Remembering Diane Keaton’s Best Performances

Summary

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All Of It – Remembering Diane Keaton’s Best Performances

Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Maddie Whittle, Programmer at Film at Lincoln Center
Date: February 9, 2026

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Overview

This episode of "All Of It" pays tribute to the legendary actress Diane Keaton, who passed away in October 2025. The discussion centers around her remarkable range, iconic roles, and the upcoming retrospective "Looking for Ms. Keaton" at Film at Lincoln Center. Host Alison Stewart and guest Maddie Whittle guide listeners through Keaton’s career, exploring both her on-screen versatility and her cultural impact. Listeners call in with personal anecdotes and favorite performances, highlighting the affection and respect Keaton inspired across generations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Diane Keaton's Legacy and the Lincoln Center Retrospective

[01:17–03:00, 07:57–10:46]

• Keaton’s career spanned five decades, beginning in New York theater, continuing through film, and garnering her major awards (Oscar, Emmy, Tony nomination).
• The Film at Lincoln Center retrospective “Looking for Ms. Keaton” (Feb 13–19) will screen her works from "The Godfather" and "Annie Hall" to later performances.
• Maddie Whittle highlights Keaton's ability to be “the moral center” of the Godfather films—her presence “forms the moral center of those films… even as a young person, it was legible.” (Maddie Whittle, 03:05)

Keaton's Range: Comedy, Drama, Vulnerability, and Strength

[03:00–05:07, 17:43–20:46]

• Keaton’s performances were consistently “imbued with complexity,” whether as the introspective Kay Corleone or the effervescent Annie Hall.
• Whittle observes that “it’s hard to even articulate technically what she’s doing… so organic and so lived in… so specific and fully inhabited.” (Maddie Whittle, 03:52)
• The remarkable fact that "Annie Hall" and "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" came out in the same year (1977) is cited as evidence of her ability to excel simultaneously in radically different genres.

Audience Memories and Personal Encounters

[05:07–08:18, 11:23–12:51]

• Listeners call in with touching stories, such as Martin from the Bronx, who encountered Keaton twice and was struck by her kindness and willingness to be photographed.
  • “She was so kind... Not at all [did she mind the photo], she stopped for a couple of minutes... How kind is that?” (Martin, 05:21)
• Peter from Manhattan reflects on Keaton’s “sense of the moment and of being alive... over a 50 year career” and Meryl Streep’s tribute: “you’ve given us so much pleasure.” (Peter, 06:28)
• Stephanie from Connecticut recommends Keaton’s narration of Joan Didion’s "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," particularly the essay “On Self Respect.” (Stephanie, 11:23)
• Scott from Huntington praises Keaton’s “brilliant comedic” timing, specifically mentioning "Love and Death":
  • “Can we stop talking about sex? It just cracks me up. And I will always smile when I think of Diane Keaton…” (Scott, 11:59)

Thematic Cohesion Across a Career

[08:18–10:46]

• Whittle identifies Keaton’s unique form of authorship, noting how “through it all Diane Keaton told a coherent story... thinking through the condition of womanhood in this second and third wave feminist moment.”
• Even historical roles (e.g., "Reds," "Mrs. Soffel") are seen as commentaries on contemporary womanhood.

Deep Dive: Notable Performances

“Looking for Mr. Goodbar” (1977)

[13:44–17:43]

• Whittle describes the role as one of Keaton’s most layered, calling her character “in many ways kind of an enigma, kind of a contradictory set of qualities. And yet she coheres through Keaton’s performance.” (Maddie Whittle, 15:44)
• The film’s darkness and complexity are noted as pushing boundaries for depictions of women’s sexual autonomy.
• Clip features a heated, assertive moment:
  • “I am my own girl. I belong to me. Now get out of here.” (Diane Keaton as Theresa, 17:11)

“Shoot the Moon” (1981)

[20:46–24:03]

• Whittle calls Keaton’s role “incredibly subtle and vivid.”
  • “What really grabbed me… is just this sort of brutal honesty… you get to go along with her character on the highs and lows of being liberated from a bad marriage, but also having love for her husband and concern for her children…” (Maddie Whittle, 21:07)
• The performance is praised for its emotional breadth—liberation, grief, anger, and resilience.
• Clip: An emotionally charged argument with Albert Finney highlights the authentic, lived-in dynamics of Keaton’s characters.

