Robert Duvall (1931-2026): The Apostle Was "My Everything" | Dini Petty 1998

Robert Duvall did not make The Apostle as a career move, he made it because he had to. With the news that Robert Duvall (1931 to 2026) has died at 95, this rare 1998 interview becomes a powerful tribute to one of the greatest American actors of his generation and to the film he called his everything. In this conversation for The Dini Petty Show, Duvall talks about writing, directing and starring in The Apostle, a deeply personal story about flawed faith and redemption in the working class American South. He explains why it took more than a decade to bring the film to the screen, why he put his own money into it and what he wanted audiences to understand about preachers, hypocrisy and grace. Duvall also reflects on the realities of independent filmmaking and the tension between awards, critics and personal conviction. For viewers who know him from The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Tender Mercies, Lonesome Dove and more, this interview is a rare chance to see how he understood his own work as a director and storyteller. CHAPTERS 0:00 Duvall explains what drew him to The Apostle, flawed faith, redemption, and characters who don’t ask permission to be complicated 5:50 Why preachers, working-class Southern life, and moral contradiction have always pulled at him 7:18 “This was my everything”, self-financing The Apostle, creative risk, and why this wasn’t a studio assignment 12:08 Awards, competitiveness, and why recognition never replaces conviction 13:36 The reality check, why having a finished script still doesn’t make independent films easy 14:51 The business side, festivals, recouping money, and how The Apostle finally found its distributor 16:05 Hollywood’s habit of caricaturing the South, and why truth mattered more than comfort 17:50 Building believable worlds, music, movement, and cultural texture as character 20:36 Directing versus acting, rehearsal discipline, improvisation, and how he actually ran the set ABOUT THE DINI PETTY SHOW The Dini Petty Show was a Canadian daytime talk show that aired on CTV from 1989 to 1999. Broadcast from Toronto, the show ran for ten years and featured in-depth conversations with Hollywood legends, music icons, politicians, and cultural figures. Dini Petty's warm yet probing interview style earned the show multiple Gemini Award nominations and a loyal audience across Canada. This channel is the official archive of The Dini Petty Show. Most of these interviews have not been seen since their original broadcast. New conversations from the vault are uploaded weekly. Subscribe to never miss a piece of television history. #RobertDuvall #RIPRobertDuvall #TheGodfather #TomHagen #ApocalypseNow #TheLongestYard #TheApostle #DiniPetty #RareInterview #1997Interview