"Dickin' Around"
Timothy Hutton gets a clue as a sexy detective in Nero Wolfe
Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for playing a suicidal teen in Ordinary People, but more than 20 years later, he says the gold guy doesn't help him much in Hollywood. "It doesn't say 'Academy Award winner' on my driver's license," says the 41-year-old actor and director. "I don't think it gets carried around that way." Which is to say that, despite the way his career blossomed in the '80s--when he starred in Taps and The Falcon and the Snowman---the man still has to look hard for good roles (and it isn't easy; just look at the 1993 stalker flick The Temp.)
This week, however, Hutton returns to classy fare. He produces, directs and stars in Nero Wolfe, a new series on A&E. Based on the '40s novels by Rex Stout, the show follows the titular agoraphobic private detective (Maury Chaykin) and his dapper but strong-armed partner, Archie Goodwin (Hutton). They solve cases around Manhattan that involve tough-talking thugs, dim-witted thieves and long-legged dames (when a femme fatale walks into a room, she is invariably accompanied by the strains of a saxophone). Also, in a gimmick usually seen in the theater, the supporting roles, played by New York stage actors Debra Monk, Marian Seldes and Ron Rifkin, are part of a rotating repertory who change roles from week to week. James Tolkan, for instance, plays the head of the FBI in the first episode, but stars as a butler in the last.
Hutton remains faithful to the books. The scripts lift dialogue directly from the novels and also showcase the rotund detective's favorite foods, prepared according to recipes from 1967's The Nero Wolfe Cookbook (which is still in print). Last week, from the set in Toronto, Hutton talked to TONY about the new role, his renewed career and everyone’s favorite Hutton film (The Temp, of course).
Time Out New York: Your character and Wolfe have a weird relationship--they live together and squabble. It's like they're married.
Timothy Hutton: They are very much an odd couple, yes. But Archie does have a life of his own. Later on, you'll see that he's even involved with a woman.
TONY: She's got to be prettier than Wolfe. He looks like Jabba the Hutt
TH: [laughs] Well, his character is eccentric--he rarely leaves the brownstone, he's easily frustrated by ignorance. But it's entertaining to watch him interrogate someone--Wolfe is very clever in his approach.
TONY: Why did you cast so many New York stage actors?
TH: The books are et in New York, and there's a certain rhythm of speech that's specific to that period. When you look at The Front Page or the Thin Man movies, there's a Ben Hecht-Damon Runyon-Noel Coward rhythm. And I thought that it would work better with New York actors.
TONY: Do you expect that theatrical rhythm to appeal to fans of, say, the more realistic Law & Order?
TH: I think so. Audiences have gotten used to a certain style on television: a naturalistic, sentimental style of acting, where you can see that everything said is deeply felt. But with Wolfe, while the show may be moving, no one onscreen is telling you to be moved.
TONY: You're not a sentimental guy?
TH: [laughs] Well, I think everybody is in some way, but none of this came from my personal views. It's what I thought would work for the project.
TONY: When was the last time you cried at the movies?
TH: Oh gosh, I don't know.
TONY: During Ordinary People?
TH: You know, I watched that only once, around a month before it came out. No audience. It was just me. I didn't cry. You know, a lot of my movies I haven't even seen.
TONY: Why not?
TH: When you make a film, that's your time with it. By the time it's released, you're working on something else. So it can be distracting. Besides, you already know what's going to happen.
TONY: You've had an odd career--you go from Indies to big-budget films, from movies to television.
TH: I don't know what a traditional path would be, but I think that if you can continue working on things that you like--things that you hope will be good--then that's what you do.
TONY: So how does stuff like The Temp get made?
TH: [chuckles] "Stuff like The Temp." Well, in that case, a lot of people believed in the script and put their best foot forward, and somewhere along the way, a movie called The Hand that Rocks the Cradle got released and did extremely well, and then someone decided to rewrite the script. [sighs]. And then it became this bizarre, futile quest to imitate a movie that, you know...
TONY: It seems like most bad movies come from bad scripts.
TH: Well, you get into areas of interpretation. On paper, it may read brilliantly, but the way it's filmed, the cast, maybe it's the cinematography--sometimes, it just doesn't come together. Like Everybody's All American: I like that film very much, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really work all that well.
TONY: What do you do when your film's a dud?
TH: You never feel great about it, but that's the business. Early on, I decided the best thing to do was to be clear and present for the actual making of the film. That's enough for me.
Time Out New York
April 19-26, 2002
By Michael Freidson
Transcribed by Webmaster
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