Alec Baldwin takes on the larger-than-life-sized role of director Oscar Jaffe in the Hecht-MacArthur classic Twentieth Century.

An interview by Marc Miller

If you go through Alec Baldwin’s file of press clippings, it’s thick with tabloid fodder: Alec on the set of The Marrying Man; Alec and Kim Basinger; Alec in the Hamptons. Then there’s the occasional interview with an artist discussing his craft. And here it becomes clear that Alec Baldwin is one smart actor. Whether working for movies, stage, or TV, he analyzes his characters minutely, views them from multiple angles, and collaborates closely with directors on creating unified, intriguing portraits.

Baldwin has said he returns to the stage “as often as I can, for medicinal purposes.” He’s in for a healthy dose of stage therapy as he prepares to play Oscar Jaffe in Roundabout’s revival of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s Twentieth Century. The 1932 comedy (newly adapted by playwright Ken Ludwig), takes place on the fabled eponymous Chicago–New York luxury train, and topics he knows a thing or two about–show-business egos, movie vs. stage people, life in the Broad-way/Hollywood fishbowl–come into play. The story centers on Broadway director Jaffe, who is desperate for a hit and needs to lure his old protégé and lover Lily Garland (Anne Heche) away from her movie-star existence and back to the stage. Can he do it?

Baldwin’s stage return comes at a moment when his career hardly needs a boost. The National Board of Review had just named him Best Supporting Actor for The Cooler (which subsequently garnered him an Academy Award nomination), and The Cat in the Hat was raking it in, when he spoke with Front & Center by phone from Los Angeles.

FRONT & CENTER: You must have had some notion that The Cooler was going to generate a lot of buzz, and The Cat in the Hat is making a lot of money. Why go back to the theatre right now, with two hot movies out?

ALEC BALDWIN: When you do these films, you don’t really have any idea how successful they’re going to be. And for me, there’s kind of a fatigue that sets in, particularly when I make a lot of them. I’ve done, like, five movies now since April of last year. I’ve just reached that point where I want to do something that feels good. When I do a play, it’s almost always a positive experience for me. Even when it’s difficult, it’s difficult in a way I feel good about.

A lot of movie actors who also do theatre talk about how doing a play “flexes other muscles.” How do you adjust to going back into the theatre?

BALDWIN: The theatre is much more work for the actor. I always compare it to eating a box of Scrabble tiles: You’ve got to get all those words in your brain, one paragraph at a time. I remember when I did Macbeth at the Public Theater, I would fall asleep with the book on my chest in my bed every night, and when my eyes would open in the morning the first thing I did was read. So there’s a kind of work that’s more demanding in theatre on a technical level than anything in films. But also, I think, film itself is so technical now, and most [film] directors don’t have a great background in the theatre or, particularly, with actors. One of the major transitions I find is, when you do film, you have to be very self-directing. The director might not have a lot to say to you. They hire you assuming you know exactly what is required and you’ll get yourself motivated. In the theatre, directors often have a lot more to say to you that’s useful to you as an actor.

What made you choose this particular project?

BALDWIN: There were other plays, some of them very difficult dramas, that my agent and I were trying to set up. But this one congealed the quickest. And I love Walter Bobbie. I’ve known Walter in the business for years and have been a fan of his as an actor. When I talked with them about Walter directing, I was excited, because Walter is as smart as he is enthusiastic.

What’s your initial take on the character of Oscar Jaffe?

BALDWIN: Having done the movie The Cooler recently, I played this very tough, corrosive guy. I thought a lot about Lee J. Cobb in On the Waterfront, a very brutal, vile, domineering person. There’s something these people are trying to hold onto that they believe is beneficial to everyone in their culture. There’s a river that they all drink from that they feel they’re the protector of. But with Jaffe, it’s funny when you show his timid side and his vain side and his kind of sniveling side. Jaffe’s someone who really is as much of a coward in a lovable way as he is this neurotic megalomaniac. He’s the great man, but in private you discover he’s more neurotic than passionate. You see his neediness, his vulnerability a lot quicker and more consistently than you do with some of these movie characters I’ve done. Jaffe’s a very weak guy who tries every waking moment of the day to cover up those weaknesses. He’s like the Cowardly Lion to me.

