Burt Reynolds reflects on career before movie festival in Naperville, Woodridge

In advance of his visit to the suburbs, I played Five Questions With Burt Reynolds, the Hollywood superstar who

burned up the box office with his wisecracking, cocky persona in such films as "Smokey and the Bandit" and "The Longest Yard"

outraged the public with his nude centerfold in Playgirl magazine

broke tradition by dating TV talk show host Dinah Shore, 20 years his senior

shocked fans and won an Oscar nomination by playing a porn film producer in the adult drama "Boogie Nights."

<B>Q. </B>How do you feel about your original movies ("Longest Yard") being remade?

<B>A</B>. I don't feel invaded by any stretch of the imagination. I'm flattered in some ways. It depends on how it turns out, doesn't it? In my case, I don't think it's better.

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Q.</B> You were a promising young athlete. How did you wind up in the performing arts?

<B>A.</B> I wanted to teach. I wanted to coach. I got hurt. So, I went as far away from sports as I could on campus because all my life I was going to be a football player. The furthest away from the athletic department was the drama department. And I saw an awful lot of good-looking women going in and out of the classrooms. And<I> not a whole lot of guys.

</I>I remember the first time I was on a football field in 6th or 7th grade. It felt like home. When I stood on a stage for the first time, it felt the same way. Like home.

<B>Q.</B> There were reports that you weren't happy with your Oscar-nominated role "Boogie Nights." Did you have misgivings?

<B>A. </B>I didn't have misgivings, I had trepidations. I thought that if it didn't work, I'd have taken this big chance. Not only taken this big chance, but I would have screwed up something that I had taken a long time to build up: a fan base that had counted on me to do a certain kind of movie that was entertaining and fun.

But if you don't take a chance, you're never going to find out what you can really do. I thought I could do anything in terms of acting.

I wasn't sure anyone did, which is why you go and do something like that. You go to prove that you can. I'm not sure who you're proving it to at this point in life, but you do. I was proud of what I did. It wasn't my cup of tea.

<B>Q. </B>What would you say is the public's No. 1 misunderstanding of Burt Reynolds?

<B>A.</B> I think you have a certain image that is a conglomeration of your work. If you're really good at playing someone who is very cocky and very funny, and knows how to make fun of himself, well, I think the public thought I was so good at playing cocky, they thought I <I>was </I>cocky, and I was very sure of myself in all matters.

<B>Q.</B> What do you view as the most important movie of your career?

<B>A.</B> Without a doubt, it's "Deliverance."

I don't know how you'd get four guys to do what we did. I don't think anyone would be crazy enough to do it. At least once a week (on the set), somebody would save somebody else from drowning.

About four or five crew members went down the river with the actors. The rest got into cars and drove down to the place where we got off. You don't take 60 or 70 crew members down that river. Nobody was going down the river in a canoe. It was super dangerous.

When you were working, there was this thing in the back of your head that told you everything would be all right, that the director would yell "Cut!" right before you went under for the third time.

Burt Reynolds minifilm fest

Where: 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday at Hollywood Blvd. Cinema, 1001 W. 75th St., Woodridge, and 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Hollywood Palms Cinema, 352 S. Route 59, Naperville

Movies to be shown: “Deliverance,” “Cannonball Run,” “The Longest Yard” and “Smokey and the Bandit”

Tickets: Twelve dollars. Can be purchased at the box office or atriptothemovies.com. For movie times, check the website or call (630) 427-1880 for Woodridge or (630) 428-5800 for Naperville.