By SALLY KLINE
Journal Movie Reviewer
MANY DRAMATIC virtuosos have launched their careers playing Shakespeare. Sir Laurence Olivier. Sir John Gielgud. Greg Kinnear.
Greg Kinnear?
Oh, yes.
Before he wisecracked his way onto network television, proceeding as host of the E! Channel's "Talk Soup" to NBC's post-Conan O'Brien interview program "Later with Greg Kinnear."
Before he got the break of a lifetime, to make his feature film debut opposite Hollywood potentate Harrison Ford in the romantic comedy remake "Sabrina," premiering next Friday.
Before all that, the 32-year-old Kinnear will tell you, he had an even more auspicious debut right in our area, in Reston.
"I was going to elementary school, Lake Anne Elementary. That was actually my first performing experience in sixth grade, in Mrs. Cummings' class. I was in a production of 'Julius Caesar,' where I got to be the guy who gets tossed out and says, 'Beware the Ides of March.' That was my only line."
His father was with the State Department, soon to be transferred on trade development assignments to Lebanon and then Athens. Though Kinnear only lived here from ages 9 to 12, he has vivid memories, especially about the outdoor adventures he had with his two older brothers. "There were a lot of woods . . . (and) I enjoyed fishing there. Lake Anne. Blue Gill."
But now the fair-haired sport has bigger ponds to plumb.
In "Sabrina," he takes on the role William Holden made famous in the 1954 original. Kinnear portrays the playboy scion in an old money Long Island family, living off the business acumen of super-serious older brother Linus -- Ford as the Humphrey Bogart character. With different intentions at first, the siblings take an interest in the same girl, the chauffeur's beautiful daughter Sabrina, with "Legends of the Fall" ingenue Julia Ormond trying to fill Audrey Hepburn's shoes.
Surprising the incredulous entertainment industry, it is the delightful performance by Kinnear -- the least known light in this stellar love triangle -- that is garnering the film's Big Buzz.
What's it like to be the next big thing?
Submitting to his first media blitz, rotating among interviews at New York's Essex House last month, the part-preppy, part-Beverly Hills-looking comedian answers, "I'm very leery of show business, having been in Los Angeles for the last 10 years. Buzz is a dangerous thing that I've heard applied to a lot of people that I've since not heard of again. So I run from, I fear and cower around words like 'buzz.' It makes me nervous whenever I read that sort of speculation."
One fan he doesn't have to worry about is his co-star, Harrison Ford. Ford is an expert observer of what moviegoers want, having racked up more than $2 billion at the box office during a 20-year career.
While "goofing around" together on the set, Ford became "delighted by what (Greg) brought to the film." Ford describes the relatively inexperienced actor as "very sweet and charming. He's got really good comedy chops."
The fact that Kinnear had only acted a bit prior to his talk show stints -- with small parts in the 1980s' TV movie "Murder in Mississippi" and series "Life Goes On" -- doesn't matter, says Ford.
"In his case, apparently, it's not very important at all. Because he did just fine from the very first day. He had capacities it took me 15 years to develop," adding, "He's quite annoying that way."
"He's egregiously too good-looking to have all that talent," Ford confides. Read back what megastar Ford just said about him, and the self-deprecating Kinnear shifts into jokester mode.
"Well, I deferred my paycheck to Harrison in order for him to spread this wonderful disinformation," Kinnear deadpans. "I am happy that he is following through on his part of the agreement and subsequently will not have to pursue the legal ramifications had he not done so."
"Very funny." Julia Ormond notes his sense of humor first and foremost when asked about Greg Kinnear. "He's one of those people who just looks at life through a different -- he has a different sense of life. He's very entertaining, but it's smart. And what I love about it is that it's never at anyone's expense. Nobody else gets hurt by it."
Kinnear didn't discover his funny bones until later in life. He recalls, "I was just a quiet kid, really. I wasn't the class clown at all."
Upon graduating from college in Arizona a decade ago, he went west to Tinseltown with intentions of working in showbiz behind the camera. "I never had that great answer to what I was gonna do career-wise. I just sort of came out after school and got mixed up in a show on a cable channel (the now-defunct Movietime). And that led to one thing and that lead to another."
"The best experience for me work-wise for the first time was (when) I got 'Talk Soup' over at the E! Channel. . . . Suddenly all of these opportunities were available . . ."
Kinnear was ahead of his time on "Talk Soup," which he left last year. He was ridiculing the daytime talk shows long before William Bennett and other politicos started moaning recently about how such shows are destroying our culture.
"Talk Soup" 's format had Kinnear quipping and eye-rolling over the most garish clips from Ricki, Maury and the other purveyors of sleaze.
Commenting on the current tide against these programs, Kinnear says, "I think that a lot of these talk shows certainly cross the line of taste and decency and what might be appropriate to throw on the air. But everybody knew my position on that who knew 'Talk Soup' four years ago. I never tried to hide the fact that I thought some of this stuff was foul . . . but a lot of it is just in good fun and no harm is done."
So, are you going to go on Sally Jesse or Montel to promote "Sabrina?"
Kinnear breaths hard, fakes choking and panic, "Am I? Where the hell is that contract?! Have you seen those daytime talk shows? If they want to start talking to me, I'm in big trouble."
With "Later," his current regular gig, Kinnear took over the Bob Costas spot on the NBC late night schedule to become a more conventional host-interviewer.
It was completely out of the blue that director Sydney Pollack, the veteran filmmaker behind gems like "Tootsie" and "The Way We Were," called Kinnear in to read for "Sabrina." Pollack's casting people noticed Greg on television, thinking he had the right mix of irreverence and likability to play the part of the sympathetic ne'er-do-well David Larrabee.
Kinnear won't define the direction of his professional path, whether it leads more toward broadcasting or feature-film acting. It would be unfortunate, though, if he blew the movie opportunity every wannabe in Hollywood would kill for.
"But I'm in a good situation here because I've got the best of both worlds," Kinnear says. He loves doing "Later." "I like the live audience. It feels like theater. It's a completely different kind of energy than the filmmaking experience and I would welcome the option in the near future to explore both."
With the network's cooperation, Kinnear made "Sabrina" during "Later" 's hiatus. And if he gets any more good, firm movie offers -- which he hasn't yet, he says -- he could blend them in the same way.
And where does he see himself in five years?
"Well, I'll probably be doing infomercials for Buttmaster 4."