There's no slowing down for Dennis Quaid. / Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Footloose: Remake of the iconic 1980s hit Footloose stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, and Dennis Quaid.
Quaid on Quaid: His fave 5 flicks
1. The Right Stuff (1983): “I was playing an astronaut; I got my pilot’s license to learn to fly; Chuck Yeager [the famous test pilot] was on the set everyday. That was quite a time.”
2. The Big Easy, (1986): Quaid and Kathleen Turner steam up this classic romantic thriller. “I have an affinity for [New Orleans].”
3. The Rookie (2002): Quaid drews raves for this feel-good baseball story.
4. Everybody’s All-American (1988): Another sports flick, another audience fave.
5. The Parent Trap (1998) “believe it or not because it made me king of the carpool line.”
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For Dennis Quaid, who plays the preacher-dad in the remake of the iconic 1980s hit Footloose opening next weekend, aging gracefully means hightailing it out of Hollywood.
The actor recently moved his brood, including soon-to-be 4-year-old twins, Zoe and Thomas, wife Kimberly and his mother, from Los Angeles back to his home state, Texas.
We asked Quaid, 57, about his Lone Star move, his marriage, his life with toddler twins and how he keeps those abs.
Q: In addition to the twins, you've got a 19-year-old son [Jack, with ex-wife Meg Ryan]. Is parenting different the second time around?
“[It’s] a little easier because you know what’s coming. But having two is definitely a challenge.”
Q: What's the biggest challenge about parenting?
“Sometimes you feel like you can’t have a thought to yourself. But kids wind up teaching you patience.”
Q: As newborns, your twins had a traumatic accidental drug overdose at the hospital. How are they now?
“We had a happy ending, thank God. They have no lasting effects. They dodged a bullet. It was the scariest moment of my wife’s and my life.”
Q: Is the third time the charm, as they say, as far as marriage goes?
“Well it’s been charming, put it that way. I feel like I have a real partner in life and feel she’s the love of my life.”
Q: Why the move to Austin?
“I’m from [Houston], my wife is from Austin. My little brother Buddy lives here. I wanted [the kids] to grow up knowing their family. I don’t need to live in L.A. at this point. It’s mostly about the phone calls.”
Q: Are you able to have a relationship with your brother, actor Randy? I keep reading about his legal troubles.
“I love my brother very much. I miss my brother very much. That’s all that I really care to say.”
Q. Have you made any concessions to aging?
“I had Lasik [eye] surgery. I do feel a little soreness that I didn’t have in my 30s. The yoga and Advil help.”
Q: A lot of women still consider you a sex symbol.
“I never thought of myself like that.”
Q: It's been many years since you've become clean and sober. Is it still a struggle?
“I’m 21 years away from my last encounter with cocaine. For about four years it was tough. It fried my body and my nervous system. I can’t imagine going back to that, and that’s a blessing.”
Q: You've got a long list of movies coming up. So no slowing down?
“I have more fire in my belly about acting than I did when I was in my 20s.”
Q: Why is that?
“Maybe I’ve learned to appreciate it more.”
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