Bill Hader Talks Geeking Out With Steven Spielberg On The Set Of 'The BFG'

Sometimes we forget that even for people most of us consider famous, there's a whole other level beyond. The kind of person even celebrities get nervous about meeting. An example is Steven Spielberg, a man whose filmography and influence on cinema today can't be overstated. Spielberg is a filmmaker that, when actors work with him, they soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as possible, and the director is happy to oblige.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to talk to actor, comedian and massive film nut Bill Hader about Inside Out. Hader voices Fear, and it's just another in a long line of wonderful acting choices he's made since leaving Saturday Night Live. But the amazing roles just keep on coming. Hader recently completed filming his role in The BFG, a Roald Dahl adaptation Spielberg is directing and, knowing how big of a film fan Hader is, I decided to ask him about it.

Below, read the awesome Bill Hader Steven Spielberg geek out.  

Here's Bill Hader answering my question, "What was it like to be working with Steven Spielberg?"

It was insane. Just freaking out the entire time. And he is also a giant film fan and he goes to great lengths to make you feel comfortable around him. And he will honestly, man, you'd be like "Jaws, go." And he'll go "All right," and he'll just go into an hour worth of stories. He'll tell you anything you wanna know. He will talk about anything. He'd be excited to tell you. I even asked him, I said, "Okay, in Sugarland Express, the scene with the two cops talking to each other in the cars like this, how did you do that?" He goes, "Okay, here's what we had. Vilmos Zsigmond had put a rig on a..." And he grabs things and plays with. "And he's on a rig and so I'm behind them and I have a little thing I'm hitting and that is when we were supposed to go..." And he gets so excited to talk about it.But he also gets excited about other movies. When we were shooting in Vancouver, we both watched TCM on our iPad. And it was always like "What are you watching right now?" Or "What were you watching last night?" I was like "I was watching Point Blank." And he was like "Oh cool. I was watching Roman Holiday". One time I got to fly with him and we were waiting and his assistant came in to the plane. And we said "Why are we waiting?" He's like "Steven's in the car, he's watching Roman Holiday. There's five minutes left." And so he's just sitting there watching Roman Holiday and he came in and he's like "How terrific is that movie?" He goes, "I've seen it 20 times, how wonderful."But he'll tell you stories. He'll just drop things and he knows how mind blowing it is too. He's like "Yeah, I remember, we were shooting Raiders and I walked onto the set of The Shining. And Kubrick's there and everything." I was like "You went on the set of The Shining?" He's like "Yeah, yeah, you know, the room where he's writing?" And he goes, "I went in and I was like..."And Jaws is my favorite movie. If you put a gun to my head, "What's your favorite movie?" I'd say Jaws. So I told him that and he just, he literally patiently sat there while I asked him [questions]. I go, "The guy who goes, 'Oh what?' Who's that guy?" And he goes, "That guy his name is blah, blah, blah and I told him 'You say 'What? and..." I mean, I would walk away from every conversation just floating on movie geek air and I would come home and wake my wife up and tell her what happened. And just he's the nicest person in the world. He really is a prime example of how to be as a human being.The BFG, starring Hader and directed by Steven Spielberg opens July 1, 2016. Inside Out opens June 19 and we'll have more from Bill Hader next week.