2B
Wednesday, July 24, 1996
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
928 Mass. 843-0611
We Buy, Sell, Trade & Consign USED & New Sports Equipment
841-PLAY
1029
Massachusetts
Kevin Spacey realizes success has its downside
NEW YORK — Kevin Spacey is scaring himself.
The Associated Press
Highly skilled at frightening the popcorn out of movie audiences with portrayals of killers and creeps.
Spacey spooks himself by considering the pitfalls of success.
"How many times in our experience do we, five years or so after some body really breaks out, ask ourselves, 'Whatever happened'
Kevin Spacey
to so-and-so?" Spacey said.
After building a career as a journeyman actor beloved equally in Hollywood and on Broadway, Spacey really broke out in 1995, appearing in Outbreak, Swimming With Sharks, the popular hit Seven and The Usual Suspects, which brought him an Academy Award for supporting actor.
Now, with the release of his latest film, A Time to Kill, Spacey wants to make sure he's not a forgotten celebrity so-and-so when the new millennium rolls around.
"Tennessee Williams wrote a really great essay called The Catastrophe of Success about what can happen to someone in the arts, because it happened to him." Spacey said.
Spacey avoided the distraction of his big year because he was busy directing his first movie, Albino Alligator, in New Orleans while Hollywood oohed and aahed over his fast-talking career criminal, Verbal Kint, in The Usual Suspects and the psychokiller with no fingerprints in Seven.
Not that he completely escaped the distraction. An Oscar is still an Oscar, after all.
"There was sort of a steamroller effect," he said of the critical acclaim, supporting actor Oscar nomination and the subsequent award. "It's just been really important to me to keep working, to keep that work ethic going.
"I if honor the tribute then that means I have to continue to do things that challenge me and I have to continue doing stuff that I believe in, you know. If I do a couple of nobrainers for a lot of money, then I'll probably deserve to get sent to my
room for a little while," he said.
A 15-year veteran of Broadway productions, Spacey first went mainstream on television in the late 1980s, playing maniac drug kingpin Mel Profuse on Wiseguy.
Ever cautious, he handled his first taste of fame the same way he's managing his latest move toward superstardom—warily.
"I have been around for, like, years, quietly doing my work," he said. "I've tried hard not to capitalize on some things I did that got attention, times when I could have run with the ball.
"When Wiseguy happened, you know, I was offered other series; and there were opportunities to, sort of, do more of the same kind of thing. But I just didn't want to become Kevin 'Wiseguy' Spacey for the next years."
Suddenly two scruffy Generation Xers in faded blue jeans casually saunter inside. The guy has curly hair and a patchy blondish beard. The woman is bone thin, her face partly covered by long straight jetblack hippie hair.
They're both dressed-down, it takes a second to realize they're not a couple of gate-crashing panhandlers, but instead Spacey's A Time to Kill co-stars Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey, taking a break from the grind of publicity work.
"Hi, sweet pea," Bullock said, hugging Spacey close and smothering him with friendly kisses. "We wanted to come and say goodbye before you go. Now, when do we get to see your film?"
McConaughey sidles over for a brotherly embrace, promising to meet Spacey again to sample the delights of sushi, sake and sweet Spanish songs.
Bullock insists that Spacey absolutely must rent a villa in Italy she stayed at once, scribbling the telephone number down on hotel stationery. After another hug, she threatens to play a little ditty on the piano across the room, laughs at the looks she gets, then grabs McConaughey and dashes out.
"Uh, where were we?" Spacey said, grinning, clearly loving the sincere show of affection, revealing as much about himself as anything he might say.
Despite his longtime presence and recent prominence, the actor who celebrated his 37th birthday two days after the debut of *A Time to Kill* remains an enigma, and he likes
it that wav.
"I don't know how many entertainment programs there are, talks shows, magazines, whatever, but there are a lot," he said. "And it seems to me that has taken some of the mystery out of it.
"The actors I've admired most often are the ones that I know the least about. I don't know much about Anthony Hopkins, I don't know much about Robert De Niro. I don't know a hell of a lot about Harvey Keitel. And each time I see them they do something that startles me," he said.
He has shielded himself so fiercely from media prying that little is known about his personal life beyond the fact he lives alone in Greenwich Village.
"I happen to care greatly for the loved ones in my life. They didn't ask to come along on this ride," he said. "So I will continue to protect that part of my life with every fiber that I have. I just think it's a right that I don't have to give up."
Spacey dropped his usual avoidance of the press in January when footage from Albino Alligator was stolen at Los Angeles International Airport. He took to the airwaves to plead for the celluloid's safe return.
"Ah, the infamous lost film. That was five sleepless nights. I got lucky," Spacey said. "I went on the news, which was slightly embarrassing, but I didn't care. Luckily, it was a slow news day."
The lost film was returned, saving the first-time director from having to reshoot critical scenes of the drama. It's due to be released in November.
the busy actor, whose next film is L.A. Confidential with Danny DeVito, will vacation in Europe when that film wraps up. Then he will take a hiatus from Hollywood and movies to produce and star in the play National Anthems in New York.
For the veteran Broadway trouper with credits including Lost in Yonkers and Long Day's Journey Into Night, there are no mixed feelings about returning to the stage.
"I'm so happy that I'm about to break with conventional wisdom, which is that I should keep doing movies, and come back and do this play that I adore very much," he said.
"It's easy to say yes, it's harder to say no," he said. "Because it's too easy to justify things you can do in this life that are wrong, just wrong."
For more information, stop by SUA, or call 864-3477.
Visit our homepage at http://www.ukans.edu/-sua
CYCLE TO CLASS
Hours:
Mon-Sat:9:30-6
Thurs 'til 8
Sun:Noon-4
AND FORGET ABOUT:
• Auto Insurance
• Meter Maids
• Oil Changes
• Air Pollution
• Parking Stickers
• Climbing Steps
CYCLE WORKS
CYCLING AND FITNESS Where EVERYDAY you get more for your bucks
1601West 23rd Lawrence, KS
842-6363
PENTIUM133
Intel Pentium 133mhz processor
1.6GB Hard Disk
1.44MB Floppy Disk
Windows 95
16MB RAM
64BIT 1 MB Video Card
Mouse
Windows 95 Compatible Keyboard
14" SVGA .28mm Dot Pitch Monitor
8X CD-ROM, 16-BIT Sound, Speakers
Supra 28.8 Fax/Data Modem
One Year On-Site Warranty
One Year On-Site Warranty
$1,839.95 Financing available!
ayhawk Bookstore at the top of Naismith Hill! 1420 Crescent Road (913)843-3826 Free Storeside Parking Open Everyday
Whatcha gonna do when this is gone?
Donate Plasma & Receive $20 First Visit, $20 Second Visit
816 W.24th 749-575O
The Quality Source
Hours:
Mon-Fri 9:00-6:30