Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern
(USA, 111 min.)
Dir. Mike Mendez
Prod. Bruce Dern, Adam F. Goldberg, Mike Mendez, Thomas Verrette
Programme: Cannes Classics
If there was one thing that Bruce Dern was going to be remembered for, it was likely to be as the guy who finally shot John Wayne. In the 1972 film The Cowboys, directed by Mark Rydell, Dern was chosen for his specific look and skillset honed on dozens of TV westerns and the like. He seemed like an actor unafraid to take on a legend, a performer undaunted by the task of being the bad guy.
In Mike Mendez’s sympathetic portrait of the talented actor, we see Dern limbering up the lines of stars at Hollywood and Vine. Standing on the star of his even more famous daughter Laura, he contemplates his marker on the pavement, a wry expression and that gravelly drawl intoning about the decades-long career that saw him immortalized as part of this Walk of Fame.
Born into wealth and a genealogical tree with branches leading to the echelons of political power both in his native Chicago and at the highest levels of government and commerce, he broke with his family’s restrictions in his late teens and took on the life of an actor. Enrolling in classes at the famed Actors Studio under the tutelage of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasburg, Dern soon found himself at the forefront of a Hollywood renaissance as friends and colleagues like Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper encountered enormous success, all while Dern was still relegated to bit parts and episodic walk-on roles.
Directors would eventually summon him for his unique ability to provide a “Dernsie” when called upon, an improvised moment that interviewee Quentin Tarantino ably describes as “added dialogue, or added behaviour, not on the written page.” This sounds like typical “business” that most actors bring to the screen, but in the telling by numerous collaborators, Dern’s contributions were near-legendary for their ability to elevate any project with a sprinkling of his additions.
Other notable aspects of Dern’s life, especially his penchant for running, are illustrated through numerous archival interviews and clips of the former track star putting in the miles. The story of his multiple marriages, including his relationship with fellow legend Diane Ladd, with whom he had Laura, is presented with appropriate reverence, as is the delicate matter of the death of their child Diane, who drowned in the family pool.
Interviewees including Billy Bob Thornton, who himself was in a long-term relationship with Laura, and acted with her father in the 2014 Matt Shakman film Cut Bank, allude to Dern’s skills as an actor’s actor. Tarantino is the most effusive of all, as is typical, and it’s Dern’s roles in several of his films, including a sublime take in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as the near-blind gatekeeper of Spawn ranch where the Manson family resides, illustrate many of the late-career highlights of the iconoclastic talent.
The Oscar-nominated performance in 1978’s Coming Home receives richer context, especially given how Dern is open about his own ability to use his connections to avoid the draft, only to play a uniformed officer to such acclaim. 1982’s That Championship Season saw Dern win the top acting prize at Berlin, while Alexander Payne’s 2013 road trip film Nebraska that truly solidified his talent for a new generation of fans with an Oscar nomination and Cannes’ acting prize.
While Mendez’s film is fairly straightforward, a few visual elements help to elevate it. The first is the use of stop motion puppetry to recreate certain stories, with the likes of John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Dern himself caricatured in this form. The sequences add a bit of playfulness, but also undercut what otherwise would feel to be a self-serious portrait.
Dern seems like a guy who’s fun to hang out with and just chat, and that clearly comes across in Mendez’s conversationally-minded film. While the hyperbolic nature of the title may grate, it’s clear that Dern has led a pretty terrific life, one that’s not been a straight line towards success, but a career that is well worthy of celebration.
The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern may not be the most amazing film about a beloved actor, but it’s a fitting one, told with care and kindness, and with just a few sparks that set it apart. It takes what’s otherwise straightforward and injects it with a small dose of what makes Dern special. Even in a film about his own films, the man manages to add a Dernsie or two, and that itself is worth cherishing.
