The Untold Truth Of Warren Beatty

We're going for the big one right away, because although it's hard to say that Warren Beatty's reputation as a honey hound is "untold," the details of it may surprise you. To start, according to Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America, the unauthorized biography of the Dick Tracy star, author Peter Biskind puts the figure of notches on Beatty's bedpost at just under 13,000. That would be an astronomical number of sexual partners for a prostitute to have, let alone an actor, which is probably why Beatty so easily laughed off the suggestion. In his AARP interview, he disputed the figure based on mathematics alone, but also said, "Look, I never misled anyone. And ... and I'm a nice guy." So, he considered it "nice" that he told all the women he slept with they were basically just widgets on a sexual assembly line? Classy.

But in that same interview, Beatty divulged a clue to his upbringing that could be the key to understanding his lustful years of cavorting with the ladies. Referring to a character in his new film, Rules Don't Apply, Beatty said, "I — and the character of Frank — come from a Protestant American background. The consequences of American Protestant puritan sexual guilt and repression, which I feel is the theme of the movie, is something I have a strong interest in." Ah yes, the old "curiosity about that which is taboo" excuse. But doesn't that beg the question: Once you experienced the so-called taboo behavior 1,000 or 2,000 times, what exactly becomes the excuse for the next 10,000 or so?

By now you should be starting to piece together that Warren Beatty is something of an eccentric. Just his ability to transition from a wanton wang-slinger into the respected husband of Annette Bening and father of their four children alone is a testament to the raw charm this guy must exude that allows him to operate on a whole other level. But that charm wasn't so apparent in his early days on Broadway in New York City. According to an archived 1967 Esquire interview, Beatty quickly earned a reputation for showing up late, being uncooperative, and screwing up one production so badly he left one of his co-stars in tears. Somehow though, the play was well received, and Beatty jetted to Hollywood, saying this of his theater experience, "I don't want to go through the mess of doing a play just to win the approval of four critics who decide whether you're going to be allowed to keep doing the play. That's a bore." So, he definitely started calling his own shots early in his career.

Beatty's unruliness from the outset of his creative endeavors may have hinted at the auteurship of his future. Since his early, turbulent days on the stage, he has been the star, writer, director, and producer of five of his own films, which puts him into a category with Mel Gibson and Clint Eastwood who have also dealt with their share of "difficult" rumors. Then again, all of those guys tend to sweep the awards when left to their own devices, like Beatty did with Heaven Can Wait and Reds, both of which earned him Academy Award nominations in all four major categories. So, maybe his problem was the he's the kind of guy who would rather just do it himself, because clearly, he can handle it.

During a New York Times profile while promoting Bulworth, Beatty revealed how he decided the character of Senator Jay Billington Bulworth would unveil his populist message through rap. It was a comedic device, meant to ease the inevitable polarization of the audience who may not agree with the particular political message. But that's not to say that Beatty thinks rap is laughable in any way. In fact, he said, "Rap music is the language of social protest. He who fails to listen, fails to hear at his own peril."

And his interest in rap didn't just develop as a result of his involvement with the movie, for which he was once again star, writer, producer, and director. Ten years before Bulworth even started production, Beatty requested an introduction to Def Jam founder, Russell Simmons, who later introduced him to Death Row founder, Suge Knight. He continued a friendship with both, even through Knight's incarceration for an assault that led to a parole violation. Of his time with Beatty, Simmons said, "Once, I went to his house with Bobby Shriver and a date, and it was us and Annette and Warren and we had this long dinner and, finally, Annette went to sleep and my date was dozing off but we sat for hours and hours. He's such a charming person that you don't mind all the questions."

Suge Knight had a similar affinity for Beatty with whom he met frequently to get "pumped for information." According to a former Death Row employee, "Suge, who is always at least four hours late, would show up on time for Beatty." Although Bulworth ultimately bombed, earning only $26 million against a budget of over $30 million, Beatty walked away with a lifetime of cred in the rap world.

Thanks to his first movie in 15 years, Rules Don't Apply, being released in 2016, the notoriously press-shy Beatty did a bunch of interviews to promote it. While talking about the movie that centers on a romance that blossoms between two young staffers of Howard Hughes, Beatty also spoke glowingly about the legendary recluse. He told The Boston Globe that he's "always wanted to include him in a movie," and he relayed an anecdote about when he stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel and was delighted to find out that Hughes had booked "seven suites and five bungalows" in an apparent diversion tactic so he'd be left alone.

In another interview with IndieWire, Beatty also revealed that he could relate to Hughes, saying, "I felt, as I feel now, that a man who is not paranoid is a man who is not in full possession of the facts. There is a sensible caution — or sensible paranoia — that can get out of hand with the man we're talking about, Mr. Hughes. I hope it hasn't gotten out of hand with me." So not only has he been waiting decades to get his portrayal of Hughes exactly right — IndieWire actually states was contracted by Warner Bros. to produce a script in the 90s — but he also identifies with Hughes' struggle to retain his privacy. "I've always felt that Hughes was a difficult character for people to identify with," Beatty also said, which again echoes his own self-reflection. In nearly interview cited in this article, the reporter who spoke with Beatty remarked on how concerned he was with how he came across, often striking questions and openly asking the reporter how his responses soudnded. Legendary lothario, disappearing for years between projects, and obsessed with his outward image: Can you even tell if that's a description of Hughes or Beatty at this point?

For a guy with who had a supposed uncanny ability to woo women, Warren Beatty sure missed some major red flags when he unabashedly flirted with Ellen Degeneres on the set of The Larry Sanders Show. During a 2016 appearance on Ellen, Beatty recalled the story about how he had a long talk with Gary Shandling about how impressed he was her. DeGeneres must have sensed he was leaving out a key detail, and according to WENN, she said "I think you didn't know I was gay at the time." She then pressed him by jokingly saying, "You wanted me," to which he surprisingly nodded and even admitted that he was dating Annette Bening when this all went down. In her own appearance on the show, Bening admitted, "He talked about you all the time. I didn't want to share that (the fact you are gay) with him." Bening seems super chill about the whole situation based solely on the fact that Degeneres doesn't swing that way, but if there was a guy out there who would've been able to seal that deal anyway, it's definitely Warren Beatty.