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MA: Why this role now? NL: I have always loved the play. But also, this is coming at a time in my life when I need to do NL: I'm not nervous about that. I've got my own problems to worry about. something very challenging and use muscles I have not used in a very long time. I'm reading a biography of Spencer Tracy right now, and he sort of laughs about Katharine Hepburn's need BD: Yeah, you've got enough to worry about. The thing about this guy is, unlike almost any other actor, including myself: He's born to play that part. to go off to do plays. She says, "I'd rather fail at NL: Look, we don't want to oversell this. something really difficult than succeed at some- thing that comes easily." This is what I've been in which they were tossing around ideas of what they might do next and one of them was revisit- ing Iceman. So I e-mailed Bob and just put it out there that I'd love to be considered for this part. BD: So we considered him. NL: And fortunately they agreed to take a risk. BD: Oh, why not? You'll be all right. NL: You know what's funny? When I'm doing what people expect me to do, comedy or the NL: Ken Branagh, whom I've worked with and become friends with, said to me, "You just have to do it. Who the hell cares what they say? Don't worry about that. It will be life-changing." So all of that was swirling in my head and my gut and I said it may sound crazy, but… musical theater, they always write, "There's a very dark side to Nathan." So now that I'm really doing what I was born to do as a self-destructive Irish Catholic, they say, "But he does comedy. He's a clown." You can't win. So ultimately this has to be about just doing the play, just having the experience of climbing this mountain. BD: This play provides an actor the opportunity to get the most rewarding response you can get in a theater, which is silence. Absolute silence. Absolute attention. You're more likely to get that in Chicago than anywhere else, because those audiences want to be there. They want to be a not be prepared to be a part of it. We're not going to get out there and tap dance in your lap. MA: Does this play cut close to home? BD: It doesn't. When Bob mentioned it to me… NL: You didn't seem to believe I was actually going to do it. BD: Yeah, well why would you? You've got everything anybody wants in this business— enormous success, making a lot of money. Why would you want to bust your ass in Chicago for a thousand bucks a week? part of it. You can't come to an O'Neill [play] and NL: All anybody says is, "When will it come to New York?" That's not what this is about. We just want to do the play. I couldn't be more thrilled to be with this group of actors and the fact that Bob has generously allowed me to do this is some- thing I will never forget. BD: We both have flirted with—more than flirted, been engaged to—self-destructiveness. Me proba- bly more than [Nathan]. We used to get blasted. MA: Like so much of O'Neill's work, Iceman examines the illusions and delusions we all rely on to make it through life. What are your pipe dreams? That's no secret to anybody who knows us. So we are not unaware of what O'Neill is writing about. MA: Do you still indulge? BD: I might have a glass or two of wine once in awhile, but anymore. NL: I never go near much as Mr. Dennehy will. The Iceman Cometh runs April 21-June 10 at the Goodman Theatre. Tickets start at $39.50. 170 N. MA: You haven't worked together before. Any worry that this might be like traveling with a Dearborn St., 312-443-3800; goodmantheatre.org MA michiganavemag.com 119 the hard stuff I still have an occasional drink—just as BD: My pipe dream is that I'm going to come up with a year's tuition to Syracuse University in the next six months. NL: I'm living my pipe dream. I am doing Iceman playing Hickey. I am going out the bar- room door and into the sunlight. cartoon cred Dennehy voiced Django, the rat chef Remy's father, in Ratatouille. Lane did Timon the meerkat in The Lion King. i'll take two Dennehy earned Tony Awards for Death of a Salesman and Long Day's Journey into Night, both directed by the Goodman's director, Bob Falls. And Lane has his own pair of statuettes, for The Producers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. James Cromwell (left) as Larry Slade and Brian Dennehy as Hickey in the 1990 production of the play. BD: Well, it's not that you're a miserable bastard, but you're in touch with [that side of yourself]. feeling. I'd read an interview with Brian and Bob NL: There are many actors who could play this. But the things that made me develop a sense of humor and become adept at comedy are some of the things that make me right for this play. BD: He's right. Hickey is an entertainer. NL: I'm Irish Catholic. That's where it starts. BD: As Pete Hamill says, "There's no such thing as an ex-Catholic." But people are not aware of how funny Hickey is right from the top. friend for the first time and discovering he's no fun on the road? beyond the curtain breakthrough film roles Brian Dennehy's Sheriff Will Teasle took on Sylvester Stallone's Rambo in First Blood. Nathan Lane played Robin Williams's better half in The Birdcage. playing against type Dennehy was a loving dad to a dimwitted Chris Farley in the 1995 comedy Tommy Boy. Lane played scab Harold Allen, killed by Jack Nicholson as Francis Phelan, in the film version of William Kennedy's dark Depression-era masterpiece Ironweed.