about the one noted British actor who did not respond well to an impromptu “Dernsie.”
The actor, who grew up in a wealthy and prominent family in Chicago, reveals what happened when he told his blue-blooded parents he wanted to be an actor. He also shares poignant feelings about playing a Vietnam veteran in Coming Home – one of the two films that earned him Oscar nominations – even though he didn’t serve in that war. And he’s got a story or two about his daughter, Oscar winner Laura Dern, and his former wife, Diane Ladd.
That’s on the new episode of Doc Talk hosted by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s senior documentary editor. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.
