A ‘Leg’ Up

Friday, June 29, 2001 | 4:21 a.m.

John Leguizamo might not yet be a household name, but give the actor-writer-comic time.

The 35-year-old native of Bogota, Colombia, who moved to New York City with his family at age 4, has a career that is as hot as a firecracker. That's good, since he will bring his one-man show to the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel on the Fourth of July.

Last month Leguizamo began his 22-city tour of "John Leguizamo Live." His most recent film, the musical "Moulin Rouge" starring Nicole Kidman, is in theaters and has received mostly positive reviews.

Leguizamo's other films scheduled to be released later this year include "Collateral Damage," in which he co-stars opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger; "Zigzag," co-starring Wesley Snipes; "Empire," in which he plays an ambitious Latino hustler; and "King of the Jungle," a film Leguizamo not only stars in but executive produced.

One of his favorite roles was the Latino hairdresser he played in Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam," a film released last year about the infamous David Berkowitz, better known as the Son of Sam serial killer.

Leguizamo has made more than 30 films during his 15-year career and has appeared in numerous television shows as well as on Broadway. He recently spoke with the Las Vegas Sun:

Las Vegas Sun: What can we expect to see in your one-man show?

John Leguizamo: It's like "Freak," my last one-man show that was on Broadway, only maybe a little more edgy. It's still got a lot of heart to it. I talk about family, divorce, having kids.

Sun: Are you going for humor or something deeper?

JL: I try to go for something deeper. I act out different scenes from each aspect of my life and try to give it some poignancy and still have crazy, ridiculous jokes.

Sun: Kind of like Whoopi Goldberg's stand-up routines?

JL: Totally. She was a big inspiration for me when I first started out with my one-man shows. She and Lily Tomlin really inspired me.

Sun: Your film career is really taking off. Which has been your favorite?

JL: "Summer of Sam." That was my best acting work so far. And it was the first time I went to the Cannes Film Festival. It was really exciting.

Sun: What was it like making the film?

JL: It was very creepy because I was reading a lot of material on the subject, getting into the character, and I just kept feeling like somebody was hunting me. It was hard to go to sleep at night. Every little noise, every little creak in the house would wake me up. I'd be looking out the window and I would swear somebody was out there. It was crazy. I didn't sleep a lot during the shoot.

Sun: Tell us about "Moulin Rouge." You play the deformed painter Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, a role portrayed by Jose Ferrer in the 1952 film "Moulin Rouge."

JL: It was a pretty spectacular film, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of film. A lot of people who see it go back like 12 times. It's one of those films that either you really love it with all your heart or you just don't get it. But it's starting a whole movement of musicals coming back.

Sun: How was your interpretation of Lautrec different from Ferrer's?

JL: He played Lautrec so serious and stern. From everything I read Toulouse was much more of a clown. He loved attention, loved to dress up. He was a clown in a lot of ways, which was really fascinating to me. When I saw Jose Ferrer's role, he was a very serious, pained painter. Lautrec was pained, but he hid behind a lot of facades.

I read a lot of Lautrec biographies and found ... he was a product of two first cousins and he was born with all these impediments -- a really thick tongue and lips; and he lisped and had a high, shrill voice. His legs were stunted because of a calcium deficiency.

Sun: Will the film open up more opportunities for you?

JL: I'm going to do the "Life and Times of Herve Villechaize and Billy Barty." Just kidding.

Sun: What was your first professional acting job?

JL: The first big-paying gig was the TV show "Miami Vice." I was like 19. I look back and I looked so corny. I was supposed to be the big villain of the episode, but I'm like 19 and I looked so stupid.

Sun: Do you have a preference as to the kinds of roles you play?

JL: I like it all pretty much, I've gotta say. I love to do a drama then jump into a comedy. It's not easy, but I like the challenge.

Sun: You take a lot of chances in your role selections, like the part of the Latin drag queen in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar."

JL: I was like that growing up, always taking chances. I didn't care, I just wanted to do things that made me happy. I didn't pay much attention to what people said or talked about.

I kind of try to do that in my work now. I try to keep that part of me that I loved alive, that brave, fearless part of me. As you get more successful you definitely have a lot more constraints, a lot more fears, so I try not to buy into that.