Those beleaguered GOP bookers charged with matching the Democrats’ star power have finally scored a Baldwin—no, not Alec: Stephen. Recently born again, the star of Threesome and Bio-Dome has spent the past two years promoting his pet project, Livin It, a DVD for the Christian skateboard-and-BMX set. Now he’s venturing into politics in typical Baldwin fashion, by headlining a party with the Bush twins.
JED HEYMAN You’ve talked about your mission to “make Christianity cool.”
Stephen Baldwin: There’s this older regime that has ruled the Christian airwaves for a long time, and times change. Stephen Baldwin doesn’t feel that he has this mission to make Christianity cool. It’s already cool; there’s just nobody promoting it. You know, there’s this whole youth culture of born-again Christians who are pierced and tattooed and spike their hair, and they’re gnarly with chains, and they love Jesus Christ!
What impact has your faith had on your career?
Stephen Baldwin has gotten to a place where he just doesn’t feel the need to play those roles [with gratuitous sex and violence] anymore. Would I play a murderer who utilized bad language but then went through an awesome metamorphosis and found redemption? Sure! But it would have to be really well written.
Do you regret any of the roles you’ve taken in the past?
No! I can’t tell you the number of Christian kids who’ve told me they love Bio-Dome. God made me cool so that the youth culture would look up to me, and now he’s using me to speak to them.
Does your attendance at the convention indicate an endorsement?
I believe that one of the candidates, from a spiritual perspective, should be leading the country for the next four years. Friends say to me, “Do your homework, and you’ll see what Bush is doing with the environment and the war. He’s lining the pockets of Cheney’s friends.” I tell them, “I have done my homework, and I don’t agree. I pray for an hour and read the word of God for at least 30 minutes every day. And that experience has told me that I need to support the guy being led by God.”
Has this caused any friction with your old friends?
The obedience that I live under now is not easy. These friends are always reminding me, “You used to be this radical guy, going to clubs, doing this and that.” But I stopped smoking, I stopped cursing, and I stopped lusting after money and women. Only connecting with God changed me for the better. I’ve been around the world and made millions and hung out with movie stars and stayed at Giorgio Armani’s house. I believe all of that was just to get me to this point.
We hear you’re going to the Bush twins’ convention party.
Yeah, I’m going to pop in there, and, uh, make my presence known. [Chuckles.]
Will you be meeting them for the first time? Yeah. How old are those kids now?
Well, they just graduated from college, so I guess that would make them 21 or 22. All right! Means I won’t have to watch over their “behavior.”