|
Advertisement |
|
|
| Patrick Swayze Lets It All Hang Out |
by Dov Kornits
Patrick Swayze first came to the greater public's attention when he dirty danced into everyone's hearts back in 1987. But even ten years ago, Swayze was no newcomer. Before Dirty Dancing he had appeared in Youngblood, Red Dawn, Grandview USA, The Outsiders, Uncommon Valour and Skatetown USA.
"Hello," Patrick says calmly looking down towards his crotch and noting that his zipper is undone. "It's kind of a cool thing to expose yourself at the beginning of the interview and get everything out of the way."
Unlike many of his top-billed co-stars from these films like C. Thomas Howell, Scott Baio and Rob Lowe, Swayze has managed transcend his teenie-bopper beginnings to become one of Hollywood's leading men. His latest film Black Dog sees him marry two of his childhood passions, driving a semi-trailer and kicking some old fashioned villain butt. The film might have received a lukewarm reception upon its release, but the 45 year old Swayze doesn't care. As he tell Dov Kornits, Swayze knows about the fickle price of fame.
Swayze walks into the interview room with two well built 'minders', a personal publicist and the film company publicist. Unlike the persistent rumours he's not that short checking in at a respectable 5'10". He scopes out the room and tries to open a window but it won't budge. "Why don't we go to my room?" he says. When we arrive, he opens the door to the balcony overlooking Sydney Harbour and lights up a Winfield.
DK: How come you're smoking Australian cigarettes?
PS: I just picked them up while I'm here. At home I smoke weenie cigarettes. Carlton 100. You get hernia sucking on them. It's like sucking on a pencil.
DK: In Black Dog, you drive a semi-trailer through most of the film. Had you driven one before?
PS: I did. I drove double-decker cattle trucks for my grandfather in my teens. When I grew I up I'd stay on whatever ranch he was on at the time in Texas. That was a long time ago but it all came back to me as soon as I got back behind the wheel. It worked out well because normally they'd have stunt drivers driving for me all the time, which would make shooting really difficult. But in no time at all I had myself back together and I could do a lot of the driving myself. I love driving trucks. I think I would have been a trucker among other things if I didn't become an actor.
DK: Were you offered many villain roles after Bodie in Point Break?
PS: If I find a great villain I'll do it. I almost played Cyrus the Virus in Con-Air which would have been a lot of fun but I had another agenda at the time. Point Break was neat because Bodie is a character that's like a likeable villain. He's talking straight stuff.
DK: How come you haven't done any dancing movies since Dirty Dancing?
PS: I haven't avoided dancing, it's just nobody knows how to write a dance movie any more. I expected to be bombarded with dance films but not one came along. Or if there was one or two that came along they were pieces of junk. That's the reason I haven't done a sequel to Dirty Dancing. Every script that anyone's come up with has been a lame piece of formulaic crap that was about ripping the audience off.
DK: Some people might say that you had a sudden rise after Dirty Dancing…
PS: What looks like a sudden rise to the world is a lifelong process of training. I think I prepared myself pretty well for the 'sudden stardom' by training really hard. When you go into an office and there are fifty other clones who are better looking than you are, what's to make you have the confidence that you will get the role or you deserve the role? Usually you can see that these guys spent their time looking in the mirror when I was training my ass off. That training and a passion about the work ethic and trying to be the best I can be is what has stood me in good stead. Although the loneliness of the stardom and the forced seclusion has gotten pretty bad for me off and on.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this feature at http://efilmcritic.com/feature.php?feature=49
originally posted: 05/27/99 04:23:19
![[printer]](/images/icon/printer.gif) printer-friendly format
|
 |
|
Articles 
subscribe to this feed
