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CNN Live Today

Interview with Dean Cain

Aired February 10, 2004 - 10:49   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The trial hasn't happened yet. In fact, there isn't a jury yet, but there is already a television movie about the Scott Peterson case. and actor Dean Cain is playing the role of what the filmmakers call "The Perfect Husband." Dean Cain is joining us from Southern California.
Dean, good morning.

DEAN CAIN, ACTOR: Good morning, Daryn. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing great.

When we put your picture up, and we've kind of produced this -- I don't think you can see it where you are, but I'm sure you've seen this -- your picture and Scott Peterson, I mean, this is just freaky.

CAIN: Yes. The resemblance is uncanny and the filmmakers, and we cut my hair to look the same and match, and certainly I dressed the same, and I adopted his mannerisms, and it's a pretty close resemblance, which I think is an important thing when you're telling a story that is so current and visible that the actor look like the real person.

KAGAN: Well, let's talk about how current that is. It doesn't get much more current than this. How do you make a television movie about a trial that hasn't even happened? Is the movie making the presumption that Scott Peterson is guilty?

CAIN: No. We don't presume innocence, or guilt or anything. The story that we tell, the way we tell the story, is basically it's more the story of how a family, a wife, a family, a community, an entire country can believe that an individual is a particular type of individual and then find out that they're completely someone else. We don't deal with the guilt or innocence. We're not going to try him in this film. We're just going to tell the story based on the facts as we know them right now.

KAGAN: But when you do something like this, and I guess even just as I think the title, "The Perfect Husband" is somewhat sarcastic or ironic -- when you do something and don't portray him in a positive light, are you hurting someone's chance to get a fair trial? Is there a concern about doing that?

CAIN: Well, there could be and the filmmakers, we were very, very concerned with that, so again, we told the story as, again, based on the facts as we knew him. I played him as innocent. He portrayed himself as innocent, so that's how I played him, but his behavior was such that he did a lot of things that made you believe that he was guilty.

KAGAN: Let's talk about your career a little bit. "Superman" was, of course, a huge success for you, but are the kind of roles you're picking now, are you trying to play bad guys?

CAIN: Well, I'm not consciously making a decision to play bad guys. It's just it's been two in a row now, with the movie "Out of Time," opposite Denzel Washington, and now this. It just happens to be the projects that are landing in my lap, so to speak.

Excuse me.

As an actor, you try find interesting, complex, challenging roles, and it just turned out that the last two have been bad guys, but I'm not making a conscious decision to get away from Superman.

KAGAN: Well, I've got to tell you, that last role in "Out of Time" with Denzel Washington, you were so bad -- I don't bad as an actor -- but you were so bad, I didn't realize that was you. Someone pointed out, oh yes, Dean Cain was in that movie. And I said, well, who was he? And they pointed out your character. You kind of disappeared into the badness.

CAIN: I like that. That is a wonderful compliment to me. Because it's funny, as an actor, you get pigeon-holed, they know you as this, they know you as this and the tights and the cape, and that's it. But it's nice to change up and do something different and have that sort of -- that freedom and latitude to become someone else.

KAGAN: Only in Hollywood would a guy be thrilled to be told that he's a total creep.

CAIN: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Good luck with the movie. It's on Friday, the 13th. That's kind of spooky in itself. Where can viewers see it? 8:00 p.m.?

CAIN: 8:00 p.m. on USA Network.

KAGAN: Dean Cain. The movie is called "The Perfect Husband." Thanks for stopping by, via satellite. Appreciate it.

CAIN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 10, 2004 - 10:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The trial hasn't happened yet. In fact, there isn't a jury yet, but there is already a television movie about the Scott Peterson case. and actor Dean Cain is playing the role of what the filmmakers call "The Perfect Husband." Dean Cain is joining us from Southern California.
Dean, good morning.

DEAN CAIN, ACTOR: Good morning, Daryn. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing great.

When we put your picture up, and we've kind of produced this -- I don't think you can see it where you are, but I'm sure you've seen this -- your picture and Scott Peterson, I mean, this is just freaky.

CAIN: Yes. The resemblance is uncanny and the filmmakers, and we cut my hair to look the same and match, and certainly I dressed the same, and I adopted his mannerisms, and it's a pretty close resemblance, which I think is an important thing when you're telling a story that is so current and visible that the actor look like the real person.

KAGAN: Well, let's talk about how current that is. It doesn't get much more current than this. How do you make a television movie about a trial that hasn't even happened? Is the movie making the presumption that Scott Peterson is guilty?

CAIN: No. We don't presume innocence, or guilt or anything. The story that we tell, the way we tell the story, is basically it's more the story of how a family, a wife, a family, a community, an entire country can believe that an individual is a particular type of individual and then find out that they're completely someone else. We don't deal with the guilt or innocence. We're not going to try him in this film. We're just going to tell the story based on the facts as we know them right now.

KAGAN: But when you do something like this, and I guess even just as I think the title, "The Perfect Husband" is somewhat sarcastic or ironic -- when you do something and don't portray him in a positive light, are you hurting someone's chance to get a fair trial? Is there a concern about doing that?

CAIN: Well, there could be and the filmmakers, we were very, very concerned with that, so again, we told the story as, again, based on the facts as we knew him. I played him as innocent. He portrayed himself as innocent, so that's how I played him, but his behavior was such that he did a lot of things that made you believe that he was guilty.

KAGAN: Let's talk about your career a little bit. "Superman" was, of course, a huge success for you, but are the kind of roles you're picking now, are you trying to play bad guys?

CAIN: Well, I'm not consciously making a decision to play bad guys. It's just it's been two in a row now, with the movie "Out of Time," opposite Denzel Washington, and now this. It just happens to be the projects that are landing in my lap, so to speak.

Excuse me.

As an actor, you try find interesting, complex, challenging roles, and it just turned out that the last two have been bad guys, but I'm not making a conscious decision to get away from Superman.

KAGAN: Well, I've got to tell you, that last role in "Out of Time" with Denzel Washington, you were so bad -- I don't bad as an actor -- but you were so bad, I didn't realize that was you. Someone pointed out, oh yes, Dean Cain was in that movie. And I said, well, who was he? And they pointed out your character. You kind of disappeared into the badness.

CAIN: I like that. That is a wonderful compliment to me. Because it's funny, as an actor, you get pigeon-holed, they know you as this, they know you as this and the tights and the cape, and that's it. But it's nice to change up and do something different and have that sort of -- that freedom and latitude to become someone else.

KAGAN: Only in Hollywood would a guy be thrilled to be told that he's a total creep.

CAIN: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Good luck with the movie. It's on Friday, the 13th. That's kind of spooky in itself. Where can viewers see it? 8:00 p.m.?

CAIN: 8:00 p.m. on USA Network.

KAGAN: Dean Cain. The movie is called "The Perfect Husband." Thanks for stopping by, via satellite. Appreciate it.

CAIN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com