Dean Cain
Dean Cain rocketed to fame as Superman in the hit television series Lois and Clark. Since then he's been a constant presence in film and television series. This holiday season, Dean returns to the Hallmark Channel in The Three Gifts. Dean spoke with TheCelebrityCafe.com's Alisha Prakash about the joy of Christmas movies, family, and life as one of the hardest-working men in Hollywood.
Alisha Prakash: Could you give our readers a little something about what the movie is about?
Dean Cain: The Three Gifts is a beautiful Hallmark Christmas movie in that it has a lot of family values, a lot of good feelings about it—holiday feelings—and some of the same questions and problems we all run into as a family.
It’s a story about these three little boys who are in an orphanage, and they’ve reached the age where they’re older than most kids are when they get adopted. They’re a group of guys, they’re very different from each other, but they’re good friends. My wife and I run a toy company—we make toys and such—and we can’t have children, but we take these three kids in for the holidays because my aunt is renovating a part of the wing of the orphanage.
When we take these kids in, they overhear one of our conversations and they believe that we are planning on adopting one of them, only one of them, after the holidays. So they start a tremendous competition to see who will be the one to get adopted. They try to win over our attention so it leads to a lot of good feelings, a lot of bad feelings, a lot of funny moments, and then, ultimately we have to—I don’t want to give away the ending, but it’s a happy ending.
AP: Why did you decide to become a part of The Three Gifts?
DC: Well, you know, I’ve worked with Hallmark a number of times and whenever you make a Christmas movie, it’s pretty fantastic because it shows a merry Christmas so you get to see the movie over and over during Christmas time. And Christmas time is my favorite time of the year because I love getting together with my family and just relaxing and being with each other, and it’s a special time.
This movie has a lot of heart; I knew it would be a lot of fun. I enjoy working with kids quite a bit and it’s something my son can watch with me—I have a 9-year-old boy. I like making movies that sometimes he can watch as well, and come visit the set and he did that it a little bit. He was in the movie for a minute, but they cut him out. I was like, 'Here’s your first lesson, buddy. Welcome to the world of acting.' (Laughs)
I’m happy to go do these kinds of movies. They’re a lot of fun and families can enjoy watching them. I think the message is pretty sweet.
AP: How was it working with director David Cass?
DC: It wasn’t the first time I’ve worked with David Cass. I’ve worked with David on another Hallmark film as well as both Gentle Ben movies. He’s a great guy. He’s a big cowboy. He makes things very simple. We know each other well, so it’s good shorthand to go to work and it’s a lot of fun.
AP: How was it working with Jean Louisa (Yes, Dear) and Mimi Kennedy (Dharma & Greg)?
DC: I have not worked with either one of them previously. Mimi Kennedy is a sweetheart, a legend. She’s fantastic. It’s fun to listen to her stories; they’re amazing. And sharing and discussing them with her was so much fun.
Jean is awesome—she’s a very talented actress. I didn’t know she was as good a singer as she is. She’s a phenomenal singer and just a very wonderful co-star. She took her character and refused to let it be a cookie-cutter character, which was very clear. She played the character very differently than I read on paper and I thought it was a wonderful choice. And I don’t want to be too specific, but she wasn’t the nagging wife.
AP: What did you take away from the filming of The Three Gifts? Did you face any hardships during the making of the movie or was it mostly a rewarding experience?
DC: It was just really beautiful and fun. We were in the desert, so we were in the middle of nowhere some of time and it was kind of hot, but no hardships, no issues.
Reginald VelJohnson was also in it. He’s also someone I’ve known for a number of years. Steven Bridgewater as well. It was a lot of good people. We had a good cast and a lot of fun. I really enjoyed every minute of it. No hardships, no bad stories, no nothin’. It’s rare to say that I guess. The whole thing took about four or five weeks.
AP: You’ve worked with some really successful stars, including Christopher Walken, Sharon Stone, Andy Garcia, and Tim Curry. Have you learned anything from working with them? How was it working with them?
DC: I loved it. I love working with different people and especially people who you have a great deal of respect for. Someone like Denzel Washington, you know, you watch what they do on set, you watch what they do to get ready, you work with them, and you’re aware of what they’re doing within a scene and you see how it gets put on the screen, and you realize just how talented someone like him is, or how talented Christopher Walken is, or how talented Andy Garcia is. You’re just like, 'Wow, these guys are very good at doing so much when so many other things are going on in a scene.'
It becomes not acting, it becomes reacting, which is really what acting is all about and I really enjoy it. You have to be ready to go, you have to bring your A-game and for me it’s a lot of fun.
But the thing that’s so amazing is that even on these hundred million dollar movies, it’s the same thing you do on a three million dollar movie. It’s just the base camp is a lot bigger. It’s just a camera and a couple of actors, and that’s the way it works. So it doesn’t matter how big the movie is or how big the movie star is, you’re still working with a camera and actors.
AP: Have you ever felt star struck working with such people?
