Hanging tough

Thursday, May 23, 1996

Leslie Nielsen tackles his latest role in ‘Spy Hard’ with heroic
intensity, requisite wackiness, and fierce determination to act by
his rules.By Dina Gachman

Daily Bruin Staff

Leslie Nielsen is a lucky man.

Most actors his age do not get the opportunity to frolic with
beautiful women, leap off skyscrapers, and vanquish cinematic
villains. As his new comedy "Spy Hard" nears its release this
Friday, the 70-ish Nielsen comes to realize just how fortunate he
really is. At his age, the roles available for actors are usually
limited.

"You’re entering an era in your career," says Nielsen of older
actors, "where you either go out and do things on your own terms,
or you have facing you, father parts or grandfather parts. You
don’t get to fence anymore like Errol Flynn. You get to the top and
there’s this gentle decline about to take place."

Nielsen escaped these restrictions. His signature brand of
outlandish, lowbrow humor caught the public’s attention with
"Airplane!," and cashed in with the "Naked Gun" trilogy. Nielsen’s
antics explode onscreen once again in "Spy Hard," a spoof on the
James Bond dominated spy genre directed by Rick Friedberg and
executive produced by the actor.

Nielsen plays Agent WD-40, a.k.a. Dick Steele, a man who left
The Agency after his true love was killed by Steele’s nemesis
General Rancor (Andy Griffith). In "Spy Hard," Steele is back after
he finds out that his arch enemy still lives, and is plotting to
take over the world. Steele must stop Rancor, escape killers,
seduce women, and make the audience laugh all in less than two
hours. Nielsen is a slapstick Bond, infusing the character with his
unique comic timing and off-the-wall gags.

Although today Nielsen is best known for these humorous roles,
he actually began his career in the 1950s as a dramatic actor. He
has over 60 films and 1000 television appearances to his credit,
but it is movies like "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" that give Nielsen
his present image. Being typecast as a comedian does not please the
actor.

"Comedy is really my first love," says Nielsen. "But you do get
labeled and tucked away, and I love to get out of that."

As a release from comedic roles, Nielsen toured with his one-man
show, a serio-comic piece called "Darrow." He trained as a serious
actor, but his transformation into humor made him the box office
draw that he is today, and enables him to break out of the narrow
limits of "grandfather parts." It even made him into a sex symbol
for many people ­ an image that Nielsen explains as "either
the hair, or a massive error in judgment." Whatever the reason,
Nielsen’s gray locks and silly persona lure both audiences and
admirers to his movies.

When asked to explain the type of humor that defines films like
"Spy Hard," Nielsen becomes somewhat aloof.

"I don’t care as long as it can make you laugh," he says. "I
don’t spend any time analyzing too deeply about, and putting labels
on, the kind of humor (I do). I don’t even think about it as being
a spoof."

Even so, "Spy Hard," like the "Naked Gun" movies, is undoubtedly
a spoof on many Hollywood blockbusters. "Spy Hard" its self is a
take off on spy movies. Within the film, Steele and his sexy
side-kick Agent 3.14, played by Nicollette Sheridan, save a runaway
bus ("Speed"), ride a horse off of a roof top ("True Lies"), and
face a hungry T-rex ("Jurassic Park"). The duo may be an unlikely
match in reality, but they mesh perfectly with Nielsen’s wacky
charm. Nielsen feels that most people can identify with "Spy
Hard’s" sense of humor ­ they just have to be in the right
frame of mind.

"This is the wonderful, incredible thing about humor," says
Nielsen. "There’s no way to approach it objectively. It just has to
catch you at the right time, when you’re on the right
wavelength."

Nielsen’s films do seem to catch audiences at the right moment,
judging from their worldwide popularity. The fact that these movies
allow Nielsen to defy the stereotypes of his age group that limit
so many other actors, does not make Nielsen, who also performed
many of his own stunts in "Spy Hard," arrogant about his ability to
portray a masculine (comedic) hero.

"I’m not macho at all," he says. "I’m reaching the point in my
career where I want to be doubled if I have to pick up a cup of
coffee."

Nielsen’s fortunate position as an older leading man in
Hollywood breaks many barriers, just like his successful switch
years ago from dramatic to comedic acting surprised many people in
the industry. These challenges give Nielsen a sense of satisfaction
as he looks over his career.

"Now I’m doing comedy," he says, "and for it to be successful at
all ­ that’s really getting the label of the pigeon falling
out of the pigeon hole. You really offend the security of the
pigeon-holers when you fall out of their predictions."

Leslie Nielsen stars as Agent WD-40 (a.k.a. Dick Steele) in "Spy
Hard," opening this Friday.

Leslie Nielsen and Stephanie Romanov stretch the boundaries of
believability.