by MATTHEW HAYS

Crispin Glover doesn’t sound the least bit freakish over the phone. In fact, he’s articulate, rational and even-keeled. I suppose this shouldn’t come as a surprise - the man is an actor, after all - but it still seems somewhat shocking when one considers the litany of nutjobs Glover has brought to life on screen.

I first recall seeing him in Back to the Future (1985), in which Glover played Michael J. Fox’s father. In the midst of such a deeply mainstream project, Glover stood out, playing the part to the hilt in a uniquely mannered turn. He refused to return for the sequel, and the filmmakers’ solution to this problem - using clips from the first film and an actor heavily made up to look like Glover - prompted the actor to sue Steven Spielberg’s production company (and win).

Since then, Glover - born Crispin Hellion Glover - has fleshed out various films with truly inspired performances. He was the affected, druggie Layne in River’s Edge (’87), a mute baddie in Charlie’s Angels (2000) and had a hilarious cameo as Andy Warhol in Oliver Stone’s The Doors (’91). He’s also attracted the attention of some of the most influential directors working, landing roles in the films of David Lynch (Wild at Heart), Lasse Hallstrom (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man) and Neil LaBute (Nurse Betty).

Meanwhile, Glover has not limited himself to acting, having written several novels, most notably Rat Catching, published by his family’s own Volcanic Eruptions Press. Claiming to be intrigued by "the aesthetic of discomfort," Glover also recorded a spoken-word and music album, The Big Problem [does not equal] the Solution. The Solution = LET IT BE, in ’89, and in ’99 released his directorial debut, What Is It?, a film that starred a group of actors with Down’s Syndrome.

This year Glover is again starring as a freakish figure, playing the title role in Willard, the remake of the ’70s cult movie. The film’s script has Glover playing a frustrated and lonely young man who’s stuck in a horrific office job while tending to a sick bedridden mother (played by Canuck Jackie Burroughs in a brilliantly creepy performance). Isolated, friendless, Glover does what any lonely young man might do: he befriends a group of rats in his basement. The friendship he develops soon evolves into a troubling and nasty tale of revenge and betrayal.

Mirror: When I watched Willard I couldn’t help but recall that old W.C. Fields line of advice about never working with children or animals. How was working with the rats during the shoot?

Crispin Glover: They were great, they really were. They were extremely well trained and I had a lot of strong emotional scenes to play with them. I was very grateful that in the midst of all these tearful, emotional episodes, that they were able to do it perfectly every time. It made a huge difference in my ability to concentrate. Rats aren’t domesticated animals so they have to scurry to find where their food is. They were able to get them to go in specific patterns. Like during the near-suicide scene, when the razor blade is about to penetrate the skin, I was in that severe emotional state and I would just kind of stop, and then the trainer would put the rat on my arm so it would go straight to the blade. It would do so every time.

M: There have been so many children-befriending-animals movies in the past decade, most of them horrifically sentimental. So it’s great to see this movie come out now, because your character’s relationship with the rats is so not cuddly. It’s very ambiguous.

CG: It’s very curious. There’s a lot of conflict and double standards. There’s a lot of neurosis going on in the film. It’s a very good illustration of neurosis because there’s a real world drama that’s kind of a conscious drama, with the mother and the boss, and then there’s a subconscious drama, with [the rats] Socrates representing the innocent and Ben being the not innocent and angry and ready-for-vengeance element. When Socrates is removed, that ascends up into this conscious world with this nefarious drama that ensues with the boss. It’s a very good example of a neurotic impulse coming up through the subconscious into the conscious and making for difficulties in life.

M: It’s so much more than a rats-versus-humans movie…

CG: That’s what I think is ultimately compelling about the film. The more I’ve talked to people about it the more I feel people are getting different things out of it. That for me is a very good sign, because I don’t like films so much that dictate that this is what you’re supposed to be thinking about right now, but rather films you walk away from and are still thinking about the possibilities.

M: You’ve got a pretty colourful filmography. How do you choose roles? Is there one thing that you think of when reading through a script in order for it to be a Crispin Glover movie?

