Dutch march against hate
HUNDREDS of people walked hand-in-hand through Amsterdam yesterday in support of two gay men who were badly beaten last weekend in the Dutch city of Arnhem. HE may be top dog in new animated movie The Boss Baby, but at home with three small children, Alec Baldwin’s bottom of the rung.
He has a knack for playing leaders, from slick TV executive Jack Donaghy in hit sitcom 30 Rock, to his hilarious impersonations of US president Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.
In the flesh, you can see why – he’s a commanding presence, with his sharp, tailored suit and deep, distinctive voice.
At home in New York however, with his yoga instructor wife Hilaria and their kids, Baldwin insists he’s far from the boss.
“I’m like the lowest life form,” joked the actor, who has just turned 59 and also has a grown-up daughter, Ireland, with ex-wife Kim Basinger.
“I think if I disappeared one day, my wife and kids wouldn’t even notice – until it was time to put gas in the car in the freezing cold …”
He’s back in charge in his latest film. But this time there’s a twist – he’s a boss who happens to be a baby.
The Boss Baby centres on seven-year-old Tim, who is upset to find a rival on the scene in the form of a new sibling (voiced by Baldwin), who happens to be suited, booted and carrying a briefcase.
It transpires that Boss Baby is actually a spy on a secret mission, who needs Tim’s help to thwart a plot involving puppies and babies.
It’s a bit of a leap from Baldwin’s usual roles but he could relate to the DreamWorks film’s depiction of sibling rivalry, having witnessed it first-hand when his son Rafael was born.
He said: “My wife and I have a daughter [Carmen] who is three, and before my son was born she was the princess and was just adored and catered to by everybody.
“Then my first son came along, so I just flipped out. Carmen was two years old. She would stare at him thinking, ‘Something’s got to change around here. You know we have to fix this.’
“So for my daughter, there was a process to be able to accept her little brother.
“When she finally gave him a kiss, we all cried. We thought this day would never come.”
One of six – his younger brothers Daniel, William and Stephen all became actors and he has two sisters – Baldwin also experienced some sibling rivalry first-hand.
He said: “I guess all siblings have a rivalry, in so far as you live in those