Alan Cumming
May 2001
New York City

He goes from television to film to stage to song without batting an eye (and usually within a matter of months). He’s just finished a novel (Tommy’s Tale hitting stores in August) and regularly contributes columns about fashion and fad to top-name magazines. In his spare time he gets together with friends, co-writes and co-directs an unforgettable film about life and love and gets rave reviews for it. And yes, he really is just one man—a snappy dresser from Scotland named Alan Cumming.

Cumming’s attitude is most likely what has brought him to the forefront of so many areas of entertainment. The guy has a mind open enough to take in all possibilities, and the will to believe that he can try them all. Last year alone, Cumming co-starred in a big-time production of “Annie” for ABC; appeared in box office blockbusters “Spy Kids” and “Josie and the Pussycats”; took to the stage for a revival of Noel Coward's acclaimed play “Design for Living”; and released his first attempt at writing and directing a feature film (partnering with Jennifer Jason Leigh). “The Anniversary Party” had critics and viewers worldwide raving and garnered multiple Independent Spirit Award nominations as well as a National Board of Review award for excellence in filmmaking. The fact that Cumming and Leigh also star in the film makes their achievement all the more impressive.

The rest of Cumming’s CV reads like a dream for any performer and includes truly memorable projects like the films “Circle of Friends” and “Emma” as well as the musical revival of “Cabaret” that earned him a Tony.

In between Broadway and last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Cumming took the time to discuss why he tackled filmmaking so head-on and shared his musings on the other million things he does with that unique flare. Definitely not one to pussyfoot around what he really thinks, Cumming’s brand of honesty is rare and much appreciated.

So right now you’re closing Design For Life in New York, then leave almost immediately for the film festival in France. Do you prefer stage work to film or do you have a preference at all?

I don’t really have a preference – I like to go back and forth. It’s nice to have a bit of a challenge. I’ve always – since I was very young – gone back and forth between stage and screen. The bizarre thing is that the more big films you do, the more people are surprised that you want to go back to the theater.

It obviously provides an outlet for you that film doesn’t.

Yeah! It’s a different sort of discipline.

Considering you do so much now as a writer and director and performer, what did you grow up wanting to do?

Well…I wanted to be a vet but I wasn’t allowed to take biology. I had a big personality clash with my biology teacher, so that was scuttled early on. And then I wanted to be an actor or a writer, so now I’m sort of both.

What were your early attempts at writing?

After I left school and before I went to drama school, I worked for about a year and a half on a kind of a pop magazine in Scotland, being a sub-editor and stuff like that. And then after that the writing I did was more performance stuff. I did stand-up comedy with another guy early on and we wrote all of our material.

And having worked for a pop magazine, as you put it, you still keep your finger on the pulse of pop culture, contributing on the subject for various publications. What kind of an outlet does that provide for you?

I think I really like writing my thoughts on the world. It’s just really good to get that kind of stuff out of my head. [Giggling] Also, I feel like a lot of weird things happen to me; I think I have quite a weird, odd, bizarre life. It’s changed quite dramatically since I was a little boy, and I view it from a slightly outsider’s point of view, so it’s quite nice to write about that and to share that with other people to keep it in perspective.

And give it to them with humor, too.

Yes!

Where do you think you got your sense of style? Because yet another thing about you is that you’re just so damn stylish!

[Laughing] I don’t know! I think as I got older I just got more comfortable with myself. You know, it changes because you change, it changes with how you’re feeling…. Like if I’m going out, I like dressing up – I quite enjoy that sort of getting dressed-up thing. I love the fact that if you can wear clothes that make a statement or say something, it’s fun to do that like as an extension of yourself as an artist.

And what about the roles you select – is it kind of along the same lines, that you want to make a statement with those?

Yeah – sometimes I think I’d like to do something very different and that’s a kind of statement as well. I want to stay eclectic and I think being eclectic is really healthy for you as a person and as an artist. It’s good to be able to mix up what you do in terms of going from a big blockbuster film to a little weird art house one that nobody’s going to see. I think it’s really important for your environment to change all the time so that you have a perspective on the world that’s not just exclusive to one type of thing, you know?

