My Date With Superman
by Samantha Santa Maria
O.K., so it wasn't actually a date, it was an interview. I'm a journalist
named Samantha, not Lois Lane.
For all his startlingly good looks, effusive charm and larger-then-life
aura, Dean Cain is, at final analysis, that common being known as the
walking conflict.
Publicly he is Mr. Red-blooded American Male: the 34-year-old
likes his women (a former Playboy model is now pregnant with his
baby), his tequila, catching a great wave, and shooting hoops.
Seemingly, with a devil-may-care grin on his face, he floats on a
permanent cloud of happiness.
Privately? No one in the press really knows for sure. Maybe I've
been blessed, or cursed, but on that drizzly night when he sits down
for his interview with me he's sick, he's tired, and his guard is down
ever so slightly.
So I get to see the other side.
The first thing they teach you in journalism school is, when you start an
interview ask the easy questions up front. Get your subject to open up, to
trust you. Then go for the jugular.
But Cain is ready for me. Tough questions about his private life, his
Japanese family who he has never contacted (his father walked out on the
family when he was still in his mother's womb - a guaranteed chip-on-the-
shoulder maker) are readily deflected.
But further probing leads to an explosion. He gets mad - really mad. The
affable Adonis with the normally quick-witted response goes on non-stop
rants. Well-aimed pointed remarks hit their target - me - before he
apologizes.
Blame it on the cold, he says.
In January, Cain's production company Angry Dragon Entertainment delivered
its first offering - Ripley's Believe It or Not. There are those who smirk
and simper at Cain hosting such a show. A steep decline on a definite
downward trajectory, they said. Pointing to his track record of
straight-to-video films only served to compound the case.
Cain however, had the last laugh. Ripley's debuted on the US's TBS at the
top spot, surpassing stalwart shows like the airborne series, Jag, and World
Championship Wrestling.
The Broken Hearts Club, one of the 5 movies he filmed last year, was the
first film off of the Sundance roster to be picked up by Columbia Tristar
for wide domestic release in the US. Hollywood insiders reckon this could
be Cain's breakout role - the part that garners him some serious attention.
So for the man who conquered his predecessors to carve out a Clark Kent of
his own, the grand dream of being actor, writer, director, and producer
could well now be within reach.
In front of me sits an ambitious man who isn't ashamed of what he wants and
how he plans to get it.
THE INTERVIEW
ANGRY DRAGON
Q: So tell me about your new company, Angry Dragon Entertainment.
A: This company's been in existence for 1 year. I called it Angry Dragon
because it seemed to be to be very descriptive of the kind of projects we
want to put out. Very much of this business makes me angry. At this point of
time in my career, I felt it fitting to buck tradition and create a name that
was a bit different.
Q: What types of projects are you particularly interested in?
A: I don't want to do projects that would be on Lifetime. Lois & Clark
wouldn't be an Angry Dragon production. The Sopranos could be.
Q: I understand that one of the first things out of Angry Dragon will be a
television movie based onthe best selling novel The Burning Man.
A: The Burning Man is exactly the stuff we want to do. It's a thriller but
it's very stylized and you'll know that that's an Angry Dragon-type project.
Q: What was its appeal?
A: I loved the story. The style that I'm creating for the movie is different -
it's a little more ominous. It begins with the discovery of the second girl's
body and then our character [Peter Hale, a disgraced lawyer booted out of his
father's practice in Portland, Oregon] coming into town. You don't learn
everything at the beginning, you learn as it progresses. You know he has a
secret that he's hiding, and it's told that way. And every twist and turn
you're not sure who could be the killer, whether it's our own guy. I really
think it's a clever way to do the project and yes, I'm gonna star in it and
I'm gonna direct it.
(Ed's note: Since this conversation, Cain's option on the project has expired.)
Q: You've got a partner in the Angry Dragon venture, Mike Carr. I hear he's a
Princeton alumnuslike you. What's the story?
