Bruce Dern is celebrating 60 years as an actor, having made his Broadway debut in the 1958 “Shadow of a Gunman” while studying with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan. This year, his film work includes playing two real-life characters: Joseph Kennedy in “Chappaquiddick” and Roman Wershe in Studio 8’s “White Boy Rick.” The latter film, about a 14-year-old who was arrested in 1980s Detroit, opens Sept. 14.
What drew you to “White Boy Rick”?
It’s real. I play the grandfather of the young boy, Rick Wershe Jr. He had to take a package across town and police busted him. He was just released this year after 29 years. He was 14 [when he was imprisoned], so to lighten his sentence, they made him an informer. Wershe was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The movie shows that “It ain’t fair.” My whole life is about trying to be fair. My aunt married Herbert F.
What drew you to “White Boy Rick”?
It’s real. I play the grandfather of the young boy, Rick Wershe Jr. He had to take a package across town and police busted him. He was just released this year after 29 years. He was 14 [when he was imprisoned], so to lighten his sentence, they made him an informer. Wershe was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The movie shows that “It ain’t fair.” My whole life is about trying to be fair. My aunt married Herbert F.
- 9/13/2018
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
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