DC: I grew up in the business and a lot of stars were always around and a lot the kids I grew up with became big stars as well. I’ve never been star struck. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of world leaders, like the American president, people like that—which was fantastic—but I’ve never been star struck. I really sort of see everyone as a human being, but I’ve really appreciated spending time with certain people and their genius or their ability to do their job. I certainly have an appreciation for that. Whether it’s a great athlete, a world leader, a fantastic actor or whatever it happens to be, star struck is really not something that happens to me.
AP: Can you tell us a little bit about your current projects?
DC: I just finished shooting so many projects it’s ridiculous, so I’m currently relaxing. I have just finished an around the world trip. I just shot these two movies, these two Christmas movies. One of them was called The Dog Who Saved Christmas, which already came out on ABC Family. It was great; it was a lot of fun. Then I did The Three Gifts, which is also a Christmas movie because I’m in a Christmas mood now. Then I shot, here in Los Angeles, a horror film called Kill Katie Malone, which should be pretty spooky, classic horror film. I don’t know exactly when it comes out. My guess would be probably just before school, September or something like that.
Then I went to Texas and shot a movie where I was a fighter. I played a fighter who actually got paralyzed, so I’m in a wheelchair for most of the movie. That was very interesting to explore that kind of character because he’s in a wheelchair yet he does everything by himself. He’s a very highly functioning guy in a wheelchair, so I thought that was pretty great.
Then I went directly from a set there to the Republic of Georgia and shot a movie which is currently untitled. Renny Harlin directed it. It is a story about the Georgian-Russian war that happened last year in August, the five-day war where Russia invaded Georgia. And we shot right in President Saakashvili’s real office; incredible stuff. That was with Andy Garcia, who plays Saakashivili, and I played an American who was a press advisor there. It was really amazing, a lot of fun and a very, very cool movie. I’m not sure when that comes out either, but I imagine September as well, somewhere in that ballpark.
And then I flew from there to Vietnam, where I shot a documentary. I work with the Starkey Foundation for children, which provides about $8 million worth of hearing aids for these kids all throughout 14 different provinces in Vietnam, who all came in and got their ears tested and had molds taken of their ears. Then the molds are taken back to Minneapolis where they were all made and brought back to Vietnam and then we implement them and that’s where I come in. I was working with them to actually install these hearing devices in these kids’ ears and watch them hear for the first time. So it was quite incredible and I got to cruise all around and see all the different sites of the Vietnam War which kind of blew my mind. They called it the American War there and as educated as I thought I was, until you’re there seeing the perspective of another nation, another people, you don’t know the whole story. So, it was really interesting to go there and be in Vietnam and listen to all of that. It was just really amazing and then to work with these children was incredible and to watch their faces as they were able to hear for the first time.
And then I flew back to Los Angeles for a minute and went and shot a movie called A Pure Country Gift, which is a movie I wrote with my father [Christopher Cain], who directed it. It’s sort of a follow-up of the original Pure Country that my dad directed and I did a lot of writing on it. And then I finished, so that’s what I’ve been doing.
And meanwhile, I’ve been coaching my son’s football team, so it’s a lot of fun.
AP: I read that you starred in a film that your dad wrote called September Dawn. How was it working with your father? Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with that?
DC: I love working with my dad. He is fantastic and he’s a great storyteller. He’s so different than myself. The way we see things is different, but we complement each other. And then I really learned about story telling from watching him work and how to handle a set. I mean, I’ve been watching him for a long time and I love working with him.
And yeah, we did September Dawn together. I did a lot of writing on that one. It was great. We don’t argue or anything on set. He’s a director, I’m an actor, and we do our job.
AP: Do you prefer working in television or movies?
DC: I don’t prefer one over the other. TV is great because you get to spend more time with your character. It becomes a good routine. And you really get to do a lot of different things, so that’s a lot of fun. But movies are fantastic because you come in for a limited amount of time, you live it, you do it. I like doing both. I’m wide open to both.
If I find the right series, I might go back to series television. I’ve been very careful not to do that because of my son and I want to be a present father, so my choice has been to be around him more. I did all that work that I said and I missed two football games and three practices, and that’s it over that period of time and it’s because I was on the other side of the world. I didn’t have to miss much and I don’t like to miss much. Sometimes, because of your schedule when you work on a television show, you’re never around. I get to spend so much time with my son and I think that’s so valuable. It’s so valuable for him and it’s extremely valuable for me because it makes my life worth living. If I were to be working all the time, I would not be able to have the quality of life that I want with my family and son.
AP: How do you balance all of it from your work to your son, Christopher?
DC: It’s a battle. Sometimes I say no. Sometimes I don’t go do things. Or if I do something, I do it very quickly and get out of there. It really depends. It’s very case specific. I look for jobs that will be quick or jobs that will be in a certain area or jobs that I will be able to go back and forth or jobs that I can negotiate where I can go back and forth. There are a lot of things I’ll do, so sometimes it works out real well.
