One of the many great treats we had at Starfest ‘08 was being able to sit down and talk with the Hero of Canton, NSA agent John Casey himself, Adam Baldwin!  It was an honor to talk with Mr. Baldwin and we talked about quite a broad spectrum of his career.  He even caught me BS’ing at the end of the interview.  I left it in just because it’s funny.  Enjoy!  There is a transcript of the interview after the jump.  For more information on the charity that Mr. Baldwin is working with, please click the related links below.

Related Links:
The Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation
California Browncoats

 

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Barry:  Thank you so much for talking to us today. 

Adam Baldwin:  Thanks for having me.

B:  First and foremost, I wanted to ask you about the charity that you work with and if you could tell us about that please. 

AB:  Yeah, we’re raising money for the Marine Corps/Law Enforcement Foundation, which is a beautiful organization that gives money for scholarships for the children of fallen soldiers and law enforcement.  We raised nearly $50,000 or more in the last couple of years through auctioning off some scripts that I had from Firefly and Serenity that I had signed by everybody.  Those went up on Ebay, and now we have some shirts that are up there too…some Jayne shirts.  And then we’re going to do that knit hat that I have, the Jayne hat that you might see floating around at some of the conventions.

Dave:  The cunning hat! 

AB:  The cunning hat, a very cunning hat.  So, we’re going to put that up soon.  Go to

B:  Awesome.  My friend Jeff is an avid golfer and I promised him I’d ask you this.  What’s your handicap and what’s the best course you ever played on? 

AB:  Well, I did get down to about a 2 or a 1 handicap a few years ago.  Probably a 6 or 7 now.  I can still break 80 on a good day.  And the greatest course I ever played?  Wow, there have been a lot.  Well, I played the old course at

B:  It’s been 20 years since Full Metal Jacket.  Any memories of working with Stanley Kubrick that immediately jump to mind? 

AB:  I remember when we first arrived in

But he was a really cool guy.  He would kick my ass at chess and then laugh at me.  I finally did beat him one time, but he was distracted.  He was a very good chess player and I was just ok.  So he says to me, “The only reason you was is because I was distracted by your poor play and I blundered.”  I was like, “Oh great…thanks

(laughter)

B:  I want to ask you about Radio Flyer.  Your performance in that movie is one that stayed with me.  It’s a frightening character, The King, where you only see your face at one point in the film.  Did that effect your approach to the role, knowing that you’d only be seen from the neck up just once? 

AB:  That was actually one of the appeals of the role because he was such a despicable character.  I thought, “Well, ok.  I can play this guy, and you aren’t going to see me too much, so that’s pretty cool.”  I thought that I don’t want to be too well associated with such a villainous character.  But, I think that movie missed the mark in its marketing campaign.  I think it was marketed as kind of this fantasy, E.T.-kind of kids adventure and it’s NOT that movie.  It’s dark…

B:  Dairy Queen had a tie-in with that movie, actually where you get a little Radio Flyer wagon with ice cream in it. 

AB:  And then that just brings to mind the marketing campaign for Firefly. 

In a tough-announcer voice:  “It’s a space captain in a space western with a hooker with a heart of gold and a girl in a box!” 

Sings:  “Might as well be walking on the sun…”

It was like, “Awww man, that’s not our show! C’mon!”

D:  So, can I ask you a quick question about Chuck? 

AB:  Yeah.

D:  It’s interesting between that and Firefly you kinda play two sides of the hardass coin.  He almost (Casey) seems like he’s almost beginning to like Chuck a little bit.  Is that kinda where you see it heading, or do you think he’s going to be able to stay detatched and do the job when it’s necessary?

AB:  The show’s called Chuck, so he can’t run too far afoul of Chuck.  But, we do need villains.  Ya gotta have some villains.  I’m not sure where they’re gonna go with Casey right now.  It really depends on how much…it really depends on how deep Chuck gets into the crime solving and whatnot.

I’m just happy to play my part and support that guy, because he’s great.  Zach Levi is just my hero. 

D:  Yeah, no kidding.  He came out of nowhere…well, not out of NOWHERE, but seemingly… 

AB:  Yeah, well, you know what they say about luck…

D:  Exactly 

B:  Well, thank you so much for talking with us today.  We really appreciate it.

AB:  I appreciate it (To Dave)  What do they say about luck

D:  (pause and sigh) I have no freaking clue.  I was just trying to BS my way through it. 

AB:  It’s all about preparation.

D:  D’OH! 

AB:  See ya later.  Thanks, it was fun.