CG: No. If there’s something that’s interesting to me, if there’s something that I can enjoy, then that’s what I look for. The thing that’s become different over the past few years is that I’ve been making my own films and I’ve directed two of them and produced two of them. It’s been tricky for me because I’ve had to finance them myself. Consequently I need to make money, so I’ve been very conscientious about making films I can make a good amount for. My quote has been increasing over the past few years. I have great interest in countercultural film and art, but there really isn’t a countercultural film movement right now. So I’m having to basically fund my own films and commit to working in the procultural film movement in order to do it. But I’ve been managing to get some good roles, like the lead in Willard, so it’s been artistically satisfying as well.

Loving the angels

M: John Cassavetes funded his own movies by acting in commercial movies, but he was quite open about the fact that he felt many of the films he was acting in were crap. Do you ever feel like when you’re doing a film like Charlie’s Angels that you’re holding your nose?

CG: No, Charlie’s Angels, I feel really good about my performance in that film. When I first read the script, the character I played had dialogue, and I really didn’t like the lines. But they kept asking me to go in for it, and go over ideas for it. Then I suggested that my character shouldn’t say anything, he should just be a fighting character. The director, McG, is a very enthusiastic fellow, liked the idea a great deal and said that’s exactly what we want to do. I thought it would actually be very interesting, because I would be a silent character who performs all these martial arts. I’m quite proud of that character and I’m in the second one as well.

M: I heard your commentary, along with director Werner Herzog, on the DVD of Even Dwarfs Started Small. Who are some of the filmmakers you would say had the profoundest impact on you when you approached directing yourself?

CG: Probably my four favourite directors are Herzog, Fassbinder, Kubrick and Bunuel, because with all of their work you can think beyond the edges of the film. They’re not films that dictate to you, this is what you must think. They’re all films that have compelling stories, but there are thoughts beyond the films themselves.

M: One of my favourite Crispin Glover films is Twister, a movie that didn’t do so well at the box office but gained a loyal cult following (the ’88 indie, not to be confused with the ’96 blockbuster). Are you ever frustrated when films you make don’t reach a broader audience?

CG: Actually, there are very few films that I consider really great that I’ve actually been in. I generally think that films that I’m in get the audience they deserve. I don’t get too frustrated by that. That’s one of the things I’m excited about with Willard, is that I think it’s a good film that will also do well.

An affronted actor

M: You successfully sued Steven Spielberg’s production company over the use of your image in Back to the Future Part II. Were you the least bit worried about the fallout from such a move, seeing as he’s arguably the most powerful man in Hollywood?

CG: What I can say about the lawsuit is that it was settled with mutual satisfaction. That was a legal situation, and the law is the equalizer in the United States of America. As a citizen of the U.S., if something is egregiously, wrongfully done to me, I will do that, no matter who or what. It was plainly a wrongdoing and there are new rules in the Screen Actor’s Guild now so that that can’t happen again. I have no regret whatsoever and it’s very evident that those people did something incorrectly. If anyone has any regrets I would think it would be them.

M: I’ve read that you have some pretty zealous fans. What’s the strangest thing anyone’s ever done to get close to you?

CG: I used to live at the top of a 14-storey building and a girl climbed across a ledge to get into my place. I’m not afraid of heights, but it really was death defying, a very small ledge. She was at my door one day after, and she told me that she’d stolen a leather jacket, a Polaroid shot of me and some underwear. I told her that I would like to have the leather jacket back and the Polaroid but that she could keep the underwear. She kept getting angry, and it became apparent that she was just having mental difficulties, because I was being polite to nice. There was something wrong with her. That was bizarre.

M: Will you hang out with fans if they approach you?

CG: Generally I’m pretty nice. It’s rare for me to be unfriendly. Back when I lived in that apartment people knew where I lived and sometimes if it was a pretty girl I’d be more likely to invite them in and talk to them.

M: You’d sleep with them?

CG: I wouldn’t say yes or no to that. Certainly, a good benefit of being an actor is that attractive girls may like you as a result. That can be a nice thing. :

Willard opens Friday, March 14

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