The movie Dennis Hopper hated at first sight: “Oh no!”
It must be pretty crushing to be a part of a film, only to watch it back and absolutely hate it. You pour so much of yourself and your time into a project that you want it to be perfect, but chances are you’ll find at least one issue with it.
Dennis Hopper couldn’t help but feel disappointed when he watched the final version of Swing Vote, a 2008 comedy based on a presidential election starring Kevin Costner as an alcoholic slacker whose vote ends up determining the outcome of an election. The movie was directed by Joshua Michael Stern, who went on to direct Jobs about the Apple founder a few years later.
Swing Vote was negatively reviewed by most critics, who failed to find the movie a suitable enough blend of satire and drama. It didn’t do too well at the box office either, grossing $17.6million against a budget of $21m.
While the movie had some big names in it, like Kelsey Grammer, Nathan Lane, and Stanley Tucci, it certainly isn’t one of the most successful movies that sits upon any of their CVs, because, I mean, you probably had no idea that the movie even exists, let alone stars Hopper, who would pass away just two years later.
It was one of the last movies Hopper starred in before his death, and it’s a shame that he wasn’t happier with it, but, to be fair, Hopper appeared in quite a large handful of movies during 2008, from Hell Ride to Palermo Shooting, so it wasn’t like his career ended on a totally bad note.
Talking to Capone about his role in the movie, he admitted that he was disappointed because many of the scenes he’d shot were eventually taken out, with him explaining, “By the way, I was very disappointed in Swing Vote when I saw it, unfortunately, even though I think it’s a charming movie, and I think Kevin is wonderful in it.”
Hopper couldn’t help but frown upon the fact that his role was heavily edited down, with the actor adding, “My part was just totally ripped out of it. I mean, I had this whole subplot where a young Mexican waitress wants me to come to her grandfather’s funeral”.
Adding, “And, I shake off the Secret Service, and I go to the funeral, ‘cause we march with Chavez together, and I give this speech in the church, and this whole thing where I come to my realization of who I am, because my character is so off, doing all these things, and so I come back with this strength.”
Sadly, “that was all taken out of the film,” leaving poor Hopper’s role as Senator Donald Greenleaf much smaller than he’d initially hoped. “So, when I saw it, I went, Oh, no!”, the actor revealed.
That’s just the way of the industry, though – scenes get cut, and characters’ arcs get rewritten and edited, and the amount of screen time you get isn’t guaranteed, even if you’re a legendary Hollywood star like Hopper.
