Dennis Quaid, or a space suspended between Texas, Hollywood, the White House and the Bible. The actor of Faro from Heaven and The Day After Tomorrow, former president on the screen, modest musician, director for a parenthesis, tireless reader, occasional devourer of shrimp and eternal curious heads, was the protagonist of yesterday at the TFF, where He received Taormina International Award And he told himself with the frankness of those who lived many lives, inside and out of the screen.
“I wanted to be a veterinarian,” he confesses smiling. “I didn’t even know what acting really was. Then at the University of Houston I met a professor, Cecil Pipett, and after a week I knew what I wanted to do. A gift for a boy ».
Raised in Texas, far from Hollywood, he recalls: «I was jealous of the boys of New York or California, I thought they were advantaged. But then I understood that knowing true America gave me something more». Today that everyone chases the performance, he praises the failure: «It is a blessing, especially in the years of training. If you are afraid of failing, you don’t risk. And without risk, you don’t create anything». For him, acting is technical and discipline: «First you have to listen, observe, build the character from what he says, does, what others say; Then you have to forget everything and live the scene ». Also reveals a secret: «Reading the Bible changes your life. At twenty years of age he talks to you about courage, forty of guilt, to the sixty of the redemption ».
He has no hesitation in declaring his support to Trump: «Trump has America in the heart, history will demonstrate it, will lead to a more peaceful world. He tried to restore dignity to workers. La China in development nation? A joke. Your Meloni? It is wonderful and skilled». Speaking of presidents, for him to interpret Ronald Reagan “it was one of the most complex challenges, there were those who tried to” cancel me “. I wanted to interpret the man, not the icon. Reagan was an actor, but he felt insecure and that inadequacy I tried it too when I married Meg Ryan. I worked a year on the character, even on his particular smile, marked by an accident as a child who had touched the nerves ».
Before cinema, there was music: “My first guitar at 12 years old, then I continued to impress the girls. I was not a great guitarist, so I started writing songs ». On the film The Substance: “I hope to work again with the director, Coralie Fargeat”. And on the new project, Sovereign: “An intense story that speaks of the need for empathy”.
Quaid has never received an Oscar nomination: “I don’t care, said the boy who has never won an Oscar,” jokes. «Of course, it’s nice but the real satisfaction is when, after a disastrous day, you turn that scene. When everything works, when you create something from nothing ». His son is an actor, and someone called him a “nepus baby”. He smiles: “The blacksmith’s son often becomes a blacksmith. Why should it be different? Jack has talent, and I’m proud of it”. Then running on Etna to play golf with the anti Trumpian Michael Douglas.