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By Joshua Mooney/ Entertainment News
HOLLYWOOD - Villains are John Glover's specialty, no doubt about it. From his screen debut in 1978's Julia, in which he played a drunken cad who gets slapped by Jane Fonda, through Gremlins 2, 52 Pick-Up, Scrooged and many more, the actor has essayed playboys, killers, pornographers, blackmailers, evil businessmen and even - gasp - a film producer.
He plays a mad scientist in Batman & Robin, opening today. But it was apparently Glover's Tony-winning role in the Broadway hit Love! Valour! Compassion! that proved the most disturbing for some. During the New York run of Terrence McNally's hit play, playwright David Mamet and director Oliver Stone reportedly walked out after the first act. Glover played twin brothers, both gay, one of whom is dying of AIDS. He reprises the role in the current film version of the play.
Of Mamet's and Stone's defections, Glover says, "I think it's difficult for some people because the play was done so honestly. It makes some people uncomfortable and nervous to see gay themes and homosexuality depicted this way." Still, shouldn't Oliver Stone be able to handle such a thing? "One would think," Glover says dryly. Glover calls the dual role of the twins "one of the best, if not the best, I've ever had the opportunity to attack. And I've been onstage since 1963." The 52-year-old actor admits he's had a difficult time watching the film version of Love! Valour! and thinks he knows why. "I've played so many villains over the years that I haven't had a chance to let my soul shine through," he says. "It's a little terrifying to watch that. Villains are great roles but they tend to be rather unfeeling, which is easier to play."
Glover says he's frustrated by the fact that the movie business sees him as such a bad guy. Onstage, he's proven his range in classics by Moliere and Oscar Wilde and in contemporary dramas by Ron Nyswaner and McNally, among many others. On TV, he was nominated for an Emmy for An Early Frost, in which he played a young man dying of AIDS. "It's harder to take risks in film because there's more money involved," Glover says. "If I've been successful as a villain - and I have been - then I guess that's what I am to them. Scripts still come to the house and I read them, and it's a smarmy businessman or an out-and-out villain."
Well, there are scripts, and then there are scripts. Glover plays yet another nasty ne'er-do-well, this time in the much-hyped Batman & Robin, directed by Joel Schumacher. There wasn't even a finished script when Schumacher called Glover and offered him the role of Dr. Jason Woodrue, mad scientist. "He said he was interested in me for a role, and he said, 'Here's what it is: You only play with Uma Thurman, and she's gonna kiss you to death.' I said, 'OK!' I mean, Uma's a dream."
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