Anthony Crivello: Master of Theatre and Independent Film
In 1993, theatre and film actor Anthony Crivello won a Tony Award for his performance in Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Since then, Crivello has continued to do exemplary work both on the stage and on screen. IFQ catches up with him as he discusses his role in Hal Prince’s Las Vegas production of Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular as well as his experiences with the legendary Broadway producer, his role in the Kevin Kline thriller TRADE, his thoughts on independent cinema as well as his own comedic screenplay based upon personal childhood experiences.
IFQ: What are your thoughts on the character of Phantom? What was your approach for preparation? Did you read the original novel to gain any insight or did you just go by the text?
Anthony Crivello: Basically text, then also viewed some footage. I wanted to capture a piece of it. But I didn’t want to get too much information from the get go because it was created in an entirely new form and there are certain aspects of my preparation where it’s almost more important to have the emotional connection than it is to have all of this factual data behind me, which I gathered some of that too where it was applicable. I have the framework with research of who the Phantom was and is, the historical background of period, place, etc. without going too much into it because I didn’t want to replicate someone else’s work. I wanted to build it for myself because ultimately the emotional content has to come out of me and so it is also part of method training. I’m a member of the Actors Studio. The way they were taught was literally building block by building block to constantly look and search. I am still in that search process. Stanislavski said that when things happen on stage there is no such thing as an accident, only potential for divine inspiration. So if you look at a performance from that way, the smallest differences can lead you down a different path toward something you have not even considered, so I’m still discovering, which is great because it keeps it alive.
IFQ: What governs your taste in the types of characters you choose to play and is there a general blueprint of working when you develop characters, does it evolve? Or does each character present its own challenge?
AC: Well, each character presents its own challenges and it depends on the production and specifically what the playwright and the director are looking for or in the case of a film, as well, it depends on the same combination but different aspects because obviously for stage in this production you have to have the ability to sing. In film work, most directors look for the character’s essence within the individual that they are casting. It helps that you have a specific essence of the character. Even within the framework of this show, we have two different actors playing Phantom, two different actors playing Christine and two different actors playing Carlotta, on a rotating basis. It’s not going to be the same with those two actors because of their individual essence. You draw from what is within you. Hal Prince knew a good portion of what my essence is, what I could bring to a particular role, my intensity and dramatic acting work on stage as well as my voice. I have a history with him already. He had said to me 10 years ago, after playing the intense role in the political revolutionary – what would it be like to plug in Crivello into the role of Phantom? I think that was going through his head and so from the very beginning, the associate director at one point told me a story that one of the producers leaned over to Hal as I was doing a run through and said, “Oh my god, Crivello, he is intense.” Hal leaned back over to him and said, “Anthony is the edgiest actor that I have worked with in my entire career.” And the producer said, “Wow, I can believe it,” and Hal said, “Yeah and I want him edgier.” That’s what he does to me. He gives me the freedom to stretch the envelope as far as I can with a particular character and then wants to push it a little bit further. He is such a wonderful director to work for.
IFQ: You are in the new Kevin Kline film TRADE. Can you elaborate on this film?
AC: It’s really well put together. The story line is very intense. It involves basically this broken down, dilapidated police officer who is busted on insurance fraud and it’s Kevin Klein’s character whose daughter is missing and he has not been able to find the path to her. That burning thing inside of him to obviously want to find her puts him on a path of going into Mexico where he crosses paths with this young Mexican boy whose sister is also abducted. The subject matter has to do with girls abducted from the eastern block and from Mexico funneled through a tunnel network into the United States and sold into white slavery and prostitution. I play Detective Henderson who is the head of this FBI bureau that has been investigating a portion of this crime. Kevin Kline’s character through another connection, which is Tim Reid’s character, comes to me and says hey can you help us, we know that this Mexican boy’s sister is going to be sold into white slavery in an auction and can you help us in New Jersey. Basically, I say no I can’t because we are going after the larger connection which is international. If you go in and bust one single merchant it can potentially cause a ripple effect and you are going to destroy all the work that we have done already. So I refuse to help him and it turns and it’s a really intense scene.
I have taken opportunities, not because of the size of the roles, but because I want to work with the particular people or be involved with a project that I think is going to have tremendous merit–possibly be a piece of art. From that standpoint, it’s looking like it’s going to fulfill all those expectations and I can’t wait to see it myself.
IFQ: As you mentioned, Kevin Kline is in the film and he is an actor known for his extensive film and theatre work similar to your own. How was your experience working with him?
AC: He’s a tremendous guy and a gracious gentleman. Marco Kruezpaintner and Kevin were open during the beginning process when I did the audition where we had the scripted lines, but we would do improv going into the scenes as we were about to shoot, and Marco would roll tape as we improvised our way into the scene using the lines, going in and out of the text, which was tremendous because it gives you a running leap. That’s how Kevin works–a running start into the scene which lays out the emotional content to get momentum going into the emotional arc of a particular scene. It was great to work with him and he’s just terrific and just the conversation we had sort of off the set as well and Tim Reid is a terrific creative guy who has a career with so many things that have gone unrecognized not only as an actor, but as a producer and director too.
