Tim Robbins: Creepier Than Aliens

Tim Robbins is a Hollywood triple threat: a screenwriter, an Academy Award nominated director, and an Oscar winning actor. He took home the gold statue for acting in Clint Eastwood's 2003 drama "Mystic River."

He returns to the big screen in an update of H.G. Wells' alien invasion epic, "War Of The Worlds." Very creepy is how The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith describes Robbins' character, Ogilvy.

Robbins says, "That's what I really liked about reading the script and when Steven Spielberg asked me about it."

Ogilvy's family has been killed in the alien invasion and he takes refuge in the cellar of a farmhouse. When Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning's characters encounter him as they try to escape the aliens, Ogilvy becomes eerily frightening.

Robbins explains, "Here was this distillation of this terror in this basement. You had an hour of absolute horrific terror and people running from these incredibly scary aliens, and then all of a sudden it's distilled into one basement. One character and the challenge of being able to create something that was just as threatening to Tom Cruise's character and Dakota Fanning."

After living in New York City, Robbins notes tongue-in-cheek, it was not hard for him to know what creepy looks like and personify it. But he says about his character, "No. I'm not an alien. I have nothing to do with any kind of alien movement either."

In a playful mode, holding his coffee mug, he tells Smith, "You know what I've always wanted to do on an early morning show was spit out the coffee."

So Smith gave him the opportunity to work it into the interview by showing a video clip of Robbins and Cruise in an earlier film, "Top Gun." Without missing a beat, Robbins indeed spat his coffee in a amazement.

Robbins appeared in that film for about a minute at the beginning and in a few seconds at the end.
"That was the perfect job for me at the time because I was doing a play," he says. "I had 13 weeks off, full pay. And so I did this play that I actually was paying for. So actually 'Top Gun' paid for it. It was great to see Tom. I had seen him from time to time. It was great to work with him again. He's a terrific actor. He's really dedicated and energetic and supportive and, you know, big leader on the set. Both he and Spielberg created a real family atmosphere on that set. It was really nice."

Next up for Robbins is "Zathura," based on the book by children's author Chris Van Allsburg. The film comes out in the fall.

"War Of The Worlds" opens nationwide June 29. Is it made by Paramount Pictures, which like CBS is owned by Viacom.

About Tim Robbins:

• Born in West Covina, Calif., on Oct. 16, 1958, and raised in New York City's Greenwich Village. His father is folk singer Gil Robbins.
• Attended Catholic school and after graduating with honors from UCLA, he co-founded The Actors' Gang (serving as artistic director until 1997) and was soon co-writing (with Adam Simon) original pieces for the Gang, culminating in a satire of Christian fundamentalism, "Carnage," which played Off-Broadway at the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1989.
• In 1983, he made his TV debut opposite Helen Hunt in the movie "Quarterback Princess" (CBS). The following year, he made his feature debut in "No Small Affair," and after that he delivered a memorable turn as the show tune-singing driver in Rob Reiner's "The Sure Thing" in 1985, cultivating a lasting association with that film's star John Cusack.
• In 1986, he landed a small role in a Martin Scorsese-directed episode of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" entitled "Mirror, Mirror" (NBC); he showed up on the periphery of the blockbuster "Top Guns;" and had his first lead in "Howard the Duck," which was a flop.
• In 1987, he played Jodie Foster's former boyfriend who protects her from a twisted John Turturro in the early-'60s civil rights drama "Five Corners," written by John Patrick Shanley.
• In 1988, he reteamed with Cusack as a reluctant video director for "Tapeheads," a picture that marked his first songwriting credit. It was also in this year that he fulfilled his lifelong dream. He was the goofy, garter-wearing 'Nuke' LaLoosh, the baseball innocent coached by Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Ron Shelton's "Bull Durham," which allowed him to show off his pitching prowess, throwing a fastball clocked at the very respectable Major-League speed of 85 miles per hour.

  Robbins also met Susan Sarandon at the audition in Los Angeles, and the pair began a relationship during filming that has endured to date.

• In 1989, he was in "Miss Firecracker" and Terry Jones' comedy "Eric the Viking." In 1990, he stole the show from Robin Williams in "Cadillac Man," and portrayed a tormented Vietnam veteran in "Jacob's Ladder." The following year, he played the racist boss in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever."
• In 1992, he proved he could make a killer seem sympathetic, in Robert Altman's "The Player." His deceptively wicked performance earned best actor awards from both Cannes and the Golden Globes. He also starred in his feature directorial/screenwriting debut, the "mockumentary" "Bob Roberts."
• In 1993 and 1994, he reteamed with Altman for "Short Cuts" and the fashion industry comedy "Ready to Wear (Pret-a-Porter)," respectively.
• Also in 1994, he was a corporate stooge in the Coen brothers' stab at mainstream accessibility, "The Hudsucker Proxy," and also tried his hand at a romantic lead opposite Meg Ryan in "I.Q." He got rave reviews for his performance in "The Shawshank Redemption."
• In 1995, Chaos, the production company Robbins formed in 1993 bore its first fruit with the death penalty drama "Dead Man Walking." For this true story, the sophomore director used the same director of photography (Roger Deakins) who had so effectively captured prison life for "The Shawshank Redemption." Sarandon played a nun acting as spiritual counselor to a death row murderer (Sean Penn) and took home the Best Actress Oscar. For his efforts, Robbins garnered a Best Director Academy Award nomination.
• In 1997, he starred opposite Martin Lawrence in the buddy-picture, "Nothing to Lose." And after an 18-month hiatus to concentrate on fatherhood, Robbins was back on the screen in 1999 contributing a cameo as the President in "Austin Powers II: The Spy Who Shagged Me," and once again exploring his dark side in "Arlington Road," a thriller echoing the Oklahoma City bombing and raising hard questions about domestic terrorism.
• In 1999, he took the director's chair in "Cradle Will Rock." And he returned to the Actors' Gang as artistic director in 2001. He directed a new production of "Mephisto," starred with Helen Hunt in the Los Angeles production of the Sept. 11-themed play "The Guys" and saw a revival of "Alagazam," a play he co-wrote with Adam Simon.
• As an actor, he played an astronaut in Brian de Palma's "Mission to Mars" in 2000; in 2001, he was a Bill Gates-esque software manufacturer in the thriller "Antitrust;" and in 2002, he was a scientist who discovers a feral man in the off-kilter comedy "Human Nature." Also in 2002, he worked in Jonathan Demme's "Charade" remake "The Truth About Charlie."
• In 2003, Robbins starred in one of his most compelling performances to date when he was cast in director Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River," playing Dave Boyle, a man connected to the murder of the daughter of his childhood friend (Sean Penn) by a series of circumstances and forced to confront the demons of his own past that threaten to destroy his marriage and any hope he may have for a future. Robbins received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance, as well as Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and a Screen Actors Guild Award.