VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Jon Voight Didn’t Think He ‘Measured Up’ To His Iconic ‘Midnight Cowboy’ Character

Actor Jon Voight recounted his experience in the iconic film Midnight Cowboy in his new uInterview. 

Voight felt the role had the most impact on his career. “Midnight Cowboy, of course, was huge. It made me; it gave me a career,” he told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “All of a sudden, I was a bankable something.”

Asked if he knew at the time of filming how controversial the movie would be, Voight said, “Oh yeah, I mean, I knew there’s nothing else like it – but I liked what it was; I fell in love with the story from the book, I thought this character and also Rizzo, were like a classic couple of personalities, that you would go through any adventure with these two characters, these knuckleheads, but these lovely knuckleheads we all understand somehow and root for.”

He continued, “So that’s what I knew about that piece. I thought it was terrific. And it turned out to be.”

Voight reflected on the amazing cast in the film. “Of course, I was very lucky. I knew Dustin Hoffman,” he said. “I never saw him work as an actor but everyone said he was a genius,  so we made this friendship. And not a year later, I read this book that was given to me by somebody and recommended I play this part. As described, I didn’t really measure up, but personality-wise, it excited my imagination. Anyway, it was a magnificent dream come true in a certain sense that we could make that piece.”

Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film adaptation of the 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy, which follows a handsome young Texan named Joe Buck (portrayed by Voight) as he travels to New York City in pursuit of a career as a male escort.

Voight recently spoke with uInterview about his new film Shadow Land.