Issue Date: March 4, 2007
At 66, John Mahoney is still working like crazy. He tells USA WEEKEND how he got in touch with his feminine side for a new stage production of "Prelude to a Kiss" and what exactly Juliette Binoche did during her spare time on their upcoming comedy "Dan in Real Life."
-- Interview by Jon Tollestrup
I've seen the movie "Prelude to a Kiss," and it's the type of story that shouldn't work but somehow does. What made you decide to take such a curious role?
I thought it was a fascinating play and a great part. How often do you get to play an old man in the first act and a young woman in the second act? I've been doing plays for a while; since "Frasier," that's pretty much all I've done. I did a couple in Chicago, one in London, one in New Jersey, and I finally made another movie. I just wanted to get back to the stage again, and this looked like a terrific way to do it.
Theater is such a demanding experience from all angles. How do you keep up the energy? Have you worked out a few tricks here and there?
I personally find theater a lot easier than movies. In the theater, you're not sitting around all day. I just got through with ["Dan in Real Life"], and I loved it. But you forget how much time is wasted. You take two or three words, and then they change cameras and they change lenses, and you do it all over again. Then they change the lighting and they do [a co-star's] close-ups. Then they change the lighting and do my close-ups, and then they change the lighting and go in closer. And it's such a waste of time, it seems. But I shouldn't say that because that's the time the cinematographers get to show their stuff. But for an actor, it's just hanging around doing nothing. Whereas in rehearsal for a play, and in a play itself, you're always busy. You work two solid hours in a row, and you're performing, not just for two, three, four minutes at a time. It keeps your mind fresh. It's a constant challenge, whereas there's so much down time doing a film. One minute you're your character, and two minutes later you're not. You're sitting around for an hour and a half doing a crossword puzzle, quietly losing your mind.
That's interesting to hear because I think the image of doing a film is that it's this glamorous, non-stop party. But your new film, "Dan in Real Life," really does sound like a non-stop party. Do you like doing the whole romantic-comedy thing?
Yeah, I do. [Laughing.] I prefer actually to play some really rotten guy or a woman, like I'm playing now. That is a lot of fun. But I really enjoyed "Dan in Real Life," mainly because it's such a terrific story, and it's got such a great cast. I got to work with Dianne Wiest, whom I've just admired forever; she played my wife. Also, I loved the character that I played. It's nice to go home at night when you've played a decent, fun-loving, kind person all day because you're not taking anything home with you that you don't want to take home. Like you can play some really rotten character, and they tend to stay with you -- they tend to depress you when you're at home. You tend to be that person for the length of the shoot.
Apart from Dianne Wiest, you also co-star with two big comedic troublemakers -- Steve Carell and Dane Cook.
Yes, they're my sons.
Wow, that would make anyone reconsider fatherhood. Did you have any preconceptions about what sort of people they would be like before you met them? Or, did they turn out to be different?
They were both different, especially Dane. I thought Steve would be more buttoned up, and he's just a lot freer and funnier and totally approachable and considerate. But I didn't know what to expect from Dane. I had seen his HBO special, and I thought, "Oh geez, what's this guy going to be like?"
Judging from his HBO special, I would have thought he was a total maniac.
A maniac, exactly! But he wasn't. He's funny, extremely talented and a terrific guitar player and a wonderful singer. He entertained people, not with comedy routines, but with music. He and Norbert Leo Butz -- who is a terrific singer and won the Tony for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," and plays one of my sons-in-law in the film -- just entertained everybody with guitars and singing. But Dane was very, very serious with what he was doing. He really wanted to do well in the film, and he does do extremely well, and we just bonded. I never thought I could just sit down and have a normal conversation with him about sports, but he was extremely approachable. They both were not what I expected: They were much better than I expected.
What did Dane sing for you guys?
He has an amazing memory and repertoire for old rock 'n' roll songs. He sang a lot of rock.
They say every parent has a favorite child. Was that true in your case with Steve and Dane?
Of the boys, yeah, it would have been Steve. Partly because of the character he plays, which you tend to view him as, too. His character is this complex, stumbling man trying his best to raise his three daughters by himself and failing, but never giving up trying. Actually, my favorite child was my character's daughter, played by Jessica Hecht. She's just so absolutely unpretentious, warm and caring. I don't think I've ever met another woman as caring and truly simpatico with everybody. So was Juliette Binoche, by the way. I've got to say that. Wow.
Juliette Binoche does seem really great, but I've never heard much about what she's like as a person.
She's so dedicated. In the film, she was supposed to be a terrific pancake-maker. So I got on the elevator in the hotel one day, and I was going downstairs, and it opened sideways into the kitchen. She comes out in this little chef's outfit with her little black-and-white pants and her hair pulled back. I said, "What are you doing? Surely, they're paying you more than that. You don't have to work in the kitchen while you're doing this movie, do you?" She laughed and she said, no, that she was working with the chef. She and the chef from the hotel were coming up with this great pancake recipe because she's supposed to be this great pancake-maker. She said on "Chocolat" she also designed individual chocolate things for the whole cast. She's so approachable and so down-to-earth.
That must have been sad when the film wrapped and you didn't get her pancakes anymore.
After the movie was over, I had a little trouble with my arm, a little stiffness. I got a package from her, and it was this little thing she had made with these two tennis balls inside a sock. There were instructions on how to put it behind my spine and how to roll on it to get relief from the back pain and the arm pain -- and also her pancake recipe! She was just so sweet.
It's always good to hear that the actors you like are likable in real life instead of flouncing around the set.
Oh, I am, too. I had an experience with that the other day. I'm not going to mention any names, but somebody at rehearsal was saying he saw so-and-so in a movie and how great she was. I had made a movie [with this actress], and I would shovel [expletive] in hell before I would ever make another one with her. But I wouldn't say [her name] because I wouldn't want to spoil somebody's picture they have of her. But you just never know what you're going to get.
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