Yes – so you remain adaptable. But how difficult is it to go from such different roles in front of as well as behind the camera? Like for The Anniversary Party, how hard was it to put all those roles together – actor, director, writer and producer?

It was quite hard. The acting part was really easy because we knew the characters so well since we’d had them in our heads for so long. And it was a really healthy thing to do as an actor because it makes you realize how much better it is when you’re simple and not thinking about acting. But it was a lot of pressure. The producing thing I didn’t really do very much – I mean, bits of paper came on my table and I wold kind of look at them but it was more that we initiated the project; there were other people who did more of the producerly stuff. And the writing kind of all segued…. In a way I don’t think that any of those things are really different from each other. I mean, the producing thing has a lot to do with organizing but writing and directing and acting is all just telling a story – it’s all degrees of how much control you have over telling the story. So I don’t really feel that there’s that big a difference between all those things but obviously there is quite a lot of pressure to do them all at once!

Was there anything you gave to your character as Joe that was something you wanted challenge yourself to do, something that was different from previous roles?

I didn’t set out to do that, but I think I definitely did. I’m intrigued by the idea that you use a lot of yourself. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that as an actor it’s not about covering yourself up, it’s what you bear of yourself and let come through into the character that is important and is what makes a character more truthful and more attractive to an audience. Not that I mean that you should be the same in everything – it’s like an essence of yourself that you allow to come through that you’re prepared to be vulnerable in some way. And I think with Joe, I took that as far as I’ve ever done because in the writing of it Jennifer and I both used things about ourselves or let other characters talk about us in the way that other people talk about us. We used a lot of things from our own life – not necessarily autobiographical things, but things about our personalities, mannerisms and things – and let them be discussed in a film. And that vulnerability factor, pushing that envelope, was not something that I realized I was doing; it kind of crept up on me. On both of us.

What about all of your friends co-starring in the film – did you take those same things about their personalities and inject them into their roles?

Totally! We used their characteristics; sometimes we used things they’d actually said in real life. We used speech patterns and nuances of theirs for real. They, too, were kind of feeling themselves a bit more than they normally do.

Was anyone offended by your portrayal of themselves in their character?

No, because we kept them in the loop at the time of writing it and everyone was really game to go with us on this kind of thing.

That’s good sports of them.

Yeah, it really was! I think they thought that we weren’t going to abuse them in any way.

Of all of the people you’ve worked with in the past, how did Jennifer come to be the first one you collaborated with so closely on an idea like this one? Had other opportunities come up previously with anyone else?

Not an idea like this, but I used to write with my friend Forbes Masson in Britain – he and I went to drama school together and we wrote a lot of stuff together over the years, although we haven’t in a while. But I think the thing about Jennifer and me was that we were both at the same time in our lives when we were both kind of ready to take on a challenge like this. We both were feeling that we had experienced enough things in our lives that we had some stories to tell about relationships. It was the combination of our lives – the state our lives were in, the state our relationships were in – and that artistically we thought we’d done enough. You know, it’s kind of a funny thing…you’ve been in so many films and you’ve seen how sometimes things are botched up, it’s quite nice to then think, “Okay, I want to try this and I want to not make the mistakes that I’ve seen have been made so many times in the past.”

Right – to take what you learned from being directed and put it into directing.

Not just being directed, but about being on a set, making people feel good about coming to work and giving it their best. The hours you work, the presents you give, the way you involve everyone – you know, the whole spirit of the thing is what we wanted to kind of make unusual in that everyone’s involving everyone and not being hierarchical.

And how different is it to write and direct with a partner than it is to do it solo?

Oh, I like it more, actually. For certain things it’s much better. It just means that one of you always nags the other to get going. You feel a sense of duty to the other person so you work more diligently, I think. When I write on my own, I will do everything possible – I will call everyone I know, I will clean my house from top to bottom and I will read every book I can possibly read – before I’ll get down to writing. (Laughs) You have a duty to the other person when you’re writing with someone, and you can get a good feeling in that; you can absorb the responsibility as well.

