An Industry Survivor
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 17, 1998
In his black leather jacket and tinted glasses, Randy Quaid is doing a fine job of hiding the odd soul that lurks somewhere inside.
His ability to emulate the quirky and the disturbed has become a trademark of his resume, which now includes more than 40 feature films.
These roles, from Cousin Eddie, Clark Griswold's unruly relative in the "National Lampoon Vacation" series, to Ishmael, the dimwit Amish bowling whiz in "Kingpin," keep Quaid's feet anywhere but firmly planted on earth.
And these strange characterizations are the blood that runs through the body of this 47-year-old actor, who made his film debut in 1971.
But on this day, his maniacal inner self does not emerge.
"You do something well and people tend to want to see you as that character," said Quaid, sipping coffee from a paper cup at Planet Hollywood in San Francisco.
Promoting his latest venture, "Hard Rain," an action thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater, Quaid is surprisingly undisturbed. Sane. Calm. Quiet.
"I'm an actor first," Quaid said. "I don't really see myself as a comedian. I'm more of a character actor; I like mixing it up."
In "Hard Rain," Quaid plays the overwhelmed sheriff of Huntingburg, Ind., a small Midwestern town facing rising flood waters and gun-toting criminals in pursuit of an armored car carrying $3 million.
The role is a far cry from Quaid's history of playing goofballs and oddballs.
"I'm just drawn to characters and the story," Quaid said. "A dramatic part allows you to delve into the inner workings of a personality."
As the sheriff, Quaid tackles an edgier, more dramatic assignment: a proud man who eventually succumbs to the dark side of his personality, a side he didn't know he had. The intrigue of the $3 million is ultimately a temptation to all, including the sheriff.
"I haven't played this type of character for a film," Quaid said, "the heavy parts, the bad-guy parts.
"I liked going from a good person to more of the darker side of him exploring the greed and how it affected him. He keeps the dark side hidden until it needed to be presented."
As did Quaid, who found himself immediately drawn to the script, written by Graham Yost ("Speed," "Broken Arrow"). "I brought a lot of the character to the part," Quaid said of his sinister sheriff. "It's a lot easier to act when you have the elements to work against."
Those elements were part of an ambitious set that involved a replica of downtown Huntingburg, constructed inside a giant airplane hangar in Palmdale, just north of Los Angeles.
Fifty wooden buildings were placed in a tank two football fields long, 100 yards wide and five-feet deep. Five million gallons of water were dumped inside to emulate a ravaging flood.
"It was a very impressive set," Quaid recalls. "They put the buildings on these risers to give the illusion that the water was rising."
For his new role, Quaid spent time with several sheriffs who patrol the rural areas north of Los Angeles, including Palmdale.
"I asked if they'd ever come across a large sum of money," Quaid said. "This one sheriff said he'd taken $750,000 from a crime scene and was driving back with it in his truck and he started thinking about the money and what he could do.
"I guess he figured it wasn't quite enough."
That's the way Quaid feels the about his comedic background: entertaining, but not quite enough.
"I love comedy," he said. "I love sitting in a theater and hearing people laugh. I loved doing Cousin Eddie, but I've tried to avoid being pigeonholed or typecast."
Still, Quaid may forever be linked to his inner buffoonery, despite a more serious early career in which he earned an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor for the 1973 film "The Last Detail."
A component of Cousin Eddie may always exist in Quaid, who has an innate ability to hide it altogether -- and lean on it for survival.
"I'm an industry survivor," he explains.
It's a skill -- a trick, really that has kept him working in an business that is forever discarding old faces and replacing them with new ones. And Cousin Eddie may be called on again. He's still there, somewhere inside:
"I got laid off when they closed the asbestos factory. And wouldn't you know it -- the Army cuts my disability pension 'cause they said the plate in my head wasn't big enough."
The man in black leather lets out a deep sigh.
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 17, 1998
In his black leather jacket and tinted glasses, Randy Quaid is doing a fine job of hiding the odd soul that lurks somewhere inside.
His ability to emulate the quirky and the disturbed has become a trademark of his resume, which now includes more than 40 feature films.
These roles, from Cousin Eddie, Clark Griswold's unruly relative in the "National Lampoon Vacation" series, to Ishmael, the dimwit Amish bowling whiz in "Kingpin," keep Quaid's feet anywhere but firmly planted on earth.
And these strange characterizations are the blood that runs through the body of this 47-year-old actor, who made his film debut in 1971.
But on this day, his maniacal inner self does not emerge.
"You do something well and people tend to want to see you as that character," said Quaid, sipping coffee from a paper cup at Planet Hollywood in San Francisco.
Promoting his latest venture, "Hard Rain," an action thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater, Quaid is surprisingly undisturbed. Sane. Calm. Quiet.
"I'm an actor first," Quaid said. "I don't really see myself as a comedian. I'm more of a character actor; I like mixing it up."
In "Hard Rain," Quaid plays the overwhelmed sheriff of Huntingburg, Ind., a small Midwestern town facing rising flood waters and gun-toting criminals in pursuit of an armored car carrying $3 million.
The role is a far cry from Quaid's history of playing goofballs and oddballs.
"I'm just drawn to characters and the story," Quaid said. "A dramatic part allows you to delve into the inner workings of a personality."
As the sheriff, Quaid tackles an edgier, more dramatic assignment: a proud man who eventually succumbs to the dark side of his personality, a side he didn't know he had. The intrigue of the $3 million is ultimately a temptation to all, including the sheriff.
"I haven't played this type of character for a film," Quaid said, "the heavy parts, the bad-guy parts.
"I liked going from a good person to more of the darker side of him exploring the greed and how it affected him. He keeps the dark side hidden until it needed to be presented."
As did Quaid, who found himself immediately drawn to the script, written by Graham Yost ("Speed," "Broken Arrow"). "I brought a lot of the character to the part," Quaid said of his sinister sheriff. "It's a lot easier to act when you have the elements to work against."
Those elements were part of an ambitious set that involved a replica of downtown Huntingburg, constructed inside a giant airplane hangar in Palmdale, just north of Los Angeles.
Fifty wooden buildings were placed in a tank two football fields long, 100 yards wide and five-feet deep. Five million gallons of water were dumped inside to emulate a ravaging flood.
"It was a very impressive set," Quaid recalls. "They put the buildings on these risers to give the illusion that the water was rising."
For his new role, Quaid spent time with several sheriffs who patrol the rural areas north of Los Angeles, including Palmdale.
"I asked if they'd ever come across a large sum of money," Quaid said. "This one sheriff said he'd taken $750,000 from a crime scene and was driving back with it in his truck and he started thinking about the money and what he could do.
"I guess he figured it wasn't quite enough."
That's the way Quaid feels the about his comedic background: entertaining, but not quite enough.
"I love comedy," he said. "I love sitting in a theater and hearing people laugh. I loved doing Cousin Eddie, but I've tried to avoid being pigeonholed or typecast."
Still, Quaid may forever be linked to his inner buffoonery, despite a more serious early career in which he earned an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor for the 1973 film "The Last Detail."
A component of Cousin Eddie may always exist in Quaid, who has an innate ability to hide it altogether -- and lean on it for survival.
"I'm an industry survivor," he explains.
It's a skill -- a trick, really that has kept him working in an business that is forever discarding old faces and replacing them with new ones. And Cousin Eddie may be called on again. He's still there, somewhere inside:
"I got laid off when they closed the asbestos factory. And wouldn't you know it -- the Army cuts my disability pension 'cause they said the plate in my head wasn't big enough."
The man in black leather lets out a deep sigh.
posted by Corey at 1:24 PM
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