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Ask any actor and they will tell you that acting like an ordinary person is the most difficult role to play. Sure, the characters who are schizophrenics or in some other manner handicapped are the ones who gather all the awards and critical praise, but it is the actors you do not notice acting at all who have truly honed their craft. Timothy Hutton is a master at playing an ordinary person, which is why he won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his role in Ordinary People.
Recently, Hutton appeared in the John Sayles' film, Sunshine State, a story set in a small coastal Florida town that is, like the characters passing through, struggling to hold onto its roots.
Hutton played Jack Meadows, a landscape architect from Newport, Rhode Island. "Jack is a person who suffers from being spiritually uprooted," Hutton say. "All these people [in Sunshine State] are people on their way somewhere else."
How, then, does an actor make an ordinary person such as Jack Meadows interesting? "It's on the page," Hutton says, "and in the people you're working with. It's important to understand where the character comes from, where he is, where he's going, and then forget about it. Let the moment of where he is be everything and don't try to wrap it up in one scene."
According to Hutton, the script by Sayles is full of wonderful dialogue, and each scene reveals something new about the characters. "I thought it was a great script, and John Sayles is someone I have wanted to work with. I also wanted to work with Edie."
Hutton is referring to Edie Falco, another star of Sunshine State, best known for her role as Carmela Soprano on HBO’s The Sopranos. In addition to Falco, the film features notable performances by Angela Bassett, Ralph Waite, Mary Steenburgen, Gordon Clapp, and several others.
Yet it is Falco who Hutton was primarily with, and the pairing of these two rather ordinary characters created something extraordinary.
Hutton can be seen every week on the A&E mystery series Nero Wolfe. Hutton not only plays sidekick Archie Goodwin on the series (based on the 73 novels by Rex Stout about the corpulent detective), he has also directed several episodes and serves as executive producer.
"I was 22 when I read the first Nero Wolfe book, Champagne For One. I thought it would be a great movie, just in the way Stout wrote. It's Noel Coward meets Damon Runyon."
With Maury Chaykin playing the title character, Hutton says his character serves "to tell about a certain case back when, as the narrator. But in Wolfe's world, Archie's the leg man, the start-up engine of the investigation."
Set in 1950s Manhattan, Nero Wolfe is a combination of His Girl Friday--like banter and a wardrobe full of wingtips, straw hats and three-piece suits. As Howard Rosenberg of the L.A. Times wrote, "(Huttons) Archie is the only man on TV who wears a snap-brim hat likes he means it."
Behind the camera, Hutton's role as director is just as much fun. "It was difficult," Hutton says, "but at the end of the day, I had a great time doing it. As the director, your involvement is complete."
Hutton is wrapping up another season of Nero Wolfe and is waiting to see if they will do more episodes next season. Hutton has a newborn son, Milo, and for now is looking forward to having some time off with his family.