Even if you don’t know William Sadler’s name, chances are high you will recognize the veteran actor’s face. During his 150-plus film run, Mr. Sadler has held Washington Dulles International Airport hostage as the terrorist leader in “Die Hard 2,” appeared in a trio of Stephen King adaptations for director Frank Darabont — including “The Shawshank Redemption” — and even tangled with Steven Seagal and the titular knuckleheads in “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.”
In his latest film, “Freedom,” set in 1856 and now in theaters and available on video on demand, Mr. Sadler co-stars as Plimpton, a runaway slave hunter out to bring Samuel (Cuba Gooding Jr.) back to his “rightful” owners.
“I get to asked to play a lot of sort of badass, evil [people],” Mr. Sadler, 65, told The Washington Times. “I don’t mind that, but [Plimpton is] fascinating because he’s reluctant to get back into this game. He’s been catching runaway slaves and returning them to the whip for decades, and apparently he’s really good at it.”
Mr. Sadler said it was the complicated, often-conflicted nature of Plimpton that drew him to the role — a departure from the stock villain types he is typically asked to play.
“He seems to be evolving to a kinder sort of human,” Mr. Sadler said of Plimpton. “He gets dragged back into it for one more chase, and it’s against Cuba Gooding Jr. But there’s some redemption in his character, which I found fun to play.”
Mr. Sadler said “Freedom” and its examination of slavery in the United States are timely as he feels “we as a country have a lot of trouble, to this day, looking at our history in this respect. I don’t think this is an easy conversation for Americans to have as far as what we did. And slavery was a huge part of what built this nation before it was abolished.”
Mr. Sadler said the nation’s progress from institutionalized servitude to its first black president does not mean America is suddenly “post-racial.”
“I can’t imagine why anyone would think that now that you elect one black man as president that that would suddenly, magically change the hearts and minds of people everywhere,” he said. “That seems a little silly. I think it’s a conversation that we’re still having with Ferguson and Baltimore.”
In addition to the picture’s themes of redemption and its unblinking look at the scourge of slavery, Mr. Sadler was excited to work with Oscar winner Mr. Gooding. Mr. Sadler said he and Mr. Gooding shared many a “war story” on the set of “Freedom” about their years in Hollywood — and of admiring each other as fellow professionals from afar.
“The two of us looked at each other like a couple of old baseball players who have been traded and traded and traded,” Mr. Sadler said of his co-star. “And anytime you can get on screen with people who are as good as you or better, I think it’s a good idea to do it because then your [own] game goes up.”
Loving the bad guy
Despite his sunny disposition as a professional actor, it is undeniable that Mr. Sadler, with his steely blue eyes and often-menacing stare, will always be known for his body of work in on-screen villainy. But he said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“If you can’t be Bruce Willis in the movie, be Col. Stuart,” Mr. Sadler said enthusiastically about his character in 1990’s “Die Hard 2,” whose plans are ultimately foiled by Mr. Willis’ John McClane. “You can’t have James Bond without Dr. No or Goldfinger. You can’t.
“Villains are delicious to play. They tend to be brilliant minds. They tend to be very, very smart. They have courage, they’re creative, they have a sense of humor,” he said. “If only they were playing for the right team, they would be heroes. That’s how I felt about Col. Stuart in ’Die Hard 2.’ He’s clearly a villainous [person]. I mean, he’s a terrible human, but he’s brave, smart, he has courage, he has commitment, he has integrity. It’s all aimed toward the wrong team, but they’re admirable qualities.”
Heavies are typically given dramatic entrances, such as the one in “Die Hard 2” when Mr. Sadler, as Col. Stuart, is introduced nude in a hotel room performing a martial arts ’kata’ form in solitude. When asked whose idea such bold nakedness was, Mr. Sadler laughs, recalling his initial wardrobe fitting for the film.
“I said [to director Renny Harlin], ’Where’s the costume for the scene in the hotel room?’ And he looked at the costumer, she looked at him, and he said, in his Finnish accent, ’Well, actually, Bill, I was thinking he would be nude.’”
Despite the initial shock, Mr. Sadler struck a deal with Mr. Harlin: Push the au buffo scene to the end of the shooting schedule so Mr. Sadler could work with a trainer for six weeks to get in the best possible shape for his exposed performance.
“You don’t know anything about this man except that he’s athletic, he’s beating the [stuff] out of 10 invisible opponents. There’s an intensity about what he’s doing that’s startling,” Mr. Sadler said of Col. Stuart’s curtain-raiser in “Die Hard 2.” “I felt that was a fabulous entrance for a character. You know you should worry about this guy.”
In addition to being bitten in the hand — and subsequently blown up — by Mr. Willis in “Die Hard 2,” Mr. Sadler was manhandled by Steven Seagal in another evil turn as the corrupt Sen. Vernon Trent in “Hard to Kill,” also from 1990. Mr. Sadler recalled an argument on the set about how precisely Mr. Seagal’s character, Mason Storm, should dispatch the vile politician to the great hereafter. The original script featured Storm holding Trent in a fireplace, burning him to death.
“Warner Bros. said, ’Steven you can’t do that,’” Mr. Sadler said. “It can’t end that way. That’s not what heroes do.”
Mr. Seagal, Mr. Sadler and director Bruce Malmuth discussed less-gruesome ways for the hero to off the villain, none of which seemed satisfactory. At one point, Mr. Sadler said, Mr. Seagal became so frustrated that he retreated to his trailer.
Mr. Sadler suggested a more wholesome, if more humiliating, comeuppance for his character. He proposed that Mr. Seagal lower a shotgun to his nether regions as if to blow apart his manhood, with Mr. Sadler vehemently screaming “Noooo!” Storm then would fire the weapon but miss on purpose before making a crack about Trent’s diminutive genitals. Storm then would kick Trent in the crotch before the senator is led away in handcuffs by police.
Director Mr. Malmuth liked the idea but asked that Mr. Sadler relay the new game plan to the film’s star.
“Because if it came from Bruce, he hated it,” Mr. Sadler said of the frosty relationship between director and star. “I told Steven Seagal, and he liked it, and that’s what we shot.”
Prolific planner
Mr. Sadler is as busy as ever, with 10 other projects planned for release this year alone. One film he would greatly like to see realized is the long-gestating third film in the “Bill & Ted” franchise, in which he hopes to reprise his role as the hip Grim Reaper from 1991’s “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey,” in which he provided a Swedish lilt in homage to the figure of death in Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal.” Mr. Sadler has relayed such enthusiasm to stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winters as well as the writers for the project.
“I love it when I get to be a part of that creative process,” he said, “when the idea starts popping like popcorn and you don’t have to censor yourself.”
• Eric Althoff can be reached at twt@washingtontimes.com.
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