Published Sep 16 2001
�It's a big decision for an actor to move to Hollywood. It means leaving behind the support of family and friends to take your chances in an everyone-for-himself industry that fawns over winners and shows no mercy to losers. Sure, you can see your dreams come true. Or you can fall flat on your face.
For Minnesota native John Hawkes, the stakes were even bigger. He loves baseball, but he hates both of the pro teams that play in Los Angeles.
'I could never root for the Angels -- they're overpaid underachievers,' he said. As for the Dodgers, he's never forgiven them for beating the Twins in 1965 World Series. He was in grade school at the time, an age at which impressions tend to stick.
A cynic might suggest that all this baseball talk is just so much Hollywood hype. After all, Hawkes has a major supporting role in 'Hardball,' a baseball drama that opened Friday. Had we talked to him last year, when he played one of the crew members in 'The Perfect Storm,' would he have waxed poetic about fishing?
Bite your tongue. There are things you make fun of and things you don't -- and in his book, baseball is definitely on the don't list. If you think he's kidding, just pick a position on that '65 team and he'll name the player.
'Harmon Killebrew. Tony Oliva. Cesar Tovar. Rod Carew,' he said, ticking off a list of old Twins stars. 'I used to live and die with them.'
Love at first sight As for his own dreams of athletic stardom, 'I peaked in junior high,' he admitted with a smile. But then he discovered a new passion. 'I went to a performance of 'The Crucible' at the Guthrie when I was a sophomore in high school, and I knew right away that that's what I wanted to do.'
After graduating from high school in Alexandria, he enrolled in St. Cloud State University. But acting classes weren't fulfilling, so he left school. He bounced around the country a bit before finally landing in Austin, Texas, where he spent more time working as a waiter and a carpenter than an actor.
Finally, Hawkes and a group of fellow underemployed actors decided to generate their own work. They formed a theater group, Big State Productions, and took turns acting, writing and directing.
'We had no idea what we were doing,' he said. 'But we became the critics' darlings and ended up becoming a huge hit. We even took one of our shows to the Kennedy Center.' Ten years ago, Hawkes, then 32, decided he either had to take his shot at the big time or quit dreaming about it. He moved to Los Angeles, and within a year he landed TV roles in 'Northern Exposure,' 'Wings' and 'The X-Files.' In 1997, he had a recurring supporting role on 'The Practice.' His film career took off the next year with a role in the horror spoof 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.' He was in three movies in 1999, including the Martin Lawrence comedy 'Blue Streak,' before going on to play Bugsy, one of George Clooney's shipmates in 'The Perfect Storm,' the true-life drama about a Gloucester, Mass., fishing ship that sunk. 'The real Bugsy was a tough guy, but the role was written as the comic relief,' he said. 'I met Bugsy's family and his friends, and they weren't happy about that. But I think they understood. The people of Gloucester were very nice to me.'
In 'Hardball,' Hawkes plays the best friend of Keanu Reeves, who agrees to pay off a debt by coaching a Little League team in Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project. 'It's not a comedy, it's not 'The Bad News Bears',' he said, noting that it's based on a true story. 'I get third billing behind Keanu and Diane Lane. It's exciting to see my name on the poster.' As exciting as if the Twins were to make it back to the World Series? Well, even he won't go quite that far, but he'd sure love to cheer them on again.
'I'm so glad that the team is back in the [pennant] race this year,' he said.
-- Jeff Strickler is at [email protected] .