by Paul Fischer
Cranky
Critic® StarTalk:
Daniel Baldwin,
star of John Carpenter's Vampires
Daniel Baldwin is, if nothing else, an exceptionally busy actor. With 7 movies in 1997, 5 more in 98 and 10 more coming in the next 9 months it's hard enough to get the guy to sit down and chat. He came through New York promoting John Carpenter's Vampires in which he plays Montoya, the swaggering Western-style second-in-command of a Vatican-sponsored vampire hunting team lead by James Woods.
Baldwin is a Long Island boy, like Cranky (his high school football team regularly whupped my high school football team). Like his three brothers, he has sustained a considerable career on the big screen screen and the small, notably in Homicide: Life on the Street. He also likes to tell stories, so there's lots more of this chat to come on these boards. We began with his family, and of the memory of the father who died before fame struck.
Daniel Baldwin: Alec had just started in the business and Dad didn't get to see what happened.
Cranky:
Do you think he would have been happy that all four sons became actors?
Baldwin: I think he would have been surprised, particularly that Billy
became an actor.
Cranky:
When did you know that's what you wanted to do?
Baldwin: Well, being a football coach, my dad was one of the first to film
the team they were going to play the next week. The school wouldn't supply the
camera, so he went out and bought an 8mm camera in 1966. I was 6 Alec was 8. That
camera sat around the house with the exceptions of Saturday, Sunday through Friday.
So we said to my dad "Can we use that camera to make movies?" He said
sure, but he wouldn't buy us film because it was too expensive. So we went to
the golf course and sold nickel cups of iced tea to the golfers to get the two
dollars twenty five cents, whatever it was, for a reel of 8mm film at the stationery
store .
We made a series of hour long movies called "Joe Cool" movies which,
at the time Snoopy was flying his doghouse and we were into Joe Cool. It was a
spoof on Sean Connery's James Bond. Alec played Joe Cool and I wore every wig
my mother ever owned. Alec continually killed me in different scenes of the movie.
Cranky:
How'd they look?
Baldwin: The movie always opened up in the same way with Alec sitting in
his best tweed jacket, with his flat top hair cut, in my mom's Studebaker. Sitting
on three telephone books. We would throw the car into neutral and start rolling
it down the driveway. We were so little we couldn't get the car backup the driveway
so we left the car in the middle of the road. We did 20 of them, from 1966 to
1969. In many of 'em you hear car horns in the middle of the movie, 'cuz we left
my mom's car in the street and they couldn't get by, and you'd hear her yelling
"boys leave that car alone!"
Cranky:
Alec's success would have made him happy.
Baldwin: I think he'd be proud but it was a rough thing for him. My father
begged borrowed and stole to get Alec into law school and into George Washington
University before law school. Alec comes home and "Surprise! I'm not going
to law school. I'm going to NYU and I'm going to be an actor." And my father
went "what?" Alec said, "Well, you know I think I can always go
to law school. I really want to pursue acting." I was so glad that he did
it 'cuz I didn't have the heart to tell my father that that's what I wanted to
do. I didn't think he'd respect it. I don't think he saw it as something tangible.
The amazing thing about the four boys was a) there's
four boys that are all actors that pretty unique on its own. There's b) its four
boys who are actors who are all relatively successful at what they do, on a comparative
basis to those who never do and those who are big stars. More importantly you
understand it when your last name is Carradine or Sheen or Quaid. You've had members
of your family who were directors or actors you grew up around it you understand
it. But to have 4 boys whose dad was a school teacher, I think that's what makes
it really different and interesting.
Cranky:
Were you a fan of John Carpenter before you signed on to Vampires?
Baldwin: I was but not of the movies you would think. One of my favorite
movies is Starman, which is not necessarily of the classic Carpenter genre.
I'm not a big horror film aficionado. I love Halloween. I liked Starman
quite a bit more. I've seen The Thing. I've seen Escape From New York
and Escape From LA. I was a fan of his directing. Not necessarily a fan
of the films in their entirety.
Cranky:
How did you come to be in Vampires?
