Talking to the Doctor

Interview with Victor Raider-Wexler. By Clint Morris

On the set of Steven Spielberg's Minority Report

And who says typecasting doesn't have it's perks? Ask theatre actor turned film customary, Victor Raider-Wexler. After appearing on stage first as one with the medicine, Raider-Wexler was asked to star in TV's "Seinfeld", as the series favorite Dr Nowell. Since then it's been one doctor role after another, but as the actor says it's been quite a blessing.

Clint Morris talks to the actor from the set of his latest film, Minority Reportwith Tom Cruise, in which he is playing…ahem…a doctor. But when Steven Spielberg is the man calling the shoots, he's not going to be the one to argue.

As we speak, veteran actor Victor-Raider Wexler is preparing to jet back to Tinseltown where he is reprising his role of Stan Brand for hit show Everybody Loves Raymond, the latest in a long line of guest stints on TV. It was the role of Dr Nowell on the season finale of another show Seinfeld, that had an asterix marked next to his name in casting agent folders. And, although he didn't expect to be the person most thought of when producers need a doctor type, he is far from sulking.

"I came to Hollywood in a play where I was playing a doctor. It is the peculiar nature of this town, where the decision makers often are lawyers, accountants and businessmen, to go with what is perceived as safe".

The 'safe' zone spread over such series as E.R, Friends, The Drew Carey Show and now, Everybody Loves Raymond opposite Ray Romano. A quick pay-cheque for a fast-tracked job if you will.

"A sitcom is produced in 5 days and filmed before a live audience, using 4 cameras at the same time", explains Raider-Wexler. In this man's opinion, TV has its perks. "I liked dating Bo Derek on Two Guys and a Girl", says Raider-Wexler. "Working with Max von Sydow was also a treat".

Before sharing the screen with such people as Bruce Willis (The Story of Us), Eddie Murphy (Dr Dolittle 2) and now Tom Cruise (Minority Report), Raider-Wexler cut his teeth on stage, where he worked with some legends of the hard board.

"I particularly enjoyed getting to know Hal Holbrook when we both appeared in The Country Girl off-Broaway", tells Raider-Wexler, who made the transition to film in 1974 with roles in Benji and Snowbeast. "There's one I'm not proud of... Snowbeast", he says. There are numerous movies he is proud of however, and they include John, a movie that won the Academy Award for Best Student Film in 1998.

Over the past decade, Raider-Wexler tells me he has also supplied the voices of many a popular video game, which are great to do.

"Video games are recorded in a sound booth. You are alone with a microphone. The producer and director are in the control room and you see them through a window. A video game typically takes me 2 to 4 hours", he says. It wasn't long after recording one of these, that he got the call about Minority Report.

"My agent called me to say he had been contacted by the casting director offering me the opportunity to play the role. But I've never spoken to Mr. Spielberg on the phone." He informs me. "It is immensely exciting to be attached to such a highly anticipated film. And it's exciting to be working with Steven Spielberg". And guess who he is playing?

"I play the Attorney General. I suspect I appear intermittently throughout the film." Despite having a large-enough role in the film, his time-shared with star Tom Cruise was minimal. "I didn't work with Tom Cruise except for a wide shot on the very last day. Our only personal contact is when he bid me farewell. I did work with Max von Sydow who has long been a favorite actor of mine, and learned a great deal from the experience".

Now that Minority Report is all but wrapped, Raider-Wexler's heading straight into another movie, Old School, co-starring alongside Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughan and Juliette Lewis. But don't write him off as the film's token Doctor just yet. "I haven't heard who I'm playing yet", he laughs.

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