Bruce Greenwood was 7 years old in 1962, when for 13 days in October the Cuban missile crisis threatened to plunge the world into nuclear war."We lived in Bethesda, Md., just outside Washington," the 44-year-old actor recalled during a recent telephone interview. "I remember air raid drills at school, running down stairs and ducking under desks. But I don't recall being afraid. In fact, I remember feeling completely secure because I had a whole bag of new crayons."
Now Greenwood is getting rave reviews for his portrayal of President John F. Kennedy in the new film "Thirteen Days," a re-creation of the missile crisis. Most critics share the opinion of The Dallas Morning News' Philip Wuntch, who writes that Greenwood "captures the chief executive's physical mannerisms and vocal cadences to a perfect extent and offers a touching study of an authoritative leader of conscience and conviction."
Greenwood became a familiar face when he joined the cast of TV's "St. Elsewhere" for two years in the late '80s, then went on to star in mainstream American films ("Rules of Engagement," "Double Jeopardy") as well as the work of Canadian art-house director Atom Egoyan ("The Sweet Hereafter," "Exotica").
The problem with playing a well-known historic figure -- especially one whose face, features, gestures and voice have been captured on film -- is that audiences will always compare an actor's performance to the real thing.
The other obstacle, Greenwood said, is finding a way to deliver a genuine performance instead of just an impersonation.
"What did it for me was voluminous reading," said the actor, who spent his teen years in Canada and now resides in Los Angeles with his wife. "I mean, horse choking stacks of literature. Watching untold hours of file footage. And when I was too tired to do that, I'd just lie in bed listening to tapes of JFK's speeches.
"And when I became so completely saturated with all this archival information that I thought I could hardly absorb one more bit, I figured it was time to just turn it all over to instinct."
While he's happy with the praise his performance has garnered, Greenwood admitted that "I never felt I nailed him. JFK's just too big, too difficult to be realized by any actor. At the end of shooting I didn't want it to be over: I felt like I'd just begun to explore him. I wish it could have been a six-hour movie, and we had two years to work on it.
"I really admire the guy, and his refusal to give in when, during the missile crisis, the generals said we had to invade Cuba. Within that 13-day period it almost defies belief how many times we came to the edge of the abyss. If this particular group of young men had not presided over this period of history, my precious crayons would have been vaporized."
One subtle aspect of Greenwood's performance is the suggestion that JFK was usually in excruciating pain from a wartime back injury.
"I read that he spent every lunch hour in the pool taking the weight off his back," he said. "I think it must have hurt. ... In lots of the footage of him his gait suggests a rigidity. He often wore a back brace.
"I thought that maybe behind closed doors, when he's really busy, he doesn't bother to conceal that pain. He doesn't whine about it, but you can sense he's a guy who's not about to go bounding up the stairs."
Greenwood was particularly impressed by the screenplay's concentration on facts.
"The script's approach was not to describe people's innermost thoughts but rather to show what they'd done and what they'd said. ... That gives you plenty of emotional information and enough heart-pounding, nail-biting story points to really hang a good film on."
Although star Kevin Costner, who plays one of JFK's aides, gets top billing in "Thirteen Days," the atmosphere on the set was not that of a star-driven project.
"Credit goes to Kevin for that. When he walks in, there's a zone around a big star like that. He knows it's there, and he made great efforts the first couple of weeks to dispel that. The result was a very happy set and a film with a true ensemble feel. Kevin loves ideas and doesn't care where they come from, so everyone was allowed to make suggestions.
"So whatever my expectations were going into this project, they were far exceeded by the experience itself."
Thirteen Days
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