Sometimes I’ll kill the deal. My priorities are clear. It’s family and my life first, and then my work. So even if I want to do a particular bit of work, if it really affects my family or my lifestyle with my son too much, I’ll say no. It’s always a balance. Every project you have to make the same choices.
You have to decide is it worth doing this: am I going to do this or am I not? And that just becomes a battle. But my priorities are straight and I tend to make the right decisions.
AP: Do you take your son on set with you?
DC: All the time, which is what makes it so much fun. He’s visited me on sets everywhere from Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Sacramento, Florida, and Spain. He’ll go on a lot of trips.
Now that he’s in school—he’s 9 years old now—I don’t pull him out of school very often for things like that, but he does visit. I didn’t take him to Vietnam or Africa or places like that because a) he was in school and b) sometimes those trips are long and I was working with difficult subject matter on a couple of those trips. And those are places that I wouldn’t take him.
His mother lives out here in Los Angeles and when I’m gone for a few weeks it’s better for him to stay with his mom. There’ll be a time when he’s old enough and he can take some of these trips with me, but I think he’s a little young for some of these trips. I can take him but, again, it’s a case-by-case basis.
AP: Would you ever let your son pursue acting?
DC: Sure. I’ll let him do whatever he wants. Any pursuit that he has a passion for that he feels like it’s something he wants to do, then absolutely. Right now, he tells me he wants to be a professional football player like his dad was, or a solider. Both have my full support. If he decides he wants to be a mechanic, he’s got my full support as well. Whatever he decides he wants to do, I want him to do. I want him to pursue it. I want him to be passionate about it. I want him to be happy and then I will be very fulfilled as a dad. I don’t particularly care what he chooses as long as it’s something he chooses that he takes great respect in. If he’s a school custodian, fantastic. Do the best job possible. Take pride in your work and I’m happy as a clam.
AP: Are movies something you’ve always wanted to do since you were younger? I read that you were initially a free agent in the NFL. How did you get into acting?
DC: Injury (laughs) and the inability to play in the NFL anymore. That’s part of it. Also, I grew up around the business, so I was very aware of what was going on in it. Many of my friends got into that business as well and I couldn’t really picture myself, the way I grew up on sets, going around from place to place. It’s a wonderful lifestyle and to be involved in this business it is a fantastic lifestyle. It’s pretty addicting, and it’s pretty wonderful having grown up that way.
Even though I went to Princeton and a lot of my friends became investment bankers and things of that nature, I really couldn’t see myself working that way. I almost went to business school; I did think about that that. I just couldn’t live like that, I didn’t want that for my job. But then I thought, 'You know what, forget it, I’ll go into acting.'
This filmmaking world—I might as well dive into a project and have that be my focus. So it was a natural progression really after I got injured playing football, I ended up right here in Hollywood ... Hollyweird.
AP: Would you say that your dad had the most inspiration on you then on your professional life?
DC: Not in a direct way. He didn’t tell me to be an actor, that’s for sure. He told me don’t become an actor. He did, really.
But, he has affected me by me being around him, seeing him, and finding it intoxicating and wonderful. He never pushed me in any way shape or form towards going into the business. He had a tremendous influence on me because it was the things I was exposed to.
My parents wanted me to go to school here in California for college. They were supportive. I wanted to go back East to Princeton. They were like, 'We really hate that you’re going that far away but we’ll be there for you,' and they were. My dad didn’t tell me to go into this business, but because of my exposure to the business he had a great influence on me.
AP: You’ve been part of so many projects, is there one that you are most proud of?
DC: There’s a number of them that I have a wonderful affinity for, including Out of Time and The Broken Heart’s Club and I’m really excited to see this Georgia project. There are so many and they’re so different.
Ones that I can watch with my son, I enjoy. There was the one that just came out, The Dog Who Saved Christmas, which was cute. There are some projects where I look at and I say that’s a good project. If somebody asks me, I say that’s a good one or that one wasn’t very good, but that’s just the way it is, but I don’t want to identify too many one way or the other.
AP: Where do you get your inspiration from?
DC: I just enjoy what I do. I enjoy the process of filmmaking. I really enjoy the end result. I love watching movies, I love storytelling. I love being a part of it. It’s a pretty inspiring business. It takes up so much of your time, so much of your thinking that you better be inspired by it, you better be in love with this business or you won’t last very long.
AP: Do you have any future goals or anything upcoming plans in terms of your career/movies?
DC: Yeah, there are a lot of things. There’s one thing—well, I don’t want to tell you too much about that which hasn’t happened yet—but I’m looking to possibly direct my first feature. There’s a project that I’m sitting down to read here now that could be a heck of a project. And in the future, I think I’d like to direct a couple of films and there’s one that I may want to do finally now.
Directing is a whole different level, it takes a whole lot of time—a lot more time before, during, and after—so it’s got to be a project that you really believe in and you really enjoy. I think I might have found one.
And I just want to keep doing movies and television shows. I just want to keep working.
The Three Gifts premieres Saturday, Dec. 19, at 8 p.m./7 central, on Hallmark Channel.