Steve: I don’t know what’s more implausible, a film about a man who builds a rocketship in his barn, or talking to two of our favorite actors about the movie.
Andrea: Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen were in Seattle this week promoting their new film, “The Astronaut Farmer,” in which Thornton plays a former pilot who is forced to quit the astronaut training program in order to save the family farm. He doesn’t give up on his dream of reaching outer space, however; over the course of years — and with the support of his wife, Audie — played by Madsen — and three children, Farmer builds his own spacecraft.
Steve: It’s a very sweet, inspirational film, more about family than anything else. We wound up talking about family, and life in general, with the two actors. They have three intriguing things in common — they’re both parents, they’re both extremely well-grounded people, and their careers each went into orbit after they turned 40.
Andrea: Because of some of his onscreen personas, some people might think of Thornton as a grizzled eccentric with a mean streak. He may be a little eccentric, but he’s a sweetheart, a genuinely nice guy.
“My simple pleasure is playing with my daughter, who is two and a half,” he said. “I love watching “Kipper” with her, we have the DVDs… Honest to God, I’m a TV junkie. I got a massage chair from my girlfriend for my birthday. I can sit in that chair all day; I’ll watch TV Land, “King of the Hill”… “Family Guy” is my favorite.”
Steve: Madsen is also very down-to-earth. What you saw in “Sideways” is pretty much what you get, face to face. She achieved more for the wine industry with that one performance than the Gallo Brothers did in their entire lifetimes.
Andrea: She is a beautiful woman — at 45, she looks 15 years younger than she actually is.
Steve: When you brought up the subject of good roles for women over 40, we were both surprised by her answer.
Andrea: Definitely. She said, “We always have meatier roles, because we’re playing women with some density — mothers and so on. The 20-somethings have the abundance of work, but it was deeply frustrating for me — and for other actresses at that age — because (young women) are hardly ever depicted in a realistic way, in a three-dimensional way. In my case, I’m having the best career ever, after 40. Things have changed a lot.
“Now, 50… I don’t know, that’s still a gray area for women,” Madsen continued. “We were talking about Joan Allen the other day, one of my favorite actresses. Because she’s this magical number that has a ‘5’ in front of it, where does she go? She’s not yet considered ‘grandma,’ but she’s not considered to be in my category. I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.”
Steve: The character of Charles Farmer seemed like a departure for Thornton, in the sense that some of his past roles have placed him in adversarial relationships with children. But the actor/director/ screenwriter/musician pointed out the fact that he’s made a career out of surprising audiences.
“Think about the movies I’ve done with children — in “Sling Blade,” I was the kid’s savior; in “Bad Santa,” I was the kid’s savior; and in “Bad News Bears,” I brought them home a championship. I like playing characters who, on the surface, look like the guy who doesn’t know anything or who’s crazy, but in the end, is the one guy who knew what he was talking about.”
He agreed that the “Astronaut Farmer” was a bit of a different approach for him.
“In the story, the whole family had this one vision, they believed all along. I mean, Audie and Shepard (the Farmers’ son) are the ones who tell me I can’t give up, after I’ve given up. I like working with kids. They give you a lot of energy, they remind you of how you were excited the first time you were on the set.”
Andrea: Madsen agreed, adding, “The kids in this movie were playing make believe — when children really get into (their roles), they start really believing. They got pretty emotional when they said goodbye to (Charles Farmer); it was like they were really saying goodbye to Billy Bob. There was another scene when Billy Bob was up in space and we were in Mission Control, and we can’t hear him and we don’t know where he is. At this point we had been filming for a month; the girls had really gotten into it at this point. It made it so real for me — I was right there playing make believe with them, and it was so fun!”
Steve: My favorite part of the interview was when Thornton, in his Arkansas semi-drawl, recalled his struggles before “Sling Blade,” and how that made him a public figure.
“Once you get nominated for an Academy Award — and Virginia can tell you this — it’s like you get a new credit card with no limit, or something,” he explained. “But you’re not any different as an actor than you were before you went to the Oscars.
“My attitude hasn’t changed that much. I guess I’ve learned to be a movie star and still be an actor. There’s a difference. You can’t let the movie star bit affect your acting. I became a movie star by playing a character, an extreme character. When I started playing a ‘leading man,’ these thoughts started creeping in — that I have to be a certain way, that I have to make sure I look good all the time. You have to fight that.”
Andrea: Thornton and Madsen were probably the best “Hollywood” interviews we’ve done — and not because of their fame. They were genuinely engaged in our conversation; we might as well have been on our back porch. I think we were spoiled.
Steve: You’re right — it can’t get much better than that.
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