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I just got off the horn with one of my favorite character actors Bruce Greenwood. If you don't know his name, you know his face. Dude's been in everything. And he's usually playing the President or the head of the CIA or something. (Unless it is an Atom Egoyan film, in which case he plays a pedophile.) We're most excited, though, as he recently wrapped production on a little picture called Star Trek where he plays the pre-Kirk captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike. If you are only a middling Trekkie, that's the dude with the burned-off face.
In our interview Greenwood talks about the hilarious security measures taken on Trek, about his new DVD Cyborg Soldier with UFC champ Rich Franklin and about being a classic entertainment "That Guy."
Trekkie's note: Greenwood does confirm a possible break with Trek canon with his disclosure of working a great deal with the new Captain Kirk Chris Pine. On the episode The Menagerie Part I, when Kirk is asked if he ever met Chris Pike, he responds simply "We met when he was promoted to Fleet Captain." From Greenwood's response, it sounds like more than a quick meeting took place. But you tell me.
UGO: Hi, Bruce. It's funny, I look you up on the IMDB, and as a constantly working actor, you have right now 94 credits, you're only six away from becoming a centurion!
Bruce Greenwood: Wow.
UGO: Are you excited about it, are you gonna do a little celebration when you get six more?
BG: Yeah, I should look seriously into retirement.
UGO: And I'm sure there's some things that've slipped through the cracks as well.
BG: Sure. There's great deal of under-the-radar stuff that can't be mentioned.
UGO: I'll ask about that later I suppose.
Now Bruce, you are one of those fantastic character actors that is everybody knows. You've been in 94 projects, as I said. What's the funniest thing that anybody ever approached you in public with?
BG: Well, I was walking down the street in Cannes, and I had a movie there for the first time, it was a movie called Exotica.
UGO: Great flick.
BG: And, this guy comes up to me: 'Oh, you are Dennis Quaid!' And I go, 'Oh no, no I'm not.' Well, first he goes, 'Can I take your picture?' And I thought to myself, 'Wow. Here I am in Cannes, and somebody wants to take my picture.' That's so cool. So he takes my picture then he says, '...You sign your picture?' And I thought to myself, how can I sign it? We just took it. And he whips out this 8X10 of Dennis Quaid. And, I go, 'I'm not Dennis, I'm somebody else.' And he goes, 'No, you are Dennis Quaid!' 'Yes, you are, you are Dennis Quaid!' And finally I said, 'I am! I'll sign it!'
UGO: I just like that there's this Frenchman running around with a picture of Dennis Quaid in his pocket at all times. That to me is a lovely thing.
So, you mentioned Exotica, which is a fabulous film, and you've worked with Atom Egoyan quite a bit (Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat.) Can you tell me about your working relationship with him?
BG: Well, he's very easy going, and he calls me and says that he's got a couple of roles going in this movie, and would I like to take a look at it and do it? And, in fact he asked me to do a movie last year that I wasn't available for. But, he's just a tremendously interesting guy, who has an incredible visual vocabulary and he's got a kind of different take on looking at relationships. He's not a stock story teller by any means. He's pretty fun.
UGO: Is there a Canadian-solidarity between the two?
BG: Yes, oh yes. There's a very Canadian thing that can't be divined by anybody south of the 49th. There's not much point talking about it, because you wouldn't understand.
UGO: Yes, I wouldn't understand. It involves poutine, that's all I know.
BG: Yeah, yeah. Poutine and kayaks.
UGO: So you've got a new picture out called Cyborg Soldier, in which you worked with Rich Franklin, the UFC champ. Had you seen this guy kick ass?
BG: Oh yeah, I'd seen him fight. Sure.
UGO: In person?
BG: No, I've never been to a UFC bout.
UGO: But you saw the tapes and you said, 'I wanna hang out with this dude.'
BG: It wasn't so much that as it was I read the script and thought that 'Oh, this is actually kind of camp. You know, maybe if I chew the scenery maybe I can do OK.' And I talked to the director, and he was less interested in the campiness of it than I was, but he seemed to be somewhat open to the idea. So I thought I'd take a chance and go do it.
UGO: So you had a great time working on Cyborg Solider?
BG: Yeah, it was fun. (resignation)
UGO: Did Rich Franklin ever take you aside and teach you some MMA moves?
BG: Yeah, he didn't show me so many moves, because I was basically afraid of getting hurt. Even if he showed me how to button his shirt, he's an animal. But you know, if you interview him (we did), you can tell him he's welcome to come and play chess again and get another beating any time he wants.
UGO: That's awesome. You know, it's funny, looking at your history, you are very frequently playing the President - fictional Presidents and of course Kennedy in Thirteen Days. . .
BG: Yeah, a lot of world leaders.