Yet another side of you involves music. Cabaret is one thing but I also understand that you have done some composing in your time, is that correct?

(Laughs) Yes, I suppose so, yeah.

Why do you say suppose?

Oh, well, it’s sort of funny, composing…I mean, I’ve written a few songs with Forbes Masson. We wrote the stand-up comedy thing we did and we sang songs, so we made a couple of albums of our songs and they were released in Britain a long time ago. And then we wrote the theme tune for our TV series. So I’ve done bits and pieces but not for a while, actually. But yeah, I’ve kind of dabbled.

Would you dabble any more in the future?

Yeah, I would, when I’ve got more time! I really want to be able to spend more time just mucking about and doing little projects, playing the piano and stuff, because there are things I definitely want to do and I’ve got friends in the music business here who I’d quite like to go into the studio and muck about with. That’s what I want now: to try and have more time to do things like that. I’ve been too busy for too long and have lost the ability to just muck about.

You seem like the kind of person who needs ten pairs of hands because you want to do so many things.

But it’s that I want to be doing things that I want to do, like make a collage or a greeting card or read a book instead of doing this film and doing six interviews for this other one and then having to fly there to do something else on that one…do you know what I mean? You get on this kind of roller coaster or treadmill and it’s quite hard to get it to stop and do what you want.

Yes – it’s that you can’t just do your work, you also have to promote it and follow up with it and the cycle just keeps going and going.

Yeah! And the thing is I’ve really felt it more so than ever with The Anniversary Party because, since we wrote and directed it together, people want to talk to you more and you feel much more duty about that, a desire to promote it because it’s your baby.

So has this made you just want to go out and do more projects that are all your own or had the opposite effect?

(Laughs) It’s made me think about it in the future, being more of a filmmaker and write and direct my own things. But at the same time it’s made me need to have a break. I want to not rush into the next thing. I really am proud of the film and I don’t want to – if it does well – suddenly do something in the heat of the moment that I’m not completely happy with.

Speaking of success, were you surprised by the blockbuster that Spy Kids became?

Yeah! I mean, I really loved it, but I was pretty shocked about how much money it made. But then I was also quite shocked about how badly Josie and the Pussycats did as well.

Come now, it didn’t do that badly!

No, I mean everyone liked it and it was very well reviewed, but in terms of the money it made, everyone thought it was going to be bigger. When it came out, Spy Kids was number one at the box office and when I went to the premiere, everyone kept saying, “Alan, you’re gonna knock yourself off the box office!” (Laughs) And of course it didn’t get anywhere near that. It’s quite interesting how things go that way; I love it how they phone you up and tell you how it’s tracking and how well it’s doing. And this didn’t really do what they thought it was going to do.

This business is so unpredictable.

It’s a fickle mistress!

Is performing on stage in something like Cabaret – where singing is a big part of what you’re doing – a different type of acting for you, or do you apply the same attitude towards it?

I think it’s sort of the same because I haven’t really done stuff where I’m like a singer – I’m just sort of an actor who sings. Everyone’s asked me to be in all these other musicals, but it’s those musicals that I need to avoid, those that go laaaaaaaaa! [Launches into outrageous operatic aria] And I can’t do that – I’m just like an actor. I feel that as an actor in a musical I just happen to be singing instead of talking. I mean, I have an okay voice, but it’s not really my bag to do those sort of big musicals where you do a big voice and beautiful vibrato stuff. I’m quite intrigued by the musical form—I think I’ll do one again—but they’re not really my favorite. I think they can get really scary.

Scary like over-blown and over-dramatic?

Melodramatic, just plain stupid and very pretentious. I mean, the only two musicals I’ve ever done are Cabaret and Annie and I really loved doing Annie. That was great. I either like them when they’re sort of old-fashioned or really gritty…. Like my character in Cabaret sang these songs because that was his job, to be a singer of these songs, do you see what I mean? It wasn’t like he was suddenly bursting into song – that was what he did in the club! I have a problem with that kind of thing when you’re speaking and then all of a sudden YOU’RE SINGING! I can’t quite deal with that—although I did do that in Annie….

