Previously Unpublished: That Thing They Did - Griffin Dunne (Pt. 1?)

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So here’s the back story on this interview: in 2012, Griffin Dunne did a small film called The Discoverers, and it took until 2014 for the film to finally get a wider release. When that was on the cusp of happening… I’m not sure, but I think I was followed on Twitter by the film’s official account, which was being run by the film’s writer/director, Justin Schwarz, and after he followed me, I followed him back, and after trading a few DMs, I put in a request with the film’s publicist to do a Random Roles with Mr. Dunne.

First of all, let me just say that, as in all such instances, I am confident that I told the publicist ahead of time that we generally need as least 30 minutes for a Random Roles interview, because I’ve been saying that as a stock line for years, and with the A.V. Club’s approval. I’m even more confident about this after having revisited the audio of the interview, because I can hear the surprise in my voice when I replied to the publicist who popped onto the call to tell me that I had time for one more question. They’d apparently been running late that day, because I said, “Well, I don’t want to make you guys any later, but if I could maybe see about getting back on the phone to finish up…” I was met with the terse reply, “Well, maybe you can email some questions, but it’s been 20 minutes.”

At this, I can hear myself stumble over my words as I return to the interview with Dunne and just latch onto the next project on my list, and… Well, you’ll see in a minute, but let’s just say that either I was 100% confident that I was going to get back on the phone with him or I was so frazzled by the unexpected conclusion at the 20-minute mark that I wasn’t thinking that I was going to get ripped a new one by the Commentariat of the A.V. Club for not asking about a couple of really, really obvious omissions. Either way, though, it definitely wasn’t the project I should have closed with, and once I realized that there were at least two crucial films that I hadn’t asked him about - well, one crucial to just about everybody, and one crucial to me, anyway - I knew damned well that there was no way I’d be able to turn in the interview until I’d asked about them…and since I was never provided with the chance to get back on the phone with Dunne, well, here we are!

To close out this intro, though, I’ll just say this with confidence: I did a pretty damned good job for only having 20 minutes.

"Lewis Birch" - The Discoverers (2012)

Griffin Dunne: It was sent to me by my agent, kind of out of nowhere, and it was just something I sat down and - in one reading - just really liked, really responded to. You know, it was funny and sad and poignant and all those tones I like as a filmmaker and a moviegoer. And I liked the lead character. I liked the part of Lewis a lot. I found him very touching.

So who is Lewis Birch?

He's sort of a guy who is in...probably a second-act crisis. His first act was probably pretty good, as a young academic, a married guy, father of a couple of great kids. But I think when we catch him, he's sort of in the middle of a very disappointing second act. In a field of academia which, as a historian, is going through a lot of changes that he has not kept up with. And he's not been in touch with the way the world really is. You know, the times that he lives in. And that kind of reflects in the way that he's out of touch with his teenage children and that he's writing academic tomes that are overly written and overly researched in a world of pop history, where history has become very popular and very accessible...which I personally am very happy about, anyway. [Laughs.] But he's not in the times that surround him. And, of course, he was also brought up by a father who reenacted events that took place 200 years ago. So he's kind of screwed on all fronts. And this movie is about a time when he has all of those painful insights that kind of reawaken him in a funny way.

Your performance has been getting considerable acclaim, and I would argue that your hair matches your performance every step of the way.

[Laughs.] Why, thank you. My goodness, that's so good. Well, just for versatility alone, I'm going to have to take my hair in a different direction for my next performance!

"Herbie Johnson" - The Other Side of the Mountain (1975)

I always like to ask actors about their first onscreen appearance, but I have to trust IMDb, which one should always take with a grain of salt, but...I think it's playing Herbie Johnson in The Other Side of the Mountain.

No, they're absolutely right. That is going back! Did you, uh, happen to see it?

I found it online, actually, so I did indeed.

Oh, my God! What commitment! [Laughs.] Well, that was my first movie, all right, and one I remember very fondly. Dabney Coleman played the coach, and we became great pals from that. And I remember I had one scene where I think my girlfriend either ends up in an iron lung or my best friend ends up being crippled on the ski slopes, but I know I had to cry. And I cried and cried, take after take, until I had nothing left. I didn't realize I was crying with my back to the camera for the other actor's close-up, so when I turned around, I had nothing left! That's what I remember about that movie.

