Ep 51. Tim Robbins
At\xa06\u2019 5\u201d, Tim Robbins is the tallest actor ever to win an Academy Award, but until they start handing out statuettes for height alone, he\u2019ll have to be content with a regular old Oscar and slew of Golden Globes recognizing his talent. Cutting such an imposing figure could\u2019ve made it easy for Hollywood to serve him up time and again as the loveable, lumbering galoot he played so successfully in his breakout role as\xa0Bull Durham\u2019s \u201cNuke\u201d LaLoosh. But even a passing glance at his long filmography is a startling reminder that Robbins is an artist whose physicality is completely overshadowed by his versatility. He plays innocent and shrewd, hero and scoundrel, with such careful shadings and intelligence that watching him, we\u2019re kept tantalizingly off balance. His boyish, wide-open countenance can conceal a menace that\u2019s all the more disturbing because it\u2019s felt more than seen. In other words, Robbins is a master manipulator \u2013 he\u2019s playing us, but gleefully and with the best of intentions. He\u2019s the na\xefve screwball in the Coen brothers\u2019\xa0Hudsucker Proxy, and the new neighbor in\xa0Arlington Road\xa0who\u2019s so nice and normal that we can never quite put a finger on why something about him just doesn\u2019t seem right.\n\nThough inarguably well deserved, the acclaim he\u2019s received for his astounding performances in films like\xa0The Shawshank Redemption,\xa0Mystic River\xa0and\xa0The Player\xa0can make it too easy to overlook some of his most important contributions to his craft, as well as how he\u2019s chosen to shape his career. While still in college he founded The Actors\u2019 Gang, which changed the landscape and status of L.A. theater and created an incubator for both great plays and talented young actors. His passion for theater also pervaded the chaotically joyous, collaborative spirit of\xa0Bob Roberts, a film Robbins wrote, directed and starred in his early 30\u2019s. Long before \u201cmockumentary\u201d became common film vocabulary, it incisively and uproariously presaged the media\u2019s trivialization of politics. Come to think of it, it\u2019s mandatory election year viewing. Though he admits his success has put him in a position to pick and choose, Robbins has always been an admirable purist, writing, directing, producing and acting in only the projects that speak to his sense of moral and artistic integrity. He knows his legacy may not matter to the public, but it matters to him.\n\nThat integrity \u2013 and his standing as one of our true auteurs \u2013 prompted Robert Altman to call him the second coming of Orson Welles. High praise; but like Welles, his standards don\u2019t frequently align with those of his industry, making his film projects increasingly rare. Our conversation reminded us of the treasure we have in Robbins, and as much as we hate to bother a 6\u2019 5\u201d former hockey player, we respectfully demand more.