“Crimes of the Heart” (1986)

[24:29–26:33]

• Keaton plays one of three sisters, alongside Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek, in a film adaptation of Beth Henley’s play.
• Whittle credits Keaton’s theater background for the “immediacy” and live-wire unpredictability in her acting.
  • “There’s a quality to her screen acting that sort of approximates this feeling of watching someone in the room with you…” (Maddie Whittle, 24:55)
• The chemistry with her co-stars is described as “electricity... that I can only describe as theatrical.”

“Something’s Gotta Give” (2003)

[26:33–29:36]

• Keaton becomes an emblem for women entering a new life stage:
  • “She’s gorgeous in that film, too... a poster child for a generation of women entering a new stage of life, still having desires, having dreams, having a life force...” (Maddie Whittle, 27:02)
• The white turtleneck sweater scene with Jack Nicholson is described as “the visual impact” of the film’s zeitgeist status.
• Clip: Keaton and Nicholson’s banter exemplifies her blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity:
  • “I’ve never been the dumb girl before. It ain’t so great.” (Keaton as Erica, 29:10)
  • “Truth doesn’t have versions.” (Keaton, 29:34)

Keaton’s Enduring Influence

[29:36–30:18]

• Maddie Whittle names “Shoot the Moon” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” as her favorite performances, noting the ongoing “magic” Keaton brought to her roles.
• Alison Stewart and Whittle reflect on Keaton's lasting resonance with audiences:
  • “She comes across as a woman—A woman I know.” (Maddie Whittle, about “Shoot the Moon,” 23:35)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Maddie Whittle on Keaton’s Godfather role:
  “Her performances are imbued with this complexity, even on a small scale… She really forms the moral center of those films.” (03:05)
• Martin, caller:
  “She didn’t care. She was so kind… How kind is that?” (05:21)
• Peter, caller, quoting Meryl Streep:
  “You’ve given us so much pleasure. And I think that is the highest compliment you can pay to any public figure, especially an actress with her extreme artistry.” (06:41)
• Stephanie, caller:
  “She actually narrated Joan Didion’s book… Particularly special, especially my favorite, the essay on self-respect.” (11:23)
• Maddie Whittle on Keaton’s method:
  “There’s a quality to her screen acting that sort of approximates this feeling of watching someone in the room with you… could read the same line a hundred times and would always… find something new in that line.” (24:55)
• On “Something’s Gotta Give”:
  “She’s absolutely gorgeous… She really… was a poster child for a generation of women entering a new stage of life…” (27:02)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Keaton’s Early Career & Retrospective Intro: [01:17–03:00]
• Complexity of Keaton’s Performances: [03:00–05:07]
• Caller Stories – Community Reflections: [05:07–08:18]
• Actor as Author—Keaton’s Cohesive Career Narrative: [08:18–10:46]
• “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” Insight & Clip: [13:44–17:43]
• Comedy vs. Drama—Range in 1977: [17:43–20:46]
• “Shoot the Moon” Analysis & Clip: [20:46–24:03]
• Theatrical Roots & “Crimes of the Heart”: [24:29–26:33]
• “Something’s Gotta Give” and Later Work: [26:33–29:36]
• Wrap-Up—Favorite Performances: [29:36–30:18]

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Conclusion

This episode stands as an affectionate, multidimensional look back at the artistry and humanity of Diane Keaton, amplified by personal stories, sharp analysis, and a celebration of her indelible style and range. The impact of her work on screen and off, and the ways she modeled vulnerability, strength, complexity, and wit, made her not just a performer—but a cultural touchstone for generations.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. We want to remind you about our.

[Host/Producer]

Get Lit Book Club pick for this month. We are reading the Wilderness by Angela Flournoy. The the story follows a group of women and their friendship through times good and bad in New York City and la. It's about chosen family, social justice and navigating the challenging wilderness of adulthood. Angela Flournoy will join us at the New York Public Library for a Get lit event on Monday, February 23rd. Tickets are free, but seats are first come, first serve. We're also going to be joined by a special musical guest handpicked by Angela Flournoy, jazz musician and 2026 Grammy nominee Emmanuel Wilkins. Join us at the Stavros Niarchos foundation library on February 23rd. For our events, head to wnyc.org getlit to get your tickets and to find how you can borrow your copy of.

