Veteran actor Alan Cumming has shared his shenanigans with some of Hollywood’s most glamourous A-listers in a deliciously candid new memoirs.
Cumming (56), a New Yorker with dual US-Scottish citizenship, spoke out about his nearly forty years in the showbiz industry in Baggage published by Canongate Books.
It Cabaret actor recounted crashing Jennifer Lopez’s 2001 wedding to Cris Judd, where he accidentally insulted the groom, and saw Martha Stewart fall off a patio into a hedge at a party with her legs sticking out like the ‘witch in the Wizard of Oz’.
The star of X Men and The Good Wife also recalled how he was not intimidated by Stanley Kubrick after the ‘formidable’ director gruffly welcomed him to the set of Eyes Wide Shut in 1999.
Cumming, who was a star in Spice World: The Movie w/ the Spice Girls, in 1997 said she felt ‘at home’. The summer was spent filming alongside the singers during the peak of their careers.
He shared an abundance of stories and personal insights about Liza Minelli (showbiz legend), Sean Connery (American Horror Story’s Supreme) and Jessica Lange (American Horror Story’s Supreme).
STANDING UP TO STANLEY KUBRICK ON THE SET OF EYES WIDE SHUT
He played the role of a clerk at a hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Tom Cruise was pictured with him and he stood his ground against Cruise’s “gruff” behavior.
Alan describes in his book how he didn’t hesitate to impress people. One of these was the Shining’s director.
Stanley Kubrick’s collaboration would have been the most memorable moment in many actors’ careers. But, as an actor just 30 years old with only a minor role in Eyes Wide Shut Alan decided that he was not going to be intimidated by the director after he received him on-set.
Stanley Kubrick immediately reacted to Alan’s introduction by saying “you are not American” and insisting that Alan sound American when he auditioned for the role.
‘I had heard tales of Stanley being formidable and demanding, so I was slightly on guard already,’ the actor wrote in his memoirs.
‘Something in me snapped, or maybe I just took an objective look at the situation—I had been waiting for months to shoot this scene after auditioning for it many times, on several continents.
‘F**** you, old man, I thought to myself. The tapes confirmed that I was American.
‘But I actually said, “Yeah, that’s because I’m an actor, Stanley”.’
Alan said that this was the moment when he established a strong relationship with Kubrick and that he respected his efforts.
The movie featured Alan as a clerk at a hotel being interrogated by Tom Cruise.
‘The clerk is incredibly flirty, and I remember voicing my worry to Stanley that perhaps I’d gone a little too far in how enamoured I was and how full-on my seduction seemed (and remember, that was me saying this). Stanley wouldn’t have it,” he said.
‘”No!” he encouraged me. “Keep going! It can go up another notch”,’ he added.
ROMY & MICHELE’S HIGH SCHOL REUNION & SPICE WORLD – THE MOVIE
Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow are pictured on the Romy and Michele High School Reunion Set.
Alan shows the Spice Girls’ messages on his torso, after they had finished shooting Spice World: The Movie In 1997
Alan appeared in many films starring women, such as Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. There he was joined by Lisa Kudrow.
In 1997 Spice Girls film Spice World, he starred as Piers after Geri Haliwell who saw him play Hamlet several years prior insisted that he would be cast.
‘So, that summer running around London, laughing, and frolicking with five girls who were at the very zenith of their pop princess potency, being taught the dance moves of the Spice Girls’ songs by the Spice Girls themselves, was golden for me,’ he wrote.
“I felt comfortable, at home and happy. I didn’t have to worry about anything. Every day was an adventure, and anything seemed possible, and that’s how I want all my life to be,’ he added.
Alan shared that the Spice Girls sent him a series of cards after filming was finished. He took pictures of each one and kept them in his bedroom.
In her message, Emma Bunton said that he was named ‘Special Spice Boy’ by Emma Bunton.
BETTING A TONY IN CABARET, AND LEARNING FROM LIZA MINEELLI THE TICKS
Alan Cumming (56), opened up to his Hollywood career and the fun encounters he had with celebrities in Baggage, his memoirs. Liza Minelli and Alan Cumming in New York, 2013.
Alan discussed in detail his experience as a Cabaret star in New York in the 1990s, when celebrities like Lauren Bacall and Whoopi Goldberg lavished compliments on him every night.
He said that every night was like a surreal showbiz nightmare.
He became the Emcee of the show, which led to a close friendship with Liza Minelli (who played Sally Bowles) in the film version.
Natasha Richardson (who played Sally) asked Richardson to ask him to bring Liza to the stage as a tribute.
Because he was afraid Liza would love being in the spotlight, he admitted that bringing Liza onto the stage made him anxious.
“The entire scene was like an honest and wonderful dream. Tasha gave a touching speech about how nervous she was performing before Liza’s eyes,’ he said.
After playing in Cabaret’s late 1990s Emcee, the actor was awarded a Tony Award as Best Leading Actor in a Musical. Pictured with Best Leading Actress In A Play Marie Mullen, Best Leading Actress In A Musical Natasha Richardson And Best Leading Actor In A Play Anthony Lapaglia in 1998
‘“Alan, I want to be your friend forever,” Liza trilled as she entered my room shortly after,’ Alan recounted.
‘Meeting her was utterly exciting, of course, but it didn’t come with the anxiety and breathlessness of so many of my postshow experiences.
“Somehow I believed Liza would be able to understand me. She probably did her own version crying in the bathroom, much like what she did under the bridge at the end. He added that there wasn’t much to talk about beyond the contact on the stairs.
Liza and Alan were together in a TV special, performing New York, New York.
Actor Liza revealed to him that he and Broadway star Chita Rivera attempted to teach him a difficult dance move.
“Now all chances of me ever getting that move completely vanished as I fully understood that Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera and others were trying to show me how to do it in my sleep.
