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Capturing Kennedy: Actor Steven Culp Recalls His Brilliant Portrayal of Robert F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days
Capturing Kennedy: Actor Steven Culp Recalls His Brilliant Portrayal of Robert F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days
Actor Steven Culp recalls his brilliant portrayal of Robert F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days
Exclusive Interview by Stu Kobak July 10, 2001
It's crunch time for an actor when he's called upon to portray a real life figure for the bigger than life movie theater screen. Every gesture, inflection of the voice, even the way you scratch your nose, is under the magnifying glass of history. Steven Culp recently dug into the scrum of history and came out looking fresh and ready for more. Playing Robert F. Kennedy in Thirteen Days, a dramatic depiction of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Culp captured the man with uncanny screen magic. The suspenseful 2001 thrilling drama appears to be the breakthrough film for the actor. Culp's Bobby Kennedy was one of the three pillars of Thirteen Days. Culp nails Kennedy with rare insight, not only finding the mannerisms of the former Attorney General and New York Senator, but digging underneath the gaunt exterior of the man deep into his psyche. Along with Bruce Greenwood, portraying John F. Kennedy, and Kevin Costner as Kennedy confidant Kenny O'Donnell, Culp was part of the troika that the film crisis revolved around. Culp had high praise for co-stars Greenwood and Costner. But of the three pivotal performances, it is Culp's that finds rare character insight. He thought hard and clear about Bobby Kennedy using a base of diligent research and an actors gifted intuition to enrich Kennedy as an individual and as a part of thrilling drama that plays out in Thirteen Days. "Davids script (David Self, screenwriter of Thirteen Days) is very factual and you have to dig underneath to understand the characters. After I delved into it and did a lot of research on the characters, when I went back to the scriptI had about five weeks from the time I was cast until the time we started shooting and for most of those weeks I threw the script away concentrating on building up the character--I found was that one thing that I love about Bobby is that he has all these contradictory colors to him. I realized there was room to get as many of those colors into the character the way David had written the role, the actor recalls with succinct analysis. "I thought one approach you might take with Bobby is that hes the runt of the litter. He was the guy in the family who really wasnt naturally gifted at anything. Who always had to work harder than anybodywho drove himself and people around him harder than anybody. He was kind of desperate to please his father and his family. He began to find
himself as his brothers keeper, the guy who did all the dirty work. That was all knocked out from him when Jack was killed. He was not the most introspective reflective person. He was always growing and changing. Its interesting to note how Bobby changed and grew with the moment. Hes the voice of caution against the sneak attack on Cuba yet he was one of the strongest proponents of The Bay of Pigs. Bobby was an incredible guy capable of growth and change, but some of it does spring out of that feeling that nothing is ever good enoughthat he has to work harder than anybody else to make his mark. And that was something that you could definitely bring to the script. "
There are many terrific scenes in the film and Culp is wired to the character in his every screen moment. He recalls one of his favorite scenes :Theres a great scene early on with the three of us out on the portico, Bobby and Kenny and Jack. Its right after were first confronted by the missiles and the three of us go out to talk about what were going to do. I love it because everybody is so true to their character yet everything in the scene is informational and yet you catch so much of who these guys are as individuals and who these guys are to each othertheir relationships through the actions that they take in this scene. I dont know if youve ever had tragedy in your family, but if youve had a sick mother and the family is gathered around talking about what they are going to doif you sat and watched you would learn a lot about their relationships and who they are as people and I think thats a great thing that happens in that scene and throughout the movie. Culp listens brilliantly in Thirteen Days. Listening is one of the most underrated aspects of acting, but creating a character is more than just speaking dialogue; its inhabiting the moment, and Culp truly inhabits the moment and the character. "Maybe its just being from the theater, having the experience of really trying to alive and find things to keep you in the moment and to respond to. Maybe thats it," reflects the actor. Culp can laugh at himself with refreshing pleasure. "Sometimes I watch myself and I just go, oh would you please relax. Stop listening so hard. I just try to go in there and have a thread that pulls me through each scene and then the larger thread thats pulling me through the entire story." Culp professes amazement at how well Thirteen Days takes a well-known historical incident and still make a thrilling drama out of it. A lot of that is a credit to begin with to David Selfs script, but its also a big credit to Roger Donaldson and editor Conrad Buff." Following the line of all the characters, understanding the historical moment requires concentration to maximize the tension. "I think Thirteen Days demands more of an audience, but in a really good way. The more I see it the more unabashed proud I am that Im in this movie. I think its a terrific movie. Its the kind of movie I loved when I started watching movies. Its the kind of movie you could watch over and over again and get something else out of them." Culp feels that twenty odd years ago the storytelling in Thirteen Days was the norm but nowadays films are dumbed down in so many ways. "A movie like Chinatown, which is one of the great movies, would probably be considered much too complicated for an audience to comprehend today."
Thirteen Days must be considered the highpoint in the actor's career that includes a frequent starring role as Clayton Webb in the television series JAG. The toughest point in Culps career was when he moved from New York to California. "I didnt expect myself to have to start over again on such a level. I had a lot of really good theater credits and had worked with a lot of the best playwrights and directors in the business and when I came to Los Angeles; it didnt seem to count for much. So I had a hard first couple of years when I was here." Culp's relocation from New York to California wasn't planned as a career move. "I got a play out of Los Angeles that was supposed to come to Broadway and didnt, but I got out here and it was the middle of winter and I had just left record breaking cold in New York. I was seduced. Im out here, doing a play at the Ahmanson Theater, making nice money with per diem with the rented car driving with the windows down and my short sleeved shirt in February looking at the snow capped peaks and buildings everywhere with signs saying apartments for rent and I thought to myself, this is paradise. New York was the total opposite in every way. I came back again several times for work but I was spending more money that I was making living on both coasts and then my wife who is a costume designer was getting a lot of work in California so I finally just decided to move. Once I moved all the work seemed to dry up. I went through a couple of lean years and I was doing a lot of theater for free in Los Angeles through playwright and director friends, reconnecting with why I started acting in the first place and I started thinking, you know..when I was younger, doing a lot of good things in New York I was always dissatisfiedI was thinking why cant I have thatthe grass was always greener and during the slow period I decided if it ever comes around again Im going to make a point to have a good time and to say thank you and to appreciate it. And its starting to come around again and I am having a good time and enjoying what I do and to relax about it," the actor enthuses. Hoping to parlay his success with Kevins, next up for the talented Culp is a role alongside Kevin Kline in The Palace Thief. The drama just finished shooting in New York and is scheduled for a 2002 theatrical release.