How'd you find your way into acting as a profession in the first place?

Well, it was actually something I wasn't drawn to initially, outside of... [Hesitates.] I was a Catholic kid, and I was an altar boy, and there was a certain degree of performance in that I enjoyed, even though it's a supporting part. But I was kind of brought up in the business in Los Angeles, and I thought I would be a writer, but I...was not a very good student. And I was dyslexic, and they didn't know what dyslexia was yet, so I had a hard time getting through school. And I just assumed I'd have to go to a good college to be a good writer, which I now know to be true. And the teacher in high school talking me into auditioning for a play, which was Edward Albee's Zoo Story, and that just set me on fire. Then I knew what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do…and I was kicked out of that very high school only months later, so I set off to do exactly that!

[To answer the obvious question, we go to the May 17, 1997 issue of The New York Times: “On the eve of a production of Othello, in which Mr. Dunne, then 17, was to play Iago, he was caught smoking marijuana by a teacher. Mr. Dunne was expelled and put on a plane to Los Angeles.”]

"Jack Goodman" - An American Werewolf in London (1981)

That came about because I talked to the director for 10 minutes. I never understood why I got that role. I never read for it, there was nothing that John [Landis] could've seen that I'd done before... We just talked. It's still one of the most mystifying experiences I've ever had. He just kept asking, "You sure you're not claustrophobic?" And he wouldn't tell me what the movie was about, so I assumed it took place in an elevator or something. And he meant that it would require me lying in a face plaster cast, breathing through two straws so that they could get the makeup right. So, yeah, I just couldn't believe it went from reading the script to getting the part to flying on the Concorde to go to London to shoot, living in London and shooting a movie... It was just one of those amazing first-time experiences.

Given that the title was kind of a spoiler, you must not have even known that much when you first met with John.

No, I didn't know the title. Nobody knew the title. We knew it was the guy from Animal House, so we kind of just thought it was some sort of comedy, that it involved humor. He didn't tell us a thing about it, all of the actors who went in. He just talked to us. So, yeah, he was very secretive about it. Even when he sent the script, he had... I don't know, some guy came to deliver the script to my crappy little apartment, and he stood outside my door while I read it, and then I had to hand it back to him. So he was very protective of it.

So how was the experience of working with the prosthetics for your character?

Very difficult. I mean, fortunately, I loved Rick Baker as a person. I mean, I knew how talented he was and all that, but if you were going to get up at 4:30 in the morning and sit in the chair for eight hours, it helps that you're friendly with the person who's torturing you. And it was torture. It took a long time. It was a very different process than I think most actors have to go through. It took a very long time to put on and a very long time to take off. Every time I worked, we'd finish shooting and everybody would wrap, and then Rick and I would have to stay in the trailer for another two hours while everybody else went to the bar! But it looked great. It was very disturbing to wear, but it looked great. 

"Geritol Account Executive" - Quiz Show (1994)

Oh, yeah. That was...a little quickie. Bob [Redford] cast me, and I thought it was going to be a scene with Scorsese, with Marty, and...it turned out to be a phone call! [Laughs.] But I remember I learned a great lesson as a director on that. I was surrounded by extras, and he didn't want the extras to act, and they're all talking to each other in the background, as you would. Just talking about "I went up for this part," "Oh, yeah? I went up for that part," whatever. And he said to me, "I'm just starting the scene. I'm not going to call, 'Action!' Just do the thing, and we'll do it a few times." So I did the scene a few times, and the actors behind me and all the extras, they didn't have any idea they were being filmed. And then he goes, "Cut! I got it." And the extras were all, like, "What? What?!" It was a great lesson on how to get a shot like that.

"Frank Zappa" - Warning: Parental Advisory (2002)

I knew Frank - well, we were friendly, I can't say I knew him knew him - and I knew his kids, It was fun to do. It wasn't... [Hesitates.] It was a wonderful director, but I don't think the material was quite as wonderful. And I wish I had more time to do it. I wish I was a little better at doing it. There's a way to do his voice, but I didn't have much time to prepare. But it was okay. I got a great poster out of it that's in my office. [Laughs.] I look just like Frank. 

