Many who have watched Alec Baldwin’s uncanny mastery of the small-handed, orange-faced man who will unfortunately lead our country have probably wondered how much he gets paid for those appearances and how he does it. Lucky for you and for me, we now have an answer.
The New York Times sat down with Baldwin to get some insight into the process. It’s an interesting read if you’ve wondered how someone could possibly embody the spirit of a raving narcissist without losing their mind. The reason it works is because Baldwin’s portrayal of Trump is less about plumbing the questionable depths of his mind and more about portraying his physicality, which is great for humor but also slightly distressing when one realizes that this humanizes a dangerous man that really doesn’t deserve it.
To his credit, Baldwin acknowledges that fact. ““I do recognize that that is a possibility,” he said, but now that Trump is the fucking president, “we have an obligation — as we would if it was him or her — to dial it up as much as we can.”
Baldwin also gets $1,400 for each appearance, a number that I can’t decide is big enough or small enough for the task.
Some other fun tidbits: the makeup used to achieve that otherworldly pallor is “Clinique Stay-Matte powder in honey”; like Trump himself, maybe, the wig he wears on his head is hand-sewn. Let’s see if he makes true on the promise to “dial up” the impersonation in the coming months, though maybe we don’t need a Trump impersonation on network television after he’s in office. We’re living in a waking nightmare that will only get worse. Do we really need to see the mannerisms of our new leader through the lens of comedy on TV? Satire can help us through the dark times, and it really does seem to chafe his ass, so maybe we do.
DISCUSSION
Baldwin’s portrayal is turning a very mean man into a loveable buffoon. I guess we live in the 30 Rock universe now, and Trump is our Governor Dunston.