Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993 TAG: 9302050132
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PHILIP WUNTCH KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
NICK NOLTE TAKES HIS LATEST RISK
Making "Lorenzo's Oil" - a film that tells the story of a terminally ill child and his courageous parents with an above-average quotient of medical terminology - doubtlessly constitutes a risk.That's what appealed to Nick Nolte.
"I want risk," he says. "I seek it out. That's why I make films. Look, each film is like a military war - getting up at a specific time, being on the set at a specific time. You have to have a real good reason for wanting to do it. It requires discipline, but I have no problem with discipline if I understand my participation in it."
The blond, trim actor (still in the good shape imposed on him by Barbra Streisand for last year's "The Prince of Tides"), darkened his hair and affected an Italian accent to portray Augusto Odone, the odds-defying father who seeks a cure for adrenoleukodystrophy, a fatal disease whose victims are from 5 to 10 years of age.
"There are two levels to playing a real person," says Nolte. "On one level, it's easier because you have a real live person to study for form and shape. The difficulty is that you're restricted by form and shape. You have to make a balance and become very selective about where you deviate from the character."
Nolte's performance has been criticized only on the basis of his accent, and he admits he was hesitant about playing an Italian.
"But Augusto kept saying there was a difference between the myth of an Italian-American and the reality of an Italian Italian. He did not want the Italian-American myth. Anyway, my obligation was to play that specific man.
"Augusto kept on saying he was afraid of how we would treat his character. `You people will make me too much a hero,' he would say. He said he would never have gone to these extremes if it hadn't been his own son involved. He was very humble about that."
The actor has been known as a noncomformist since attaining celebrity in one of television's first miniseries, 1976's "Rich Man, Poor Man." He says he was impressed by Augusto's "courageous dismissal of authority.
"He was able to confront the establishment of doctors and feel comfortable doing so. He said it's his Italian nature. But I'd like to think all fathers would have that kind of passion for their child's well-being."
Nolte, who also is known for submerging himself in research, says "Lorenzo's Oil" was a researcher's dream.
"Augusto and George took me through a whole medical journey," he says, referring to director George Miller, who also has worked as a medical doctor. "I became one of the leading authorities on fatty acid manipulation. I know more than most doctors now. I've always felt, and I feel so now more than ever, that some doctors are concerned about where the money is, not about the patient."
Nolte was the first actor to be cast in "Lorenzo's Oil." Initially, Michelle Pfeiffer was to have played Michaela, Augusto's resolute, uncompromising wife.
"Michelle and I had worked together for a month," he says. "We had bonded. Then she fell out in order to do `Batman Returns.' I was doing `Cape Fear' while preparing `Lorenzo's Oil.' Then I fell out. Then Susan [Sarandon] came in. And I was back in, too."
Ultimately, he found the making of "Lorenzo's Oil" to be a humbling experience. "There were six boys who played Lorenzo, and some of them were very, very ill," he says. "But one of them, Michael Haider, had so much joy inside of him. He was always so happy to see Susan and me. Under those circumstances, it was difficult to go home and say, `Gee, I wonder if `Cape Fear' or `The Prince of Tides' is doing well?'
"Also, the film addresses the issue of compassion, which a lot of movies today don't even know exists. What is it that allows a person to have compassion? Someone will give mouth-to-mouth to a person who has just had a heart attack. Someone else would be worried about AIDS. What causes us to disregard our own safety? Obviously, our children would. Or should."
Nolte's own compassion, however, does not extend to the subject of prying journalists.
"For a long time, all that journalists wanted to ask me about was my wives. That's too personal. The questions were devious. I would always lie to them. When they finally figured out I was lying to them, they quit asking me."