LONDON (Reuters) – Kevin Costner was quoted on Monday as saying he wants world leaders to see his film Thirteen Days because he believes they are not taking the possibility of a nuclear conflict seriously enough.
President George W. Bush has seen Thirteen Days, the story of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, as has former President Clinton.
Costner, who arrives in London on Monday for the film's British opening, now hopes Prime Minister Tony Blair will see it.
“This is clearly a very political movie. And I do want Tony Blair to see it,” the Hollywood actor told Britain's Independent newspaper.
“We have a very smug attitude that this problem has gone away. But the world has thousands of nuclear missiles. Why do we think we're any safer than we were then? But no one wants to hear about this.
“They would rather ask me questions about my girlfriend. There are simply things people would rather not talk about. My own country wiped out around 400 different cultures. We don't
talk about that very much,” he told the Independent.
Costner plays the part of an adviser to John F. Kennedy, president at the time of the Cuban missile crisis.
“We are moving toward the situation there was in 1962 because of the hostility and instability of certain regions of the world. People who see (the film) will want to know more about this crisis,” he told the paper.
I'm a Real Sweetie, Insists Jack Nicholson
LONDON (Reuters) – Hollywood actor Jack Nicholson says he is a “real sweetie” — despite a reputation as a hellraiser and his long career playing a succession of disturbed movie characters.
“The biggest misconception about me is that I'm angry and/or violent,” Nicholson, 63, told Britain's Daily Express newspaper in an interview published Monday.
“But in reality I'm a real [softie] of a guy, a real sweetie.”
Nicholson, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of an obsessive homophobic writer in As Good As It Gets, is set for a return to the silver screen in the thriller The Pledge, in which he plays a small town policeman on the verge of retirement who pledges to find the killer of a little girl.
The movie also features an impressive supporting cast, including Mickey Rourke and British actresses Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave.
“Every day I'd come in and there was another of these great actors to work with,” he told the Express.
The star of such memorable movies as Terms of Endearment, The Shining and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest said he had started to take life easier, becoming more picky about movie projects.
“This is the third time I have taken a year off, which means I refuse to read scripts or talk about movies,” he said.
“I kind of refilled the tub. I know it's a shock to some actors but there is life outside the movies.”
The three-times Oscar winner said: “I socialized, I traveled a bit. I read for pleasure. I lived my life.”
Despite slowing down, the Hollywood veteran — who shot to fame alongside Dennis Hopper in the low-budget movie classic Easy Rider — told the Daily Express he had no plans to retire.
“I talked to Clint (Eastwood) a couple of years ago about us both retiring. Then I ran into him this month and he said: 'I see neither of us has retired yet'. We just keep plowing on.”
© 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
