Alan Cumming's maverick ways make him one of a kind.
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Without a lick of pretension, Alan Cumming exudes a "cooler than you" aura. The writer, actor and director has one of the most diverse careers in Hollywood. He's starred in everything from the indie flick
Sweet Land
to the big budget
Spy Kids
and
X-Men
to the surreal Shakespearian reimagining
Titus
, and that doesn't even touch on his award-winning theatrical career. But it's not just Cumming's eclectic filmography that makes him one of Hollywood's more compelling artists. What makes Cumming stand out is the way in which he uses his growing star power.
"As a director and actor you have to be aware of your power and your clout," Cumming tells SFR via a recent telephone interview. "Not just to make your own small film, but to kick-start other people."
Some of that kick-starting came in the form of the 2001 film,
The Anniversary Party
, which will receive a special showing at this year's Santa Fe Film Festival. Cumming co-wrote and co-directed the film with Jennifer Jason Leigh. The two met on the set of Broadway's
Cabaret
and compensated for their lack of scenes together by penning the ensemble flick that earned them several Independent Spirit Award nominations at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Starring Cumming, Leigh, Parker Posey, Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline,
The Anniversary Party
gives viewers an inside look at Hollywood and expounds on the difficulties of relationships.
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The film, which feels like a secret peek into the conversations of its characters, comes off as so real because Cumming and Leigh based the characters on the lives and traits of the actors in the film.
"We took facts from their lives and put them into the characters," Cumming says. So Cates and Kline, who are married in real life, play a married couple that is "not that different from their relationship. Of course, it's a filmic relationship, but we used the fun, jokey parts of their relationship," Cumming says.
In his second directorial effort,
Suffering Man's Charity
, also screening at this year's Festival, Cumming plays the character that provides the inspiration for those around him, bringing the meta-fiction full circle.
While Cumming keeps himself busy acting and directing, he's also used his celebrity to support gay rights and is an open opponent of male circumcision.
"Coming from Europe to America and realizing that I was viewed as a freak because I was intact was really difficult," Cumming says. He likens male circumcision to the genital mutilation that occurs on girls around the world, but notes that there is much more of a taboo to discuss something that occurs in America but on boys.
"It's shocking that there's this conspiracy to keep it going. People say that if we don't do it they'll be teased in locker rooms down the line, which isn't much of a reason to keep it going, if you ask me," he says.
Between his film choices and his personal politics, Cumming has proven himself an unorthodox and independent thinker. He will receive this year's Santa Fe Film Festival Maverick Award in honor of those qualities.
