September 24th, 1997 to September 30th, 1997

Kevin Kline: He's In & Out

by Tim Nasson

I first caught a glimpse of Kevin Kline the day before I interviewed him. Standing on Park Avenue, in front of the Regency Hotel (which is where most of the cast of the film In & Out-and the press in the city from around the world convened to interview them-were bunkered down), waiting for a friend to go to dinner with, Kline walked out, only to be besieged by a half-dozen or so full time celebrity-autograph-chasing-dimwits who looked as if they had just crawled out of a sewer from the middle of the street.

Instead of ignoring them, Kline graciously signed his name on whatever they threw into his hands. A notebook. A black-and-white glossy from his Academy Award-winning performance in A Fish Called Wanda, even a napkin from someone who was not as quite prepared.

All part of a day's work.

The next day's work for Kline was not as easy as just signing autographs. For nearly half the day, he answered questions about his new film, which has earned great reviews and $15.3 million in its opening weekend to lead the pack of fall films opening across the U.S.

It is Kline is Mr. Brackett, a high-school English/Drama teacher, in a small Indiana town, who has the toughest role in the film, and he has the biggest role in the ensemble that includes Joan Cusack as his fiance, Matt Dillon as the former student who outs him, Tom Selleck as his gay confidant of sorts, Debbie Reynolds as his mother, and Bob Newhart as his boss.

"Of course it was fun playing a shy teacher who is harboring a secret and who is in love with Barbra Striesand," says Kline, outfitted in khaki pants and a blue long-sleeved shirt.

Of course, the secret that Brackett is harboring is that he is gay. For some time though, it is completely believable to the audience that Brackett does not even have a clue as to what his real sexuality is, or that he has battled with it for so long that he denies the feelings altogether.

Kline, who is straight and married to actress Phoebe Cates, had no trouble playing the part. "The part was so well written, as are all of the roles in the film, that it would have been foolish to pass up. I was truly surprised that Barbra Streisand has such a huge gay following," he admits. Streisand's music and films are featured prominently in the movie and she is the butt of not a few jokes. The biggest one being when Cusack finally has had it and is left at the alter. "Fuck Barbra Striesand," she says, thinking that Streisand played some part in Brackett's sexuality. "The film only got one 'Fuck' in order to keep it PG-13, and we saved it for Barbra," Kline says with a grin.

"Of course the line gets a big laugh, but everyone in the movie gets it at one time or another. People with weight issues, celebrities, models, small town folk, everyone."

Sometimes, actors bring something with them to a certain role. For Kline it certainly was not dancing. During one of the film's comedy scenes -the 'masculinity tape' scene-Brackett is forced to break into dance to the tune of Diana Ross' "I Will Survive" in the privacy of his own home. "I don't dance like that," Kline says. "I am very shy."

Shy he really seems. After having interviewed him, some other writers felt that he seemed affected. What his somewhat reticent attitude may be attributed to is the fact that he is a family man, a man far removed from Hollywood. He loves living in New York City and would never think of giving up on theater.

Why would he want to? He went to Julliard's School of Drama and became a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company.

When asked of his career choices, he humbly answers, "John Houseman once said to me, 'There are two types of actors. The actor who works all the time, and the actor who is very picky. At the end of their careers the number of successes are the same. It is how much you can live with failure.'"

Kline's career thusfar has not been ridden with too much failure. His first role in a feature film was Sophie's Choice opposite Meryl Streep. Other highlights include Cry Freedom, Dave, The Big Chill, Silverado, and Grand Canyon.
He will next be seen in what many are saying is the best movie of 1997. Ang (Sense and Sensibility) Lee's The Ice Storm opposite Sigourney Weaver and Christina Ricci.

Next to the 'masculinity tape' scene in In & Out, one of the funniest and certainly most surprising scenes involves the kiss between Kline and Selleck. "I added a lot to that scene," Kline says. I was curious as to who thought up the added effect of Kline wrapping his leg around Selleck in mid kiss.

"Driving home after the first day of shooting that two day scene, it just occurred to me out of the blue that if I wrapped my leg around Tom while we were kissing it would seem so much more natural. This was going to be the first time that Brackett got to explore his true feelings. I'm glad Frank Oz [the director] felt the same way."

It is that scene in which the audience watching elicits the loudest decibels. While most who go to In & Out will know that Selleck and Kline's characters kiss, none know where the scene takes place. Beginning? Middle? End? "That is what will give it a kind of Crying Game tone to it. I knew from the minute I sat down in The Crying Game that Jaye Davison was a man. It didn't fool me. I was just wondering when the audience was going to be let in on it," says Kline.

With that, he was off to another interview and then presumably captured on the way out of the hotel by some psychopathic fans who had camped out front all morning in hope of getting the John Hancock of one of tinsletown's finest.

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