Kevin Kline wonders if the Independent Film Festival of Boston is trying to give him a hint when he receives the Career Achievement Award at tonight’s screening of his new film, “The Extra Man.”
“It makes you feel it’s either time to throw in the towel or I’ve finally arrived or they’re trying to get rid of me,” he jokes before reflecting upon the honor more seriously. “It’s very flattering. Everybody, whatever line of work you’re in, likes a pat on the back. If you can achieve a career in this business — and by career, I mean you work and the work begets more work and there’s some kind of continuum to it — that’s a rare and lovely thing.”
What’s such a big star like Kline doing in independent films, anyway?
“There are projects you do for love and others you do for remuneration,” he says.
One of the aspects Kline says he enjoys most about the indie projects is the pace.
“You’re not going to do 20 takes,” he says. “It’s always quick, and you’re moving from one scene to the other. Rather than having these long, lavish production schedules like a big $90 million Hollywood film can afford, where you just do the scene all day, you do four or five scenes on some independent films.”
But to even consider a small project, that love Kline mentioned has to be present. In the case of “The Extra Man,” where he plays a long-struggling playwright who makes ends meet by being an escort to wealthy widows, it was the script.
“It just tickled me,” he says. “The character was really original. … He’s an eccentric bohemian, larger than life, bon vivant, literate, misleader of youth. I thought it would be fun and funny, and it reminded me of one of the most fun times I’ve had on stage, playing Falstaff in ‘Henry IV.’”