A: Mike went to Princeton 7 years behind me. I was in Toronto filming a movie
[Dogboys] and I got a message from a friend of mine that Mike Carr, a former
Princeton football player like myself, wanted to hook up with me while we
were out there. He wanted to get into this business. So I had dinner with him,
we got along very well; he ended up getting a job at my agency. After a month
he was working on my responsible agent's desk so I spoke to him every day. He
helped me with a lot of things. When I was trying to fill this position as
vice-president for my company I found a lot of people who were very qualified
but didn't share the same vision. I didn't have a relationship with these people.
After some haggling with my agency, they let him go. They weren't very happy
with me.
Q: You're still very connected with Princeton.
A: I have a certain allegiance to Princeton, and Princeton football, so any time
one of these guys calls I usually pick up the phone.
Q: You've been very busy this year - I understand you shot 5 films?
A: The first 3 I did in a row, with no break in between. I went from Puerto Rico
shooting a film called Flight of Fancy, to Bulgaria, to shoot a film called For
the Cause, and then I went to Montreal to shoot No Alibi. And then I came home
and shot a film called Militia - it's a film with the company who'll produce a
project from Angry Dragon in the future. That's part of the deal. And then I shot
a movie called The Broken Hearts Club for Sony Screen Gems here.
Q: Sounds like you barely get a wink of sleep.
A: Last night I didn't sleep at all because the waves were huge, they were
breaking right in front of my house, right on the shore breaks and they were
shaking my house. Drove me nuts!
Q: Where do you live?
A: I live in Malibu. One time I woke up - it was 3 o' clock in the morning - it's
like I'm living through an earthquake. Every time a wave breaks, the pictures on
the wall would shake.
Q: I trust your house is made of sturdy stuff.
A: It's wood. It's actually very solid, been there forever.
SUPERMAN STUFF
Q: So you sick of the Superman questions?
A: It's been 2 years since I've done that, so to me it's almost new again. It's a
cute show and a lot of fun.
Q: Do you still get people coming up to you and going, "Hey Superman!"
A: Yeah. Well, it's a very recognisable role. I heard a funny story where a kid
started laughing hysterically when one of the Superman films was on TV. His father
said to him "What's so funny?" The kid goes: "That's not Superman!" And he picks up
a magazine and there's a shot of me and he says "That's Superman!" For him,
Christopher Reeve was not Superman. I was the only Superman he knew. For me it was
Christopher Reeve. George Reeves I didn't understand.
Q: Were you able to see yourself in Superman or vice versa?
A: I find there's a tremendously funny parallel. Because you take this alien being
from another planet and he is raised in the Midwest with these strong American family
values and he becomes this tremendous American icon and this pillar of morality and
goodness. Here I am, my father adopted me at the age of 3 and he's put all these
wonderful values in me, so my life mirrors that of Clark Kent in a small way. Minus
the glasses and the ability to fly and things of that nature, of course.
Q: Even after playing such a role as recognisable as Superman, do you still find it
hard to get deals made and to work with certain people?
A: It's a lot of politics. I mean you listen to people like Steven Spielberg talk
about the rigours of getting something made now. You can't imagine Steven Spielberg
would have trouble doing anything! But the reality is it's very difficult. It's
difficult to get to work with these people. But I believe once you're in there, you're
in there. It's breaking into that club that's difficult.
Coming next week, PART TWO: CAIN ON THE CUSP
Believe it or not, Dean Cain's back with a vengeance - five movies coming out, a TV
series, and another three films in development. Hear what he has to say about being a
role model, politics, and 15-year-olds spreading gossip on the Internet...
Part 2:
Cain on the Cusp
by Samantha Santa Maria
Dean Cain's headquarters are located at Sony studios mammoth
Culver City complex. Amidst several identically nondescript
short-rises sits the David Lean Building. And on the first floor, in a
suite shared with another small production company lies the lair of
Angry Dragon, Cain's production company.
Cain's office is unbelievably neat. Maybe it's because he hasn't
actually been it for the better part of the company's first year of
existence. Sparsely furnished, the only things that truly have its
owner's mark is a picture of Cain in full football gear in action on
Princeton fields, and a head shot of an attractive-looking mature gent
- his stepfather Christopher Cain.
