[ Printed Articles ] [ Television Interviews ] [ Internet Chats ] [ Bits & Pieces ] [ Personal Appearances ] [ Miscellaneous ]
	Printed Articles & Interviews Times-Colonist June 6, 2006

Actor glad for break from films with beastly co-stars by Michael D. Reid Times - Colonist (Victoria)

Bruce Greenwood (left) and Chad Oakes, producer of The Mermaid Chair are close to finish of Island shoot. Chris Large, photo

It's not that he has anything against them, but Bruce Greenwood has had his fill of acting with animals.

"I'm trying to work with people now -- people who talk back," jokes Greenwood, who has been doing just that while here to shoot The Mermaid Chair, the made-for-TV movie based on Sue Monk Kidd's bestseller.

"I want to work with characters that don't have a trainer over your shoulder waving a hot dog at them."

In the past year, the Quebec-born actor has worked with animals in three movies.

He played a rugged Kentucky horse trainer in a comedy about a plucky zebra that thinks it's a racehorse (Racing Stripes); a geologist who relies upon Siberian huskies and malamutes in Antarctica (Eight Below); and a fire chief in a comedy (Firehouse Dog) about Rexx, a canine movie star adopted by a firehouse.

No wonder he's thrilled to be playing the husband of Kim Basinger's character in the Lifetime original movie about a married woman's midlife self-awakening.

"It's particularly nice because of Kim," says Greenwood, 49, clad in a white T-shirt and jeans.

"From the moment I met her we got along, but more than that, as soon as the camera's rolling she's really available and open as an actor. It's a great feeling to play with somebody who's right there."

Greenwood, who calls Vancouver home, even though he has lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, is no stranger to Victoria. He participated in both Courtnall Celebrity Classic fundraising golf tournaments to help improve emergency mental health services through the Greater Victoria Hospital Foundation's $17-million Together We Care Campaign.

"I love Victoria," he says during a stroll down a sun-dappled street in Vic West. "I love the old architecture, the downtown core. It's small and evocative and there's water everywhere."

Flashing a wide grin, he adds: "I waited too long to buy a house here. I guess it's out of reach now."

After finishing a key scene, Greenwood's two-week visit to Victoria will be over. In an hour, cast and crew he has entertained by playing blues guitar off-camera will respond to news he has "wrapped" with cheers and applause.

Greenwood, best known for his roles as JFK in Thirteen Days, a scheming husband in Double Jeopardy, a sinister CEO in I, Robot and Jack Dunphy, the writer and Truman Capote's companion in Capote, says he's happy playing a nice guy again.

"He's a very decent guy, which is nice because I don't often play guys who are like they appear to be." He says he was attracted to The Mermaid Chair because it's so character-driven, is based on a great book and has multiple themes and more levels than most television movies.

Doing The Mermaid Chair has been a calming change of pace -- and geography -- from making Tony Scott's New Orleans-set sci-fi thriller Deja Vu with Denzel Washington and Jim Caviezel. It was the first movie filmed there since Hurricane Katrina.

"It's something else down there, man," Greenwood says.

"It's numbing, the devastation. Canal Street is all boarded up and there's practically tumbleweeds blowing down the streets."