The official Thirteen Days press kit is very large, so only those sections dealing specifically with Bruce Greenwood will be found here. The glossies are all black & white, though color slides are also provided.

RECREATING THE KENNEDYS:
BRUCE GREENWOOD AND STEPHEN CULP

Few true-life 20th Century personalities have created as deep and enduring a public image as John F. Kennedy. His life, has been analyzed, scrutinized and interpreted to a greater degree than almost any other contemporary President - forging indelible images and impressions in the public mind. Yet for Thirteen Days, the filmmakers wanted to present a fresh look at Kennedy - a look at the President in action during his most challenging moment, in the midst of making some of his most private and vital decisions, knowing that whatever course he took could spark a nuclear conflagration.

To capture the contemplative side of Kennedy, the filmmakers cast Bruce Greenwood, who won the role the moment he stepped into the audition. "When Bruce came in it was one of those cases of someone just being perfect and the search ending," says Peter Almond. "He brought a real distinction to the man, a real sense of Kennedy's complexity, his brilliance, his physical limitations dating back to his war injury. His is a very complicated characterization that goes to a new level of interpretation."

To get into the demanding role, Greenwood tackled ceiling-high piles of biographies and watched hour after hour of filmed appearances. Even in the car, he listened to audiotapes of Kennedy. His research about the Cuban Missile Crisis sometimes surprised him. "What shocked me is how close we actually came to the end of the world," he notes. "That really resonated for me. You had a President who did not fully trust his military advisers and that lack of confidence in them may ironically have been the key to the successful resolution to the crisis. Kennedy initailly wanted to bomb Cuba, and his military advisers were aggressively advocating a massive air strike, but after the Bay of Pigs, he couldn't stomach another disastrous misstep. He listened to everyone, from his most trusted counselors, including of course his brother, to the Generals who were beating a path towards war. At the end of the day, one guy had to make a choice based on all of these highly informed and vehemently held opinions. And it could have gone either way."

Greenwood also found much to admire in Kennedy's handling of the crisis. "I really liked his open-mindedness, his willingness to learn from other people," he says. "He created an atmosphere in which people were encouraged to be themselves, to truly speak their minds, to not be intimidated by the office he held. That atmosphere is what allows for such a great human story to be told."

That atmosphere is also what allowed such a close relationship to develop between Kennedy and advisers such as Kenny O'Donnell. Director Roger Donaldson was pleased with the way Greenwood brought that to the fore, especially in scenes with Keviin Costner. "One thing that Bruce really brings to the part is a very strong presence that can't be upstaged by a star like Kevin Costner. You see them as being entirely on equal ground as President and trusted aide," he comments.

Another relationship Greenwood explored was that between JFK and his brother Bobby, an intimate multi-level relationsip unlike any other that has ever been seen in the White House. "To me it was a great relationship, complicated, competitive, slightly adversarial even, with them poking fun at each other whenever possible," observes Greenwood. "With their two very different styles they complemented each other and strengthened each other."

Playing Robert F. Kennedy is Stephen Culp, who also went on an extensive journey into history to play the role. For months, Culp and Greenwood maintained a running phone conversation in which each would call the other with new research and discoveries about the Kennedys, and in which they worked on developing a natural-sounding, brotherly conversationsal style. Culp, like Greenwood, was attracted to the notion of getting at the more human side of a mythic icon. "The Kennedys have become such gigantic figures, but in playing this role, I saw that Bobby Kennedy was a real person. He brought not just his political opinions to the table, but a real sense of affection, admiration and ability to be brutally honest with his brother," says Culp.

In his readings, Culp felt there was ample evidence that the Cuban Missile Crisis was a real turning point for Bobby Kennedy, who was to become a politician noted for his capacity to take unusual and creative points of view. "This is a story about a group of gifted young men who were in a stiuation where they had to become better than they ever imagined being. They had to work together to find a solution to a tremendous problem - and there's something inspiring about that, about human beings attaining their highest potential in a time of crisis."

"During his audition, Stephen read a real speech that RFK made and suddenly this character just came alive," recalls Roger Donaldson. "He was Robert Kennedy from that point on. He put an enormous effort into the role, even sculpting his body to make it look more like Bobby Kennedy."

Donaldson continues: "The real challenge for both Stephen and Bruce was to not in any way become caricatures but at the same time to evoke the memory of these two men, the essence of the spirit they brought to the maneuverings that ended the crisis."

ABOUT THE CAST

Bruce Greenwood (John F. Kennedy)

Bruce Greenwood, who plays President John F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days, most recently captured national attention in two very different roles: as the mysterious Nick Parsons/Simon Ryder/Jonathan Devereaux in the hit thriller Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones, and as the grieving father of two children killed in a bus accident in Atom Egoyan's acclaimed and searing drama The Sweet Hereafter, for which he received a Genie Award nomination. Among his recent projects have also been Rules of Engagement, again with Tommy Lee Jones, and Egoyan's Exotica, Thick as Thieves with Alec Baldwin, Chris Menges' The Lost Son with Damiel Auteuil and Nastassja Kinski and Here on Earth opposite Chris Klein and Josh Hartnett.

Among Greenwood's television credits are UPN's short-lived but critically favored series "Nowhere Man" and longforms "The Companion" and "Summer Dreams: the Story of the Beach Boys," in which he starred as the tragic Dennis Wilson. Having completed work on the upcoming "It's a Girl Thing" with Kate Capshaw, Stockard Channing, Rebecca De Mornay and Mia Farrow, Greenwood is currently starring in a new longform production of Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons."