Tuesday, April 3, 2001
By RONNI GORDON

Bill Pullman has been spending his time recently going back and forth between two very different projects on opposite coasts.

In New York, he has been shooting a picture called "Igby Goes Down," in which he and Susan Sarandon play the parents of a dysfunctional child. "It's an ensemble picture that's funny and kind of painful," he says. "It's a comedy but it's laced with poison."

When not needed on the set, the University of Massachusetts graduate has been in Los Angeles, where he is producing a film about a silent movie theater there. He has a small part in the film, which he calls "the story of that enclave of aficionados of silent movies."

Traveling back and forth between different types of projects in varying roles is nothing new for the 47-year-old actor. "I'm always looking for new turf," he said.

Pullman, who received a master's in directing from UMass in 1980, is back at his alma mater through today for two days of workshops and talks on acting, directing, writing and film-making. Yesterday, before heading out for his first session, he chatted in the living room of the on-campus suite where he's staying. Wearing a black V-neck and black pants, he was talkative and friendly while touching on a range of subjects.

Pullman has been known as a versatile performer ever since his film debut playing an inept criminal in 1986's "Ruthless People." He went on to play Lone Star in Mel Brooks' sci-fi parody "Spaceballs," then changed genres as the anthropologist in the horror-thriller "The Serpent and the Rainbow." His long list of credits also includes "The Accidental Tourist," "Sibling Rivalry," "Casper" and "While You Were Sleeping."

Probably his biggest hit was "Independence Day" (1996). He played the President of the United States, fighting to save the country from invading aliens.

"With 'Independence Day' it took a turn to being more visible," he said of his career. "It goes through ebbs and flows of the recognition thing."

He also started his own production company, "Big Town Productions," through which he starred and directed in the recent TNT Western "The Virginian." He played the title character, a laconic Wyoming cowboy with an unwavering sense of justice.

He said he's now forming a new company with two other actors, Anthony Edwards and Holly Hunter, in hopes of raising money for a variety of projects the three have discussed, including a couple of projects he would like to direct. The arrangement would provide the opportunity for long-term collaboration with friends.

Acting and directing continue to give him different kinds of satisfaction, and he feels lucky to be able to do them both. When acting, he loves the challenge of making a character as specific and as truthful as possible. "Some of my favorite ones are the ones that are funny and serious at the same time," he said. As for directing, "There's a level of obsessiveness that you have to have that is also really great."

Born in Hornell, N.Y., Pullman was one of seven children. His father was a doctor, his mother a nurse. He attended the State University of New York at Oneonta. Other family members went to small Ivy League schools such as Amherst and Wesleyan. He said he was accepted at Amherst but didn't go, because, he said, "I wanted to be distinctive."

He said he was attracted by the idea of having to make his own way without the help of a big-name school. "I thought, 'I don't need to buy cache,'" he said. "That's still the way I feel. I like the fact that it's up to you to make do with what you have."

Pullman originally enrolled in a two-year technical vocational program to study building construction. But, inspired by a charismatic drama director, he enrolled in the four-year college at Oneonta, followed by UMass. After graduation in 1980, he got a teaching job at Montana State University. He worked in student and professional theater in the area, then acted on stage in Manhattan and Los Angeles.

"I fell in love with directing in the theater," he said. "I didn't think film interested me." All that changed, however, when he got cast in "Ruthless People."

Looking back, he gives a lot of credit to the theater department at UMass, whose program he called "really rigorous." UMass is also where he happens to have met his wife, Tamara Hurwitz, when they were cast in a theater department play as husband and wife.

"And then by gosh we're married with three kids," he said. Their children are now 13, 11 and 8.

Pullman's visit concludes today with a talk in the Rand Theater, "Being in the Business   —   An Insider's View." Open to Five College students and community members as space permits, it runs from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

He said that if he has any general advice for students, it's this: Don't worry about changing your plans.

"You don't just keep going in a linear direction," he said.