"Dr. Vass" - Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Yeah, that was a very intense and great experience. That was a hair departure for me. [Laughs.] You know, it was very intense because Matthew [McConaughey] was without a speck of makeup. He was just starving right in front of you. You could really see his skull right underneath his skin. So all I had to do was be present. It was incredible to see an actor commit so much of his body and soul and talent into that part. I remember I was just so happy for him that it all paid off. And it's also a script that's been around for a long time, so it really was one of those Cinderella fables where the good guy wins. 

"Dick" - Amazing Stories (1986)

"Knoll" - Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1986)

Oh, yeah, Amazing Stories. Um...

If you need any steering on this one, I'm mostly curious about the experience of working with Paul Bartel.

Ah! Yeah, Paul Bartel. That was a strange one. [Laughs.] It was a series that [Steven] Spielberg was producing, but it was something that I remember being... [Hesitates.] Not knowing Paul very well, he'd been working on it a very long time, but thematically it was really a precursor to The Truman Show. Which we, of course, didn't know at the time. But it was just such a crazy idea, and I was in it opposite Penny Pyser, who was a very serious girlfriend of mine years earlier. So there was a nice little symmetry. 

And then it was right around the same time that you also did an episode of the reboot of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, one in which you were directed by Tim Burton.

Oh, yeah! And I'd known Tim for a time before that, but I'd never worked with him as an actor. So that was really great. I actually happened to see that again - I think I came across it on television - and it was still so visually arresting. He was always a real artist.

How did you first cross paths with Tim?

We saw a short of his in a movie theater - an animated one [Vincent]- and you could tell just from looking at it that he was a genius. So we tracked him down - myself and Amy Robinson, my producing partner at the time - and we talked to him for quite a bit about [directing] After Hours. And then we developed a script at MGM for him to direct that never got anywhere. But all of us started right around the same time. So we’ve known each other for quite awhile.

"Bob" - Frasier (1993)

That was a gas. Just a gas. Really, really funny. You know, those people were so great. And it was a hilarious part. 

You'd also done a guest voice as a caller into Frasier's radio show. Had they been trying to get you to guest on the show?

I did do a guest voice, but it was a total coincidence! It was great to actually be on that show, though. That was really hilarious and a lot of fun. 

Himself - Stuck on You (2003)

I played myself because in real life both (co-director) Peter Farrelly and (producer) Charlie Wessler are very close old friends, and they talked me into playing myself. And I think Cher played herself.

She did indeed.

So I was in good company. [Laughs.] That was just a fun, silly little thing. 

"Thomas - John’s Father" - Girls (2013)

Oh, yeah! I wish that had been longer. I should've held out for a longer part. But I had a great time. It was a really fun set.

Was that a case where they reached out to you specifically?

No, it just sort of came about. But I'm such a fan of that show. I'd have loved to have tried that Richard E. Grant part, but...that's just me. [Laughs.] 

"Dr. Mark," producer - Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)

Well, that's what got my acting career started. As I said, I had dyslexia, so I had a very hard time auditioning for stuff. So I gave myself that part, and it was a very, very humorous part, so I got a lot of attention out of it and...it just went pretty good. And that was the first movie I'd produced.

Yeah, I was curious about that. Since - as you said - you had trouble auditioning, did you just decide that you wanted to dip your toe into that aspect of the industry since you were getting as many parts? 

Oh, absolutely. It was the only way. It was the only toe available to me: giving myself a job. Nobody was offering any digits of any kind. [Laughs.] And from then on, I was able to get parts just off that. And, you know, so much of it is just about confidence, and that gave me a lot of confidence, so when I went in to audition after that, it changed everything.

"Burt Uttanzi" - Me and Him (1988)

Oh, gosh, what an odd choice of a movie to choose [as the closer]. Um... I don't know what I was thinking. Except that it's a favorite of movies of rappers on their tour buses. So I got something out of it. But a very unusual career choice.

It is certainly conceptually unique.

Yeah, exactly. Well, it was based on a great book. That's my excuse.

As an adaptation, though, it sounds like you were less than pleased. 

Yeah, it, uh, should've stayed as a book. I should've just stuck with reading the book and then gone and done something else!