John Forster "delivers the goods," and a-whole-lot more as he talks to Reelwriter.net about life, acting, and his recipe for staying motivated.

When Robert Forster needs a pep talk he doesn't need to look far. Back when he was a struggling thespian he developed his own bare bones common-sense method of thinking, call it emotional health 101. It got him through those dry times. Today, thanks to a star turn in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, Forster is in high demand.

Still, he makes time to offer his motivational program to others. Forster has dubbed his unique approach "Interacting," and you can read about it on his Web site: http://www.robertforster.com.

Inspiration aside, where you'll mostly find him these days is on a sound stage. When Reelwriter.net caught up with the busy actor he'd recently finished up filming Diamond Men. It's now in theaters. Forster hits the mark in this little gem of a picture that has him playing a down and out traveling, diamond salesman in rural Pennsylvania. He connected with his character, written by first-time director Dan Cohen, the first time that he read the script. Forster had a good character study. His own father was a salesman. "I understood this guy, and I knew that I could deliver the goods," he says.

Was it the script that attracted you to do the film?

That's what attracted everybody. He [Dan Cohen] wrote a really good script. But you've also got to be able say to yourself do I understand this character? If I can understand this character than I can deliver the goods. That's my first hurdle. And that's really my first criteria. I haven't had choices my whole career. So I'm going to do the best I can with it. They want me I'm going to deliver no matter what.

How did you feel about working with a first time director?

When I had my first meeting with Dan he told me it was not a big production, and that it was his first job at direction. You know, those are things that don't necessarily make you feel comfortable. A first time director has got to figure out how to do things on a very short schedule -- and I've worked on pictures where they've run out of money -- but this was not one of those.

And you've got to figure that it's a very steep learning curve for a director. He's got to jump in then and handle all of the questions that a director gets on a minute by minute basis, which he did.

How did you connect with the character of a traveling diamond salesman?

I understood this guy and immediately knew that I could deliver. First of all, my father was a salesman. Not a diamond salesman, but he was a salesman. I went out on the road with him once or twice. He did this job. And I understood him.

I heard that you once worked as a door-to-door vacuum salesman.

Oh, that's when I just got out of college. I sold one. It was awful.

There aren't any clipped, fast-paced camera shots by director Dan Cohen. Instead, he allows the lens to eavesdrop on the conversations of a couple of traveling salesman coming to understand each other out on the road. How was the intimacy developed between the characters?

You're trapped in the car with two guys for an awful lot of this picture. The shots that are available for that kind of shooting are limited. So what. Dialogue is part of behavior. The actor provides behavior and not just a rendering of the words. So, even in a car when you're locked up in a tin can with two guys and its really a tight place with limited kinds of shots, the actors have got to deliver enough behavior for you to understand that.

How do you approach a role, whether it's playing a diamond salesman or a lawyer?

What you do is you try to bring whatever understanding you have to a role that someone has put on your lap. You need to understand the character's life that the writer has given you to express. Basically, the actor's job is to deliver a great shot to the director, because that's what your out there doing. You've got to get a certain amount of shots a day. That's what movie making is.

Since your success in Jackie Brown what kind of choices are you now getting?

Well a whole lot more choices, still I don't get every choice. They don't send me the stuff they send other guys. But, I have enjoyed some really nice stuff in the last couple of years, including Diamond Men.

And Lakeboat, a picture I did with Joe Mantegna. It's a David Mamet script, his first script. It's playing around in festivals. And it's the first directing job by Joe Mantegna. It's got a really good cast and an interesting story. It was written as a play and translated into a movie.

How did you handle those years when work wasn't as steady, in those pre Jackie Brown days?

It's no mystery why it's so hard to find work. There aren't that many jobs and there are an awful lot of actors. I'm going to spread my arms way out wide -- and that's how many actors are out there. Now my fingers are really tight together, and that's how many jobs are out there. During the years in which my career was not hot or warm even I had to satisfy myself with whatever was offered.

That's a good attitude.

Whatever life offers you, whatever is facing you, whatever you have to work with your job is to do the best you can with it. End of story. You do less, you don't stand a shot of getting the really good stuff they keep telling you about like self respect, and respect from others. Satisfaction, this is the real McCoy. So, whatever you've got to work with your obligation with yourself is to deliver the goods.

Sounds like some of the ideas that you express in your motivational work. How did that all come about?

I created Interacting during the years I wasn't working very much. I needed to create something to do that would give me the chance to express myself. I created a speaking program that is like a stand-up act but with positive stories instead of jokes. I've spoken with a lot of groups. The purpose of the program is to motivate. Hey life goes around once and if you don't do it you're really wasting your time. It will never come back.

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