Baldwin: The script got sent to me and I saw the word "Vampires"
on the jacket and I literally tossed it away. I had no intention of even reading
it. A week later I get a call from my agent and she says "I didn't hear back
from you about Vampires, that John Carpenter film." And I went Carpenter?
He wrote that?" and I went Holy... and I found it and I started reading.
Shockingly enough, it had a really interesting story. I really liked the underlying
story of the church hiding something. I really related to that. And the fact that
it was loosely based on an factual event; Valek was a priest who was murdered
in Prague in 1344 for starting an uprising with peasants due to the illegal taxation
of the Catholic church, that's a fact. The Vatican holds the Berzier Cross. It
really exists. And I thought that Montoya had an interesting character arc.
Cranky:
A good death scene, too
Baldwin: The scene at the end was an, originally, in your face thing. I
went to John I said I really want to go and get really emotional. I want to say
goodbye and look up at the sky and never say a word to Woods about what I'm going
to do, to see what he does. And Carpenter, to his credit, went right with it.
I started crying in that scene. I left that scene thinking to myself "How
many vampire movies are you going to see where you're really going to get emotional
about something?" The adventure and the arc that my character had was far
more interesting than any of the other characters. I was happy to play that character.
And there's a built in sequel (grins)
At which point Daniel regaled us with the stories of several projects he's been writing. Cranky believes in protecting copyright, so I ain't giving them away. But there was no question about it from Baldwin's enthusiasm . . .
Cranky:
You really want to be a director, don't you?
Baldwin: Yeah. I think that with the exception of working with guys like
Carpenter and Oliver Stone, I'm really tired of going into movies and saying "Do
you really want to do that? Wouldn't it be more interesting if..." I really
have a good sense if it now, after 35 films. I'm working on a deal right now to
direct my first move. Yeah. I think it's time.
...and he told me that story, too.
Cranky:
Are you looking forward to the day you can direct Alec?
Baldwin: Yeah. Alec is a really talented actor. The one thing that disturbs
me about Alec is that people don't realize that he's really funny. I keep saying
to him, "Why don't you do a funny movie? You're always doing serious roles."
I'm talking about a really funny guy who can make me laugh hard every five minutes.
I'd love to do that kind of movie with him as opposed to a Western. I'd love to
do all four of us in a comedy. I think that would be a scream.
Cranky:
You could do The Marx Brothers story, Minnie's Boys.
Baldwin: Yeah, whatever. Let's come up with something new, that hasn't
been done.
Cranky:
Was it fun to play a part with a Western swagger to the character?
Baldwin: I think this is a kind of tribute to John's appreciation of Howard
Hawks and John Ford and people he's admired. That factor and two others.
One, make the movie interesting and vampires are interesting; Two, when you add
in the fact that they're using chromium crossbows and very futuristic weaponry
in a western, that triangle makes it very unique to a western film.
Cranky:
Is there any concern that Blade came first?
Baldwin: I don't think so. I was up in Vancouver making a show for Henry
Winkler and I saw Wesley up in a restaurant and congratulated him. If Wesley's
movie comes out first, God bless him, 'cuz all it's going to do is bring more
attention to vampire films. I think it did nothing but help.
Cranky:
Are we going to see you in TV again?
Baldwin: Chances are, no. Unless it was a thing like Homicide. Number
one, I'm spoiled rotten with the material. How many shows are going to be close
to that good? Two, I would not do an ensemble cast of nine again. It was great
one out of every 3 or 4 times to see your character prevalent in the script but
otherwise there wasn't enough for me to do. An ensemble of 3 is something that
intrigues me more. I left Homicide because they were going to make me start
drinking again. And my wife was going to come back into the show. We arc'ed out.
Cranky:
Will you work with John Carpenter again?
Baldwin: John and I retained a close friendship and we went to the TV guys
and have pitched an idea of mine that John really likes. They've been trying to
lure him into TV for sometime.
... and Daniel told Cranky that story too. But you'll have to wait to see it on the small screen. You can get a relatively "full size" version of the movie poster one-sheet, by clicking on the image at the top of the screen. Cranky's review of John Carpenter's Vampires here