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A newcomer to the late night talk show circuit, Bruce Greenwood was reasonably comfortable with Mike Bullard, the host of this Canadian version of The Tonight Show, talking almost exclusively about his performance as JFK in Thirteen Days. He also complimented the band, bantered with Bullard (who seemed to be a genuine fan), and even agreed to come back after he's a big star.
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Introduction: MB: Ladies and gentlemen, our next guest stars as President John F. Kennedy in the new film Thirteen Days and take it from me it's one of the finest performances I've seen this year. It also involves the dramatic telling of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Please, welcome Bruce Greenwood!
The Interview: MB: Very nice to meet you, Bruce. I've been a fan for a long time and I've gotta tell you that was a stellar performance in this fillm - a stellar performance.
BG: Thank you, thank you very much.
MB: Must have been intimidating as hell.
BG: [pointing to the band] You guys are great. Yeah.
MB: You really are a hell of an actor.
BG: Wow! [dryly] So, this is your last day on the show?
MB: Yeah, my last day. This is it for me. Now, was there a moment of trepidation involved in taking such a loaded role?
BG: Oh no; oh no; no
MB: No? C'mon! John F. Kennedy?
BG: You kidding me, man? Yeah! That kind of thing kept me awake at night. A little bit, yeah.
MB: How much research would be involved? Did they allow you access to the White House files?
BG: That's funny. The Official Secret's Act doesn't apply to actors. Yeah, yeah, so we had the full run.
MB: So you got it all!
BG: No, I just read a stack of books, watched tape and listened to tape.
MB: Did you read "Wreckless Youth", the story of Kennedy from birth to World War II?
BG: No.
MB: Great book. You should have read that one. It's good.
BG: [looking at the audience with disdain] You, know. Literally, I've got a library like this [holds hand up over his head] and he goes, "Hey, did you read?" Ah...no! [shoots himself with an imaginary gun to the head]
MB: I had to bring up the book you missed, huh? Now, how on earth did you nail the nuances? Because it was absolutely incredible. You didn't do a caricature. So many people I've seen -- Martin Sheen's a fine, fine actor. I remember the mini series in the early 80s.
BG: Missiles of October, yeah.
MB: And he certainly did nail a great impersonation of Kennedy, but with you there were so many subtle nuances. You picked up the back pain and everything.
BG: He did Bobby Kennedy actually.
MB: Oh, did he do Bobby?
BG: Yeah, yeah. Bill Devane did --
MB: [interrupting] Well, there you go! I didn't think he played a good JFK at all!
BG: [over laughter] All right! So, are we even? You know?
MB: We're even now. Yeah. Yeah. But how did you nail it? How did you nail it?
BG: Just tons of research. And then lying in bed at night listening to the tapes and wake up in the morning and watch the film and just kind of let instinct take over, I guess.
MB: This film takes place in a very contentious time.
BG: Yeah. Yeah.
MB: And we have a clip here tonight and I won't ask you to set it up. We'll take it as sort of self explanatory. But it's Kennedy involved in a discussion with one of the military men during the crisis. So take a look at this.
BG: OK
Clip Shown: I am the Commander-in-Chief MB: Now during the period it was a very tense time throughout the world. We all know the story now. I certainly don't want to give away the ending of the film.
BG: [big laugh]
MB: Not a lot of tension in that regard, really. There were some events that took place in this film that were not public knowledge prior to this film being made. Were there some things they, ah...?
BG: No, we really.... Most people know the beginning and the end, but they don't know the story. The tag line about "You'll never believe how close we came," well, you'll never believe how many times we came [sweeps hand and makes sound effect] right to the edge, you know?
MB: Yeah. It's frightening.
BG: A lot of people don't know that a U2 was shot down with its pilot. It's full of info like that.
MB: That was a very interesting scene, because we had some arguments about that. There's a scene in the film - of course, we all know now the U2 was shot down. In my view Kennedy came off as rather weak when that happened and some people here viewed it as a great strength on his part not giving into the military. How did you feel about it? Because his father was known as an appeaser which put extra pressure on him.
BG: Yeah. His father had some trouble in Munich. And......I think that's what's incredible about these men in this period that they exercised the strength not to fight. There's lots of movies in Hollywood about men fighting, but there's not a lot of movies made about men trying NOT to fight.
MB: [interrupting] Yeah, knowing when to say...hey, no...
BG: [over Bullard] You know, the courage not to fight. As cliché as that may sound -- really -- the courage not to fight is -- [gropes for words] -- you know? [puts his hand across his chest] Sorry. Reducing it there....
MB: That's OK. The camera was locked down. Don't worry about it.
BG: Super
MB: Now, Kevin Costner produces the film.
BG: Yeah.
MB: Kevin Costner did not take on the role of JFK. Why's that?
BG: Oh, I think, because....already there's an icon there -- JFK -- and to have a big star in front of that -- You gotta go through one icon to get to another and it might be hard to forget that it's Kevin, you know. And there'd be a lot of people just focusing on, "Ah, does Kevin pull off JFK?" And we wanted to get into the story.
MB: As the producer, was he heavily involved in the day to day production?
BG: Yeah. There's all kinds -- I suppose there's all kinds of stories. But he was great! He was really collaborative, inclusive and he was there every day and kept it moving.
MB: Did you come away from the film as a fan of Kennedy or did you realize he was a man, warts and all?
BG: Yes and yes.
MB: Yeah?
BG: Yeah, sure.
MB: I've gotta tell ya, I've seen a lot of videotape of him over the years and it was absolutely amazing to me. And it wasn't done with make up! You picked it up as an actor. You picked it ALL up as an actor. They didn't puff you out at all. They didn't try to make you look like him. They didn't put any prosthetics in your mouth.
BG: There was a board in the make-up trailer of ears and noses.
MB: Really?
BG: Yeah. Some of the guys -- like the guy who wanted to play Johnson, he'd come in in the morning and get his nose. [lots of laughter] And other guys would come in and plop the ears on. And I had a little sort of chipmunk's tail of hair that they'd glue onto my forehead. We all got our little pieces.
MB: Well, you did. You nailed it dead on.
BG: Oh, thanks.
MB: Because at the end of the film I found myself screaming out, "Don't go to Dallas!"
BG: [looks at the audience, shakes his head and points back at Mike]
MB: It was absolutely incredible. Because you're playing him just a year before the man was shot. And that's got to be pretty weighty, as well.....And, by the way, I also enjoyed your work in The Sweet Hereafter
BG: Oh, thanks.
MB: And in Exotica
BG: Thanks
MB: I enjoyed you in Exotica. I think after this one comes out you're gonna be a big star.
BG: [looks at audience and raises his eyebrows]
MB: OR, you'll only be asked to play Kennedy. I don't know which. It's gonna be one or the other.
BG: Good work if you can get it.
MB: I really do. I'm an admirer of your work and I think this is really gonna put you on top.
BG: Well thanks, I hope so.
MB: All right, all right. Anything you wanna ask me?
BG: [feigning boredom] No, no, not really. [then getting excited] No, man, no!
MB: If you become a big star, if you become a big star, will you come back?
BG: Oh, [snaps fingers] In a heartbeat.
MB: Will you do it the same way you did it today? Get here on your own steam? Or are we gonna have to send a car?
BG: No, I'll just hang out till you call me. I'll be right downstairs.
MB: That'll be good. I want to thank you very much, Bruce. Good luck on the film.
Thirteen Days
Television Interviews
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