Director Altman's presence dominates set on 'Prairie'

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Kevin Kline is in the zone.

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The Academy Award-winning actor is so focused on his role as hard-boiled gumshoe Guy Noir that he doesn't notice he's cut his finger as he shoots a scene for the A Prairie Home Companion movie in the lobby of the Fitzgerald Theater.

Decked out in a pinstriped suit and with his hair slicked back, Mr. Kline does take after take, adding funny asides under director Robert Altman's quiet gaze. Mr. Kline does a pratfall over a bar counter, pops the cork on a bottle of champagne and drinks a toast with Saturday Night Live actress Maya Rudolph, who's playing an assistant stage manager.

"I'm bleeding!" Mr. Kline declares at the end of a take.

He holds up a bloody left ring finger as his makeup artist applies a tissue to it.

"I'm surprised he didn't notice it," Ms. Rudolph says.

"Notice? Notice? I was acting!" Mr. Kline says, sounding like the Master Thespian.

Mr. Kline is among a bevy of stars - including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson, Virginia Madsen and Tommy Lee Jones - bringing life to Garrison Keillor's script about backstage goings-on at a not-too-fictional radio show.

Coupled with the legacy of Mr. Altman, whose films include M*A*S*H and Nashville, it's a rare combination of star power and brings Mr. Altman, a filmmaking maverick, together with Mr. Keillor, the creator-host of A Prairie Home Companion, the variety show heard on public radio by more than 4 million listeners each week.

"He's a movie guy," Mr. Keillor says of the 80-year-old Mr. Altman. "The moment they started shooting this picture it's like he became 30 years younger. He's tremendously focused and capable."

Wearing a jogging suit and tennis shoes, the white-haired, goateed Mr. Altman is a commanding presence on the set. He allows the actors to improvise on Mr. Keillor's script, hustling them into position with an occasional call of "Let's boogie."

"With him (Mr. Altman), nothing's etched in stone. A script is a foundation, or a blueprint, kind of written in wet cement," says David Levy, one of the movie's producers.

It's a freedom that inspires admiration from the actors.

"It's more than the alpha male. You can feel he's a powerful man, and yet, he's so kind. There's a lot of love around him," says Ms. Madsen, who plays a mystery woman who might be the Angel of Death.

Ms. Madsen compares the Prairie Home set with that of the 2004 movie Sideways, for which she received a supporting actress Oscar nomination.

"Everyone is so free. There's nobody with a bullhorn, nobody tapping their watch. And it's like, 'Oh my God, it feels so good to make a movie this way.' Movies like this, they always turn out to be good," she says.

When a birthday cake is wheeled out for the pregnant Ms. Rudolph, who turned 33 on the last full day of shooting, she announces to her unborn baby: "I wish you'd come out just like Bob Altman."

"I like him a lot and I like his movies a lot, too. In every sense of the word, I'm a big Bob Altman fan," Ms. Rudolph later says in an interview.

Sitting next to Mr. Altman is Ms. Rudolph's boyfriend, Paul Thomas Anderson, whose films Boogie Nights and Magnolia have drawn comparisons to Mr. Altman's work. Mr. Anderson's chair is labeled "Pinch Hitter," meaning he's ready to fill in should Mr. Altman become sick or unable to finish the picture. (That doesn't turn out to be necessary, and the movie wraps three days ahead of its 25-day schedule and on budget.)

Mr. Anderson, 35, calls working with Mr. Altman "dreamy."

Jim Mone/associated pressMakeup artist Natalie Hale holds a tissue to actor Kevin Kline's finger after he cut it doing a scene for the movie version of A Prairie Home Companion. Mr. Kline plays private eye Guy Noir.

On the Net

A Prairie Home Companion: prairie home.publicradio.org

Fitzgerald Theater: fitzgeraldtheater.publicradio.org