Senior Planet talks to….James Le Gros

After making his TV debut on TV’s Knight Rider 40 years ago, James Le Gros has never looked back. Besides featuring on hit TV shows Ally McBeal, Blue Bloods, Girls, Law & Order, Mercy and Justified, he’s also had roles in iconic films such as Drugstore Cowboy, Point Break and Enemy of the State.  At 62, this father of two sons has no plans to slow down, currently starring in the drama Good One:

 

Q: You play the father of a teenage girl in Good One, venturing out on a wilderness camping trip together. Do you enjoy getting out in nature yourself?

JAMES: Yes, I’ve been camping, hiking and climbing all my life. I’ve hiked a lot in the back country so it was a very natural fit.

Q: And you also exchanged city life many years ago to live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Was that a difficult decision as a busy actor?

JAMES: I was coming off a TV series which was not a super great experience, and I just wanted to get out of LA. At the time our kids were really young and we just thought we’d give it a try – and we’ve been here for about 25 years now. It’s gorgeous here. It’s the gateway to Yellowstone, with iconic mountains. Lots of beautiful wildlife and wildflowers in the summer although winters are very long.

Q: What was the TV show that sent you running for the hills, literally?!

JAMES: I was on Ally McBeal for about 18 months and while there were many really great people on that show, it was not a great work dynamic. I was talking to another colleague who was also on that show a similar amount of time and we both felt like ‘God, if I could get that time in my life back, I’d give all the money back plus 10%’. It was a very popular show, and a really talented cast. But it was a toxic work environment, and I didn’t really realize that at the time. It was only in retrospect when I was able to compare it to other situations where I went, ‘Oh, that was bad’.

Q: Hopefully your other work experiences were better. Any fond memories?

JAMES: I loved working with Patrick Swayze on Point Break. He was a really sweet guy and that was a tough out for Patrick. I’m still friends with John Philbin and Bojesse Christopher from that film. When I’m in California, I always see John. It’s been a while since we surfed together, but maybe that’ll happen again too. I love those guys. Every now and then I run into Keanu [Reeves] and he’s always great. I have really fond memories of that time.

Q: As a dad yourself, it must have come easily bonding with your teenage co-star Lily Collias in Good One?

JAMES: As a parent, those are just universal things that we all can relate to – if you’re an actively involved parent, which I know I am. And no matter how old they are, you never stop that dynamic, for better or for worse. I’m really lucky that both my sons have done very well for themselves and they’re very functioning. We got really lucky on Good One and we got chemistry right away. And you don’t always know if that’s gonna happen so that’s almost an act of God.

Q: Your son Noah Le Gros has also followed in your footsteps as an actor?

JAMES: Yeah, and I’m a little offended at the notion of ‘Nepo Babies’. I think to myself, ‘Oh, my God, that Lloyd Bridges! What a crime against humanity!’. The whole idea of Nepo Babies is ridiculous to me because, for the most part, there’s this long legacy of great talented families so I just roll my eyes at that.

Q: I’m sure your wife Kristina Loggia – daughter of actor Robert Loggia – agrees?

JAMES: Yes, but let me clear that up. I have had a long partnership with Kristina but we stopped being a couple in 2015. However, when the pandemic hit, everybody moved back in with me in Wyoming. And Kristina lived here for a couple of years and is actually living here now.

Q: That sounds like a very healthy break-up?

JAMES: Yes, you can decide that it’s going to be crappy – but it doesn’t have to be? So my sons and my ex wife remain the three most important relationships in my life and everybody is pulling for everybody’s success and rooting for each other. So I think you can go through these things where people want to go on different paths, or they want their lives to look differently, but it doesn’t have to go into acrimony. There was an early part of that journey where it was difficult, but that was worked through and we got into this really great place that we’ve been in for several years now.

Q: Your outdoorsy lifestyle must keep you fit. How else do you stay in shape?

JAMES: Yeah, exercise is good. I snowboard, ski and hike. If you get out and move, whatever that is, I think bodies that are in motion, tend to stay in motion. And I don’t make a pig of myself. I avoid all the poisons – I don’t drink or smoke. I also think if helps to figure out how to lower the stress in your life. And sometimes that’s just environmental stress so you don’t want to be in a place where the air is bad. Or emotional stress, so you don’t hang out with people who are draining. Like after you talk to them for an hour, it feels like you’re had a quart of plasma drained out of you. Or if you take a job that’s not the kind of work you should be doing where it just creates anxiety? Over time you can figure out how to stay out of those scenarios, and that really helps.

Q: Do you follow a particular diet?

JAMES: I’m an omnivore. But I don’t eat the fried meats and I don’t eat when I’m not hungry. That’s the key. Years ago, I had to put on a lot of weight – about 75 pounds – for [TV drama series] Mildred Pierce and that was a very humbling experience. And people were like ‘That must have been fun?’ But it was a miserable nightmare, because you have to eat when you’re not hungry. So I learned a lot about that and it gave me great empathy for people who are trapped in that cycle. But I guess now you can just take a drug and pounds just melt away.

Q: Have you ever found yourself in danger in the mountains?

JAMES: I remember taking an actor friend on a hike – he shall remain nameless – but he wanted to meditate at the top of this local peak, Mount Glory. And I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re not meditating. You see those clouds? We’re on a ridge line, and we have to get off of this thing. We’re very vulnerable’. And by the time we had got to the bottom, it was raining and there was this ashen look on my friend’s face. I was like, ‘Told ya!’

Another time I was hiking up that same Mount Glory in the wintertime with a friend and it had just snowed, and some guy had gotten in this area which he shouldn’t have been on that day and he set off this huge avalanche that rolled past us and went all the way down to the highway, covering it completely. So as far as Mother Nature is concerned, she’s not cruel – she’s just indifferent.

Q: What’s your secret to aging with attitude?

JAMES: Curiosity is the secret to youth. That’s why I like working on these low-budget movies because there’s always a lot of young people which gives you an opportunity to reexamine your own process. It keeps you emotionally and spiritually agile.

Photo: Courtesy of Kristina Loggia

NB: Good One is in theaters from August 9

 

Gill Pringle began her career as a rock columnist for popular British newspapers, traveling the world with Madonna, U2 and Michael Jackson. Moving to Los Angeles 27 years ago, she interviews film and TV personalities for prestigious UK outlets, The Independent, The i-paper and The Sunday Times – and, of course, Senior Planet. A member of Critics Choice Association, BAFTA and AWFJ, she wrote the screenplay for 2016 Netflix family film, The 3 Tails Movie: A Mermaid Adventure. An award-winning writer, in 2021 she was honored by the Los Angeles Press Club with 1st prize at the NAEJ Awards.