Alec Baldwin looked like hell.
He slumped in a chair. He seemed distracted. He seemed like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. The beleaguered film and television actor was here to be honored. . . .
The above is the lead paragraph Alec Baldwin crafted for me last Saturday afternoon while sitting in a quiet room in Boulder’s St. Julien hotel.
The next day, the Emmy-winning, Oscar- and Tony-nominated actor would receive the Boulder International Film Festival’s Award of Excellence in Acting. March 7, he will co-host the 82nd Academy Awards with Steve Martin.
Baldwin was responding to a query about rewriting the rules of engagement between actors and the entertainment press.
A little less projection would be a good start, he offered.
“I could be sitting here just drinking coffee,” he said, then plunged back into a delivery lifted from some wonderfully antiquated noir.
“Baldwin seemed to need more coffee than the entire town contained.”
Still wearing his overcoat and a maroon scarf, the actor was indeed sitting. He was not, however, slumping. Talking about hosting the Oscars, he made a “I gotta wake up” concoction out of two espressos, some sugar, ice. There may have been milk involved.
As for the actor feeling the weight of the world or the heft of the upcoming Oscar show, well, he was forthcoming. No reportorial projection required.
He has said in interviews that Carol Burnett is to blame for him co-hosting the Oscars. After he hosted the Women in Hollywood Awards, Burnett touted him.
Likewise, he pointed to Boulder fest co-founder Kathy Beeck as the culprit for his stint in the foothills.
“In my office we talk about how to get to this thing called ‘the fast no.’ It’s usually a date conflict, an absolute physical impossibility,” he said.
“But she asked me if I wanted to do it. She was so nice, truly,” he said. And having the “30 Rock” star was a coup for the young and growing festival.
Not only did Baldwin avoid the “fast no,” he turned out to be quite the man of his word. A couple of days before landing at Denver International Airport, a medical kerfuffle put him in gossip-tinged headlines briefly. So he might have been expected to beg off. He didn’t.
Baldwin doesn’t want for gigs. He is busy seven months of the year, bringing General Electric television honcho Jack Donaghy to life on “30 Rock.” He can be seen in promos for the upcoming Jerry Seinfeld- produced show, “The Marriage Ref.” He tag-teams the Turner Classic Movies’ staple “The Essentials.” (“I love Bob,” he said of co-host Robert Osborne.) He’s the voice of the New York Philharmonic. On the big screen this year he could be seen in Nancy Meyers’ romantic comedy “It’s Complicated” completing a triangle with Meryl Streep and Steve Martin; and the weepy “My Sister’s Keeper.” In 2008, he played a philandering dad in the indie family drama “Lymelife” set in Long Island. (Baldwin is a proud son of Massapequa, New York.)
Small wonder, he has been quoted saying he wants to stop acting.
“Well I would like to do other things,” he said. “There’s only so much time in the day. I’m going to be 52 in April.
“I really want to stress that I feel kind of sad when we talk about this subject. I don’t mean it to be a negative. I don’t mean it to be dismissive of the business. It’s not that at all. It’s really more about turning 50.
In 2006, Baldwin signed the contract for “30 Rock.”
“I’ve been playing in the same key basically for four years,” he said. He’s quick with gratitude for the whip- smart sitcom.
“The show is something I’m so in love with, I’m bottomlessly grateful for. All of the goodwill I have in my life emanates from the show. Nancy (Meyers) wouldn’t have cast me in the movie. I wouldn’t be hosting the Oscars. None of those things would have happened if not for Tina (Fey) and Lorne (Michaels). But that’s a lot of time to do one thing.”
School might be a haven, a way, he said, to buy some time to think. “I’d like to re-acquaint myself with some serious thinking.” He definitely intends to continue his role as host of the New York Philharmonic radio broadcast.”
For the movie fans
Baldwin likes documentaries enough to consider producing (“I would love to”).
He planned to see the Boulder fest screening of Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith’s “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.”
In doing so, he’ll have one fewer Academy Award-nominated film to screen before the big show. Of course being a host of Hollywood’s grandest night comes with a cone of silence. So Baldwin’s not sharing his faves.
Still, he has observed some things about the meaning of the evening for the industry.
“What I have noticed is they take the Oscars very seriously. It’s like launching the space shuttle to them. This is a really big deal. You have people in that room — a very, very small number — who are there for the parties and the glitz. But the overwhelming majority are there because they’re real members of an academy. They love filmmaking. They’ve seen all the films. They go to all the screenings. They take their membership very seriously.”
Baldwin recalled being in their company when he was nominated for his supporting turn as a mob boss in “The Cooler.”
“When you’re in that room, you’ll have people walk up to you . . .” Baldwin paused, assumed a gravely tenor and launched into a routine.
“Dick Johnson!” he belted out. “How ya doing, Alec? I’m with E&G Entertainment. And I think you’re great. I think your film was great . . .” he said with rat-a-tat cadence.
“You’re looking at a guy you don’t even know and he knows everything about you. Because they’re real movie fans.”
His point, he said: “When you do the show, that’s who you’re doing it for.”
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com. also on blogs.denverpostcom/ madmoviegoer