Now shooting a film called New Alcatraz, in which the building of an
Antarctic prison awakens a prehistoric creature. Rollin', an urban
comedy sitcom which he and partner Mike Carr created, is awaiting
the final green light from Fox while MTV has agreed to a pilot for
Luna, another Angry Dragon product.
TALKING ABOUT TALK
Q: You've expressed political interest in the past. Is that still
something you'd consider pursuing?
A: Sure. But the last thing that a lot of people want to hear about is
an actor's take on how the world should be run because actors make
their living being other people. But then a lot of politicians make their
living pretending to be other people just the same. Today's politics is so
interesting. You talk about TV friendly presidents. I mean it's an acting job
in its own right.
Q: The ongoing presidential race is turning out to be an interesting one.
Right now, it's a question of who's got the most money.
A: I don't like campaign finance problems - I don't like that process. I wish
it weren't so much about raising money. I don't have a better solution, but it
just seems to me like these presidential contenders have to whore themselves
out in a way which is unfortunate and they may have to owe things to certain
groups, and that's unfair.
Q: Today's politics is also a lot about looking very deeply into minute details
about a candidate. You have in the past spoken out very strongly about what you
perceive to be the excessive peering into your own private life.
A: I don't discuss it in great detail. A very inappropriate question for me would
be to ask you about your private life, your sex life. It's inappropriate for me
to be asking you those things as someone who doesn't know you. And for those
things to be all over the papers, it's disconcerting.
Q: Still the media dose it anyway. In fact, you've been the centre of several
rumours - that you're gay, you're a womaniser, you're having an affair with
Teri Hatcher. How do you deal with all of that?
A: It's so ridiculous to me that anyone would have the gall to speculate on that
sort of thing - it kills me! For anyone to say that I was gay, or had gay
inclinations puts me in the laugh factory. My mother will call me up and ask me
about the woman I saved from being raped because she read it in that National
Enquirer. And I go "Mom! I don't know what the hell you're a talking about!
A - it never happened. B - if it did happen, it wouldn't have happened that way."
But once they're in print they're given some sort of validity. I'd love to see the
person who said that Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher are having an affair! I'd love to
see the person who said Dean Cain was gay and here's how I know!
Q: What would you do if you ever got your hands on them?
A: I would laugh at them hysterically. Then they would look silly and then they'd be
discredited. There literally have been people who say they know me so well and don't
realise that they are talking to me. I've been with my friends at a bar and we're
talking. Then someone comes along and says, "Oh! You know Dean Cain? I know Dean!
Let me tell you about Dean Cain." Then he goes on to say this and this and this. And
my friends and I will look at this guy and say, "You're such an idiot! Because you
are talking to Dean!" And they'll usually go: "Oh no you're not." So you pull out your
ID. When you ask them why they saying such things they'll tell you that a friend of
theirs said that. But there are other people who get a lot worse than me. And I feel
for them.
Q: You foresee a time when the gossip will just go away or die down?
A: I'm sure it's just gonna get worse. If you look at the old days, there was always
this fascination with celebrities' lives. You look at Bill Clinton saying he never
inhaled marijuana. Who cares?! I can't think of anyone who hasn't inhaled marijuana.
Literally don't know anyone who hasn't tried it. Would I not vote for a president
because he smoked marijuana? No!!!!!
Q: I've heard you're adverse towards the Internet.
A: It takes too much time and I never go on the Internet because there's no
accountability. People sit on the Internet and say anything they want. A producer
from a film company can act like fan, saying how great their own film is. Or some
15-year-old creating Dean Cain-Teri Hatcher having an affair stories. People don't
do that when there's accountability.
THIS SPORTING LIFE
Q: You surf, play basketball, football. Taken up any new sport lately?
A: I've been playing golf. For 9 days now.
Q: What's your handicap?
A: (laughs) My inability to swing!
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