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
Your career would have been sunk before it even began!
Yeah (laughs). He had 10 kids, his dad. And I think that he had a working-class ethic. His father was very proud to be in America, and wanted to make it in America, which was instilled in my father, and I think he wanted to be a provider for us but, as fate would have it, those things didn’t happen because him and my mother divorced when I was nine.
Was that traumatic for you?
Obviously, everyone knows that when that happens, and when families get ripped apart, it is a breeding ground for unhappiness, but I was always proud of my father, and I still am. I think he was a great man and a hero to me and he did the best he could. And I did the best I could. No-one gave me nothing, and I didn’t expect it. That’s the difference between now with my kids. They kind of expect it, but I didn’t have that choice. I’m grateful for not having that choice because I was working in a car wash when I was 14. I was selling Christmas trees in a Christmas tree lot. My childhood was... complicated.
Was your family religious?
My father was Catholic, Catholic orientated. I was aware of religion. I do believe in God, I do believe in whatever that is. There has to be something. I know it’s interpreted in many different ways and many different cultures and countries. I’m not really a big fan of organised religion. I remember being in church and singing hymns, or standing with people who were singing. I like to go into churches in different countries because they’re majestic places, but I’m not for going in there and listening to sermons. People tend to have an agenda.
How were you at school?
Ha! (laughs). A disaster! I kinda got the feeling early on that I was being lied to.
How do you mean?
I was pretty sure that they were lying about the Indians, and the fact that they were all massacred and their land was taken from them and yet, you know, the American West is fable-ised by cowboys and the savage Indians, when actually in reality, they were only trying to protect themselves and their families. I didn’t appreciate that. Also I didn’t like the fact that there were subjects that you’re forced to study that don’t have any relevance in your life, and are never going to have. I didn’t like to be forced to learn certain things that I didn’t think were going to be valuable to me.
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