Growing up in Los Angeles, Morgan Neville, an Oscar-winning documentarian, was an ardent admirer of Steve Martin. At the tender age of 12, he persuaded his father to drive six hours to Las Vegas to witness one of Martin’s final stand-up shows at the Riviera Hotel. Fast forward forty-five years, Neville found himself sharing the NeueHouse Hollywood stage with his comedy idol to promote their new Apple TV+ documentary, “Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces.”
Neville’s primary objective was to listen. He began by recording conversations with Martin without any specific agenda. Gradually, a narrative began to form, and Neville started to envision what the story could be. The documentary, split into two 90-minute segments, delves into Martin’s life. The first part traces his journey from working at Merlin’s Magic Shop in Disneyland to his last stand-up performance in 1980. The second part explores his film career and his current life as he nears 79.
Comedian Nick Kroll joined Neville and Martin at the FYC event to discuss the extensive examination of one of America’s most influential comedians. The first half of “Steve!” is a cinematic collage of Martin’s early years, presented through photos and archival footage, accompanied by testimonies from Martin and his contemporaries. Initially, Neville was unsure if they had enough archival material to tell the story. However, as they delved deeper into Martin’s collection, they discovered there was much more than they had anticipated.
As they explored Martin’s basement archive and storage vaults, they unearthed old cassettes where Martin had recorded his act year by year. This forensic evidence became a crucial part of the documentary. Martin admitted that he had saved all the wrong things from his past. In show business, he saved magazine covers and articles, but what he truly wanted were photos of friends, places he had been, and a diary.
Throughout the documentary, Martin reveals that despite his success, he felt overwhelming loneliness in his youth. In the second part, Martin listens to one of his old stand-up tapes but can only endure a few minutes before turning it off. Although he was pleased with the three-hour documentary, revisiting his early days as a struggling comedian was sometimes uncomfortable.
“I have a hard time walking into comedy clubs because of the memories. I can still taste the cheap wine in my mouth,” Martin shared on the red carpet. Reliving those moments brought back a flood of memories, not just about the material, but also about the time and place.
In his later years, Martin became an avid art collector, often drawn to paintings of isolated figures. One of his favorite pieces is “Captain Upton’s House” by Edward Hopper, which depicts a solitary seaside home attached to a lighthouse. Initially seen as a solemn image, Martin later reinterpreted it as full of hope and life. When Neville first heard Martin speak about the painting, he felt it spoke volumes about Martin’s journey from a troubled young artist to finding peace in his old age.
“There’s this painting called ‘Captain Upton’s House,’ which looks like it might be a lonely, isolated home. But the closer you look at it, it’s alive. The windows are open. The breeze is going through. You can almost imagine furniture in there,” Martin explained.
“You came up with that metaphor, that it in some way reflected my life. I never saw it that way,” Martin told Neville.
“Ya, well that’s my job,” Neville quipped.
