At first glance, it might seem that Timothy Hutton has not lived up to the promise of his meteoric beginnings, but then earning an Academy Award for your first feature perhaps could create unrealistic expectations. This son of actor Jim Hutton left high school at the age of 16, moved in with his father and began pursuing an acting career full-time, initially gaining attention for his work in TV-movies, notably the award-winning "Friendly Fire" (ABC, 1979), as the son of Ned Beatty and Carol Burnett. The following year brought the plum role of Conrad Jarrett, a youth recovering from a failed suicide attempt, in Robert Redford's directorial debut, "Ordinary People" (1980). His sensitive, nuanced performance netted him several awards, including a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, before his 20th birthday. Nearly 20 years later, the dark-haired, blue-eyed Hutton has compiled an eclectic resume of quality work, often in serious, brooding roles, that validated him as a fine performer but frequently failed to live up to box-office expectations.
Hutton has never just opted for the patently commercial, turning down the Tom Cruise role in "Risky Business" (1983) to play instead the justice-seeking son of a couple patterned after convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in Sidney Lumet's "Daniel" (1983). Often cast as the guy with a conscience, and always as a person of intellect, Hutton turned in solid performances as a rebellious cadet in a military academy ("Taps" 1981); the only scientist who regards a revived, thawed Neanderthal man as a human being, not a specimen ("Iceman" 1984); a tightly wound rich youth who sells secrets to the Soviets ("The Falcon and the Snowman" 1985); and an eager wet-behind-the-ears assistant district attorney waist-deep in police department corruption (Lumet's "Q & A" 1990). In all those movies, however, Hutton's earnestness paled next to the antics of highly volatile co-stars: Tom Cruise ("Taps"), John Lone ("Iceman"), Sean Penn ("The Falcon and the Snowman") and Nick Nolte ("Q & A").
His attempts to break out of the serious young man stereotype to which he had been consigned by Hollywood were initially ineffectual: Hutton seemed unable to transcend the brooding persona which undermined the Capraesque aspirations of "Turk 182" (1985), although he fared better with a charming change-of-pace in Alan Rudolph's romantic comedy-fantasy "Made in Heaven" (1987). He was also miscast as a regal Russian romancing Nastassja Kinski in "Torrents of Spring" (1990), Jerzy Skolimowski's stilted adaptation of an Ivan Turgenev story. By in the 90s, Hutton gave over to the kinds of projects that should have made money (e.g., "French Kiss" 1995) but still floundered commercially. His dual role (particularly the greasy Southern killer he undertook with supernatural gusto) in "The Dark Half" (filmed in 1991; released 1993), George A Romero's blood-soaked adaptation of Stephen King, opened eyes to another side of the actor.
Displaying an ease and charm in "Beautiful Girls" (1996), Hutton shone opposite the precocious teenager (Natalie Portman) with a crush on him, their scenes together providing the film's best moments. His performance mixed equal parts of lechery, responsibility and yearning, and the resultant vulnerability and wisdom he displayed enabled him to escape with his dignity, something he has managed to do throughout his career, despite his suspect bankability. Hutton followed with a turn as the son of a Holocaust survivor in "The Substance of Fire" (1996), but the power of the Jon Robin Baitz play did not survive its translation to the screen. He clearly relished the opportunity to delve into an evil guise, portraying the blond-haired wheeler-dealer Raymond Blossom, who offers a decertified physician (David Duchovny) a Faustian bargain in the noirish drama "Playing God" (1997). While many felt the attempt was unsubtle and obvious, others found it on the mark. The small screen has offered the actor better opportunities, especially two Showtime movies, "Mr. and Mrs. Loving" (1996), as half of an interracial couple fighting Virginia's miscegenation laws in the 1960s, and in the title role as the CIA agent trading secrets with Russian spies in "Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within" (1998).
First stepping behind the camera in 1984. Hutton helmed the music video for The Cars' song "Drive". Subsequently, he directed the "Grandpa's Ghost" episode of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" (NBC, 1986). For his feature film directing debut, Hutton returned to the arena of alienated youth, which he mined so brilliantly in his own acting debut. "Digging to China", which made its initial appearances at film festivals in 1996 but did not secure a theatrical release until 1998, told the story of a precocious, fatherless 10-year-old girl who dreams of escaping her dull life in rural Pennsylvania with an alcoholic mother and promiscuous sister by befriending an equally lost retarded man. Unfortunately, despite the presence of such talents as Kevin Bacon, Mary Stuart Masterson and Cathy Moriarty, the material was judged too thin for the big screen. (Perhaps it would have met a more favorable response on the small screen.) Resuming his acting career, Hutton joined in support of John Travolta in the murder mystery "The General's Daughter" (1999). |
