Empire Australasia - 04.2020

COMING SOON

THE STAND

(2020)

In this much-

anticipated TV

adaptation of

the dystopian

Stephen

King novel,

Kinnear will

play widowed

professor

Glen

Bateman.

PIANO

LESSONS

(TBC)

Kinnear is

attached to

this drama

about a man

who learns

to play

Schumann on

the piano in

order to save

his marriage.

ILLUSTRATIONARN0

Have you ever knowingly broken the law?

I’m a terrific jaywalker. Never been caught for it.

Never busted. They’re pretty strict about it in some

cities and I’m very under the radar: surreptitious

and move quick... But that’s not a great crime story.

I’m a little disappointed in my crime story. I’ve got

to think about that.

What’s your earliest memory?

I remember taking a nap in kindergarten. My

kindergarten teacher had the kids roll out a mat

and take a nap in the afternoon, and I remember

thinking: “Ilikethis nap business.” It’s stayed

with me.

What’s in your pocket right now?

Let me see. I have one dollar, which I found on the

counter on my way out. And then I have a very thin,

lovely wallet that I got in England. I shot this movie

with Keira Knightley called Misbehaviour last year,

and I lost my wallet. I went into this Smythson

place in London and they were having a wallet sale!

Who knew? And the guy who only has one dollar in

his pocket is always looking for a sale, as you can

expect. I have it loaded up with credit cards, and

I have a little note from my daughter left over from

Father’s Day two years ago. It says, “I have to do one

thing, Dad. Love you.” Basically, if I need the car

washed or whatever, she has to do it. I’m waiting for

her to come home with the wrong boy some day,

and I’m gonna pull it out and say, “Get rid of him.”

What would you call your autobiography?

‘Pressure Is A Privilege’. I stole it from an NBA

coach who said that to me, and I always think about

it. When you’re in situations where you’re under

a little pressure — like having to play Bob Hope in

front of people, for example — it’s not anything to

be scared of, but you’re lucky. It’s a privilege.

When were you most starstruck?

It was probably meeting Jack Nicholson for As

Good As It Gets. The director [James L. Brooks] had

me come over to Jack’s house to audition. Just the

nice, relaxing environment of Jack’s living room!

I’d only done, like, two movies at the time, and Jack

is one of the all-time greats. So it stuck with me. That

and, of course, meeting Johnny Whitaker. DAN JOLIN

MISBEHAVIOUR IS IN CINEMAS FROM 23 APRIL

What is the worst smell in the world?

My ten-year-old has some sort of squishy toy that

I believe was given to her as a birthday gift, and she

will come up and unexpectedly squeeze it in my

face, because she knows the smell causes me to dry

heave. It’s horrible. It’s toxic. Man, it’s hard to top

children’s toys for bad smells.

Which movie have you seen the most?

Groundhog Day. There’s some irony in that. But

honestly, I flip around a lot and that movie more

than any other movie I’ll let play — I just can’t turn

the channel. It’s like a screensaver. Because it’s the

same gag over and over again, it doesn’t matter

whether you jump in halfway through, three-

quarters of the way...

How much is a carton of milk?

Organic in Southern California’s gonna run you

close to four dollars.

Have you ever written fan mail to anyone?

I did a talk show at NBC years ago and Johnny

Carson was just finishing his run at NBC at

the time. I wrote him a note to say how much

I respected him and how excited I was to go over

to NBC. But it wasn’t really fan mail per se... I do

remember my firstexchange as a fan. I’m originally

from Indiana and there was this actor named

Johnny Whitaker, who was in Sigmund And The

Sea Monsters— a huge star by all standards. He

came to the local mall and was pitching, I think,

J.C. Penney’s sports coats. Me and my friend lined

up to get a signed picture, and he said, “What’s your

name?” I said, “Greg.” He goes, “One G or two?”

I remember thinking, “Okay, actors are not very

smart because it’s obviously two: one at the

beginning and one at the end.” Then of course

when I got home, that was when I realised that

a silent G existed in ‘Gregg ’. It was traumatising.

Do you have a favourite joke?

Not one that I can tell for print. It would get

me in big trouble [laughs]. I’m gonna take the

Fifth on this.

GREG

KINNEAR

DREAMLAND

(2020)

Kinnear

joins a huge

ensemble cast

(including

Armie Hammer

and Gary

Oldman) in this

Nicholas

Jarecki-

directed drug

thriller.

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