‘I wobbled feebly on, pointed up, Liza and Chita actually taking my various limbs and trying to sculpt my body into recognition.
‘Eventually, when they could see their efforts were futile, Liza said, “Oh, darling, just make it your own!”
The actor also said that meeting Sean Connery following a Cabaret performance was a comfort and an honor, and a destiny’.
‘But he was wearing a white cardigan, and all I remember thinking as we went in for the hug was that I was going to smear great wads of my still very present makeup all over the King of Scotland’s virginal apparel. He didn’t mind, however,’ he wrote.
RAUNCHY JOKES & JESSICA LANE
Cumming was opposite Jessica Lange in Titus. In their jokes about gravity taking the best of their bodies, Cumming would laugh at Jessica Lange. Pictured in 2009
Alan also talked about the raunchy jokes that he shared with Jessica Lange (American Horror Story) on Titus’ 1997 set.
The pair joked about how time can affect their appearances, Lange being particularly concerned about Lange’s breasts getting saggy as she gets older.
The actors were forced to shoot a scene in which Alan was holding Lange’s breast.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jess,’ Alan remembered saying. You have fantastic boobs.”
‘“Oh, honey,” she purred. “If your hand wasn’t there that thing would be halfway round my back”,’ he continued.
CRASHING JLO’S 2001 WEDDING TO CRIS JUDD IN ITALY
Alan spoke out about how he was unable to attend Jennifer Lopez’s second marriage after he went out with friends in Milan.
The actor and his friend Glenda Bailey, the former editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, arrived in the Italian city for fashion week.
They were invited to Versace’s runway and to Donatella Versace’s afterparty by Lake Como.
The star actor in numerous Hollywood productions including Spy Kids and GoldenEye. He then realized that he was actually crashing JLo’s nuptials.
Alan Cumming published Baggage: Tales From a Fully Packed Life, pictured, with Canongate Books
Donatella and her staff set up a table, with white cakes on it. They then took people’s beverages away to make room for champagne flutes.
‘“Oh my God,” I whispered to Glenda. “We’re at JLo’s wedding reception!”,’ Alan recalled. ‘And indeed, as the happy couple began to cut the cake, we were encouraged to raise our glasses in a toast, and Donatella shouted, “To Jenneefer and Crees!”.
It was awkward that JLO came to Alan’s aid.
‘“Oh wow, JLo’s coming this way,” I warned my group. “Oh wow, she’s coming straight towards us,” I said. Then, “Holy s***, she is actually coming right over here…”,’ the actor recounted saying.
The singer approached Alan and she replied, “Oh, gosh Jennifer, how are you?” It was so strange that I didn’t know you.
JLo also had to remind Alan that they were both on SNL together.
Alan said he wanted to be a better person by complimenting her on her latest video “Ain’t It Funny.”
Jennifer, touched by all the attention, asked Alan for permission to tell her about his new husband. He had directed the video.
Alan obeyed Cris Judd’s request and told him that he liked the washing machine in the video.
He found out that JLo had made a comment about JLo’s wrong video years later.
He wrote in his memoirs: ‘It is only now, twenty years later, having done some online research in order to remember which particular J-Lo song it was I liked all those years ago, that I have discovered the video I described in such glowing detail to the groom was not in fact the one he directed at all.
‘I now know Cris directed the “Ain’t It Funny” remix that also featured Ja Rule and Cadillac Tah and contained not even a hint of a washing line.
‘An easy mistake to make perhaps, but nonetheless, no doubt a doubly bitter pill for Cris to swallow considering I was congratulating him, at his wife’s behest, for something he had not only not done, but which was actually the work of the legendary photographer Herb Ritts,’ he said.
1995 GOLDENEYE PREMIERE & BEFRIENDING TINA CONNER
He played Boris Grishenko, the antagonist in James Bond’s 1995 movie GoldenEye.
In an interview, the actor recounted his dilemma when he needed to choose whether to bow in front the Prince of Wales during the premier of GoldenEye in 1995.
‘Bowing, actually making myself lower and subservient to someone else, and then literally placing them on a pedestal by referring to them as “highness” is just never going to be part of my human engagement lexicon,’ he said.
The actor stood beside Dame Judi dench and said that he would not bow. He also asked her whether she wanted to do it the same.
‘I’m a dame, I rather have to bow,’ he reported the actress as saying.
He also remembered being inspired by Tina Turner’s movie theme song.
He stated, “All that I could think was that she liked her nail varnish color.”
The singer claimed that he showed him his toes. I’ve got golden toes and golden eyes!’
Alan said that one of the best moments was seeing his mother talking to Judi Dench, Tina Turner and others during the party.
WITNESSING MARTHASTEWART’S FALL AT A TABLE
The actor (pictured) reflects on his professional success and admits that he crashed JLO’s 2001 wedding.
Additionally, he remembered a funny moment in which Martha Stewart fell at a party that was at its peak during a drunken night.
‘Just then Martha—perhaps in an attempt to make a little more room on the already crowded patio edge—took a step backward, lost her footing, and suddenly disappeared from view,’ he said.
‘There was a gasp from the crowd as I strained on my tiptoes over the man in front of me to see Martha’s legs sticking up from behind the miniature hedge like the witch in The Wizard of Oz.
Then her legs pedaled as she tried unsuccessfully to stand up. However, almost instantly, a bunch of damage control professionals rushed to Martha and corrected the situation. Martha went on to live a happy life, without ever seeing another soul that night.
“A flash of amazement rippled throughout the crowd. “Did that actually just happen?” one of my table mates gasped as she turned to me, openmouthed,’ he wrote.
These celebrity anecdotes can be found in Baggage: Tales From the Fully Packed Lifestyle, published at Canongate Books