IFQ: You’ve been involved in several independent films such as The Glass Jar (13 film festivals including the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival), Spanish Fly and Petal of a Rose. What’s your view on independent cinema as it exists now?
AC: It’s the launching pad for a lot of directors and writers and creative people who are having problems finding their particular niche but also want to have a vehicle for their own artistic expression. I just finished a cutting-edge short called Sins. It’s a bizarre little comedic short that was shot in a week with Bobby Sheehan who is an extremely successful commercial director and has had a few things like a film called Seed that got great press with Variety and reviews, as well. But Seed was not a commercial venture, and so people within the industry were saying geez, it’s too bad, how can we get this more widespread? What an independent market does is it allows for a type of creative expression that does not necessarily have a commercial liability, but they are trying to do other things like utilize internet and broadcast not only on the internet but on cell phones to create a brand-new cutting edge product that hopefully will generate revenue. You give the creatives a little bit more flexibility to try something different and from that standpoint you will see films like Borat or the guys who made The Blair Witch Project.
And I have a film script that I have been peddling for a long time that I honestly believe is a viable commercial hit. It’s just trying to break through the mechanism of trying to get it to the right person or get it to the right star and say this is something that I want to do. It’s a frustration that a lot of creatives go through in film and television and it happens in theatre too. It’s just persistence.
IFQ: Will you elaborate more on the screenplay? It sounds like you have put a lot of heart and energy into it and it would be interesting to have just a hint of what’s been driving you in this project.
AC: It’s a tremendous amount of heart, energy and soul because it’s taken from a personal experience and I had a writing partner help me do it. It’s based on a story that I came up with and it’s a light coming of age comedy that’s called A Ton of Salt. It has this reluctant hero named Aldo Patti who is scamming his way through life, basically. It’s all based on real characters and Aldo is this reluctant hero–he is an everyman. Basically, he works in a machine shop where he operates rented tool crib. He is constantly entertaining within the framework of this factory floor with the wheeling and dealing. When he’s out of the shop, he’s a junior loan shark. He cashes guys’ checks and the machine shop takes a little off the top and gives them the money so they do not have to go home and take their paychecks to their wives. They can stop by the tavern and have a drink before going home. What winds up happening is Aldo has an ex-wife, two girlfriends, gets booted out of the house and winds up having to sleep in his car or the factory and winds up taking a bath at the factory in one of those industrial sinks and there is this whole scene where he is taking his bath while his buddies are trying to cover him up while he is rinsing off. [Laughs.] What happens is that Aldo plots to take over the local boy scout troop and he turns the local boy scout troop into his own motel/hotel where he and his friends become the local scout masters with this free place to get away from their worries. Eventually though comes the responsibility of having to take care of these kids and the kids start to mirror his behavior which leads to his own coming of age. There are also a couple of great antagonists in it. What I honestly believe is that life is so much stranger and interesting than any kind of fiction. If you can base it on real characters, there is so much that you can just garner from their own lives. Again, the script is about real people and it’s a reflection like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where you are looking at a slice of society and life. Ultimately the piece comes full circle from the standpoint that there is this old Sicilian who literally says, “No man is your friend until you have eaten a ton of salt with him.” What that means is throughout life, people who are in our lives until we have gone through the difficult bitter experiences of life, if you can come out with these friends after that, you know you truly have real friends. Ideally, if I could have Vince Vaughn playing Aldo Patti and if I could have David Dobkin directing this thing and if I could have Peter Faulk playing the old barber, I would be in heaven. That’s what I am shooting basically. So hopefully down the line, I’ll have the opportunity and somebody will take some interest in it.
IFQ: When it is finally picked up, just remember that you read about it here first.
AC: Hopefully, this interview will be the launching pad to make it go.
IFQ: So continuing on that, what is your opinion on the film festival circuit in general?
AC: Well, the hardest thing about it is that you have got tremendous amount of product out there and there is a great deal of competition. It’s great from a standpoint that artists are given an opportunity to be given this kind of exposure that film festivals can afford although there are almost too many film festivals now. It’s great that each one is offering opportunities, but also the platform for viewing comes so wide that it’s difficult to find the right pockets. It’s sort of a mixed bag. But nonetheless, I think that the abundance of independent film festivals that serve as the springboard for young emerging artists is tremendous. Unfortunately, with some of the larger ones, they become interwoven with the studios. And that serves as a springboard platform for what is ultimately a big studio film. I hope that wouldn’t become some sort of universal law where the studios begin to dominate so much of the product. And so, you have that on one hand and then on the other, the medium has become so expensive that it’s narrowed the playing field and so commercial producers are looking for very specific product. Like right now, all these horror films are coming out which is great to a certain degree, but then they burn out. Ultimately, it has to be human experience. From that standpoint, the bigger commercial films that are done lately, sometimes, unfortunately, a good portion of them are disappointing.