Indies keep Macy happy

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William H. Macy says he can easily divide his career choices into two categories: "You do some for money and some for other reasons."

Mr. Macy is one of those rare actors better known for his roles in the latter category. He received an Oscar nomination for his turn in the Coen brothers' quirky film "Fargo." He went off the deep end in Paul Thomas Anderson's chronicle of the porn industry, "Boogie Nights." And he has made frequent appearances in films written and directed by playwright David Mamet, including "House of Games" and "Oleanna."

There can be benefits to taking a pay cut for art, though. In "Bobby," the Emilio Estevez film made for just $10 million that opened in theaters last week, Mr. Macy plays the manager of the hotel where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is shot. His character's wife is played by Sharon Stone, and his mistress is played by Heather Graham.

That must have been fun.

"What do you think?" he jokingly asked at the Toronto Film Festival in September. "I spent the whole day with Heather Graham, and she was in her underwear. She looks really good in her underwear."

"Bobby" imagines the lives of the busy hotel workers preparing for the arrival of the presidential candidate on June 4, 1968. The issues the civil rights activist cared about are reflected in the film's fictional story lines -- a racist kitchen manager oversees Hispanic help, a teenager is marrying a friend to help him avoid the draft and the Vietnam War.

"What Emilio tried to do is give us a snapshot of where America was in 1968," said Mr. Macy, who fell in love with the script's fictionalized version of events. "It's genius. The only way to do it. Otherwise it's a biopic. It would have been kind of seamy. And unseemly."

America has seen marked changes in the intervening 38 years. "Bobby" is no less apposite for that, Mr. Macy believes.

"It's horrifying, but here we are in another stupid war. Another stupid war based on lies and deception, foisted on us by our leaders," the actor remarked. "I wish it weren't so relevant."

RFK is a liberal icon, but Mr. Macy hopes "Bobby" will reach audiences of all political stripes.