Burt Reynolds On His Mustache, James Bond And A ‘Smokey And The Bandit’ Remake

Burt Reynolds has had quite a career. He’s starred in classic movies, won two Golden Globes (prestige!), and even lent his voice to video games. But there’s one thing everyone knows him for: that mustache!

In a recent interview with GQ, Reynolds revealed some shocking details about his trademark ‘stache.

“I shaved it off a month or so ago, but I teach acting a few nights a week down here — I love teaching, because if I hadn’t been an actor I would’ve been a coach — and there was an unanimous plea to grow it back. It’s part of me now. I feel like I’ve lost my nose if I shave it off.”

Phew, thank goodness for that.

As for the rest of the conversation, Reynolds spent most of the time talking about his upcoming stint on the animated show “Archer,” however he did speak a little about his career — as well as his thoughts on a “Smokey and the Bandit” remake.

“Somebody asked me the other day if we remade ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ who could do it. And I said, well, there’s a lot of guys who could do it, I don’t know they’d want to do it. George Clooney can do anything, and those guys are all wonderful, but I’m not sure there’s something in them that wants to be that notoriously silly.”

Other than the Golden Globes, the mustache and “Smokey,” Burt once famously turned down the chance to play James Bond post-Sean Connery (the role eventually went to George Lazenby). He now admits that he “should’ve done it” and that his “fear about doing it was that the public wouldn’t accept [him].” So, what does he think about the current 007, Daniel Craig?

“I always get the feeling that Craig is saying, ‘Don’t judge me by this.’ He doesn’t seem to be the happiest Bond in the world … Craig is a damn good actor, I just think if you’re going to do a part, don’t do it with one eye saying, ‘I really don’t want to do this, but I’ll do it.’ [laughs]”

According to iMDb, Reynolds’ next film is in the comedy “Comics Open.” You can read the entire interview over on GQ.

[via GQ]