Local Actor Talks About Role in HBO's 'Too Big to Fail'

What does a man do after retiring from 24 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and as the public relations director at several corporations, including McDonald's? Give professional acting a shot of course.

Well, that and write a historical novel (Snake Rolling in Hot) about his time as a pilot during the Vietnam War. You know, nothing major.

Park Ridge resident and Oakton Community College student Bud Jones has been acting in commercials, theater productions and playing small roles in films since the early 1980s. He has appeared in The Blues Brothers, A League of Their Own and Batman Begins, to name a few.

Next up is a role as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in the new HBO film Too Big to Fail, starring Paul Giamatti, William Hurt, James Woods and Bill Pullman, about the 2008 U.S. budget crisis, which premieres May 23 at 8 p.m. CST.

Patch sat down with Jones early last week to chat about the upcoming film and hear some dirt about a few stars.

Patch: So you've had a few roles in some major feature films, A League of Their Own, Public Enemies and now Too Big To Fail. What was your favorite set to work on?

Bud Jones: A League of Their Own. I mean Wrigley Field, Tom Hanks...growing up on the North Side of Chicago I'm a Cubs fan, and I’m in there going, "Oh Wow! I’m getting paid to do this?” And Tom Hanks couldn't have been more of a doll. What a nice guy. Everyone walked around on egg shells in front of Madonna.

Funny story about Madonna, my sister, Kelly, who was a real character [she passed away from cancer in 2008] worked as a prop master on the film and Madonna would walk around the set with some gal following her around holding an umbrella to shield her from the sun. One day the girl had to run an errand as my sister was walking by and Madonna stopped her and said, "Honey, would you hold this umbrella?" And my sister pretty much said, "Umbrella this, Madonna." My sister became famous on that set overnight.

Patch: Any other stories about actors you'd care to share?

Jones: I had heard that Johnny Depp was a prima donna and that couldn’t be further from the truth. What a neat guy! We were shooting a scene [for Public Enemies]...we were on that set for 12 hours for what would be maybe three minutes of film and Johnny Depp was with us the entire time and he had maybe four lines and he never complained, was never a jerk, like "God, what are we doing here?" He’d sit down and talk with us. That was an interesting shoot because of what I'd heard about him and he was just wonderful.

Patch: What part of Public Enemies are you in?

Jones: We're at a bookie joint. I'm the first face you'll see in the scene, Depp walks in with some henchmen and I ask him "What are you doing here?" or something.

Patch: So you were in the U.S. Marine Corps for 24 years as a pilot and then worked in marketing and public relations for The American Cancer Society and McDonald's Corp. How did you get into acting in the first place?

Jones: Even in high school I was always in plays. I grew up in Chicago; I went to Nicholas Senn High School. I was a real Chicago kid. When I was in college and even the Marine Corps, I still did theater. I’ve always dabbled, and later on in my career I started having more of a desire. So I started looking for different groups to perform with and the more I performed; the more I was around people who were working and I was curious as to how they did that and they told me to get an agent. Now I have three.

Patch: You credit your acting classes at Oakton Community College here in Des Plaines as a major role in your getting more work recently. 

Jones: I've been taking acting courses at Oakton for two years and I've learned more there than I ever learned in the business. I learned to push myself. I learned how to do serious roles. I learned how to work with scripts and I learned how to memorize better. And at my age (which he won't reveal for casting purposes) it’s not easy. I can go to any audition now and I don’t give a hoot what it’s about. I have a lot of confidence and it's because of those classes. Oakton is such a jewel right here in our community.

Patch: What prompted you to go back to school?

Jones: To keep learning and keep around young people. It’s funny. I’d see kids who went to Maine South High School, who knew my son and daughter, and they’d ask, "Mr. Jones are you teaching here?" "No, I’m going to school." Once I got involved, I realized how much I didn’t know and how much technique I didn’t have. 

Patch: So let's talk about Too Big to Fail. You play Sen. Harry Reid. How did you come across the role?

Jones: I answered the phone. This gig came along on a Friday afternoon. My agent called and said we’ve got this video audition opportunity for a movie and I said, "Okay I’ll give it a shot." So I ran downtown to this little studio and they gave me this little script and said, "Read these lines, you're gonna be Harry Reid." And that was it. It took two minutes max. I went home and forgot about it. Monday morning I got a call from my agent saying, "They like you and they want you to fly down tonight."

Patch: What was your first day on the set like?

Jones: I’m on the set for the first day in wardrobe and I go to my little dressing room, knock on the door and open it up, and there’s a face looking at me that says "I’m William Hurt," as if I wouldn’t know, and he says, “I just wanted to welcome you to the set.” And it was a beautiful day so we went outside and talked for about a half an hour. What a delightful man. 

While we were chatting, he found out I was a pilot and it turns out he likes aviation. So, I wanted to talk about Hollywood and acting and technique and such, and he didn’t want to talk about any of that at all, he wanted to talk about flying, and obviously I had to defer to him. 

The first time I shot a scene I realized--this was an eye opener, there's no rehearsal, you just go--that I’m sitting at a table with Paul Giamatti and William Hurt. I look up into the eyes of Giamatti and I think, "What the hell am I doing here? I’m this guy from Park Ridge and I’m here with these two guys and James Woods."

Woods, by the way, is a stitch. He plays Nick Fuld in this, and he’s a real d*** in the movie, but off screen he was just cracking jokes continuously.

Patch: Is this your biggest role to date?

Jones: Yes, interacting with major stars. Now, I'm only in the film for about four minutes and I haven't seen it, but I’ve seen the trailers and I’ve seen myself in them so that’s good. They can’t cut my scene because it’s pivotal.

It’s where Ben Bernanke [chairman of the Federal Reserve], played by Giamatti, comes to Congress and tells us we need $700 billion by Monday or the banking system will fail. We had copies of the actual paperwork that they had that day in the scene. It’s three pages and it basically says, "You’ll give us $700 billion…no questions asked, no follow up. Give us $700 billion and shut the 'F' up."

Patch: So what's up next for you and your career?

Jones: I have an audition for a commercial today for HCR ManorCare, a retirement facility, and then Sunday for this summer's show of Suessical the Musical at the Footlighters Theatre in Des Plaines.

Patch: Well, it's been great talking with you and we can't wait to see the film. Is there anything else you'd like to add as we wrap things up?

Jones: I tell ya' I'd do all this for free. I couldn’t have written it any better myself. I’m a lucky man. I've been so blessed.