Alec Baldwin: The Accidental Actor

Q: What about brotherly advice? Ever give it?

A: I stopped giving it. I see them all going through phases that I went through, like Danny making that comment. I think Danny's going to learn.

Q: Which of your brothers are you closest with?

A: Billy and I have a lot in common away from acting. Steve and I have nothing in common except acting. I feel I'm two people: I have my interest in acting and I have a lot of other political interests I'd like to pursue. Steven is not interested in any of that stuff. Billy is fiercely interested in politics and activism.

Q: What is your ambition as an actor?

A: If I had a dream you mean? To originate a dramatic role on Broadway. And then to stop acting and maybe produce films. Documentary films are a tremendous interest to me.

Q: Pretty women are often asked about being pretty, as Kim so often is. What about handsome men?

A: You don't take it seriously. Let's face facts, this is a visual medium, there's a very high premium put on people who are good-looking. But the minute you rely on that you get yourself in trouble. You certainly don't make a career out of that anymore as an actor.

Q: Have you always been conscious of your looks?

A: [Laughs] No. I wake up in the morning and all I see is what's wrong with me.

Q: You went through a period where you labeled yourself a "womanizing jerk."

A: Yeah, I wasn't straight with a lot of people. I was a guy who grew up with no money and no special qualities. When you become successful in this business and you've got a lot of money, it's a very potent blend. You meet beautiful women, you've got a lot of time on your hands, people pay attention to you a lot more than you deserve--I acted out on that as much as most young guys do who come to that place.

Q: When did you wake up to not being that?

A: About a year before I met my wife. All of 1989, when I shot The Hunt for Red October, I really got tired of wasting all that energy. I had just turned 30 the year before. I filmed Talk Radio, Miami Blues, and I came out of 1988 fed up with the crap I'd been through. What I wanted to do was just face it: I'm 30 and I'm going to be 35 and then 40 and if you want to get married and have a family what are you going to do? How are you going to live your life? What kind of a life are you going to have? Do you want to be one of these guys who's 55 and still trying to bag some 25-year-old actress? There are these guys who just don't want to let it go. I wanted to settle down.

Q: How did you know you were ready to let it go with Kim?

A: I met a woman who just wouldn't put up with that. A relationship with her had to be the way I now realize it has to be. My wife and I are very interconnected, very aware of each other. Our lives are very intermingled. My wife's the number one priority.

Q: Full time.

A: Oh man, you've got that right. Oh, baby.

Q: Have you ever met anyone like her?

A: Never. My favorite line among my friends: I called my friend Ronnie Dobson, a playwright, and said, "I don't know what to get Kim for Christmas. What do you think Kim wants most as a gift?" And he paused and said, "To return to her native planet."

Q: What do you find so endearing about her?

A: There's a naivete about her. She just doesn't get it. And that's what I love about her, that she doesn't get it. I look at Kim and I see somebody who could have had a lot more of the riches of this earth if she was more out for herself, if she was more selfish. She certainly would have all of the millions of dollars that her plaintiff in the case against her assumed she had. They couldn't believe she wasn't as avaricious as they imagined her to be.

Q: Did that lawsuit over Boxing Helena bring you closer together?

A: Oh yeah.

Q: Did you feel it was the two of you against everyone else?

A: No, the business is what it is. The real essence of this case is, there's a certain kind of politics among creative people. I don't say to you, "You know, Larry, everybody says you're a really good shooter as a director, but they really think you know dick about a screenplay or how to direct actors. So when we work together, I'm going to be a little uptight and will be keeping my eye on you, because I'm not sure you can cut it." No one goes into a room and says that. The opposite is true. You say the most reassuring, positive things, knowing that all the material terms and conditions of the contract are being worked out by legal representatives outside of the room. If you're the director and I'm the actor, you and I have a very vital relationship to protect, and some of it is protected by a lot of blind reinforcement and approbation, none of which should be taken very seriously. And this was a case in which somebody, for the first time in history, went into a courtroom and said, "Did you say such-and-such?" And Kim said, "Yes, I did." And [that person] turned to a jury at the end of the case and said, basically, "Shouldn't these rich movie stars be held to the same standard that we're held to? That they should mean what they say and say what they mean?" And the jury went, "You're goddamn right they should! Jesus Christ, I'm a postal worker making six bucks an hour..." And they felt they could really drill it to her. And they did. They did.

Q: What do you want for the two of you?

A: For us to have great memories. I'm looking at a woman who is an international beauty, who's in the movie business. She's been wealthy, she's dated men, traveled, been everywhere in the world except for Australia and Ireland. I'd say to her, let's go to Hawaii. Been there. Africa? Been there. Tokyo? Been there. Europe? Been there. One time I said to her, "I hope you and I get a stockpile of great memories." And our wedding was one. I wanted it to be sincere. Christie Brinkley said she had gone to a wedding that was more like a coronation it was so unreal, but that ours was really pretty.

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