Full Article Text
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vived as artistic director and plans to helm
for a good decade to come - that has tak-
en root at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
And Spacey couldn't be happier.
"l'm very happy that we're bringing our entire ethos
with us," Spacey says. "lt's not just a show coming; it,s a
whole company coming. We have workshops through the
entlre run with kids from New York Citv schools. We,re
doing a U.S.and U.K. exchmge of playwrights. We re do-
ing 24-hour plays [a program in whrch a one-act is writ-
ten and staged within 2.1 hours to get young people ex-
cited about theaterl. That's in June. And we have student
seats every night at 925
"These are things that we fought for, because there,s
no point in cominB unless it's the compuny coming.
There are I 1 peop.le on our staff wbo are going to be here
over the next number of months doins all the work that
we do in London. ' Howard Davies heims the show.
Although the collaborative nature of makine mov-
ies is often obscured by those tamous faces people see at
the multiplex, theater is undeniably a from-the-boards-
up team effort. And Spacey - despite being a two-time
AcademyAward-winner and A-lisl Dresence last seen on
film as superuiJlain Lex Luthor in 2b06's..Supeman Re-
tums" - clearly loves lhe inclusive nalure oi lhe stage. a
path he set aside after moving into film in the early ,90s,
when he gave memorably acidic turns in 1992,s ,.Glen-
garry Glen Ross" and 1994's combo of,.The Ref, and
"Swimming With Sharks "
"I made a conscious effort after'Lost in yonkers, lthe1991 Neil Simon comedy that won Spacey a Tony for
Best Featured Actor in a Play] to focus on film for a de-
cade," says the 4?-year-old, New Jersey-born actor
"It was m absolutely conscious decision,,, Spacey adds
"And then, at the end of i999, I was like, ,Well - that
went better than I thought "'
6ez
i
Noo
N
m
o
E
c
ITHE BIG KAHUIIA
TlHt's an understatemenl Spaceywon a
Best Supporting Actor Osctr for 1995's "The
Usual Sspects" md a Bst Actor Oscu for
1999's'Americm Beauty," making him part
of a short list of actoB to win both those
awilds, including Jack Nicholson, Meryl
Streep, Robert De Niro, DerelWmhington
and Jack L€mmon (one of Space/s acting
idols m well r his "Glengarr5/ co-stu)
"So, thot worked okay .. " is how Spacey
describes his own astonished inner mono-
logue after'American Beauty,"''now
what am I supposed to do?'-
After his first Osctr, Spacey
costmed in "Seven,"'ATime
to Kill" and "L.A. Confiden-
tial"; after the second. he did
"Pay It Foruad,"'The Ship-
ping News" ild'The Life of
Dayid GaIe," among otheE. He
has directed two frlm, including
his dream prcject, 2004's "Beyond
the Sea," about the life of singer Bob-
by Drin (Coming up, he hssmallerrcls
in several films, including this year's Vnce
Vaughn comedy'Fred Clau.J
But theater was what he had his eye on af-
ter tackling Holl)Mood In 1999, just before
"Beau$'hit movie theatere, he had red-hot
success witll a revival of O'Neill's "The Ice-mil Cometh" (his afEnity for the playwright
wm edier demoNtrated on Broadway in
1986's'Ilng Day's Jomey lnto Night," also
with hlmo[) ID 'Mooq" he cestars with
Eve Best, who pla1rc the rough-hem gmd-
time gal Josie to Spacey's besotted, failed
actor James TFone CoIm Mmey plays her
swindler of a father md all three drink and
bicker md tell Ii6 in 1920s Comecfiot-
Sitting in his drcsing room before pre.
dews, Spaey gladly states that his priori-
\ ty for the next l0 ym is the Old Vic.
Orson Vr/ells onc€ said dimting
a movie wu fike getting to play
with the world's bigBst toy
tnin set, but to Spac€y, dlere's
no question which is more fun
'Ruming a thster mmpa-
ny, hands dowq" hes5re. "ff
I never made a rnovie again for
the rest of my life, I would still
die a happy person "
i Does his agentknow?
i "Actualty," Spacey laugbs, 'my agents
i . and managec have been ubeliwably sup
i portive of this dtrisior I don't fel tlat pres-
i sre [to do fiLn work]. I only everfftl it bs
i caue people seem to have some perception
i that I've walked away from something-
' "But in fact I'ye walked towsds something- I didn'trvalkawayfiom mlthing.If a
mwieomes alongthatl think is goo4 with
pople I'd like to workwittL ild it 6ts into
ou schedule at the theter, I'll consider iL If
it dosn't, then I E'on'L Its so not an ordeal-'
His coments don't surprise, really- R[-
ning a theater compily gives him ftr more
ontrol thm he muld ever have in filn" wen
vorking double time m a director And hav-
;ng worked underJos€ph Papp ai New
YoriCs Public TheateE Spac€y sw fiFthmd
the impact artistic dirertols can have.
Bsides, he has been pr€paring for this
rcle his whole life-*ft gio€s back to when I m 13," salm
Spaey, 'end I became close friends with a
clNmte, moth€rfutw actor I]medVal
Iclmer [t!e two attmded *hool together
in Cbatsworlt a tom in Southem Califor-
nial - Vat's dad Iived on Roy Rogers' fomer
nmh. where Roy had nmed a stret Tdg-
ger St@t--.. And ultimtely that has bemme
the nane of my production compary, Trig-
ger SEe€t
'Val md I, at areryyoung age-I still
have the desigm on a napkin - dcided we
ruted to build a t}tater on Trigger Streel
There% going to te m mphith€ter"
HNmany seats did it hold?'Itw6 a good
sire," he smilm- *IiHewer€ thinking big-" a
3oz
oz
f
6
E
3o
a
!}.Ni
vived as artistic director and plans to helm
for a good decade to come - that has tak-
en root at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
And Spacey couldn't be happier.
