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James Cromwell at the Austin Film Festival
Actor James Cromwell was in Austin on Thursday night for the premiere of Oliver Stone’s “W.” at the Paramount Theatre during the Austin Film Festival.
We spoke to him earlier in the day. This is our story:
James Cromwell has just returned from lunch at Austin vegan eatery Casa de Luz, and he fairly glows with satisfaction.
“It’s a very sweet place, very sweet people,” the actor says. “Very Austin.”
Cromwell has been to Austin twice before. He was here Thursday for the local premiere of “W.,” Oliver Stone’s buzzed-about biography of President George W. Bush, which opened the Austin Film Festival. (The film is now in theaters.)
Lanky and cheery, Cromwell bursts with voluble energy. He folds his 6-foot-5-inch frame into a chair at a downtown Austin hotel, keeping his black Kangol cap fixed to his narrow head. His face is angular and craggy, his nose a masterpiece of aquiline majesty. At 68, he looks imperially distinguished, even wearing blue jeans and swearing like a sailor.
In “W.,” Cromwell plays President George H.W. Bush to Josh Brolin’s brawling, boozing George W. Stone stages their relationship as domestic warfare, as the son rebels against a father whose parental disappointment mounts to tragic proportions.
It’s an odd role for Cromwell, because the actor, a Los Angeles native, admits he’s been involved in “radical politics” for 40 years. He’s vegan, an animal rights activist and a deep-dyed liberal who expresses utter horror that anybody might vote for a certain vice presidential candidate. He’s also sharp, expansive and very funny.
Chris Garcia: You’ve played four U.S. presidents: two fictional ones, Lyndon B. Johnson and now George H.W. Bush. Why do these roles keep coming?
James Cromwell: First I played a pig farmer (in “Babe”). Next I played a corrupt cop (“L.A. Confidential”). Half-way between the two is the president of the United States. (Laughs)
Why are you so presidential? Is it your height? Your bearing? You’re very regal. For a long time I thought you were British.
I don’t know why they see me that way. I like to do blue-collar people. I started out on “All in the Family” as Stretch Cunningham (slipping into a tangy Bronx accent), Heya, from da Bronx! I don’t get a chance to do that guy anymore. I have no idea. They don’t think I can do comedy either. The first movie I did was “Murder by Death” by Neil Simon, and I played a Frenchman. For years people thought I was French. Then I played a German. Then I played an Irish cop in “L.A. Confidential.” And then people starting thinking of me as this dark figure. So I play mostly villains now, tough guys.
You’re the consummate character actor. You’d fit perfectly in golden age Hollywood.
That’s very nice of you. It’s intriguing. I can’t do anything about my height. I can’t do anything about my nose or my bald head.
What attracted you to this president?
Nothing attracted me to this president, except Oliver Stone. Josh Brolin had recommended me, but Oliver was tentative. I’d never met Josh before, but when we did finally meet, you immediately like this man. He’s delightful. I felt very comfortable with him. First thing Oliver told me was, “Well, I’ve offered the part to Harrison Ford and Warren Beatty, but it’s probably better not to have a big star.” I thought, That’s great. So I’m sloppy thirds! But I think Oliver was pulling my chain. He likes to get a rise out of you.
How did you approach playing Bush senior? It’s obviously not an impersonation.
Oliver wanted me to leave my own politics out of it. If you stand in judgment about his politics, you can’t do the part. I don’t do impersonations. I don’t like it. It’s great at cocktail parties, but has nothing to do with acting. When I rehearsed with Josh, Oliver didn’t really say anything about how to get into this character. So I went to a dialects coach. We went through all the sound changes. She kept talking to me about where his voice is located. It tends to be cut off, and I got the image that he’s cut off from his emotions, and that’s why his emotions take him over and he has no control over them, so he occasionally breaks down.
Was it hard to keep your politics and emotions from distorting your characterization?
I didn’t want to put the man down. Everyone has their own analysis of the guy. I wanted to look at the dynamic in the relationship between a father and son when the communication is out, when there’s expectation on one side and resentment on the other side, which leads to one of them being really dysfunctional. I know that W. felt abandoned by his father. He’s raised by his mother. It’s the position that Hamlet was put in. If you took “Hamlet” and took all the intellect and moral incertitude out of it, you’d have a similar situation.
‘Hamlet’ is a good analogy, because the movie plays like a tragedy.
It is. It’s a satiric farce in the manner of “Wag the Dog,” except in this instance what wags the dog is slightly below the tail. People laugh at the familiar malapropisms, but seeing them in the context of a fiction film, you say, “Holy (expletive), it really happened. That’s how they came to the Iraq decision? That’s what Colin Powell really said? That was Cheney’s response?” … At the end you feel compassion for W. I don’t think you can help it. That’s ultimately how we have to feel about any human being. What we always see is the public persona, and it is a fiction, a creation. I don’t think Bush even knows who he is. I think that’s why the malapropisms are the way they are. His head says one thing and his public persona says, “But I’m just a (blank)-kicker and I can’t talk.”
What about ‘Babe’? As an animal-rights person, was doing the film a no-brainer?
Not at all. It was a film in which I had very few lines. I didn’t carry the picture. The pig did. I thought it was going to be one of those Disney things where they put peanut butter in the animals’ mouths so they look like they’re talking. I had no idea. But a friend said, “Look, you get five months in Australia, they’re paying you, though not much, and you don’t carry the picture. If it falls on its (rear), it’s the pig’s fault.” I didn’t even read the script. When I saw the finished movie, oh! It’s a miracle of a film.
- The Austin Film Festival continues through Thursday across town. Tickets and schedule: austinfilmfestival.com.
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By vegnetaustin
October 18, 2008 9:40 AM | Link to this
James Cromwell, the Lone Star Vegetarian Network’s annual Vegetarian (vegan) Chili Cook-off needs a spokesperson for this or next year’s event. Please contact us at www.LSVN.org. We’d love to see you back in Austin!