James Cromwell: 'In jail, everyone recognises my face'

The Hollywood star now has a second life as a fearless animal activist and eco warrior – and, he reveals, it all started with Babe, his film about a talking pig

James Cromwell, veteran actor, Oscar nominee and star of LA Confidential and The Green Mile, is listing what he hates about Hollywood. “I don’t like the system,” he says. “I don’t like what it does to people. I don’t like the values. I don’t like the class system. I don’t like the disparity in pay, for men and women, and men and men.” He smiles. “I have a chip on my shoulder about Hollywood.”

Cromwell, at 78, might be assumed to have shed any youthful inhibitions about speaking his mind. In fact, he says, he has always been awkward, particularly when starting out. “I had issues with authority and made myself fairly unpopular in almost every theatre.” Not only was he “terminally stupid”, he had a temper. On the set of 1997’s LA Confidential, Cromwell disagreed with the director Curtis Hanson over a line. “I cursed him,” he recalls. “I kicked dirt. I punched the car.”

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from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2F818OJ