SB: Well, I think there are those mainstream studio pictures that have good intentions. The people that are making them that have those good intentions are in the minority--in the tremendous minority. I find that the very guerrilla-like warfare tactics one has to utilize to make independent films, as well as the artistic and creative freedom that you usually have, more of is more challenging and interesting. But not all the time--a lot of the time you set out with good intentions in independent film-making, and your mast snaps, you know, and a whale pokes a hole in the side of your hull, and [there are] only two life boats and 500 people. I choose to stand on the highest point of the mast and hope for the best.
Q: Do you remember the actual events involving Bo Dietl and the crime he solved that inspired the movie?
SB: No, but I'm from Long Island, which is like its own country. And we were there just playing baseball and doing the "Brady Bunch" thing.
Q. You have worked in support of AIDS organizations in the past. What is your latest philanthropic endeavor?
SB: Well, the AIDS thing is something that I did for about 6 or 7 years, and now I'm not doing any more. But now I live back in New York, and my mother's breast cancer foundation is there, so I've kind of, again, logistically and geographically moved my philanthropic endeavors to that cause. Also, for the fact that now I'm back in New York [sic], my mother said, "I'll kick your ass if you don't do what I tell you." I just had a huge celebrity golf tournament for my mom--we raised $400,000 for her breast cancer foundation.
Q: Mother Baldwin is the matriarch of a pretty famous group of kids. Do you think you Baldwin brothers have a deserved reputation for being bad boys?
SB: I don't know--I think we have a pretty good rep. I think we could have kicked a lot more ass than we have, but I'm very different [from] my other siblings. I lead a much personal, quieter, life style than they do. I'm not married to a celebrity or anything like that, and I don't live in New York or Los Angeles. I live outside those major cities.
Q: Do people ever confuse you with your brothers?
SB: [sarcastically] Oh sure, I've been great in Sliver and Backdraft and The Hunt for Red October.
Q: You're working on a new film--Friends and Lovers. What will it be like?
SB: It's a hoot. It's a raunchy, modern Big Chill--leaning more towards raunchy. I don't know why it turned out that way with myself and [Robert Downey Jr.], but you know.
Q: I know. What do you feel is the most rewarding thing about being an actor?
SB: Well, I just think my ability to live the fantasy that is my pursuit of artistic pleasure. I'm just a big kid, and for me to sit and watch my daughter hold a spoon and wave it around and sit for ninety minutes believing that it's a kite flying in the sky is the same thing as me reading One Tough Cop and saying, "Geez, you know, if I gain 30 pounds, and talk like this, and if she can convince herself of that and enjoy that and I can convince myself of that and enjoy it, it's the same thing, really." It's the ability to express my child-like imagination that is the most fun for me.
Q: So what's going on in that imagination of yours these days?
SB: I'd like to slap Monica Lewinsky, and Ken Starr, for that matter, but I don't think that day will come. It'd be a short film--a great idea for a short film. Find a Monica Lewinsky look-alike--just go "Hi," just do like a real kind of guerrilla, documentary kind of thing: "Hey, what's your name?" "Monica." "Oh, you look awfully familiar." [Emits punching noises.] "Ahhh!" That wouldn't be nice.