Kelsey Grammer, Covert Hollywood Overlord
While you’ve been enjoying the summer sun, one actor has quietly taken over Hollywood. It’s Kelsey Grammer, known for his small-screen role as Dr. Frasier Crane, a decade after the show bearing his character’s name went off the air.
"Frasier was a great character, and I played him really well. He is responsible for most of the wonderful things in my life," Grammer told Yahoo Movies during a recent press day for The Expendables 3 in Beverly Hills. “That being said, my dream has always been to play a whole bunch of different roles.”
To that end, Grammer has completed five movies either out or coming out in 2014 (six, if you include his upcoming England-set comedy Breaking the Bank,for which the release date is still pending). Three of his 2014 movies were big action productions: He was the villain of Transformers: Age of Extinction, he had a cameo as Beast in X-Men: Days of Future Past, and he plays the mercenary headhunter in this weekend’s Expendables sequel.
"It’s closer to who I am," Grammer said of his shifting gears to action. "I’m an old cowboy. I was raised by a guy who was born on a ranch — and that’s my granddad. He fought in World War II. This is my heritage. This is who I am.”
The actor, now 59, looked over his 2014 slate with us, sharing some choice behind-the-scenes details and a hint about the big action scene we’ll probably never get to see:
The Expendables 3
Grammer had nothing but praise for Sylvester Stallone, using adjectives like “genius,” “juggernaut,” and “eloquent” to describe the stalwart actor. But he also wasn’t afraid to give Stallone a piece of his mind. “This is bulls—-,” Grammer recalled telling Stallone about a scene in which their characters discussed texting and dating. The scene was ultimately cut, but Grammer said Sly was open to his meddling. Grammer also let slip that Stallone “changed the camera angle to make me look shorter.”
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Grammer had to leave the Transformers set to film his Expendables role but said, “Michael Bay was cool about it.” Like Stallone, Bay was also cool about line changes, telling him at one point, “You’re Kelsey Grammer. You can do whatever you want.”
Grammer’s most physical action scene involved throwing a Chinese man out of a car. It was eventually cut, though Grammer explained that Bay isn’t entirely to blame. “It was very violent, and it looked very violent.… Apparently the Chinese government had some input on these things, and they just didn’t want to see a Chinese national get thrown out of the car [laughs] — and then subsequently run over.”
Grammer got a glimpse of the Bay method during the shooting of one action scene as Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, and Jack Reynor were given a shock to the system by the infamously precocious director. “They start running, and Michael did not let them know how big the explosions were going to be. He said to me, ‘Watch this! Look! They’re really terrified. Look how fast they’re running!’”
X-Men: Days of Future Past
For two of his roles this year, Grammer not only auditioned but went out of his way to demand the parts: his role as Bonaparte in The Expendables 3 and his short appearance as Beast in a postscript scene in this summer’s X-Men installment. (He first played the role in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand.) “I was hosting the Director’s Guild Awards, and there Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart both come up to me at different times and say, ‘We’re so excited about the new film. Surely you’re in it.’” Grammer got his hands on the script and made his case to director Bryan Singer. “There was some sort of clause in my contract that said if I were to be in the next one, it was a bigger payday. So I told Bryan, ‘Listen, don’t worry about anything that came before. I just want to put my stamp on it because this is a guy I loved playing.’” In an effort to keep his involvement under wraps, Singer had Grammer flown quietly into Canada for filming. “We took this secret, mini jet plane, which was as big as me!”
Think Like a Man Too
Of this part, Grammer said only, “That’s one where I flew into Vegas and I shot my part, and I flew back out about three hours later.”
Reach Me
The forthcoming comedy-drama, also starring Stallone, features Grammer making another cameo appearance. “I slap the lead protagonist in it, and that sets things rolling.… He’s a lethal character.”
Grammer pointed out that this second wind he’s experiencing wouldn’t have happened were it not for his two seasons playing a crooked Chicago mayor on Starz’s Boss. “That let people say, ‘Oh wait a minute, we don’t know who Kelsey Grammer is. We haven’t got a clue!’” He continued, “It’s delightful. I’m really having a great time.”
Photo credits: Jerome Favre/Getty Images, AP Photo/Lionsgate, Phil Bray, 20th Century Fox
