I've always liked Alec Baldwin (yes, yes, as an actor, not as a political commentator), and his mid-career reinvention as a rumpled, heavyset character actor has been wonderful to watch. So I was
sorry to see he doesn't feel the same way:
Turning back to me, he said of the film, which he was helping to
produce, "This kind of stuff, it's so hard"--the tiny budget, the tight
schedule, no more than two or three takes. "It's a domestic drama, and,
as you might suppose, I've had my fill of that subject. This is the
last time, in this movie, I assure you, you're ever going to see me
arguing with a spouse." For a moment, he imagined life at the center of
a big-budget drama, and remembered watching Leonardo DiCaprio at work
in the lead role in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator," in which Baldwin
had a supporting part. "To be Leo!" he cried out. (Baldwin can be quite
earnest, even as he keeps an ironic eye on his earnestness.) "To have a
huge role like that! To play the role that is the fizz in the drink,
you know what I mean? You are the movie! I wish I could play
the lead role in one movie, one great movie." According to Baldwin,
"The Insider" was the most recent "great opportunity" for an actor of
his kind. "It was smart, it was relevant, it was topical," and the part
went to Russell Crowe.
Read
the whole thing. It made me like Baldwin even more, actually. And his self-awareness is appealing:
"Do you want to know the truth?" Baldwin said to me not long ago. "I
don't think I really have a talent for movie acting. I'm not bad at it,
but I don't think I really have a talent for it." He described the film
actor's need to project strength and weakness simultaneously.
"Nicholson's my idol this way. Pacino. There's a mix you have to have
where the character is vulnerable, the character is up against it, but
there's still a glimmer of resourcefulness in his eye--you look at him
and the character is telegraphing to you this is not going to last very
long. 'I'm down'--Randle McMurphy, Serpico, whatever it is--'but it's not
going to last, I'm still going to figure my way out of this.' " In
contrast, he referred to Orson Welles. "Welles was a powerful actor,
but he wasn't always a great actor," Baldwin said, with, perhaps, a
faint nod to his own career. "Even when Welles was lost, he was
arrogant."
This is a fine description of why Baldwin will never be a great
leading man. But there are other virtues for an actor, whether in film or television, and he has quite a few of them. I only wish they made him feel better about himself.