"l'm very happy that we're bringing our entire ethos
with us," Spacey says. "lt's not just a show coming; it,s a
whole company coming. We have workshops through the
entlre run with kids from New York Citv schools. We,re
doing a U.S.and U.K. exchmge of playwrights. We re do-
ing 24-hour plays [a program in whrch a one-act is writ-
ten and staged within 2.1 hours to get young people ex-
cited about theaterl. That's in June. And we have student
seats every night at 925
"These are things that we fought for, because there,s
no point in cominB unless it's the compuny coming.
There are I 1 peop.le on our staff wbo are going to be here
over the next number of months doins all the work that
we do in London. ' Howard Davies heims the show.
Although the collaborative nature of makine mov-
ies is often obscured by those tamous faces people see at
the multiplex, theater is undeniably a from-the-boards-
up team effort. And Spacey - despite being a two-time
AcademyAward-winner and A-lisl Dresence last seen on
film as superuiJlain Lex Luthor in 2b06's..Supeman Re-
tums" - clearly loves lhe inclusive nalure oi lhe stage. a
path he set aside after moving into film in the early ,90s,
when he gave memorably acidic turns in 1992,s ,.Glen-
garry Glen Ross" and 1994's combo of,.The Ref, and
"Swimming With Sharks "
"I made a conscious effort after'Lost in yonkers, lthe1991 Neil Simon comedy that won Spacey a Tony for
Best Featured Actor in a Play] to focus on film for a de-
cade," says the 4?-year-old, New Jersey-born actor
"It was m absolutely conscious decision,,, Spacey adds
"And then, at the end of i999, I was like, ,Well - that
went better than I thought "'
6ez
i
Noo
N
m
o
E
c
ITHE BIG KAHUIIA
TlHt's an understatemenl Spaceywon a
Best Supporting Actor Osctr for 1995's "The
Usual Sspects" md a Bst Actor Oscu for
1999's'Americm Beauty," making him part
of a short list of actoB to win both those
awilds, including Jack Nicholson, Meryl
Streep, Robert De Niro, DerelWmhington
and Jack L€mmon (one of Space/s acting
idols m well r his "Glengarr5/ co-stu)
"So, thot worked okay .. " is how Spacey
describes his own astonished inner mono-
logue after'American Beauty,"''now
what am I supposed to do?'-
After his first Osctr, Spacey
costmed in "Seven,"'ATime
to Kill" and "L.A. Confiden-
tial"; after the second. he did
"Pay It Foruad,"'The Ship-
ping News" ild'The Life of
Dayid GaIe," among otheE. He
has directed two frlm, including
his dream prcject, 2004's "Beyond
the Sea," about the life of singer Bob-
by Drin (Coming up, he hssmallerrcls
in several films, including this year's Vnce
Vaughn comedy'Fred Clau.J
But theater was what he had his eye on af-
ter tackling Holl)Mood In 1999, just before
"Beau$'hit movie theatere, he had red-hot
success witll a revival of O'Neill's "The Ice-mil Cometh" (his afEnity for the playwright
wm edier demoNtrated on Broadway in
1986's'Ilng Day's Jomey lnto Night," also
with hlmo[) ID 'Mooq" he cestars with
Eve Best, who pla1rc the rough-hem gmd-
time gal Josie to Spacey's besotted, failed
actor James TFone CoIm Mmey plays her
swindler of a father md all three drink and
bicker md tell Ii6 in 1920s Comecfiot-
Sitting in his drcsing room before pre.
dews, Spaey gladly states that his priori-
\ ty for the next l0 ym is the Old Vic.
Orson Vr/ells onc€ said dimting
a movie wu fike getting to play
with the world's bigBst toy
tnin set, but to Spac€y, dlere's
no question which is more fun
'Ruming a thster mmpa-
ny, hands dowq" hes5re. "ff
I never made a rnovie again for
the rest of my life, I would still
die a happy person "
i Does his agentknow?
i "Actualty," Spacey laugbs, 'my agents
i . and managec have been ubeliwably sup
i portive of this dtrisior I don't fel tlat pres-
i sre [to do fiLn work]. I only everfftl it bs
i caue people seem to have some perception
i that I've walked away from something-
' "But in fact I'ye walked towsds something- I didn'trvalkawayfiom mlthing.If a
mwieomes alongthatl think is goo4 with
pople I'd like to workwittL ild it 6ts into
ou schedule at the theter, I'll consider iL If
it dosn't, then I E'on'L Its so not an ordeal-'
His coments don't surprise, really- R[-
ning a theater compily gives him ftr more
ontrol thm he muld ever have in filn" wen
vorking double time m a director And hav-
;ng worked underJos€ph Papp ai New
YoriCs Public TheateE Spac€y sw fiFthmd
the impact artistic dirertols can have.
Bsides, he has been pr€paring for this
rcle his whole life-*ft gio€s back to when I m 13," salm
Spaey, 'end I became close friends with a
clNmte, moth€rfutw actor I]medVal
Iclmer [t!e two attmded *hool together
in Cbatsworlt a tom in Southem Califor-
nial - Vat's dad Iived on Roy Rogers' fomer
nmh. where Roy had nmed a stret Tdg-
ger St@t--.. And ultimtely that has bemme
the nane of my production compary, Trig-
ger SEe€t
'Val md I, at areryyoung age-I still
have the desigm on a napkin - dcided we
ruted to build a t}tater on Trigger Streel
There% going to te m mphith€ter"
HNmany seats did it hold?'Itw6 a good
sire," he smilm- *IiHewer€ thinking big-" a