Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 21, 1994 TAG: 9405210089
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB THOMAS Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
"On the first day we were on the river, my hands were numb, I couldn't use them. I thought: if I'm going to spend a month like this, I'm not going to make it."
He did make it, and the result is "White Mile," which is appearing on HBO, starting May 21, through June. Alda plays a hard-driving ad boss who presses his underlings and clients, young and middle-aged, to take part in a male-bonding adventure in the mountains. When safety measures are fudged, the outing ends in tragedy.
Under Robert Butler's direction, the film company shot the rafting scenes in the frigid December waters of the American River near Sutter's Fort, where gold was discovered. Alda said the actors, including Peter Gallagher and Robert Loggia, suffered no mishaps. But there were some anxious moments.
Alda recalled the time he and Loggia struggled to remain afloat in the rapids and approached a waterfall:
"We didn't go over, but we came close enough. I remember thinking to myself, `When the hell are they going to come out here with one of those kayaks?' Everybody thought the scene was going great and they weren't going to interrupt it. We had gone twice as far they said we would before they stopped us. And we were heading for the waterfall!"
Unlike his character in "White Mile," Alda made certain that all safety precautions were taken before the actors went into the water, including experienced river people testing the waters for hidden rocks.
"There's a tendency for actors to think nothing can happen to them," Alda observed. "The camera's turning, it's all make-believe. Somehow the river will cooperate.
"It's amazing the power of water. You never realize that until you're in the river."
Michael Butler's script came from a 1987 incident in which five ad agency executives and their clients drowned on a rafting trip on the Chilko River in British Columbia. Alda remarked that he was intrigued by the moral implications of the story.
"It raises interesting questions about responsibility. What first interested me was the idea that a lot of us get people to do what we want by not telling them what they need to know - what they need to know to say yes. You sell something, you sell an idea, a political idea. What is leadership? How much do people know in order to buy that leadership? Can you have leadership without informed consent?"
Would Alan try river rafting again?
"Only to reshoot," he said with a grim smile. "I don't recommend it. I don't think it's entertaining to risk your life. When I sit down to a desk and write something, I risk my entire career. That's scary enough for me; I get plenty of excitement out of that."
His 11 years of "M*A*S*H" provided the wherewithal to seek such excitement and do things that expand his horizons. He finds great stimulation in hosting the monthly PBS series "Scientific American Frontiers," which has taken him all over the world to interview men and women on the cutting edge of science.
Alan's acting roles have ranged from Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" to the HBO feature "And the Band Played On" (as the AIDS research pioneer Robert Gallo). Coming up: "Canadian Bacon" with the late John Candy, directed by Michael Moore ("Roger and Me").
Neil Simon's "Jake's Women" brought Alda acclaim on Broadway and in Los Angeles. "That was very strenuous," he recalled. "I couldn't do anything else. I talked the whole time, and I never left the stage. Once someone asked me to speak at a college. It was only 10 minutes, but I didn't even have the strength for that."
At 58, Alan Alda is grayer and has that same hunched-over stance that he had while operating as Hawkeye Pierce. His three daughters have flown the nest, and he has two grandchildren and another due soon. He and his photographer wife Arlene have houses on both coasts.
A good life.
"I worked hard on `M*A*S*H'," he said. "We were all lucky that it did well, and I feel I have earned the right to do things that I really care about.
"The older I get the more I realize I don't have an infinite amount of time the way I did when I was in my 20s. Of course it wasn't infinite; it just seemed that way. I pretty much relish every day. I squeeze as much juice as I can get. I like that."
by CNB