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CNN Live Today
William H. Macy Discusses 'Door to Door'
Aired July 12, 2002 - 11:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA SEDGWICK, ACTOR: What do you have?
WILLIAM H. MACY, ACTOR: Excuse me?
SEDGWICK: Your affliction. Why do you talk like that?
MACY: Cerebral palsy.
SEDGWICK: Oh. How do you get that?
MACY: From birth. The doctor squished my head with the forceps. It's not catching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And that was William H. Macy and Kyra Sedgwick in "Door to Door." It's a made a made-for-TV drama that premieres Sunday on TNT at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. It's the true story of a man named Bill Porter, who became a champion salesman in Portland, Oregon, despite severe physical handicaps.
And William H. Macy joins us from Los Angeles to talk more about the project.
Good morning. Thanks for getting up early with us on the West Coast.
(CROSSTALK)
MACY: My pleasure. I have got a little girl, so it's easy.
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: She took care of that for us.
I have got to say -- full disclosure -- big, big fan of yours, ever since your days of "Fargo." Followed your career. So can't say I'm completely unbiased in this interview (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MACY: All right. Good.
KAGAN: Let's talk about your current project with Bill Porter. What's his story, and why were you intrigued by it?
MACY: I first met Bill Porter when they did a "20/20" piece, "20/20" the news magazine. And I wept like a baby when I saw the piece. I have never known a man with such goodwill towards everyone, such optimism for the future. And I decided that if Steven Schachter, who is my writing partner, if we could turn it into a script, we had to do it. Bill Porter was born with cerebral palsy and was deemed unemployable by the experts. And His mother said that's nonsense, what do you want to be? He wanted to be a salesman. She said well, then, you go do that.
He got a job with the Walkins Company, which is like Fuller Brush -- after Fuller Brush turned him down. And he said give me your worst route; what have you got to lose?
They gave him the job, and 10 or 12 years later, he was their champion door-to-door salesman. He outsold every able-bodied man and woman in the company.
KAGAN: You mention your co-writer. We should point out that you don't just star in this movie, but you also co-wrote it. And, with your partner, decided to tell the story through the customers, through Bill Porter's customers, instead of through Bill Porter's eyes.
MACY: When you do a story, when you write a script about a real guy, you don't want it make up a bunch of stuff about his life. We wanted to be truthful about the high points of his life, even though they were fictionalized. And the story broke open when we realized, let's write about his customers and the effect that he had on them.
And then we were able to pull a third act, a sort of a climax, without making up a lot of stuff.
KAGAN: So you met him too. You met with him on a number of occasions?
MACY: When we had pretty much finished the first draft, we flew up to Portland and met with Bill and Shelly Brady, who is his long- time assistant and partner and dear friend. And we talked through the way we were going to tell the story, and got their blessings, and I decided at time that I wanted to imitate Bill. I love the way the guy looks. There is something about him that is so appealing. So with his indulgence, I imitated him. I sent his picture to all of the makeup people and said I want it look like him.
KAGAN: So we're talking like five hours a day in the makeup chair for you.
MACY: Best day I had was about three hours. The worst day, when I had to do three different ages, we chronicled Bill from his 20s to his 70s. I was over six hours in the chair.
KAGAN: Wow!
MACY: And you are talking to an actor who can sit in the makeup chair for about three minutes before I start to get squirrely. KAGAN: So that was your big challenge in taking on this role.
I want to know a little bit more about Bill Porter. He seems to me like a pretty down-to-earth guy who wouldn't be into all this Hollywood glitz and glamour and all this fuss being made about him. What's been his reaction to having the story on television about him that has led to this television movie?
MACY: By the time we got to him, I think he had accepted or was resigned to, I'm not sure, that the fact that he was a celebrity. When "The Oregonian" first wanted to do a story about him, he declined, he said, I'm not famous, I'm not heroic, I'm not special -- write about someone who's special. I think he has since realized that his story moves people and helps people. And in all candor, I think Bill saw a selling opportunity. He is a lot of things, but he is absolutely a salesman.
At the end of our film, there is a Web site for Bill Porter, and there isn't a person watching who doesn't need some laundry detergent or the full-strength vanilla extract. So long on and buy something.
KAGAN: So at the end of the day, it's all about making the sale for Bill Porter.
MACY: It is, yes.
KAGAN: A lot of salespeople out there can appreciate this.
I just quickly want to mention to you, this is a family affair: Your wife has a role in the movie too.
Felicity Huffman, my wife, does a small role. We have got an astounding cast in the thing. It's just one of those projects that was charmed from the minute it started. I don't know, it took on a life of its own.
KAGAN: Well, very good. I know exactly the story you are talking about that was on "20/20." I remember seeing that and being so touched by it too. And when I saw the introduction for this movie, I go, That's the guy I saw on "20/20."
(CROSSTALK)
So I look forward to seeing the movie. It -- once again, it premieres this Sunday on TNT, our sister station here at CNN.
William H. Macy, good luck with the movie, and the career, which is doing just fine, I might add.
MACY: Thank you so much.
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate it.
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