Alec Baldwin in Manhattan
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P2JW180000-4-D01100-1--------XA THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, June 29 - 30, 2019 | D11 GEAR & GADGETS 20 ODD QUESTIONS MAN ABOUT TOWN Alec Baldwin in Manhattan. Clockwise from right: John Travolta in ‘Saturday Night Alec Fever’; Scrabble; Madrid, Spain; ‘The Grapes of Wrath’; a 1979 Ford Country Squire. Baldwin Inset: John DeLorean. Theveteran actor has been amobster,aspy, even undead, but keeping his cool as ‘car OREAN) DEL guy’ John DeLoreanwas anew challenge , (MADRID AS THE SATISFIED OWNER of aCadillac Escalade,Alec Bald- GES win drives ahugecar,but he’snot exactly ahuge“carguy.” He IMA doesn’t have apreternaturally protruding chin. And he’salso not known forkeeping his cool. But to playthe titular auto GETTY exec in “Framing John DeLorean” (in select theatersnow), a CAR); docudrama about the infamous man who created the stainless- H”, steel coupe that “Back to the Future” immortalized, Mr.Bald- AT WR win had to devise waystoembody all three qualities. OF Becoming acar guy? That’sacting.Looking likeDeLorean PES wasn’t terribly difficult either.For that, Mr.Baldwin, 61, called RA “G in longtime friend and “SaturdayNight Live” makeup artist Louie Zakarian to fabricateaversion of the 1980s-erachin im- BBLE, RA plant DeLorean reportedly had inserted. But, Mr.Baldwin says, SC , approximating DeLorean’scalm wasachallenge: Howcould a TA OL man stay so composed while being hunted by federal agents AV fortrafficking cocaine to keep his carbusinessafloat? (TR “When the water is coming over the deck of the ship and MY all of them are really screwed because of the scandals and ALA criminal charges, John remains stoic throughout,” said Mr. WIN); Baldwin. “I watched video of John for hours with the sound turned off. Watched the way he moved. He had a level of self (BALD control that I probably have never seen.” We caught up with Mr. Baldwin to talk about mammoth MOBLEY vehicles, killing time in the back seat, managing his stress and what makes it all worth it. MILLER My magic bus is a: 2019 Es- back and win. It’s unlikely, but My favoriteplaceonearth is: calade. We are a big crowd— to a degree, sports gave me the lobbyofthe HotelRitziN four kids and a couple of peo- some idea of “don’t quit.” Madrid. When my wife, Hilaria, ple who work for us—and the first took me to Spain, Ihad a next thing up from this was, The secret to beating “Sat- very unusual feeling. The like, a sprinter van. I had a lot urday Night Live” creator Spanish arevery, very decent of nightmares about my wife Lorne Michaels in tennis is: people.Itwasn’t likeother parking a sprinter van, so we to make him run. Just go places Igowhereyou might all pile in this massive thing from corner to corner. Lorne get averyovert reaction. They that we drive to and from our is my neighbor and in the might’ve recognized me,but home in Long Island. summertime we play some of therewas arespect there. the most epic trash-tennis My dad drove a: Ford games you’ve ever Ifell in love with Spain: the Country Squire. He seen. same way Ifell in love with my had six kids and wife. It wasjustinstant. probably needed One of the a sprinter van, movies that The advantage of having a too. But this made me want 1-year-old in my 60s,versus was back before to be an actor when they’re going to under- hair guy, my wardrobe guy, My friends used to call me: when Iwas in my 30s is: I’m all the vigilance was: “Saturday stand thathistory and line of my stunt double, my stand- the whoreofMayfair,be- around more. Ihostapodcast there is now Night Fever.” Ev- evolution in filmmaking. in—we would play Scrabble cause Icould justwalk up in NewYork and Itriedtodo about car seats and erywhere I went, all day. They’d call us onto and down MountStreetiN atalk showfor ABC here. I belts and all that, so he every woman wanted I’m very proud of: the fact the set, we’d do the shot, and London all dayand smokeci- host“MatchGame” at 30 got all six of us in there. to physically attack John Tra- that my kids demand to be then we went racing back to garsand shop and go to the Rock.When Ifilm “Mission: volta. They were obsessed read to at the conclusion of the trailer to drink coffee, Dorchesterand the Con- Impossible,” I’mtherefor a Something I learned from with him. I thought: Well every single day. smoke cigars outside and naughtand have lunch and week,Ileave.Igoback fora my father was: you only live wouldn’t it be nice to have play obscene amounts of then go to the theaterat couple weeks, Ileave.Because once, so do what you