“For me, four or five years ago,
I was really just not enjoying this anymore.
I thought if I could earn a decent living
doing something else, I would give this up.”

---

That’s what I remember from the movie of Twentieth Century, with John Barrymore. Do you worry about being compared to him?

BALDWIN: No, no, no—I don’t think anybody in their right mind would compare me to John Barrymore. And I haven’t seen that film, oddly enough. I know it’s Howard Hawks’, and it sounds like the kind of movie I would love. I have a friend who’s giving me a copy of it and I’m debating whether to watch it or not. Sometimes you watch these things and you try to simply go away from something they’ve done. You say, “Well, I wouldn’t do that, or that.” So I’m pretty much thinking, I may not watch it till after we’re done.

I had read somewhere that you had studied with Lee Strasberg…

BALDWIN: Well, when I went to the Strasberg Institute on 15th Street, it was the last year he taught–1979 was the academic year I was there, and in the spring of 1980 there was what they call this Master Lecture. Strasberg lectured, like, every Monday, or several Mondays.

I just wondered if you had any particular memories of him.

BALDWIN: Most of the memories I have of Strasberg are of reading his books. A lot of people drill students with Method acting and Method techniques, but they don’t bother to tell them that Strasberg himself felt that this stuff should only be used on an as-needed basis. If you have no need to do this obscure, sometimes strange exercise to get yourself in a state, so to speak, to do a scene–if your imagination can take you there–don’t even bother with going back to your childhood, remembering summer days on the bayou or whatever your past is.

I’ve also read a couple of interviews with you where you talk about how acting brings out a lot of insecurity in you. Do you think that’s worse onstage or in film?

BALDWIN: Oh, film is far more unforgiving. There are leading men in the theatre for the past 30 or 40 years who probably would never have a leading-man career in film. The stage, where people are 40 and 50 feet away, is a lot more generous. But on the other hand, there are people in film who are more physically beautiful and less talented who are very insecure onstage. There are stage actors who are very average-looking men and women who get on camera and feel slightly awkward. And there are ravishing creatures from Hollywood who get onstage and feel the same way. Then there are people who are adept at both. Gwyneth Paltrow is incredibly beautiful and an incredible stage actress. So is Juliette Binoche–I didn’t get to see her do the Pinter when she was here [Betrayal], but I heard she was very good.

In other interviews, from years ago, you say things like, “When I’m around 40 I’m going to pack acting in and move on to something else.” Obviously you didn’t–what keeps you going?

BALDWIN: Well, anything you have a relationship with–your work, your friends, your loved ones–ebb and flow. For me, four or five years ago, I was really just not enjoying this anymore. In 2000, 2001, I thought if I could earn a decent living doing something else, I would give this up. And then you do a movie you like, you get excited about something again, and you get more wind in your sails. I did five movies in a row, all of which I liked. It was a run of either really interesting and challenging things or just very pleasant experiences to be with those people–and fun, funny material. But the thing I will say without any hesitation is, the thing I am looking forward to most is this play. I went to Wicked the other night, because Kristin Chenoweth is a friend of mine, and I was backstage chatting with her in her dressing room, and I thought, God, I can’t wait to do this. And I hope we do the play justice. That’s the great intimidation when you do a great play that’s a revival: You know the material works.

Are there any particular concerns about performing in period, doing the 1930s?

BALDWIN: I think the people spoke a little more carefully back then, especially in the theatre, people were more economical and direct, but in theatrical ways. These characters are larger-than-life people–if you normalized them, sanded off their edges, it wouldn’t be as worthy. So you have to find a way to play this person who thinks he’s more important than everyone in the room, knows more than everyone else, and you start with ideas like that–how would that person express himself? For Jaffe, how does he endure everyone around him who he thinks is not as smart as he is? That kind of character is going to be funny. At the reading, we all looked at each other and said, God, this is so funny, we have to do it!

Marc Miller is head of the copy desk at Business Week and writes frequently about the theatre.

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