How do you start an interview with a 59-year-old actor who is coming off a year that included (literally) anchoring one of television’s most critically acclaimed series and co-starring in a flatulence-laden, sophomoric smash hit box office comedy weeks before his local engagement at a quaint Northampton music hall?
The Crawler gave it his best go: So how exactly do you pick your projects, Jeff Daniels? Do you try to balance art with commerce… passion with pragmatism? Do you use a dart board? For the love of Dr. Evil, throw me a friggin’ bone here!
Jeff Daniels: [Laughs] I’m certainly showing some range these days, ain’t I? But seriously, the answer to that would be… if I’m being completely honest… I was kind of selecting projects by what I could do. I mean, let’s face it, when you get up in your 50s, [acting in] Hollywood is looking, for most people, too hard. And it’s even harder for women… they give them to about 40. So of course, I try to find things that matter, and within a one-week span, I got The Newsroom Emmy nomination and Dumb and Dumber To won our box office weekend. Between those two, I figure I bought myself another decade in the biz. And it’s looking like now I’ll have the luxury of deciding what do I want to do — not just what can I do.
The story is that you also had a Guild guitar in the back of your car when you came to New York to “make it.” Do you ever wonder what would have happened had you put more effort into your passion for music?
You know, when I went to New York, I went to become an actor. I knew that much. What I didn’t know, but soon learned, is that as an actor, you spend an intolerable amount of time waiting for the phone to ring. You simply have no control over that. So in the space between the phone ringing, I took to my guitar. It grounded me. You can control when you play a guitar, when you write a song. That was the purpose it served.
So is it kind of a double-edged sword now? By that I mean, do you get to play some bigger venues and get larger musical opportunities because of your acting career? By the same token, though, if you had written “Like A Rolling Stone,” people might discredit it because it came from an actor.
When I play music, I get it that there will be some people there just to see The Newsroom guy or the Dumb and Dumber guy. It’s the elephant in the room. I even had a musician tell me once to “stay in my lane.” But this is not a novelty act, or me moonlighting. When I come to Northampton to play the Iron Horse, I know I’ll be playing an intimate, 200 or so seat show. I am aspiring for nothing more than delivering that audience the best musical performance I can.
You sort of give a musical wink at the whole situation with your tune “If William Shatner Can Do It.”
I do, but you know, I don’t really do that song much anymore, either. I took some lessons with the guitarist Keb Mo, and he told me I didn’t have to make excuses anymore. And he’s right.
What’s the deal with the “Dirty Harry Blues”?
That’s just an ode to what an honor it was to get killed onscreen by Clint Eastwood. We were discussing the end of the film, and he said something like, “Maybe I’ll put one in ya.” It was just the greatest.
I have a friend who was dressed down by Howard Stern in studio and feels the same way about that.
Right! [Don] Rickles did that to me, too! I was on a plane and this bald head just comes out of nowhere and he starts in “What, you too good to say hello to me?” I had never met the guy. But he just eviscerated me and it was amazing.•
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