Aidan Quinn relishes new roles after 7 months off
April's been a great month for Chicago-born actor Aidan Quinn.
Last week, "Eclipse" opened in Chicagoland, featuring the 51-year-old actor as a slimeball American novelist stuck at a literature festival in Ireland.
This weekend, "A Shine of Rainbows" opens with Quinn starring as the stoic Irish father of an adoptive boy. He has since locked up roles in seven films during the past six months.
Not bad for a guy who, last year, spent seven straight months without an acting job.
"After not working for seven months, I thought my career was over," Quinn said, sitting in a suite at Chicago's Trump Towers. "I thought I'd have to sell stuff, downsize the house. When you're middle-aged, you always have to make changes."
When pressed, Quinn will admit that he thinks his character in "Eclipse" - an inadvertently humorous jerk - is "one of my better performances. I loved the movie. It gave me so much freedom for someone who's been typecast as the sensitive man."
Sensitive man? Quinn?
Hey, have you seen this guy's amazing blue peepers?
Quinn doesn't have exactly the same love/despise relationship with his eyes that the late Paul Newman had. Close.
"They're what you're born with," Quinn said flatly. "I guess I'm lucky to have eyes that people like. Sometimes, it's a little too much. The eyes! The eyes! The eyes! It's only a piece of physical material. But it is an asset in the film business."
The actor loves that his character in "Eclipse" elicits laughs from film audiences.
"We always get a little drunk with that," Quinn admitted. "Of course, we have to be careful about that. When you do a play that starts to get laughter, you start gilding the lily and extending the bits far beyond their effectiveness.
"It's a great feeling for me at my age to finally get to play some comic (jerks) and have fun doing it."
Quinn and his wife have two daughters, 11 and 20.
Yes, being a dad definitely impacted his acting.
"It's hard for me to be a part of something I think is going to be detrimental or really negative or horrible. Definitely, it affects my choices when it comes to films."
It heightens your morality meter?
"It also heightens your understanding," Quinn said, "and it heightens my ability to play many different characters. As a dad, you just realize how you turn into your parents! And you swore you never would!"
It's been 26 years since Quinn roared onto the big screen as the rebellious youth in "Reckless." Has he changed much since then?
"I'm in many ways more comfortable in my skin," he admitted. "I can take short cuts. I don't have to always be as intense as I was. I can approach a character in many ways now. Back then, I just had one way."
Seven Quinn movies will be coming our way.
"When the camera's actually rolling and you're working on stories you care about, and you're working with people like Liam (Neeson) and Meryl Streep and wonderful actors, that's the best," Quinn said.
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<li><a href="/story/?id=375017">Dann's review of 'A Shine of Rainbows' <span class="date">[4/23/10]</span></a></li>
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