[Alison Stewart]

The book from the New York Public Library.

[Host/Producer]

That's in the future. Now let's get this hour started with Diane Keaton.

[Alison Stewart]

There are many ways to remember the actor Diane Keaton. Her talent, her charm, her style, her La Deon was widely praised as an actor when she passed away in October 2025 at the age of 79. She was an Oscar winner and Emmy winner who got her start on St in New York City. She even earned a Tony nomination before making her film debut. Starting this Friday and running through February 19, film at Lincoln center will celebrate Keaton's career with the series Looking for Ms. Keaton, featuring the Godfather films, Annie hall and much more of her performances. Film at Lincoln center programmer Maddie Whittle is with me in studio to preview the series. Hi Maddie.

[Ira Flatow]

Hi.

[Alison Stewart]

It's great to be here, listeners. We want to hear from you. Call and tell us about your favorite Diane Keaton performance on screen or maybe you even saw her on early in her career. Our phone lines are open. 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC do you remember the first time you saw Diane Keaton?

[Maddie Whittle]

You know, I can't be entirely sure whether I first encountered her in the Godfather films, which I saw at a fairly young age, or in Something's Gotta Give the Nancy Myers rom com, which I also saw at a fairly young age. And I can't for the life of me recall which came first. And I think that is kind of apt in that those two roles were real bookends for her careers. And so from the beginning I have had a sense of her as A great actress whose work spanned decades and had something to say about womanhood across those decades.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah. When did you realize that there was something special about Diane Keaton?

[Maddie Whittle]

I think, you know, I mean, even from the earliest days of watching the Godfather with my family, and those are films that I've seen many times. And I think by the second or third time I watched the Godfathers part one and two, I registered that this actress whose role in the films as Kay Corleone, the wife of Michael Corleone, is not voluminous with regard to scene minutes, lines of dialogue, but she really forms the moral center of those films, I think, in a way that is. That was legible to me even as a young person. And I think a few years later when I encountered her in Annie hall and she was really given space to be the center of attention in that film, and. And I realized, oh, the reason that she is such a powerful presence as K. Corleone is that her performances are imbued with this complexity, even on a small scale. And when you see her in Annie hall and she really just steals every frame that she appears in with this presence that she has, this sense of humor, this vitality, this sort of specificity and idiosyncratic personality that she really just, you know, there's. It's hard to even articulate technically what she's doing that's working because it's so organic and so lived in. And so every performance she gave was so specific and fully inhabited. And I. You know, working on this program and looking at all these performances alongside each other, I think really heightens one's appreciation for just how expansive her range was.

[Host/Producer]

Let's take some calls. Martin is calling in from the Bronx. Hi, Martin. Thanks for taking the time to call, all of it.

[Martin (Caller from the Bronx)]

Sure, Allison. I listen every day. I've spoken to you before. You're so nice, and the program is great. I just wanted to mention how kind a person she was, or at least to me. About 25 years ago, I was walking around Central park with a camera, and I spotted her, and I asked if she would mind me taking her photograph. And she said, no, not at all. And she stopped and waited for me to adjust my camera, take a couple of pictures. She didn't care. She was so kind. And then, coincidentally, I bump into her 10 years ago, or 12, whatever, when the new Whitney Museum opened up. We were there opening day, I think it was. I spotted her and I reminded her of our encounter. And I said, do you mind if I take your picture again now? You know, 15 years later or 10 years later? Not at all. And she stopped for again for a couple of minutes to let me photograph her. How kind is that?

[Host/Producer]

That is unbelievably kind. Thank you so much for calling. I like sharing people sharing those kind of stories.

[Maddie Whittle]

That's incredible.

[Host/Producer]

Let's talk to Peter in Manhattan. Hi Peter. Thank you so much for making the time to call all of it.