really that kind of a career? If I’m in an Uber with time Scrabble—like, 10 games a night. Idid alot of thatback the project is notabout me. feel you want to do. He was to kill: I play “Words With day. It was insane. when Iwas single. very, very encouraging of my Movies I’m looking forward Friends” with my father-in- Everything I do now is decision to study acting and to watching with my kids in- law, who lives in Spain, and Asmartphone game thatI One of my fondestFourth of about: staying home with my go into that profession. He of- clude: “The Grapes of Wrath,” who is a super bright guy. missis: “VSTennis.” It’s the July memories as an adult: kids. I’ve had a lot of opportu- teN said: I wish I had done anyTom Hanksmovie,and Sometimes I hold my owN stupidestgame—the equiva- waswhen we usedtotie nities to make films again, what I wanted to do. old Disneyanimation, like against him, but sometimes lentoftwirling arubber band boats together in Three Mile but they want me to go to “Bambi,” whereIcan pointto he just throttles me. when Ihad minutes to spare. Harbor at an old camp called Barcelona or Prague or Rome. Something I learned playing afilm and say: “Some guy But Imustsay,Imissmylud- Boys Harbor.Everybody would But if it’s an extended trip sports is: not to quit. Playing drew that. Acomputer didn’t I used to be addicted to: dite“VS Tennis” terribly. bring food and booze.We’dget and a lead role in a film, the tennis, you caN be down two makethat. Aman and a Scrabble. We had a gang that shitfaced and watchfireworks. answer is no. sets, five games, 40-love, and woman made it.” I’mwaiting worked together all through To manage stress I: go out GeorgePlimptonhimself was —Edited from an interview theoretically you caN come forthem to reach the age the ‘90s—my makeup guy, my in public as little as possible. our masterofceremonies. by Chris Kornelis IF YOU’VE EVER hiked through the top1,000 species.The app displays Name That Croak! woods with one of those savants itsfindings, itslevel of certainty who canidentifyevery plant, every and alink to the creature’sWikipe- These free apps help you instantly identify plants and animals in the wild tree,every berry, bug and birdsong, dia page. Available for Android youknowitcan be arevelation. When we’realone in the trees with Seek Able to identifyanything our ignorance, however, naturere- from aporcupine to aporcini, Seek mains an inscrutable beauty. analyzeswhatever youpoint your It needn’t be.Onrecent walks phone’scameraat, working itsway through Alabama forestsand up the tree of lifeinreal time—re- Brooklyn cemeteries,Iexperi- vealing the kingdom, phylum, class, mented with apps that use my order,family,genus and finally spe- smartphone’scameraand micro- cies.While Seek does itswork phone—plus cloud-based machine quickly and with impressiveaccu- learning technology—to identify racy,always consult atrusted ex- plantsand animals around me as pert beforeeating anything.You quickly as Shazam canrecognizea shouldn’t bet your lifeonanapp’s deservedly obscureAdam Ant attemptstodiscern the difference song. between adelicious honey mush- I now know a nightmarish-look- room and adeadly galerina. Avail- ing red mushroom I saw pushing able for iOS and Android its way through the grass was an “Elegant Stinkhorn.” And that the Merlin This app offerstwo avenues avian chorus crooning at my win- forornithological identification; ei- dow each morning and interrupt- ther snap aphotoand submit it, or ing my sleep isn’t just a bunch of just answerafew basic questions stupid birds; it’s a bunch of stupid about the birdinquestion. What is “house sparrows.” Here, three free itscoloring? Is it biggerthan ara- apps to demystify flora, fauna, and ven? Smaller than agoose? Theapp fine feathered frenemies. uses uploaded infoalong with your location and observations from the BirdNET It’soften easier to hear eBirdcommunity to suggest likely abirdthan see it, particularly when candidates,delivering images of the the tree canopy is dense with birdinquestion, plus relevant info leaves. But if you’recurious about and audio clips of itssongsand what’saccompanying your barbecue calls.Ifyour signal is wimpy in the so melodically,BirdNETletsyou re- wild, geographic packs covering cord snippetsofsong and upload morethan 60 countries and 3,500 URBAN them forinstant analysis.Itcan species canbeeasily downloaded. VE match your recordingswith those Available for iOS and Android DA A SHOT IN THE DARK Not sure if it’s a frog or toad? Seek helps you classify an animal down to its species. of the birds in itsdatabase—soon to —Matthew Kronsberg.