Are You Right There, Michael?
He’s best known for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s seminal Reservoir Dogs, but 54-year-old cult actor Michael Madsen is a complicated and controversial character. In the news last week following an incident which saw him being charged with child cruelty, the actor, writer and poet talks about his chequered past, movies, doing that infamous scene in Reservoir Dogs – but most of all about the importance of family.
Olaf Tyaransen, 04 Apr 2012
Now aged 54, Michael Madsen looks more like a former Hell’s Angel than a Hollywood star. A tall, craggy-faced, broad-shouldered man wearing Ray-Bans, blue jeans, snakeskin cowboy boots, a black leather waistcoat and a luridly designed pink and black shirt, he looks like a man with an edge.
And he is. So much so that he was recently charged with — and cleared of — child cruelty, following an altercation with his son that occurred, apparently, after he discovered the younger Madsen smoking pot in the family house. It is a bizarre twist in a life that undoubtedly has its strange and occasionally dark currents. So what is it that makes him tick? Even before this incident happened, I was more than curious to find out.
Madsen’s spiky but receding hair is dyed a dirty blonde, his forearms are colourfully tattooed, and he’s wearing a silver bracelet, earrings and rings. His handshake is firm, his voice low and gravelled from years of chain-smoking, and his eyes are full of mischief. “Hey man, how you doin’?”
He looks slightly puzzled when I place two digital recorders on the table. When I explain that it’s a precautionary measure in case one of them malfunctions, he grins and asks, “Hey, do you wear two fuckin’ condoms as well?”
A moment later he turns his attention to my shades. “Hey man, these are nice fuckin’ glasses,” he says, picking them up off the table. “Do you mind?” He slips off his Ray-Bans.
He snorts with laughter when I explain that they were picked up for about €10 in a Spanish market. “That’s fuckin’ typical, man! Two or three hundred dollars for these, and yours are much cooler.” Reluctantly declining my generous offer of a straight swap, he explains, “I would, but these actually belong to Gareth [Thomas] from the Big Brother house. The rugby champion.”
Just last January, Madsen finished fourth in Celebrity Big Brother 2012. Which offers a clue as to where his acting career is currently at.
Born and raised in Chicago, the son of a fire-fighter father and award-winning writer mother, Madsen’s first onscreen appearance was in the 1982 independent movie Against All Hope. Although he’s appeared in more than 150 movies since, by his own admission the twice-divorced actor has made a lot of bad choices over the years. For every Thelma And Louise, Kill Bill or Free Willy, he’s appeared in a dozen straight-to-DVD flops. It’s been quite some time since his last hit movie.
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