Santa Fe Q&A: Maverick Alan Cumming

In his dark comedy "Suffering Man's Charity," Alan Cumming plays a character he says is "as close as a man can get to playing Blanche Dubois."

That's not so unusual for an actor whose eclectic film career includes roles in the "Spy Kids" franchise, Julie Taymor's "Titus," and "Emma." The Scottish actor won raves on Broadway for his starring role as the Emcee in the 1998 revival of "Cabaret." On the small screen he's appeared on "The L Word," "Sex And The City" and can currently be seen in the SciFi Channel miniseries, "Tin Man" as the (literally) half-brained Glitch, an updated take on The Scarecrow.

Besides acting and directing, Cumming is also a writer, an activist for gay rights, and the face (and body) of his own fragrance line.

Cumming was honored with the Maverick award at this year's Santa Fe Film Festival, where his films "Suffering Man's Charity" and "Anniversary Party" were screened.

He took time out from his whirlwind weekend in Santa Fe to chat with The ShowBuzz about his career and his latest projects.

Q: Tell me about "Suffering Man's Charity"

A: I play a man called John Vandermark who's sort of trapped in the past, and who's obsessed with this younger man played by David Boreanaz. It's sort of a dark comedy about obsession really and about taking over someone's identity.

Q: On your Web site your character is compared to Bette Davis in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" or Joan Crawford in "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte." Are those some of your favorite screen characters?

A: I like them, but I didn't base him on them by any means. The tone of the film is in fact that the character is trapped in this house, and the house plays a very important role in the story. Also, it's quite old fashioned in the style of performance and the style of execution. I think that's why people make this [comparison]. And also it's an old-fashioned film because there's lots of dialog as well. People talk all the time. But it's not old fashioned in any other sort of way [laughs].

Q: What was it like working with "Bones" star David Boreanaz?

A: I met him about 9 or 10 months before we started shooting. I just really admire him. I like the quality that he has - it's so great for this character. It's sort of an "arty boy" who starts off sleeping on people's couches and then gets propelled into this TV stardom. And also he's like a kind of hustler.

He really took a great leap because some really awful things happen in the film. For example there's a big long, long torture sequence and he and I went to a very dark place together. I just really admire him for doing that. A lot of other actors would be too scared.

Q: Did you learn anything about you while directing yourself in this movie?

A: I don't know. I think the fact that if you are able to direct yourself you've already learned how to be really objective about your performance. The film wore me down more than I thought it would just because it was so exhausting doing that and also because of the character. I'm playing this crazy person who is distressed most of the time. I just got really kind of worn out by it.

Q: What's the next step with the film?

A: I know there's a distribution deal in place that they're doing all the fine tuning with, but I don't know much about the details. I think it will have a small cinema distribution and then Blockbuster is kind of involved in the distribution deal and I think they have the first option on the film. They've been incredibly supportive actually. They're trying to be more "edgy" [ sly grin], and they've been very kind.

Q: How much of the business side do you have to get involved with or is there someone who does that for you?

A: I do that less and less now. I mean I was a producer on the film, but I think my worth as a producer is much more up front in terms of trying to get a film made and trying to get people involved. After it's done I hand it over to people involved with marketing and sales and stuff like that. I'm not very good at that.

Q: What do you think about getting a special award here at the festival?

A: It's great. I loved when I got my [badge] and it says "Maverick VIP" [Holds it up.] It's my favorite one of these ever.

Q: Do you feel like a maverick?

A: I suppose I do feel like a maverick, in that I think I speak my mind and I do what I like and I'm sort of eclectic. So yeah, "maverick" is a great word.

Q: You're kind of young for a "life's work" tribute, but then you've done so much in your career in a relatively short period of time.

A: It's true, these kind of "body-of-work" awards do make you feel kind of a bit old.

Q: But you're not.

A: No, no. I'm actually a spritely 75! [Grins.]

Q: Do you have any charitable projects you'd like to talk about?

A: My fragrance web site, cummingthefragrance.com, for Christmas presents perhaps! Twenty per cent of the gross goes to this organization called Empire State Pride Agenda which campaigns for equal rights for gay people. I'm really trying to push that for Christmas so people can smell nice and do something to end prejudice in our country.

Q: Was it fun to do your own fragrance?

A: Yes it was. Obviously it was a "nose" person who did it, but I kind of helped him. I chose all the smells I liked and also I was very involved in the ad campaign and there's all these photos inside the box. That was really kind of fun.

Q: And you're also starring in "Tin Man" which premieres this weekend on the SciFi Channel.

A: That was fun. It's a sci-fi re-imagining of "The Wizard of Oz" so there are allusions to the original book and sometimes to the film, but it's still very much an entity on its own. It's also much longer; it's six hours instead of one and a half or whatever the film was. I really liked it. It was a fun thing to do.

By Judy Faber