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You've played some frightening characters? Pacific Heights comes to mind?? McCabe in Desperate Measures might be your iciest role to date.
Yes?? guy in Pacific Heights was very different. You almost weirdly, subconsciously saw him as a person who gets beaten with baseball bats. This guy McCabe, there's no way anyone would beat him with baseball bats. What I liked about playing him was expanding him from just a really intelligent character to a really physically powerful one. He gets you both ways. It makes him more of a monster.
Did you do a lot of research for this role?
No, it was just a little bit of me. [Laughs.]
What's the trick to effectively playing a villain? Is that harder than playing a hero?
I think effectively playing a really good guy is harder. Most people in movies are nice, pleasant people you want to see on-screen. So how do you do it with a new dimension, or in a way that keeps your interest? The guy in Multiplicity is about as good a guy as you could get.
The truth of [Desperate Measures] is that it's fun. It's scary. McCabe is bad, but fun to watch. It's a movie that you could almost throw popcorn at the screen when the bad guys comes on, then start booing, hissing, and having a ball. You don't have to sit there for three and a half hours, thank you. Then you can go out, have a meal, go home, and have a life.
You've got quite a varied list of characters to your credit. How do you go about selecting your roles?
I just like a nice big cafeteria. You know??morgasbord. I just like to get on the aisle, pick a little bit of this, taste some of that. That's to my detriment sometimes, because sometimes I do movies that aren't any good, or sometimes I might not be any good in them, or sometimes they don't do very well. But you know, I can't help doing what I do.
What was your goal when you first started out in this business?
To get hired. [Laughs.] More than anything, I just wanted to be really, really good. But my goal is still to be as original as I can be. Filmmaking to me is one of the more interesting art forms, if not the most interesting because it combines so many different elements. So, since I feel like I'm in a legitimate art form, I try to be an artist. Sometimes you are, sometimes you're not. But I always try to go for that. I mean, I'm realistic about it. Some movies are just nice movies and you pretty much show up, behave yourself, and go home. But even in that, you want to be good in it.
Which of your films do you think achieved that artistic quality?
I think Beetlejuice is one of them, only because it was really original, truly creative, and artful, risky, and kind of crude in its own way. Clean and Sober, because before all the independent movies were out there getting into dark areas, it took a lot of courage for [director] Glen Caron to get that film made about that character. Much Ado About Nothing was unlike anything I'd ever done before, and I thought it really had a beautiful aesthetic sensibility. That movie is like a little painting.
You play a supporting role as a federal agent in Jackie Brown. How did Tarantino's little gem land on your lap?
Quentin called and asked my agent if I wanted to do this movie. I read the script and said, "Wait, what happened to this guy?" I thought there was a mistake. And then I said, "No thank you?? interested." But I liked Quentin a lot. He's an amazing writer and director. And at first I was disappointed, because I really wanted to be in one of his movies, just not in this role. So my agent said, "Just talk to him." Which I was more than willing to do. So I sat and talked with Quentin, and I started liking what he had to say. Then I said, "If I'm gonna do this role, here's how I want to play this character." We worked out a compromise, and I'm really glad I did it. It was so easy and so much fun to be around the set and to work with him. You always learn something from a guy like Quentin.
So you added certain tics and idiosyncrasies to the Ray character?
Yes. There were certain ways I didn't want him to be and certain ways I didn't want him to act. He was originally single-minded: Get the job done. Get the guy. Get Ordell. Get him, and don't let anyone stop you. That's what Quentin wanted, but I saw my character as a guy who didn't have a perfect life by any stretch of the imagination, and who saw this woman closer to what she really was. I wanted to show the slightest bit of sympathy, subtly in my own way, and that gave it an added dimension I think.
There's talk of you putting on the Batcape once again and making an appearance as Batman in Tim Burton's Superman Reborn project. Any truth to that?
There's been kind of an overall discussion about the subject of Superman. But you know what, that movie is a good ways off and a thousand things could happen.
The underlying premise of Desperate Measures supposes that a cop would do anything to save his kid's life, even risk the lives of others. You have a son. Could you ever see yourself in Andy Garcia's position, where you would do just about anything to save your own son's life?
Yes. There's a real primal thing going on there. I'd say I'd do just about anything. Maybe anything??apos;s that primeval. It's so basic to your core. You've heard these amazing stories of what people can do when they're operating from pure adrenaline? There are things you're capable of doing when you're scared, or if your kid or a family member is in jeopardy. I like the idea of this movie; I like the questions it brings up.
You're the youngest of seven children. Do you think you're a classic youngest child?
Yes! I'm reading this book where the author is describing his youngest brother as being a classic youngest brother and I thought, "Hmmm, sounds just like me."
Many youngest kids turn out to be the class clowns, the born entertainers. Were you ever punished severely as a kid? Or did you get away with everything?
No . . . I was punished appropriately. [Laughs.] I went to a classic, hard-nosed, tough Catholic school from the age of six till I was thirteen. Some of the nuns were great and some were very mean. Man, I was just talking about this the other day with some friends. I remember I had this one friend who was really big for his age, and he was a really bad kid??bad as you can be at thirteen. He used to get in trouble all the time. And there was this one nun who was big and tough?? was physically tough. She wouldn't take anything from any of us. One day he pushed her too hard, and she ends up whacking this kid. Boom! All of a sudden he goes, boom! Hits her back. Then she hits him back. They're throwing punches at one another. I mean, it only lasted three or four exchanges, but it was wild.
Then at fourteen you went to public school for the first time. How did you adjust to that change?
It was a huge change for me. I became a bad student. It's too bad, because I was a pretty decent student up until then.
What was it? Too much freedom?
Yeah. All of sudden . . . wait a minute . . . girls! There were girls at my old school, but then it was like, different girls, all kinds of girls. Also, there was a whole new group of kids to hang out with, and I was intimidated. I was physically small, so I felt like I had to prove myself. I got detention the first week, then it was just a struggle for me to maintain after that. My high school career just wasn't that stellar.
Your son Sean is a teenager now??lt;br>
Yeah, he's fourteen.
Is it different parenting a teenager than a child?
Yes, things change. But he's one of the best people I know. It gets to the point where I think, in a way, he's the teacher. Sometimes I look at him and I think, "I want to be like him." He's got some astounding qualities. It's kind of scary, because I keep waiting for him to turn into this jerk because he's got to at some point.
Are you waiting for him to pull away?
Yeah, and the pull-away so far has been so graceful. It's happening so nicely. My house is a little fraternity house??ake up in the morning and there's all these guys whose voices are changing hanging around my house. But when I walk in the door, my son comes over, puts his arms around me, gives me a hug and a kiss. He doesn't care who's in the room.
Michael Keaton Article Page 7 |