[Peter (Caller from Manhattan)]

Oh, certainly. Well, you know, her death has struck such an amazing chord in so many people. But this morning, when Brian Larry on his show referred to as the late dying Keaton, that's the sort of thing that stops you in your trap because she embodied such a sense of the moment and of being alive and that over a 50 year career inhabited that. And that is the thing that struck you. I think online people have been delving into her YouTube clips and seeing her on talk shows and just knowing that she existed during a very specific period of time, but then transcended that time is extraordinarily important. And on the AFI tribute, Meryl Streep referred to the fact that you've given us so much pleasure. And I think that is the highest compliment you can pay to any public figure, especially an actress with her extreme artistry. I mean, to be able to do baby boom and then do shoot the moon is arranged that you cannot pinpoint and you cannot catch on to it. And you cannot understand, as Maddie just mentioned, what her technique was because she was able to have that personality, but then delve into a character and have that fine line exist continuously. And that's not going to be forgotten.

[Alison Stewart]

Thank you so much for calling in. Yeah, Maddy, you know, the New York Times obituary describes Diane Keaton as, quote, vibrant, sometimes unconventional, always charmingly self deprecating. As we just heard from those two callers. What perspective did you gain by looking at these films for this series?

[Maddie Whittle]

You know, I think we, those of us who work in film who program retrospectives like this often focus on directors and screenwriters as authors, auteurs of the films that they're making. And I think one of the gifts of working on an actor retrospective is that you see a different kind of authorship emerge. You see somebody who worked with a vast range of directors over the course of her five plus decade career, all of whom had something to say, all of whom had a particular sensibility. She collaborated, of course with Woody Allen eight times. She was in the three Godfather films with Francis Ford Coppola. She had recurring collaborations with Nancy Myers over the years, both as a screenwriter and a director. And through it All Diane Keaton told a story. She told a coherent story with the roles that she chose and the way in which she inhabited them, the life that she breathed into these women who she was playing on screen. And I think the story that she's telling is one that you might not you might only get a glimpse of it in any individual film. But if you look across her body of work from the 70s, 80s, 90s aughts, she was really, I think, thinking through the condition of womanhood in this second and third wave feminist moment that she was working in and actively wrestling with what it meant during those periods to be a woman moving through the world in American culture, even in period roles like reds or Mrs. Safl, both of which included in the retrospective, which of course, don't take place in the moment in which they were made. But I think she really brought a sense of urgency to those roles and a sense of the now and of the state of women in the 70s and 80s. Looking back on the state of women in these earlier periods and looking at all of her films in conversation, you really do get a sense of how she perceived her own status as a woman in, you know, during this moment of social change and cultural change.

[Host/Producer]

We're talking about a retrospective of the late Diane Keaton's work that's being produced by at Lincoln Center. The series is called Looking for Ms. Keaton. It runs from February 13th through February 19th. I'm speaking with programmer Maggie Whittle. We'd like your take on this. Please tell us your favorite Diane Keaton performance on screen or maybe you ever saw her on stage earlier in career or maybe you had an encounter like our guest Martin did. Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. Let's talk to Stephanie from Fairfield, Connecticut. Hi, Stephanie, you're on the air.

[Stephanie (Caller from Fairfield, Connecticut)]

Hi, Allison. Can you hear me?

[Host/Producer]

Sure, I hear you.

[Stephanie (Caller from Fairfield, Connecticut)]

Great, great, terrific. Thanks so much. Great story. And so I think a lot of people don't really know this, so I'm always sharing it with friends. But she actually narrated Joan Didion's book or book of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem on audiobook. And it's particularly special, especially my favorite, the essay on self respect. So highly recommend it. Those are my two cents.

[Alison Stewart]

Thank you.

[Host/Producer]

I'll take both of them. Let's talk to Scott from Huntington. Hi, Scott, thanks for calling, all of it.

[Scott (Caller from Huntington)]

Oh, thanks for having me. Good to be here. I just wanted to just briefly acknowledge how funny she she was. Diane Keaton she's such a brilliant comedic actress. I'm partial to Woody Allen movies, and she just brightens all of. All of them, no matter what she's doing, whether she's in Annie hall or Manhattan. But also the sillier movies from the earlier 70s sleeper, and in particular, Love and Death. I just lose it every time. They're having their pseudo philosophical discussion and she just says, can we stop talking about sex? It just cracks me up. And I will always smile when I think of Diane Keaton and her gift of herself to the world of cinema.

