by MATTHEW HAYS

Sitting across from Robert Duvall, it's hard not to feel like I'm having some kind of religious experience. Yeah, yeah, he's only human and I'm supposed to have my head screwed on straight after having done so many celebrity interviews.

But I'll be damned if Duvall isn't one of the most accomplished actors who's ever worked in cinema, from his turns in the first two Godfather films to Apocalypse Now to his stunning The Apostle, a film he wrote, directed and starred in (to name but four). Now, on a hot, muggy, end-of-summer day at the Toronto International Film Fest, Duvall is talking about his latest filmmaking effort, Assassination Tango.

Not content using comfortable formal models, Duvall (who wrote the script) puts his own twist on the mob movie, playing an ageing assassin who's so good he's having some trouble resigning. Duvall's latest hit-man assignment - one he swears will be his last - leads him to Buenos Aires, and, true to the film's title, he finds himself passionately infatuated with the tango. He's soon leading a double life, stalking his latest assignment while dancing in whatever down time he can find. It's a quirky, odd film, one that could only be concocted by someone with a good deal of confidence in the medium. Who else could pull this off but a Duvall?

Mob moonlighting

"Yeah, it's a bit odd, I guess," says Duvall, who's both friendly and unpretentious. "I knew a guy who told me about a hit man in Brooklyn who was also a hairdresser. There you go. Sometimes two things meet that you wouldn't think would meet. A friend of mine knew the world of tango really really well. He said the best tango dancers were often thieves or pimps. It was a myth, but an interesting one. With this film, I wanted to explore the connection between Buenos Aires and New York. I saw a certain kinship between the cities."

Like Clint Eastwood in his recent films, Duvall is commenting on his own ageing process with Tango. "Clearly, this is someone who's looking back on his life and assessing it." As for age getting in the way of getting roles, Duvall reports it's proven the opposite for him. "It's funny, it hasn't affected me. If anything, I've got more parts coming my way. I have to start a film with Michael Caine right after the festival, and if anything that's a bit too soon. I'm in demand.

"I think it's different for women, for sure. I know Meryl Streep's complained about it. But I can only speak for myself."

As for the act of filmmaking, Duvall says it doesn't necessarily get easier as time rolls along, even after the kind of phenomenal critical acclaim The Apostle garnered. "Everyone passed on that movie, we showed it to everyone. Nobody bit. Everyone was shocked by its success. Assassination Tango I wrote some time ago, and had it in a drawer somewhere. I pulled it out and the second person I showed it to bit. But it's still hard. Filmmaking is always an uphill struggle."

Duvall wanted pace and timing to be everything in Tango, considering it equal parts mob movie and musical. "My feeling was that you'd have to use your wits as much in an assassination as you would have to in a well choreographed dance."

Instinct over intellect

Echoing the statements of umpteen directors, Duvall says casting is always the crucial building block of a successful final cut. "You have to find actors with guts and instinct. I think that's where you find the great young actors. I don't want to knock the intellectual part, but I think you get it from in here, not from taking a class from Lee Strasberg."

Duvall has been famous for gleaning performances from non actors. His directorial debut, the semi-documentary We're Not the Jet Set (1977), drew loud praise from John Cassavettes, an honour not lost on Duvall. "I was thrilled, that meant so much to me. Ironically, he would win the New York Film Festival that year and we didn't even get in!" His Angelo, My Love (1983) involved an unblinking, unsentimental gaze into the life of gypsies. Here, Duvall placed non-actors (including star Angelo Evans) in a loose fictional storyline to great effect. (For those who are curious, Duvall does stay in touch with titular character Angelo, now a young man: "I guess he's doing okay. I speak with him about once a year," says Duvall, offering few details.)

Those who've followed Duvall's career closely will certainly notice a standout credit on Assassination Tango. Francis Ford Coppola is listed as an executive producer. This may not sound odd, considering that Coppola has been lending his name to numerous independent projects for years, but it is when one considers the rift that set apart the two after Duvall refused to return for the final chapter in Coppola's epic trilogy, The Godfather 3. "Yeah, he's a funny guy," Duvall says of Coppola. "Even this time, there were some bumps happening. But he's had his problems with others too.

"I guess he's over the Godfather 3 thing now."

Assassination Tango opens Friday, April 18

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