Film: Bruce Greenwood on his 'Star' turn

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His name is not so recognizable, but Canadian-born actor Bruce Greenwood's face is a familiar one, with a long list of box-office favorites under his belt. He's currently on the big screen playing Capt. Christopher Pike in the new "Star Trek." In 2007, he worked opposite Nicolas Cage in the Walt Disney thriller "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and played the evil CEO in "I Robot" with Will Smith. Greenwood, 52, and his wife Susan, who met as teen-agers, live in Los Angeles and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Excerpts of an interview:
Q: Have you been warned about the enthusiastic Trekkie fans ...?
A: Well, I have been, but I haven't seen any real evidence of that yet. There doesn't seem to be a lineup out in our driveway or anything.
Q: As a kid, did you get into science fiction?
A: When I was a very young boy there was a series of Tom Swift novels that I really liked, and then I got into Jules Verne. Then I kind of left science fiction behind for the most part. I was in a couple of small science-fiction-ish movies and a couple of big ones, and "I Robot" would be science fiction. I watched "Star Trek" when I was kid.
Q: I read that you once wanted to be a professional skier.
A: I was pretty outdoorsy. And yeah, that was my plan, professional skier or a poet, if you can imagine that. That was the fallback position if the skiing didn't work out, I'd make a living as a poet.
Q: So, do you still ski?
A: I have such a fried knee right now that I've had as a result of a couple of ski accidents and a motorcycle accident. I ski very little now, and when I do go up I have to gobble ibuprofen.
Q: You've played several real people, including Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and President Kennedy. How do you avoid not becoming a caricature?
A: Well, you just imagine the way Will Ferrell would do it and do the opposite. It's that easy. I don't know -- you just have to be careful to not flat-out copy, you know. And I'm saying that as if copying is easy. It isn't. You try to think of the dilemmas they are facing and the challenges they are facing rather than focus purely on the external stuff. It's a function of how much you internalize what they are going through.
Q: Your "Star Trek" character was not on very much in the original series.
A: Two episodes. Jeffrey Hunter originated the role. He was originally in the pilot and then the pilot was turned into a two-part episode in which he appeared. The Pike that I play and the Pike that Hunter was charged with playing have very different dilemmas. Hunter's Pike had this internal dilemma of not knowing if he wanted to continue with Star Fleet. My Pike's dilemma is whether or not to take a chance on a young man named James T. Kirk.
Q: Was the set extraordinary?
A: Superb, just superb. You know, hyperbole doesn't do it justice. It's just a phenomenal coming together of art direction and set design and ergonomics and functionality and fantasy that was exquisite to be part of.
Q: So walking on the bridge of the Enterprise is like getting in costume.
A: It was a total mind-bender. You believe for a second you are about to press a button and go shooting through time. Of course, you just end up at the commissary. It's all a big letdown. It's fun when you press the button and then you realize your finger is off the button and you are just back in your trailer. It's kind of like "Oh, wow! What happened?" No, it was really, really fun and tremendously evocative.
Q: You have those leading-man good looks, yet you play a lot of supporting roles.
A: I have assiduously avoided the leading-man thing. I'm joking (laughing). I made a very conscious decision not to be a huge star.
Q: Is celebrity easy to live with for you?
A: It's not too extreme. I mean people know my face, but most people don't really know my name. If I get recognized 10 times in a day, two people will know my name. So it's OK. It's not that big of a deal.
Q: You've known your wife since you were teen-agers. Does she enjoy the spotlight with you when you have to do the red-carpet thing?
A: No. I mean no, neither of us are particularly fond of that part of the business, really frankly. It just kind of goes with the territory.

(Patricia Sheridan can be reached at psheridan(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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