Hanging Out (and Talking) 'Tough' with Stephen Baldwin

STEPHEN BALDWIN

from One Tough Cop

Now playing

Who has starred opposite Cindy Crawford, married Kim Basinger and played a man pining for the affection of Lara Flynn Boyle? The answer--a Baldwin brother! Though the first two mighty accomplishments must be credited to older brothers William and Alec respectively, youngest member of the clan Stephen has had his share of successes--including starring with Boyle in the love-triangle movie Threesome. A jack-of-all-genres, Stephen has played a rider with the Pony Express on TV's Young Riders, an unwitting biosphere resident in the comedy Bio-Dome, and now a crimesolving New York City cop. In his new movie One Tough Cop, Stephen portrays Bo Dietl, a former NYPD officer who apprehended the men who viciously assaulted a New York City nun in 1981. Attired in slick black clothes and with even slicker hair, Stephen looked like a tough cop as he talked about his newest movie, and being one of the stars in the Baldwin constellation.

Q: What attracted you to the role of Bo Dietl in One Tough Cop?

Stephen Baldwin: I think it was the opportunity to be a part of one of those old-school, hard-core, New York City cop movies that they used to make but they don't make anymore; you know, in the vein of Serpico.

Q: Did you spend a great deal of time with actual police officers inpreparation for the role?

SB: No, not really. Actually, because of [producer Martin Bregman's] persistence of the fact that we were just fictionally telling a story about someone who really existed and [his] true-to-life experiences, everything you see in the movie happened, just names and places and sequences and realities, literally, have been altered. By no means would I want to try to do an imitation of Bo Dietl for the movie. So I was able to create for myself a lot of the character based on my vision. I spent a lot of time with Bo and talked to him about his life, about his methods and about his philosophies, and then incorporated what I wanted. To me, what was most important was capturing his spirit more than anything else, and perhaps his integrity and his honesty and his sensitivity and things like that; not necessarily the way he walked and the way he talked, although a lot of that was very similar.

Q: The real Bo Dietl had to approve you for the role of himself. What do you think convinced him that you were the right choice?

SB: I threatened him! No, I'm kidding. Actually, I'm not. I went up to Bo and I said, "Look, you know, I'm the guy to play this part and if you don't see that you're an idiot." That's literally what I said to him. I thought it might be kind of interesting to challenge him in that way, just to see how he'd react, and if I didn't get the part I guess that wasn't a good idea. But I think that Bo kind of saw a lot of himself in that remark, and it worked out pretty good.

Q: Why did you gain 35 pounds for the role?

SB: [I] Wanted to--any excuse to eat three plates of greasy Chinese food before bed, you know. The coolest thing about playing this part was, you know, I never envisioned myself--I'm the youngest of six, and my brother Danny is a big guy and, you know; my brothers always kicked my ass so, you know, at 200 pounds, when dudes would get out of my way, that was pretty cool, you know what I mean? The fact that I looked and felt like I could knock somebody out was kind of cool, when in reality I'm just a total wuss.

Q: What do you think of the finished product--One Tough Cop?

SB: Everybody was just really into the movie, and the final end result--I'm blown away by. It's the best movie I've done to date with the cast we had and the 28 days we had to shoot it and the $4 million we had to make it. This character is something that I can relate to. I knew guys like this growing up, and this character was pretty much dormant inside of me.

Q: Speaking of small budgets--do you prefer working in independent film projects or more mainstream productions?

SB: Well, I think there are those mainstream studio pictures that have good intentions. The people that are making them that have those good intentions are in the minority--in the tremendous minority. I find that the very guerrilla-like warfare tactics one has to utilize to make independent films, as well as the artistic and creative freedom that you usually have, more of is more challenging and interesting. But not all the time--a lot of the time you set out with good intentions in independent film-making, and your mast snaps, you know, and a whale pokes a hole in the side of your hull, and [there are] only two life boats and 500 people. I choose to stand on the highest point of the mast and hope for the best.

Q: Do you remember the actual events involving Bo Dietl and the crime he solved that inspired the movie?

SB: No, but I'm from Long Island, which is like its own country. And we were there just playing baseball and doing the "Brady Bunch" thing.

Q. You have worked in support of AIDS organizations in the past. What is your latest philanthropic endeavor?

SB: Well, the AIDS thing is something that I did for about 6 or 7 years, and now I'm not doing any more. But now I live back in New York, and my mother's breast cancer foundation is there, so I've kind of, again, logistically and geographically moved my philanthropic endeavors to that cause. Also, for the fact that now I'm back in New York [sic], my mother said, "I'll kick your ass if you don't do what I tell you." I just had a huge celebrity golf tournament for my mom--we raised $400,000 for her breast cancer foundation.

Q: Mother Baldwin is the matriarch of a pretty famous group of kids. Do you think you Baldwin brothers have a deserved reputation for being bad boys?

SB: I don't know--I think we have a pretty good rep. I think we could have kicked a lot more ass than we have, but I'm very different [from] my other siblings. I lead a much personal, quieter, life style than they do. I'm not married to a celebrity or anything like that, and I don't live in New York or Los Angeles. I live outside those major cities.

Q: Do people ever confuse you with your brothers?

SB: [sarcastically] Oh sure, I've been great in Sliver and Backdraft and The Hunt for Red October.

Q: You're working on a new film--Friends and Lovers. What will it be like?

SB: It's a hoot. It's a raunchy, modern Big Chill--leaning more towards raunchy. I don't know why it turned out that way with myself and [Robert Downey Jr.], but you know.

Q: I know. What do you feel is the most rewarding thing about being an actor?

SB: Well, I just think my ability to live the fantasy that is my pursuit of artistic pleasure. I'm just a big kid, and for me to sit and watch my daughter hold a spoon and wave it around and sit for ninety minutes believing that it's a kite flying in the sky is the same thing as me reading One Tough Cop and saying, "Geez, you know, if I gain 30 pounds, and talk like this, and if she can convince herself of that and enjoy that and I can convince myself of that and enjoy it, it's the same thing, really." It's the ability to express my child-like imagination that is the most fun for me.

Q: So what's going on in that imagination of yours these days?

SB: I'd like to slap Monica Lewinsky, and Ken Starr, for that matter, but I don't think that day will come. It'd be a short film--a great idea for a short film. Find a Monica Lewinsky look-alike--just go "Hi," just do like a real kind of guerrilla, documentary kind of thing: "Hey, what's your name?" "Monica." "Oh, you look awfully familiar." [Emits punching noises.] "Ahhh!" That wouldn't be nice.