[Host/Producer]

Thanks for calling in. We're talking about a retrospective of the late Diane Keaton's work that's being produced by At Lincoln Center. It's called Looking for Ms. Keaton. It's running from February 13th through February 19th. I'm speaking with programmer Matty Whittle. After the break, should we get into the movies?

[Maddie Whittle]

Sounds good.

[Host/Producer]

That's app. Coming up next.

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. We're talking about a retrospective of the late Diane Keaton's work that's being produced by Film at Lincoln Center. The series is called Looking for Ms. Keaton. It runs from February 13th through February 19th. I'm speaking with programmer Matty Whittle. All right. We said we were gonna get into some films. We're gonna talk about looking for Mr. Goodbar. We got a text about that, remind people what this movie's about.

[Maddie Whittle]

So Looking for Mr. Goodbar, directed by Richard Brooks from 1977, was adapted from a novel which was itself kind of a fictionalized telling of a true crime incident about a schoolteacher, a New York school teacher, who was murdered. And the film, as with the book, traces this woman's sort of process of self, discovery of self, sort of striving to find connection in a world in which, you know, she had sort of a by day, very conventional life as a schoolteacher teaching deaf children, coming from a Catholic family. And by night, she was in the habit of perusing singles bars in the city and connecting with men there that she would, you know, have trysts with. And the film follows Theresa Keaton's character through a sequence of encounters that she happens upon in this world. And I don't want to spoil the ending, but it's quite dark. Ultimately, the sort of message of the film, to the extent that it has a message, it is really very pessimistic, I would say, about sort of what kind of liberation the women's lib movement actually offered with regard to women's sexuality, women's sexual autonomy, pursuit of pleasure, pursuit of articulating their own desires, and Keaton's performance. I think this is perhaps my favorite Keaton performance because it's incredibly layered. And the character of Teresa is in many ways kind of an enigma, kind of a contradictory set of qualities. And yet she coheres through Keaton's performance. She really vividly comes out of the screen as a woman that you can imagine Even, you know, 50 years later, navigating sort of similar or analogous quandaries and conundrums about being an independent woman moving through the world.

[Host/Producer]

I went back and looked at a review you from 1977, which can be treacherous.

[Alison Stewart]

But Roger Ebert said that looking for.

[Host/Producer]

Mr. Goodbar is very much worth seeing, particularly for the Diane Keaton performance. Let's listen to a clip from Mrs. Looking for Mr. Goodbar. This is featuring Diane Keaton and Richard Gere.

[Maddie Whittle]

That's right. So I need a pad till I can get something going.

[Host/Producer]

Not here.

[Peter (Caller from Manhattan)]

What, four or five days?

[Actor 1 in clips]

Even you've got a mother.

[Host/Producer]

She said no.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Go set the world on fire.

[Alison Stewart]

What a couple lousy dollars.

[Maddie Whittle]

Come on.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Find a smaller world.

[Maddie Whittle]

Hey, hey, hey, relax. Come on, it's Tony boy talking. Remember, you're still my girl. Mine, mine. Right here.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Get this into one of your two heads. The only one that can think. I am my own girl. I belong to me. Now get out of here.

[Alison Stewart]

Leave.

[Host/Producer]

Go. Believe it.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Believe it.

[Maddie Whittle]

He's throwing me out.

[Martin (Caller from the Bronx)]

Yes.

[Host/Producer]

We've gotten a couple different texts that basically say the same thing, so I'm gonna read one of them. It says you can sum up Diane Keaton's range by noting Annie hall and looking for Mr. Goodbar came out the same year. What do we see Keaton doing differently in each of those films?

