After playing six seasons as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on the TV series Frasier, Dan Butler has continued his acting career with the movie Karl Rove, I Love You. This fun documentary-style piece breaks through satire, leaving the viewer questioning who, exactly, is the real Dan Butler?
Windy City Times: You completely tricked me with your movie. I was writing questions throughout the movie and had to throw them out.
Dan Butler: [ Laughs ] It's hard sometimes to not give away too much with this movie. Can you hold on a minute? I have to let the cats in.
WCT: So the cats in the movie were yours?
Dan Butler: Yes, I live in Vermont. I have been living here for about two years. Now that it's getting dark, we have lots of foxes and predators around so I have to get them in.
WCT: Since you live in Vermont, does that mean that you are married to your partner Richard Waterhouse?
Dan Butler: We had a commitment ceremony for ourselves in 1999. We haven't officially gotten married, but we may.
WCT: At least you have that option where you live.
Dan Butler: Yes, we have the option.
WCT: So, tell me how the concept of this film came about.
Dan Butler: Some of it's reaching back in time. It has been a few years and almost nostalgic. I had read something about Karl Rove and been intrigued about him. I woke up one day with this idea of what if I fell in love with him. It started out as a lark and discovered this is really good as a fun venture and I can get everyone I know involved. Also it can play with life imitates art, what is the truth and along the way poke fun at my taking myself too seriously.
WCT: I think the movie works also because of reality shows and people believing everything is real.
Dan Butler: What my co-director Phil was saying that it will be interesting to see what happens down the line in a few years. That people would claim that they had seen the play. We did not have to wait very long, during one of the Q & A sessions someone said they had seen the play in LA. That's interesting because it never occurred!
WCT: Was this film inspired by the Blair Witch Project?
Dan Butler: No, but that did come up in one of the reviews and we appreciated it. It is sort of a political Blair Witch thing. With any creative act, you open up to what moves or amuses or scares or intrigues you and just hope that someone else enjoys it, too.
WCT: Well, I really enjoyed it.
Dan Butler: I am proud of it for a couple of reasons. One that I don't consider it a political movie, that's just the backdrop. It's a romantic tragedy. [ Laughs ] We tried to skewer both sides. Secondly if you had heard everything about it, at some point during the film that the audience thinks that had to have happened. I think we achieved that. It's gratifying being in the audience watching people watch it, especially in scenes like the phone call scene to the white house. Everyone universally gets really tense.
WCT: I want to tell you that Lifetime Channel's Prayer for Bobby that you starred in meant so much to me.
Dan Butler: Oh, I am glad you liked it. I worked on a suicide crisis line for years out in Los Angeles and that was a book that was passed around. I was familiar with the story years ago. The story of course goes into much more depth and character develo p.m. ent. It's a huge story.
WCT: You were on Frasier for six seasons?
Dan Butler: I was on six seasons as a regular then came back periodically. I was off for a chunk of years but towards the end, I thought it would be fun to be back on there.
WCT: What are your current projects?
Dan Butler: I am back and forth to New York auditioning for different things. I am mostly focused on writing a play. It's been percolating in forms for years and now I think it's ready to come out.
WCT: I wonder what Karl Rove is doing now.
Dan Butler: Probably staring in the mirror saying sweet nothings to himself.
Karl Rove, I Love You DVD is out on DVD. For more information visit www.karlroveiloveyou.com .
