USA TODAY International Edition
Dern reaches a higher state with ‘ Nebraska’
Starring in an Alexander Payne film was ‘ the win’ for veteran actor
You’d think Bruce Dern, who has appeared in movies as varied
as Django Unchained, Monster and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, would be drowning in film offers. At the very least, you’d assume directors would be clamoring to work with the guy.
Not remotely the case, says Dern, who stars in director Alexander Payne’s Nebraska ( out Friday).
“I’ve been given nice roles before. But a lot of time, they were roles eight or nine guys turned down, and they finally came to me,” Dern says. “Nobody ever came to me and said, ‘ Here, be Woody,’ and have it be a movie where the story line follows this character. And it’s Alexander Payne. That was the win.”
So only in Hollywood does a guy get a turbocharged jolt of careerdriven adrenaline at age 77, when most of his peers would be shopping for condos in gated communities. Dern and Will Forte, a former
Saturday Night Live cast member, play father and son in Nebraska. And in the case of both actors, their exteriors worked in their favor.
“Bruce’s part was an exceedingly hard part to cast. I just wanted someone I believed and who on the exterior comes off as crusty and ornery, but underneath, you can detect some bit of innocence and sweetness, even if it’s long since crusted over,” says Payne, an Oscar winner for
Sideways and The Descendants. “In real life, Bruce is handsome, but quite effortlessly, he can look like an old prairie dog.
“And with Will, I was struck by his sincerity and his sweetness. I just believe him as someone I’d run into in Omaha that I knew in high school.”
The two co- stars broke bread to break the ice. Forte was dazzled by Dern’s candor and colorful stories, which can reference Nancy Sinatra, Peter Fonda and Howard Hughes in one throwaway sentence.
“We had a three- hour dinner moderated by Mr. Payne,” Dern says. “He was studying whether we would get along or not. I got his drill, he got my drill, and we were fine before we started shooting. The first day of shooting, I didn’t know that much about who Will Forte was — I hadn’t seen MacGruber, but I’d heard about it.
“He has approachability. He’s open. There’s nobody who gets left out. He gives everyone a win.”
And Dern? “Well, I’m not like that.”
But Forte’s sunny demeanor hides what is an at- times- crippling selfdoubt. He put himself on tape, never thinking he had a shot. After 41⁄
2 months, he got a call from Payne’s office. The two sat down, and Forte drew on every shred of confidence he had.
“The biggest challenge was getting out of my own head. ... It was a matter of not over- thinking things,” he says. “I haven’t developed that thick skin. I get really nervous. I am a worst- case- scenario person. Would I be the one thing that brought this down?”
Dern looks at Forte and pays him the ultimate compliment.
“I’ve been given nice roles before. But a lot of time, they were roles eight or nine guys turned down.”
“I always felt that, outside Jack Nicholson in The King of Marvin
Gardens ( 1972), he’s the best partner I’ve ever had,” Dern says.
The elder star has no airs and graces, at least any that are visible. In
Nebraska, his relationship with his two sons is strained. In real life, he’s the father of actress Laura, who, Dern says with pride, “has got game.”
Was he a better father in real life than Woody, who elicits scorn and resentment from his adult sons, was in the film? Not really, he says.
“It was iffy. I’m not good with little kids,” he says. “I gotta have a kid who can answer me back, who can play with me verbally and who gets it quickly. I wasn’t good with Laura. I wasn’t as attentive into what a 7-, 8-, 9- year- old girl wanted.”
He gets emotional discussing Laura’s visit to the Nebraska set. Payne included her in one of the final scenes in the movie — because she had made more than a dozen films with her mother, Diane Ladd (“a great dame,” Dern says), and Payne wanted Dern to have the memory of being in a film with his daughter.
“She was on this movie for about 12 days,” Dern says. “Alexander came to me one day. He said, ‘ You’ve never worked with Laura. Watch this.’ As I’m driving down the street, Laura is the blond girl walking with the black coat on.”
As for Forte, he still seems shellshocked that he’s the co- star in a Payne movie. “I learned a huge lesson from
MacGruber. It did not do well in the box office. I am fiercely proud of that movie. At the end of the day, it’s all about how you feel about the work you’ve done.
“And I’m so proud of Nebraska. I don’t care about anything else. Anything that happens from there is gravy.”