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Mar.13,2005 -Mar.20,2005 |
The secret life of Campbell Scott
Versatile American actor tackles dentistry in Alan Rudolph's new film about marital conflict
By Angela Baldassarre
Originally Published: 2003-11-16
The son of acting greats George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst, actor, producer and sometime director Campbell Scott has an enviable pedigree to uphold. Yet, this affable, easy-going 42-year-old New Yorker takes his work in stride, always opting for the independent and, at times, controversial (Roger Dodger). His works range from playing a dying homosexual in Longtime Companion to a troubled writer in The Sheltering Sky, a dying recluse in Dying Young and writer Robert Benchley in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.
Now he's back as both the star and producer of The Secret Lives of Dentists, based on Jane Smiley's novella directed by Alan Rudolph. The story centres on dentist David Hurst (Scott), who is questioning the "perfect" suburban life he has with his capricious-seeming wife Dana (Hope Davis), also a dentist, and their three adorable but demanding little girls. The repressed anger and frustration he feels are manifested surreally in the form of an alter ego who, in real life, happens to be one of his more difficult patients (Denis Leary).
Tandem talked to Campbell Scott online from New York.
If I'm not mistaken, you brought the book to Rudolph's attention, is that right?
"Actually, Craig Lucas brought his adaptation to my attention. Craig had adapted it from the Jane Smiley novella years ago for American Playhouse, or somebody, the same people who made Longtime Companion. And it never got made, and I was just as an actor doing readings of it, and I just always loved it. Then it went away, of course, for many years, and then I hooked up with this company Hole Digger, who made Roger Dodger and this movie I directed called Off the Map. I sent it to them, they liked it, and then we called Alan, because I thought he would be a great element in that mix. So that's how it all came about."
Were you familiar with the novella?
"I wasn't, no. I had never even read Jane Smiley, who is pretty famous."
Tell me why you liked the script?
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