[Maddie Whittle]

You know, sort of simplistically. You could start with the fact that one is a comedy and one is very much a drama, and specifically one is a Woody Allen comedy, which is in a very different register than, say, the Nancy Myers comedies that she would do later in her career. And I think if you look at her two 1977 performances together, you really see an artist sort of wrestling with the possibilities of comedy and drama and the ways in which you can sort of arrive at insight into a particular woman's circumstances and her experience of them via comedy, in the case of Annie hall, or via this very sort of ripped from the headlines dark, sordid, dramatic context of looking for Mr. Goodbar. And she really was at home in both registers. And I think part of what makes both performances brilliant is that she in a comedic role, she was not afraid to be vulnerable and not only in sort of a comically self deprecating way, but also in sort of the inherent awkwardness of being aware of one's own flaws and maybe the sort of self perpetuating obstacles that that creates when you're, when you're sort of in your head and perhaps off kilter with your surroundings in some way. And similarly, in looking for Mr. Goodbar, I think she could be vulnerable while also not being. Not inhabiting the position of a victim or of a sort of passive participant in events happening to. Both films, I think, are very much about women who wanted to define their own fates and took measures to do so. And you know, whether it's in the Woody Allen sort of laughing at life and laughing at our foibles or in the Richard Brooks sort of excavating or trying to excavate layers to a person, you know, she could do it all.

[Alison Stewart]

We're talking about a retrospective of the late Diane Keaton's work that's being produced by Film at Lincoln Center. The series is called Looking for Ms. Keaton. It runs from February 13th through February 19th. And I'm speaking with its programmer, Maggie Maddie. Excuse me, Maddie Whittle. Maddie, we're gonna look at Shoot the Moon from 1981. It's a divorce drama. The Film at Lincoln center site says it' quote, most nuanced and underrated performances. What's nuanced about it?

[Maddie Whittle]

So in Shoot the Moon, which is directed by Alan Parker, Keaton plays the wife of Albert Finney, who is a really magisterial, imposing presence throughout the film who just sort of enters a room and just casts chaos around him. And Diane Keaton, as his wife and mother of his four daughters, is coming to terms with the fact that her marriage is ending, that her husband has found another woman that he has fallen in love with, and that there is no coming back from this rupture that the family is, is about to be split into. And you know, there's an entire genre of films about the process of separation and divorce. And you know, in recent years we've had marriage story. We've had any number of entries into this genre. And what really grabbed me about Shoot the Moon and specifically about Keaton's performance in it is just this sort of brutal honesty of that we sort of get to go along with her character on the highs and lows of being liberated from a bad marriage, but also being, you know, having love for her. Husband and having concern for her children and wanting to, you know, be honest with them about what's happening. And she's. It's a film that is very talky. There's a lot of conversation in this film, but that doesn't weigh it down. And I think partly that's because there's the sort of non verbal aspects of her performance buoy the conversations that are happening with these two adults trying to make sense of their own feelings and their own anger and hopes for the future. And even in the moments in which nothing is being said, I think that's where Keaton's character really reveals to us something that can't be said with regard to relationships, marriage, parenthood. And I just. I think her performance is incredibly subtle and vivid and she comes across as a woman. A woman I know.

[Host/Producer]

Here's a clip from Shoot the Moon featuring Diane Keaton and Albert Finney.

[Actor 2 in clips]

I worshiped you.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Then for God's sakes, George, why didn't you treat me that way? You were always yelling, you were always so angry. You have such a terrible temper.

[Actor 2 in clips]

You know I don't mean it.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Tell that to the children, George.

[Actor 2 in clips]

I was afraid. Don't you understand?

[Actor 1 in clips]

Afraid of what?

[Actor 2 in clips]

I couldn't hack it. I felt like I was swimming the English channel with a 50 pound weight around my neck.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Smoke my mother's line.

[Actor 2 in clips]

Yeah, well, your mother's done a lot of drowning.

[Actor 1 in clips]

You leave my mother out of this.

[Actor 2 in clips]

I'd be glad to. Your mother was a lousy mother and a lousy wife.

[Maddie Whittle]

Did we decide on dessert?

[Host/Producer]

You decided on dessert. Oh, my goodness. Another film that you wanted to highlight was Crimes from the Heart from 1986. She starred as one of three sisters alongside Jessica Lange and Cissy Spacek. It's actually an adaptation of a play which a lot of people didn't know. And she started her career in theater. She was like in the original hair. And what do you think she brought from theater to the screen?