UGO: Yeah. What is it about you that makes people think, this is a man of leadership? Is that true? Are you a natural born leader?
BG: I think perhaps they look at the people who really are in those positions that may have brought us to the place in which we find ourselves today and think, 'Oh well here's a person who seems equally vapid, and inconsequential.'
UGO: Oh, come now, Bruce......Well, there's a role that you've recently wrapped, another great leader, not of our time, but of the future, and this of course is Captain Christopher Pike, who is a captain of The Enterprise prior to Kirk. (Not the first captain of course, there were others in between.) Can you tell us a little about your role as Captain Pike, on Star Trek?
BG: Well, I'm literally sworn to secrecy in many ways. So I can't give you any story points at all.
UGO: But you did work with Chris Pine on some of the scenes, correct?
BG: Oh, yeah. I worked with all the kids. I think, I don't know, but it felt to me on set, particularly with the vibe that JJ creates on set, that it's going to come off really well. I mean Chris is fantastic, Zack [Quinto] is really, really good. I think they made really wise choices in the cast. And JJ, of course, is force of nature.
UGO: Had you seen any of the episodes with Chris Pike in the old days? Did you go back and look at those tapes?
BG: Yeah, I went back and watched all the Jeffery Hunter stuff.
UGO: Are you gonna' rock that same hair style he had?
BG: No, I'm not going to look like him. I haven't got that kind of 'do going on.
UGO: He did have a killer 'do going on. Can you tell me if your second in command on your Enterprise is a female like it was on the episode, The Cage that saw Christopher Pike?
BG: (giggling) I'm sorry you're breaking up.
UGO: Alright you're not allowed to tell me. OK, fair enough, I won't give you a hard time about that.
BG: Here's a little Trek-ian stuff - I can tell you the security was so tight that not only do we sign these massive telephone-book sized disclosure agreements, but even when we were on the lot at Paramount, they put up a big fence around all the trailers. And then after we got into our costumes, we had to put on these huge massive ponchos with hoods, then scurry into a tented-over golf cart, that while on the lot was driven to a plastic garage off the stage. Then we were escorted quickly onto the stage from the curtained golf cart. It was just crazy.
UGO: That's pretty damn unique. I won't ask you any more about production, but now that you are officially in the canon - you are officially a version of Christopher Pike, this means that you will be invited to conventions for the rest of your life. Do you see yourself making appearances at Trek conventions?
BG: I imagine I probably will, I've never been to one. I think it'd be really fun to try it a couple of times, anyway.
UGO: As someone who goes to conventions there are always one or two psychotic fans, sure. But there's usually a really nice vibe at those places, and people will line up around the block for your autograph. If they don't already, that is.
BG: (laughs) Terrific.
UGO: What's coming up next for you? What are you working on now, and what have you got in the future?
BG: We just wrapped a movie called Mao's Last Dancer, which is based on a book of the same name. Bruce Beresford (Double Jeopardy, Breaker Morant) directed. Joan Chen is in it. And it's this beautiful story about this young boy who lives in a rural town in China. During the Cultural Revolution the kids were plucked from all over the country and brought Beijing and forced to do various things, in the arts and sciences etc. This is the story of this child who was pulled from this dirt-floored hut and sent to Beijing and told he was going to be a dancer.
UGO: Wow, was this filmed over there?
BG: Yeah, we started in Beijing and finished in Sydney, Australia. So, I just finished doing that, and now I'm taking a couple months off.
UGO: Well that sounds like fun. Tell me, what type of character would you love to play? You've been in so many projects, yet is there still a kind of character that you have inside of you that you're itching to get out?
BG: Yeah, I'm hoping to play a musician at some point. I'm hoping to play a guitar player.
UGO: I see you doing lead guitar. I don't see you as a drummer. I see you taking sick solos.
BG: I've been studying really hard, and proving my somewhat marginal chops as a guitar player.
UGO: Who are some of your favorite guitar players?
BG: I've got a million of 'em. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, John Hiatt.
UGO: John Hiatt? That's an interesting one.
BG: Yeah he's pretty cool, I think. Do you know a guy named Jerry Douglas?
UGO: I'm afraid I don't.
BG: He's a slide player. Sonny Landreth, too. There's just a million of them.
UGO: Cool. Summing up, Cyborg Soldier is out on DVD. What's your favorite scene in that film that people should look forward to?
BG: My favorite scene...I don't know, it's just kind of amusing. It's just kind of a throwback and a campy little movie.
UGO: Sunday morning hangover film?
BG: Totally. You know, one eye on the movie, you can kind of hang out without paying too much attention and maybe get a laugh or two.
UGO: Well, thanks Bruce. Well as they say in the world of Star Trek, 'May the force be with you.'
BG: (no response)
UGO: That's a little joke. Anyway, you've got six projects to go, so get cracking.
BG: Yep.
