Don Johnson Will Never Retire: ‘I’m Getting Better’

In an era of movies with machine guns mowing people down, what kind of classic film does Rebel Ridge hearken back to?

Walking Tall. I like the discipline of violence with nonlethal weapons. I thought the fight scene in front of the station between Aaron and I and the other deputy was cool. It looked like it was happening right there. I didn’t want it to be cartoon violence or movie violence; it had to be raw, where people miss each other and mistakes are made, like real fights.

(Left to right) Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in "Miami Vice."

Ray Fairall/Everett Collection

How has acting changed over your 50-year career?

These days, a lot of the youngsters are so unprofessional, they don’t know the first thing about actually showing up to rehearse. They read off their sides [pages with one character’s dialogue] and never once look at the other actor. I made a rule, no sides in my scenes, because if they don’t know their words, as far as I’m concerned, they’re not actors. They go, “You mean I have to know the whole scene?” Sidney Lumet [Dog Day Afternoon director] would make you be off book [memorize the script] before you started shooting.

Is Hollywood ageism unwise? Do actors get worse with experience?

I actually think I’m getting better. I think there’s ageism. I probably was an ageist when I was young and ignorant. And you know, as you get older, you realize that the most wild and adventurous sex that’s being had is in the retirement homes. I can’t wait! I don’t think they’re gonna let me retire.

Do you plan to retire?

No. As long as I get to work with good people and I’m still on the menu and relevant, then I’m probably going to do what I do.

Is there something you’ve always yearned to play, like Shakespeare?

I studied Shakespeare at the American Conservatory Theater, and I can do it. I don’t know how good I am at it, but I can do it. I don’t think people would buy me doing Shakespeare — but they might, actually. I’m pretty effective at morphing. If I was going to do Shakespeare, would probably be King Lear, and I’m not old enough yet to play it. There’s something that I’ve always wanted to try. And it’s just such a classic, you can’t do it ... never mind.

You’ve got to say it now. Be bold!

It’s a Frank Capra movie, Arsenic and Old Lace. I’d love to remake that, but now I’m too old for it — maybe I could direct it. Cary Grant was fabulous, so big in that movie, gesticulating and making all these faces. And I’m going, “Jesus, what courage!”