Sally Field Says Burt Reynolds Was Awful At One Thing
Despite all his mustachioed sex appeal, it turns out Burt Reynolds was not so great at one thing: kissing. At least, according to his Smokey and the Bandit co-star and former off-screen love interest Sally Field in a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live. Sally Field and Burt Reynolds were on again-off again from 1976 to 1982 after they initially met on Smokey and the Bandit.
Sally Field shared a shocking detail about her relationship with Burt Reynolds on the show. Fans were flabbergasted and reacted with gasps when she revealed that Reynolds wasn’t the best kisser. “I try to look the other way and say, ‘that was just then,’ but he… it just was not something he did really well,” Field admitted.
According to Sally Field, there was a lot of drooling involved. The Watch What Happens Live audience reacted with a resounding “ew.” While Sally Field didn’t divulge any juicier details about her relationship with Burt Reynolds, she did talk about her upcoming films. She’s starring in a new romance titled Spoiler Alert, as well as 80 for Brady, a bonkers-looking new film also starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, and Tom Brady.
Spoiler Alert is a romantic tragicomedy based on journalist Michael Ausiello’s memoir. The film also stars Jim Parsons and Ben Aldridge as Ausiello and his partner, photographer Kit Cowan, respectively. Sally Field will play Cowan’s mother, Marilyn, and she is likely glad that Burt Reynolds will not be a love interest in the movie.
Sally Field recently spoke about how she had to push aside her personal experiences as an LGBTQ+ ally when portraying her character in Spoiler Alert. Although Kit Cowan’s mother was wholly supportive of her son when he came out, Field felt that she shouldn’t draw too much on her own experience of her son coming out to her for the role.
Sally Field’s youngest son, Sam, is gay and felt comfortable enough to come out to his mother, as Field explained. But she also explained that, as an actor, it’s her job to draw on her emotional life. But, she can’t let it influence her decisions as a character. She shared that she has strong feelings about parents who don’t support their LGBTQ+ children or the community. But, she said, she had to shut out those feelings and make the world of the story work.
Sally Field also revealed what she has drawn from her emotional experiences. She collaborated with the cast and crew often when something didn’t feel right. She was able to brainstorm what felt more natural for the character than what was written in the script. In that way, she connected with her character by using her experience as a parent of a gay child during the coming out scene.
80 for Brady, meanwhile, is also based on a true story. It follows four best friends and New England Patriots fans. They decide to take a road trip to see their hero, Tom Brady, play in 2017’s Super Bowl LI. Chaos ensues, of course. Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda reunite for this film, while Rita Moreno and Sally Field round out the quartet.
