Scott Glenn was so enchanted by his “Eugene the Marine” co-star Jim Gaffigan that while filming a very savage combat scene, the 85-year-old modified a stunt so as not to accidentally kill the comedian.
“All I did when we got to the end of this scene was make it as real as possible, but also as safe as possible,” said Glenn, during a Zoom conversation with Gaffigan for Selection. “For example, I don’t know if Jim knows this, but at one point I put something called a ‘choke’ on him. I was always sure that my bicep was probably not near the carotid artery, because if you squeeze that thing wrong, you can quickly cut off blood flow to the brain and permanently damage anyone. ”
For Glenn, it was just another day at the office — “You think about things like that,” he says, as Gaffigan laughs, fully understanding that his life was truly in the arms of his co-star.
Glenn is busy and busy these days, with roles in the Apple TV+ crime comedy “Dangerous Monkey” and a fixture in the upcoming season of “The White Lotus.” But “Eugene the Marine,” an action thriller co-written and directed by Hank Bedford, shows Glenn in a new light, one that hearkens back to his early years, three of which were spent in the United States Marine Corps. United.
In the film, Glenn stars as Gene Lee Grady, a lonely military man who mourns his late wife and lives a quiet life in his tidy home. But as he begins to open up his life to the people he interacts with every day – including a new friend (Shioli Kutsuna), a potential love interest (Annette O’Toole) and a sleazy local realtor (Gaffigan) – dark. , violent secrets from the past seem. More details would spoil the clever and surprising twists, but Glenn is in full-on hero mode for much of the film.
Long before his impactful roles in mainstream films like 1975’s “Nashville,” 1979’s “Apocalypse Now,” 1990’s “The Hunt for Crimson October” and 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs,” Glenn was just a baby-faced grunt within the military – a reality. Bedford didn’t realize it before giving the actor the lead role.
“I talked to Hank and realized he would let me do whatever I wanted with the character,” says Glenn. “He had a unique, painterly, unpredictable perspective on all of this, so I enjoyed talking to him and decided to do it.
“I remember a few days walking onto the set – one of the set decorations is my life,” he continues. “(My real-life wife) Carol and I are the wedding photos. But there’s a picture of me that I think was taken when I left Parris Island, where every Marine goes through something called a TI, or infantry training regiment. I would look at it in the morning thinking, ‘I look like I’m 12 years old in the photo.’ But if someone told me that when that photo was taken, it would be graced in a movie – forget playing the lead role, but that I would appear somehow, I would tell them they were out of their goddamn thoughts. Much of my life feels like doing that again.
Glenn’s path to emergence is unconventional, as he became a reporter out of the Marines. He wanted to make it as a writer, but couldn’t hack the dialogue, so he took acting classes to help him be more naturalistic. But soon he began booking theater productions, television commercials and, by 1970, films, and was opting for a strong career.
“I’m still learning how to be an actor,” says Glenn. “But one of the things I noticed, at least from my point of view, what gives a performance, its essence, its magic – whether comic or serious – is its degree of spontaneity. The more you are truly inside the nowthe extra electrical energy in what you’re doing.”
Bedford says that despite Glenn’s history in Hollywood, he was a model collaborator in bringing Gene to life.
“As an actor, he presented a lot of ideas for the script in a very respectful way, in a very collaborative way,” says Bedford. “Simply wanting to help. He asked me very early on about ideas I had: ‘I hesitate to bring these things up.’ I said, ‘You’re making the movie better and that’s it.'”
There was also an unspoken agreement between the two men to put their all into the production.
“With Scott, I have to be trustworthy with you,” says Bedford. “I don’t know how he would feel about it, but he’s 85 years old and it was recognized by me and him, although it wasn’t said, that this could be his last film. So he was bringing it. We worked long hours and he was just depressed.”
O’Toole, a Hollywood veteran who appeared in 1982’s “48 Hours,” 1983’s “Superman III” and the Netflix drama series “Virgin River,” says she was thrilled to collaborate with Glenn, saying, “I like it.” working with him all my life.”
“(The chemistry working with Glenn) is a kind of thing that just happens,” she says. “I don’t remember having that kind of relationship so quickly with another actor. It was like I had identified with him my whole life as an individual and as an actor, kind of like these two pieces of a puzzle that are put together.”
Much of Glenn’s power comes from a different cast, as Gene interacts with many different people as he branches out in life, including many new younger friends, his middle-aged son, and an age-appropriate love interest. . Gaffigan says he was thrilled because the film combined everything when it came to players.
“Obviously, it’s a big mystery and there are a lot of different genre elements, but I thought it was an extremely interesting take on these different generations of people and perspectives,” he says. “His flaws are probably his strengths, and that doesn’t necessarily reflect on my character, but I really loved that glimpse into the different generational elements, from millennials to baby boomers. It was a stew that caught our attention.”
Glenn agrees, noting that he’s fortunate enough to seek out roles that push him forward as an actor.
“I received the last five elements, three of which I had a walker for,” he says. “Three of them, I was dying of Alzheimer’s. It’s almost predictable – you get a kind of method of apology that you get from these things: ‘He missed a step. He’s using a cane, but it’s still sharp. I’m thinking, ‘I’m 85 years old, I still work out, I hike mountains, I do a ridiculous amount of pushups and kettlebell swings.’ What I see with ageism is just a typical storytelling method. It’s hard to tell whether or not you’re being overly delicate about all these things.”
But movies like “Eugene the Marine” keep Glenn focused on the present and looking to the future.
“My hope is that in the great unknown of my future, there is an element that I didn’t even think would be great,” he says. “My feeling is that whatever is really good and whatever is really dangerous awaits me in the future is something I don’t know at the moment.”
“Eugene the Marine” is currently seeking distribution.