The Promiseis an epic saga that’s set in 1914, and Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac) is a medical student determined to bring modern medicine back to his ancestral village in Southern Turkey, where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries. Michael meets Ana (Charlotte le Bon), with whom he shares Armenian heritage, and their immediate attraction leads to a rivalry with photo-journalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale), who is in the area to cover the growing genocide of the Armenian people, but they quickly realize that they must work together, if any of them are to survive.
At the film’s press day, Collider sat down with actorJames Cromwell, who plays a small supporting role, to talk about howThe Promisecame his way, why the story appealed to him, his experience working in Malta with directorTerry George, and getting to attend a screening of the film at The Vatican. He also talked about being a part of something with as big of a budget as theJurassic Worldsequel and how much he enjoyed working with directorJ.A. Bayona, his incredible experience onStar Trek, and why it’s important to him to tackleKing Lear.
Collider: How didThe Promisecome your way?
JAMES CROMWELL: Oh, it was the same way [as usual]. I suppose it’s different, if you’re Christian [Bale] or Oscar [Isaac], but your agent says you have an offer and you read the script. The script was a little bit of a surprise. I never thought this issue would come to a film because it’s been suppressed for so long by Turkey. The fact that it did cover the Armenian genocide is really important, especially in the circumstances of today, with so many genocides going on. Maybe they don’t call them genocides, but they certainly are. It’s important to get this issue out. Not only should Turkey make amends, but we should also look at some of our own issues with Native Americans and black people. The whole world has got to shift. This is a film made consciously with the idea of trying to appeal to the greatest number of people to get them into the theaters to see a love story and be entertained by it, in the same way that Hollywood things are, but this backdrop presents something to them that they might never have thought about. If people go home and look this up on the internet after they see the film, that would be really important.
Were you surprised that this film found such a balance between something as horrible as the Armenian genocide with this beautiful love story?
CROMWELL: No, that’s the balance that they were going for. That’s the difficulty. It’s a balancing act because you realize how many facts and incidents you have to leave out, in order to make space for the love story. And then, you have to intertwine your love story in with those facts, so that the facts don’t just stick out like a polemic where somebody is preaching at you, but are integral to what happens in the story. It’s really tough. Epics are really hard to do.
How did you find the experience of making this film and working with Terry George, as a director?
CROMWELL: I was doingThe Young Popeand I had some time off, so this slotted in. It worked for them because they didn’t have to fly me over from America. I had never been to Malta before, and that was fun. And I really appreciated Terry. There was more time spent getting the car to the front door than actually doing the scene. I ruined his epic shot because I couldn’t get out of the car. My hip went out, so every time I got out, I stumbled a little and had to catch myself. I know he wanted me to charge right out of the car and go up the stars, but I was a gimp. I said, “I’m real sorry I ruined that shot for you.” And he said, “Whenever you do those shots, you know it’s the first thing that’s gonna be cut. You’re not gonna keep in your great shot with the car.” He’s a fun fella. I liked him, a lot.
How was it to be a part of a movie that actually screened at The Vatican?
CROMWELL: That doesn’t come up very often. I wish we’d had more time. There were a lot of people, and nobody from The Vatican was actually there that I could see. They may have had a representative, but certainly nobody in costume. I think it was a gesture on the part of The Vatican to recognize a subject that they’re very interested in addressing. It makes a big difference. When the Pope gets behind something, it’s not as easy for the Turkish government to behave the way they have. It may not have been the Turkish government, but that’s what it seemed like to me. After the opening in Toronto, about 6,000 people had seen the picture, at the most, and they had 70,000 comments condemning the film, which came from somewhere, even though nobody had seen it.
What’s it like to go from something like this to doing something like theJurassic Worldsequel? Is it just impossible to pass up a film where your co-stars are dinosaurs?
