Three more photos are included in this article and can be found at Vini's Shrine.

GROOM AT THE TOP

Say the name Dermot Mulroney to the average moviegoer and they'll usually say something like, "Oh, I love him," or "Great actor," or they might simply drool. This initial reaction will likely give way to much head-scratching and a request to assure them that they're thinking of the right guy. "He was Holly Hunter's partner that got shot in Copycat, right?" they might say. "Not that other Dermot guy who's on that lawyer show now, right?" It's a tune Mulroney's heard before, one that might be called "Blame it on the Name."

"It's been baffling to people for decades now," laughs the actor, over coffee at a sidewalk cafe near his Los Angeles home. "When I was a kid, they called me Kermit, Hermit. Once they hit Spermit, I thought that was it. I coult have it changed to Kit."

"Hello, Dermot," says a passerby Dermot introduces as Larry. Larry lives a few doors down from Dermot and his wife of nearly seven years, Walking and Talking actress Catherine Keener, and has the name thing down, though it wasn't always so.

"He thought I was Milton until I corrected him," Dermot says when Larry disappears inside.

"I got a glimpse of you the night of the Oscars," says Larry upon his return. "They were doing a promo for something."

That something is this summer's most touted romantic comedy, My Best Friend's Wedding. In the film, director P.J. Hogan's follow-up to Muriel's Wedding, Mulroney finds himself torn between two lovers: his bride-to-be, Cameron Diaz, and the best friend he promised to marry if they were both single at 28, Julia Roberts.

Larry says he's looking forward to seeing the whole film, then starts to walk away.

"Say hello to Barbara," he says.

"Will do," replies the Artist Formerly Known as Milton as he watches his neighbor disappear around a corner. "He thinks my wife's name is Barbara. I made sure I corrected him on my name but I've left hers as Barbara. It's hilarious, man."

Dennis Hensley: I understand you've just seen My Best Friend's Wedding for the first time. Any surprises?
Dermot Mulroney: There're moments in practically every scene that are surprising. It's really the only place to see it from the back, you know, the heel of your shoe. You can't get that shot in a mirror.
Dennis: You're like, "Wow, I should buy a Buttmaster."
Dermot: (Laughs) Well, I never thought that

Dennis: When you play a leading-man type character, like the one in this film, do you ever consciously think, OK, time to be dashing. Women have to fall in love with me?
Dermot: I didn't try to overstress the charm. If you stand there thinking about how to be dashing, you're wasting everybody's time. This role came after several other films where I play that same type of guy, and what I realized was that the more unappealing you are, the more appealing you're going to be. You can't play into the ease with which the script sort of ascribes this magnetism for you. So what was fun on this was to try and go south a little bit.

Dennis: Was this the most opulent set you've been on?
Dermot: Maybe. I was told they spent about $75,000 on white roses and $18,000 on balloons.

Dennis: You don't have to dance around to Kool and the Gang's "Celebrate," do you?
Dermot: No, Dionne Warwick's "Say a Little Prayer."

Dennis: I will. What surprised you about Julia Roberts?
Dermot: I wasn't surprised by her beauty, her talent, or her sense of humor. So what does that leave? You know, "Poor little rich girl," is the last thing I want to think about anybody. It's like, if you're doing that well, and it's a bother, well, you're being compensated. That's my mind-set. However, going through life as her would be a serious burden; just the recognizability, and the amount of work that goes into a single day, can be overwhelming.

Dennis: You don't seem to be in the tabloids much, considering how long you've been working.
Dermot: Well, there's nothing to report. We did have our share this summer, Julia and I, all of which was fiction. I cussed out one interviewer who asked about it at the junket for The Trigger Effect. I thought the best way to make the clip unusable was to be extrememly profane. But it was on the news that night.

Dennis: You don't die in Best Friend's Wedding, do you, because you seem to croak a lot in movies.
Dermot: I don't croak. I've done a little less croaking lately. In The Trigger Effect I got shot, but I survived. I thought that was a step in the right direction. But then I did Kansas City and was thoroughly disemboweled.
Dennis: What goes through your head in those scenes?
Dermot: I think about staying alive for as long as I can. Most of the characters that I've played, that have died, wouldn't want to.
Dennis: Do you get much direction on those scenes?
Dermot: Usually it's technical stuff like, "This explosive charge is going to be blowing off next to your eye." In Copycat, I don't think I did it more than four times because they had to blow up the suit and they ran out of suits.
Dennis: And there goes the balloon budget.
Dermot: See? Because we didn't have shootings in Best Friend's Wedding, we could have balloons.

Dennis: Do you tend to gravitate toward certain people on a set?
Dermot: Actors, always. On my first job, The Sin of Innocence, I couldn't believe I was working with Bill Bixby. I was like, "No shit? The Hulk!"

Dennis: Tell me about the film you just shot, Roland Joffe's Goodbye Lover.
Dermot: It's a black comedy about interpersonal relationships, cut to murderous, alcoholic, adulterous behavior. I play Patricia Arquette's husband and Don Johnson is my brother.
Dennis: You play a corporate publicist, right?
Dermot: Yes. I spent time at a P.R. company and lifted some dialogue straight from these guys, like, "We're really looking forward to making an improvement in that area," which is a smart way of saying, "Whatever, buddy."

Dennis: Do you ever come up with phony names for your movies?
Dermot: Yeah. We renamed Career Opportunities time and time again. Kieran, my brother, and I were in that together, so when we went back to reshoot it months later, it became Career Opportunities 2: The Bloodletting, then Career Opportunities 2: The Awful Truth, Career Opportunities 2: Komedy Kills.
Dennis: I've heard you like to refer to Bad Girls as Petticoat Follies.
Dermot: Yup. That's actually a James LeGros special.

