THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504210064
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 141 lines
DAVID CARUSO, the red-headed tough guy, is losing the blues in order to get a ``Kiss of Death.''
In the most publicized walkout of the year, he left his highly successful role as the rough-but-vulnerable Detective John Kelly in ABC-TV's popular ``NYPD Blue'' for a career on the big screen.
Now the day of reckoning has come. Caruso's debut as a big-time movie star hits the nation's screens Friday.
``I'm filled with fear,'' said Caruso, his hair all tangerine wisps in the California sun.
``Not really,'' he added, teasingly. ``But when you get an opportunity, you've got to go with it. If you want to play in the Super Bowl, or you step up to the plate in the World Series, there's a chance you're going to strike out. If you're not willing to take the risk, then you'd just better get out of the game.''
Typecast as a tough guy, the 39-year-old actor said he was no stranger to violence. ``I've had a gun held to my head. It was at a bar. This guy didn't like the way I looked. He cocked the hammer and held it to my head. A friend talked him out of it.''
The close call took place during his teen years in the Queens borough of New York City. His life in show business during the past year has been only slightly less threatening.
He's been called an opportunist, an ingrate, a traitor, an egotist and worse. A television critic for New York's Newsday wrote that he is ``an ordinary showbiz greedy rat who put his personal career ahead of the TV viewers who made him what he is today.''
In such an atmosphere, he prepared for his new role. In ``Kiss of Death,'' he plays Jimmy Kilmartin, an ex-con trapped between the law and lowlife criminals. The film is a loose adaptation of the 1947 gangster film.
``This guy I'm playing is between a rock and a hard place,'' Caruso said. ``In a way, it's just a further exploration of the same kind of character that I had with John Kelly. But Jimmy is in a worse situation.''
Kelly had an entire police force behind him. Jimmy is all alone, and has higher stakes to consider.
``He could die at any moment,'' Caruso said.
Little Junior (Nicolas Cage) ``has no feelings. He'd kill him in a moment.'' Though Jimmy's a criminal, the film only works if the audience pulls for him, Caruso said.
It's a big challenge, but no less than the one he faces with his career.
Caruso could have had a lifetime job on television. Presumably, given the support of Steve Bochco - producer of ``Hill Street Blues'' and ``NYPD Blue'' - he could have gone from series to series.
With ``Kiss of Death,'' movie industry bigwigs are watching closely to see how the film does at the box office.
``I've never played it for security,'' the actor said.
Caruso has cruised Hollywood for 15 years, taking roles primarily as tough cops. Until now, he's been a character actor.
He was a naval recruit in ``An Officer and a Gentleman,'' a nice cop in ``Rambo: First Blood,'' and a vigilante cop in ``The King of New York.'' Few noticed him until he played Robert De Niro's partner in ``Mad Dog and Glory.''
``Even then,'' he said, ``four agents saw the picture and refused to represent me. They said a red-headed guy never gets the girl, that I couldn't play leads.''
He may be the first male red-headed movie star since the bobby-soxers squealed over Van Johnson.
The hoopla began after Caruso reportedly asked for an outrageous $100,000 per ``NYPD'' episode, a move he divulged was ``a beginning bargaining thing'' and an amount ``I didn't expect to really get.''
He was allowed to take on a $40 million film called ``Jade,'' directed by William Friedkin (Oscar winner for ``The French Connection''). But the filming conflicted with the series' shooting schedule.
He said he asked that the film schedule be altered so he could continue in the series and still do the movie. It couldn't.
``The thing that hasn't been said is that I never wanted to leave the show,'' Caruso said, finally breaking his silence on the controversy.
``It wasn't a case of me going on to bigger things. The people on `NYPD Blue' are as good as you'll find anywhere. That show gave me the chance to be associated with quality. Hopefully, people will associate that with my movies.''
``Kiss of Death'' director Barbet Schroeder (``Reversal of Fortune,'' ``Single White Female'') met Caruso the night he won a Golden Globe for ``NYPD.''
``He's unique,'' Schroeder said. ``The camera loves him. He has a tough guy quality, but it's completely natural.''
Caruso has had some hard knocks. He is a loner who comes from a broken home. His father, an editor for Newsweek magazine, divorced his mother when Caruso was 2. At 14, he began drinking. A decade later, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous and has been sober for five years.
He is twice divorced, once from actress Rachel Ticotin. He has a 10-year-old daughter, Greta, who is his current pride. He recently broke up with his longtime girlfriend, who had been his manager. Recently, he has been dating a former airline stewardess.
The thing he remembers most about his father is that he recommended four books that became important in his life: ``Catcher in the Rye,'' ``Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,'' ``The Sun Also Rises'' and ``Tender is the Night.''
But it was the movies that most shaped his life. As a teen, he ushered at a local movie theater, seeing some movies as many as 80 times. He most admires Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. ``They have more presence than anyone today,'' he said.
Later, he discovered Marlon Brando - and real acting. After seeing ``The Godfather,'' he vowed he'd become an actor.
He grew up in the late '60s and early '70s, ``a great time for movies. I think `Apocalypse Now,' `The French Connection' and `The Godfather' are masterpieces. There aren't many real filmmakers left, so when I got a chance to work with Billy Friedkin and Barbet Schroeder, it was something special.''
It is obvious, from early in his life, that his aim was for the big screen - not television.
Along the way, though, he also earned a reputation for being difficult.
Said Michael Rapaport, who plays his treacherous cousin Ronnie in ``Kiss of Death'': ``David is really focused, really intense. I think David is a perfectionist and some people misconstrue that as being a pain.''
``Most people compromise so easily. I don't think David likes to compromise.''
``Sure, I lost my cool at times,'' Caruso said, ``but it was always because of exhaustion. I don't think anyone will say that I ever caused an argument that wasn't for the good of what we were doing.''
If the stakes are higher in film, so is the salary. Caruso got $1 million for ``Kiss'' and is getting as much as $3 million for ``Jade,'' now being shot in San Francisco.
Critical response to an advance screening of ``Kiss'' looks favorable. But just in case they're wrong, Caruso is assured a second chance in the fall, when ``Jade'' is due for a big release.
He plays a district attorney who suspects a former girlfriend (Linda Fiorentino) may have murdered an art dealer. Chazz Palminteri, nominated for an Oscar for ``Bullets Over Broadway,'' completes what Caruso calls ``a kind of intelligent triangle.''
If the box office gods are unkind, he says he'll still survive. ``I've been without this kind of notoriety before,'' he said. ``I can live.'' ILLUSTRATION: 20TH CENTURY FOX color photos
In "Kiss of Death"...David Caruso, right...Nicholas Cage...
Samuel L. Jackson, right...Caruso...
20TH CENTURY FOX photo
Samuel L. Jackson has the upper hand in an encounter with Nicolas
Cage in ``Kiss of Death.''
by CNB