CROMWELL: It’s out of the sublime and into the absurd. It’s just such a different world. There was Terry, making a very expensive film, but competing withDoctor Zhivago, which was made over 120 days, where he got 70 days. And they had to cut the budget in half, in order to have $50 million to push the film, because they’re advertising it like nobody’s business. He’s a good writer and he did his homework, and he cares about it. He’s trying to balance these two dynamics of the reality and the fiction. And then, you go in to this fantasy world and nobody has done anything. Well, that’s not really true. The prop people have made wonderful things. The set people have made wonderful things. There’s just so much money and so much power and so much prestige. It’sJurassic Park. It’s unreal. And then, you do your work and, instead of doing it in a room, you’re doing it in a football field sized set with real recreations of dinosaurs. We had three full-sized dinosaur bone replicas that came from a museum in America, and five other heads. Money is no object. You take your time and do whatever you need to do. The director, bless his heart, was trying to fight off all of the executives. I probably shouldn’t say that.
How was it to work and collaborate with J.A. Bayona? What did you enjoy about him, as a director?
CROMWELL: He’s wonderful. I liked him a lot. He does some very strange things. At one point, my character is supposed to care about this thing, and I was doing my caring bit. He came over to me and said, “If you want to break down and cry, you can do that.” I thought, “Oh, really? Thanks! What am I crying about?” And Geraldine Chaplin, who has made three or four pictures with him, said, “Did he ask you to cry? He always asks you to cry!” He evidently has a little recipe book of things to do to heighten an actor.
Aren’t you also going to be directing, yourself?
CROMWELL: Well, there are things hanging out there. I was supposed to direct a little short film, and I had thought about directing thisKing Learthat I’m doing, but now I’ve got two people in Canada. I’m not sure if I would try to direct myself in a film, at this point.
Is directing something you’ve thought about for awhile?
CROMWELL: Always. My approach to acting is rather like a director. I’m interested in language and what language means, and I do a lot of tweaking with my lines to get them to not only fit my mouth, but to actually say what it is I think they were trying to say, only the language is very clumsy or unimaginative or inarticulate. I often wonder whether the people on the other side of the camera appreciate that. Some do. Some are really great. Some really like the fact that you’ve made it your own. Others get very threatened. It empowers the actor, and that is the last thing that many people want on their sets.
You’ve been involved in a number ofStar Trekepisodes and a movie. Can you share any fun behind the scenes stories from any of those experiences?
CROMWELL: Oh, absolutely! Almost all of it. They were really dear with me. Jonathan Frakes and everybody was really delightful. I had a great time. I had a great time on the picture because he was a wonderful character. Everybody talks about character, but I say that it’s always me, anyway. But he really was a character, and I loved playing him. There are certain things you like to do, as an actor. You want a good death scene, you want a good make-out scene, and you want a good drunk scene. Jack Nicholson’s drunk scene inEasy Rideris fabulous. My drunk scene inStar Trekis pretty good, mainly because Iwasdrunk. I thought, I don’t want to just do my interpretation of what it would be like, so I had a bottle of Irish whiskey. I took a big shot and went down for the rehearsals, and the rehearsals seemed to go okay. So, I took another shot, and I think I did that four or five more times. I’d walk up the hill to my trailer, take a shot, and then go back. Some of the timing of that scene is some of my favorite moments. It’s just that perfectly slightly off, tipsy wonderfulness where, when you put the bottle down, the cork goes up in the air. It worked out perfect. I loved it! They were great.
You’ve done so many memorable roles. Is there something that you still really want to do, but haven’t been able to do yet?
CROMWELL:King Lear. I think Lear is really, really important. There’s a difference between playing a lead and doing a character role. My problem is that I’m a good boy. I show up, know my lines, support the person I’m playing with, and support the scene and the director’s vision of the scene. Everything is completely different when you’re a leading actor because the audience has to focus the attention of the story that they’re creating for themselves on the lead character. The face can be very still and do very little because the audience is reading into it. Whereas, as a character actor, you have a little time and they have to absolutely get what you’re doing. It’s wonderful, but then they go back to Brad Pitt and they watch his face. So, doing a lead and sustaining a performance over that big of an arc, and doing a piece that I think is really important now because the play is about the end of the world and we are on the cusp of that, remains to be done.