Dennis: Wasn't there a big change in directors near the beginning of that film?
Dermot: Exactly, and it altered inexticably at that point. There were just so many cooks.
Dennis: Can you learn from an experience like that or are you always taking that chance when you take a job?
Dermot: Here's what I learned on Bad Girls. If you call information for the studio number, and you get the switchboard and you ask for the president, and you get his secretary, and you say who's calling - he'll take your call.
Dennis: You made a call like that?
Dermot: Yes, I did. Did he address my grievances? No. But he took the call.
Dennis: Did he use that one line on you?
Dermot: "I really look forward to addressing that issue?" Something like that. I actually did that on The Thing Called Love, too, because there was dispute about my sideburns.
Dennis: They wanted them longer?
Dermot: No, much shorter. I faxed them pictures of Vince Gill. I prefer doing things like that myself instead of having my manager call. Just call and ask for the guy.
Dennis: Do you find that some people in your position, because of all the yes-men they have around them, completely forget how to do simple tasks for themselves?
Dermot: Yes. And I think it's too bad. I think I've managed to maintain that ability to take care of shit myslf. I'm still self-employed, running my own business. Self-employed goes a long way at the jury selection, buy the way. Not that I'm opposed to doing my civic duty, I'm just a little busy.
Dennis: You're like, "I'd love to sit on this jury but I've got to make out with Cameron Diaz."
Dermot: That's right.
Dennis: Do you make out with both her and Julia in the movie?
Dermot: Yes. (Laughs) It was difficult.
Dennis: I think it's very provocative to have these two major actresses in the same movie.
Dermot: It's extrememly provocative. these are two powerhouse women. I mean, look at their lips alone. Good lord!

Dennis: The buzz for this movie is great. Do you ever get tired of hearing, "This one's going to be the one that puts you over the top"?
Dermot: I've heard it for 11 years and none of them have. I love it because it could go either way still. I remember being furious when Newsweek called me a newcomer for Young Guns and I had been acting for two years. I've been a newcomer many times since.

Dennis: Have you ever thrown a star tantrum?
Dermot: Once. I'm sure you could talki to several crews, particularly the one on Career Opportunites 2: The Spawning, and they'd have a different story. I felt like I learned a lesson from how badly I treated a wardrobe assistant on a TV film in '87, because I couldn't sleep for nights. I've since run into the woman and she has no recollection of it.

Dennis: You play cello in the Low and Sweet Orchestra, whose first album was released last year. Is it difficult to balance your film career with your obligations to the band?
Dermot: Yes, but everbody knew that going in, so it's not like I'm not being up-front.
Dennis: What's going on with the group now?
Dermot: The album's in stores. It's not the kind of album that hit KROQ and MTV didn't pick up our video, so we've sort of hit a "Now what do we do?" place. We'll probably move swiftly toward a second album.
Dennis: Do fans of your movies come to see your shows?
Dermot: People that come to see us love great music first, and maybe they've seen some movies.

Dennis: Did you get picked on for being into music in school?
Dermot: Some. Mostly because the cello takes up a whole seat on the school bus, so it would always be me and that thing.

Dennis: Besides music, what's something you're really good at that might surprise people?
Dermot: Window-glazing. I can put a window in in 20 minutes. We've had a couple of broken windows recently. Our dog went through the front window trying to get a cat.

Dennis: What's the worst job you've ever had?
Dermot: I had a window-washing service with my brother Kieran, and since our names are impossible to pronounce, we called it "Ken and Dan's Window Service" and the bid ad line on the flyer was "We use Squeegees."
Dennis: So many window washers don't and it's their downfall.
Dermot: We wanted the public to know. We were on the crest of that squeegee wave.

Dennis: What's a message that was left on your answering machine that you played over and over?
Dermot: I kept a call from Holly Hunter. She calls up at five in the morning and says, "Mulroney, it's Hunter here. There's been a homicide." We were riding with the police at the time to research Copycat. I remember a phone call with Sam Shepard. He was casting Silent Tongue and he calls and says, "So, Dermot, you wanna do my movie?"
Dennis: "But my dog just went through the window..."
Dermot: "Oh, I don't know Sam. I kind of busy glazing." that was a nice call to get.

Dennis: What's your favorite souvenir from a film set?
Dermot: I kept the hospital wristband I wore in Longtime Companion, with the fictional birthdate and the name of the hospital.

Dennis: What work are the most proud of?
Dermot: Probably Longtime Comapion and Where the Day Takes You. If that's what people know me from, the response is amazing, and that's such a reward after all this time.

Dennis: Do you have a favorite Catherine Keener movie?
Dermot: It's between Living in Oblivion and Walking and Talking, but her performance in Johnny Suede is quite touched, too.
Dennis: I recently saw Love! Valour! Compassion! and there's this one gay couple who've been together for years and one of them says, "We're role models. It's very stressful." Because your marriage seems so consistent by Hollywood standards, do you ever feel that kind of pressure?
Dermot: I think we would if we were more involved in the Hollywood social circle. We're not, so it never really comes into focus like that. Actually a friend called today to say she has met her true love and cited us as an example, so I guess it does happen.
Dennis: She's like, "I found my Catherine."
Dermot: Exactly. And I'm thrilled for her because I know what that means. But it's really flattering and at the same time it feels kind of like a farce, because I know what goes on for real, like any relationship. We're going to get each other itching powder in the fall for our seventh anniversary. Scratch now, 'cause we're going for eight, baby.

Dennis: Catherine went blond for her new movie, Box of Moonlight. Do you have a preference?
Dermot: No, but there was an adjustment period both times. When she went back to brunette it took me a week to spot her in the store because I was looking for the wrong color.
Dennis: You were looking for Barbara.
Dermot: I was looking for Barbara.