(Laughs) That’s true, but like you said it was more old-fashioned and acceptable that way.

Yeah, I liked that because it was almost a sort of period style. I really enjoyed that about it. There was one time when we were dancing down the street doing a big number and I said, “Oh, my god, this is like being in a big Hollywood musical!” and they went, “It is a big Hollywood musical!”

You bozo! You say you don’t have a good voice, but I saw you at the Hollywood Bowl last year—

Oh, did you?

I did and you did a number that had us reduced to puddles. I think it was a Cole Porter song…

No, it was Noel Coward, actually – it’s called “20th Century Blues” and they play it in the curtain call of the play I’m doing now every night.

So that means I need to get to New York like tomorrow so I can watch you do that.

(Singing) “I’m blue…twentieth century blues…” I did “Cabaret” first, and then I sang that one just with the piano, and then my big number to finish was called “Being Alive” by Stephen Sondheim.

Maybe that was it—it was like really emotional?

Aww, that’s the one, yes! It’s from…what the fuck do you call it…Company! Another musical. I really think it’s a beautiful song, but every time I’ve heard it it’s always that kind of singing that I was talking about before, you know. (Laughs) Actually, doing that Hollywood Bowl thing was really kind of a telling thing for me, because Rob, the director of Annie and Cabaret, came to see me and I was freaking out about singing with an 80-piece orchestra in front of 18,000 people. I was shitting my pants, thinking what the fuck am I doing this for?! It was actually a very good thing because I thought, well, it’s actually not about how good my voice is, it’s about how I interpret this song, you know? It’s about me as a person, what I have to give to this, how I am going to choose to do this and tell this story. Rob said that to me in a much nicer, more effusive way, and I thought, oh, I see, I shouldn’t worry anymore! It’s the fact that I’m sort of an anti-singer that counts, the fact that it’s refreshing that I sing like a person and not like a big…um…

Like a big production.

Yeah! And I’m much more cool about singing now because of that gala thing last year, which I would never have dreamed of doing before with all these big proper-voice singers. I just thought, well, fuck it! I can interpret this song and it will still be okay.

You did it—I mean, I tell you, everybody around us was like sobbing at the end of that.

Aw, really?

Oh, yeah. We were clutching our chests calling out to God. So you see, you should do it more often!

(Laughs) Yeah, maybe! I’ve actually been thinking that of all the things I’d like to do, I’d quite like to do a cabaret, of songs and DJs and little things, a sort of old-fashioned style show like that.

Like a vaudevillian sort of thing.

Yeah, just entertainment in a way that would tell some sort of story through the songs, I don’t know.

You are someone totally suited to doing a one-man-show kind of thing like that.

I’m quite keen to get to that.

Well, with all the time that you have lying around, get to it!

(Giggles) Yeah, I know! Once that I’ve retired, I’ll have time.

Speaking of all the things you have on your plate, how’s the novel coming along?

Slowly, thank you. (Giggles) That’s really why I’ve stopped acting, because I’ve got to get back to the novel because it’s got to be finished by the end of September.

Well, you’d better get cracking!

I know! I’ve really got to go on it. I look at it from time to time and kind of, you know, instead of writing more, I just correct syntax of the first chapter. (Laughs)

Is it pretty autobiographical?

It’s a fiction but similar to The Anniversary Party, there are autobiographical elements. Like it’s about man who wants to have a baby; I would like to have a baby at some point, and it’s about how you have that when you’re not in a conventional relationship or a relationship at all.

What kind of lessons have you learned from being in so many aspects of the business that you would share with people who want to get into it?

Just to try at all things to remember who you are and to be yourself. The older I’ve got the more I’ve sort of realized that, and it’s hard but the essence of you is the most important thing, the best thing you have to give as an artist, and to try and hold on to that is what I always recommend for people to do.