[Maddie Whittle]

That's a great question. I think there's an immediacy in theatrical acting and the sort of knowledge that an audience is in the room with you and that you know a particular line reading. While it might resemble other readings of the same line, no two readings of a line in theatre are going to be. And therefore no experience of watching a play can be replicated. And I think that there's a. There's a quality to her screen acting that sort of approximates this feeling of watching someone in the room with you and watching somebody who could read the same line a hundred times and would always, you know, find. Make it possible to find something new in that line. And there's a just sort of sense that each. When, you know, when you look at Crimes from the Heart, in which she's playing opposite Cissy Spacek and Jessica Lange as her sisters, there's sort of an electricity to the dynamic that these actresses create that I can only describe as theatrical in the sense of perhaps whether it's expressing a heightened emotion or sort of an exaggerated affect. There's just a sense when you're watching these films that you're in the presence of a living, breathing human who at any moment could surprise you. And this. Actually, several of the films that are most celebrated in her filmography involve Keaton playing sisters or playing one of a group of sisters. And I think Crimes of the Heart is, you know, maybe the best example of this, of sort of inhabiting not just a character, but that character's relationships.

[Alison Stewart]

The latest film in Your series is 2003. Something's gotta give. It's Nancy Meyers directed. As you mentioned, Keaton is torn between Jack Nicholson and Keanu Reeves. What was Zeitgeist defining, as the website describes this film? What was it?

[Maddie Whittle]

Honestly, the strongest association that I have with this film is the visual impact of Diane Keaton in the white turtleneck sweater that Jack Nicholson cuts off of her in a Moment of Passion. And I think that sort of her appearance in that film and the way that her character, Erica, she's gorgeous in that film, too. She's absolutely gorgeous. And it's. You know, I think of Diane Keaton as sort of the quintessential actress of the American baby boomer generation. And if you think about the baby boomers sort of reaching retirement age around the turn of the millennium or into the new millennium, she really, I think in that role, once again, was a poster child for a generation of women entering a new stage of life still. You know, having. Having desires, having dreams, having. Having a life force that they wanted to go out and use. And she just really is so winning in that performance and so flawed. She's kind of in some an Elizabeth Bennet type character where you want to, you know, grab her by the shoulders and shake her, but you also love her and root for her and want the best for her, want her to continue to thrive, want her to find love. And I think, you know, it's a credit to her and Nancy Meyer's collaboration that I think between the two of them, they created this incredibly human and endearing character who could stand for the experience of a generation of women.

[Host/Producer]

Let's hear a clip of Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton from When Something's Got to Give.

[Actor 1 in clips]

I really like you.

[Actor 2 in clips]

I really like you.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Yeah, but I love you like you.

[Host/Producer]

I do.

[Actor 1 in clips]

I love you.

[Maddie Whittle]

Oh. Oh.

[Actor 2 in clips]

I think that we should consider maybe we're getting a little ahead of ourselves.

[Maddie Whittle]

Do you?

[Host/Producer]

Yeah.

[Actor 1 in clips]

You know, I'm like the dumb girl.

[Maddie Whittle]

Who doesn't get it.

[Actor 1 in clips]

I've never been the dumb girl before. It ain't so great.

[Actor 2 in clips]

Let's just calm down. I had these plans before I even met you.

[Host/Producer]

Okay.

[Actor 2 in clips]

I mean, I do like seeing you.

[Maddie Whittle]

I do.

[Peter (Caller from Manhattan)]

Yeah.

[Actor 2 in clips]

I'm always surprised by it.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Surprised by it. What was I thinking?

[Actor 2 in clips]

I have never lied to you. I have always told you some version of the truth.

[Actor 1 in clips]

Truth doesn't have versions.

[Alison Stewart]

Okay, as we wrap up, what is your favorite Diane Keaton performance? Maddy? You know, I was gonna ask, you.

[Maddie Whittle]

Know, I often answer looking for Mr. Goodbar. But I think in this conversation, let's say shoot the moon. Because I think that, you know, as I've been thinking about that performance in particular, there's a real magic to the character that she creates.

[Alison Stewart]

The series is called looking for Ms. Keaton. It is being produced by Film at Lincoln Center. It runs through February 13th to February 19th. Thanks to programmer Maddy Whittle. Thanks for coming to the studio.

[Maddie Whittle]

Thank you so much.

[Ira Flatow]

This is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.