Sally Field has new role on TCM

Donna Freydkin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Sally Field and Robert Osborne talk about classic films Sally Field and Robert Osborne talk about classic films on the set of Turner Classic Movies' 'The Essentials.'

NEW YORK — Sally Field, the daughter of working actors, is a true-blue film buff.

And when she's watching Turner Classic Movies (TCM), she gets a little bummed at not seeing herself on screen that often.

"Why don't they have my movies? What is it, they don't like me?" she wonders, with a laugh. "Of course, I have a secret wish that I'll turn it on and there will be something of mine."

Now, as the new co-host of TCM's The Essentials, along with film historian Robert Osborne, Field gets to grab the cinematic bull by the horns. "We showed Norma Rae but I know it wasn't easy to get so I want to go beat someone up," she says of the new season, which premieres March 7 (8 p.m. ET/PT) with the Audrey Hepburn classic Roman Holiday.

During a taping at the cozy set, located down the street from the Flatiron Building, Field and Osborne gabbed about Jane Fonda's Oscar-winning turn as a prostitute in 1971's Klute. During a lunch break, Field walked around with curlers in her hair, joking that it was her "favorite look." When cameras rolled, Field was well-versed in the behind-the-scenes mechanics of moviemaking — no surprise, given that she has been nominated for three Oscars and won twice, for 1984's Places in the Heart and 1979's Norma Rae.

"I expect actresses to know what they're doing and what their role is, but not that generous to others. But she's a true movie fan, about films in general. There's no artifice. There's nothing theatrical. When she arrived, she drove her own car. That's unusual for an actor," says Osborne.

She and Osborne spent three days filming, and dissecting 28 films, including 1939's Ninotchka.

Field replaced previous co-host Drew Barrymore. "They called and asked if I was interested in doing it. I'm a big fan of the show so I said yes. What do I have to do? That was the beginning," she says.

Then, the negotiations started. "Some of the (films) I was dying to have we couldn't get. Klute was definitely one of them. I would have loved to have had Midnight Cowboy. I like to talk about the style of acting and how it changes. It's a remarkable film. I would have loved to have had Dog Day Afternoon," says Field. "We bargained for certain things. They can't get all movies. I wish the studios and places that owned these would let up a little bit. They don't have a budget from here to the moon."

And then, Field retired to her couch, and got to work. "I had to watch them all again so they would be fresh. I'm not sitting on a rainy day on my couch, with my popcorn and my knitting. Now I'm really at why this movie really matters to me, or does not matter to me. I was sent a box of research," she says.

One topic that gets her fired up is the issue of so-called women's movies.

"We talked about Jane's film today. Jane was really having a hard time when Klute was made," says Field, referring to Fonda's activism during the Vietnam War. "I've talked a lot about my being slightly outraged at how women's films have been treated with a derogatory note early in the '70s in the reviews."

Well, one could also argue that Woody Allen could go on to write and direct the greatest film in the history of great films, and any review would still note his personal problems, involving the taint of child abuse allegations.

Field wasn't having it. "It would have a lesser tendency to do that than what was done to women's films. I have to just say, that's a very different thing It's a different thing."

Point taken. So how long does she see herself co-hosting The Essentials? "Until this afternoon. Until about an hour from now. Then we're finished. We will have done the whole (season). Bob and I have done this since Monday morning. It's just been a treat for me."