Madsen reflects on life and death

One of the last times Michael Madsen hung out with his good friend Dennis Hopper, Hopper was ill. The two stood waiting for Hopper's art collection to be put on display.

That day, Madsen felt weary with Hollywood, despite earning fame and acclaim in "Reservoir Dogs" and the "Kill Bills." So he confided in Hopper.

"Sometimes," Madsen told him, "I don't know about this acting thing or this whole business."

Hopper chuckled his famous "heh-heh" chuckle, and asked: "Well, what would you do, man, if you could change it all?"

"Maybe I should have been a carpenter," Madsen said.

Hopper looked at his friend and alluded to how hard Jesus the carpenter had things, exclaiming: "Look what happened to him, man!"

Madsen tells this story and laughs.

"You gotta miss somebody like that. He lived life," he says.

On Saturday, Madsen will be rewarded with an Indie Icon award, then answer audience questions and sign his poetry books at the Las Vegas Film Festival, running Friday-Sunday at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Not only has Madsen, 53, seen the passing of Hopper, he also lost good friends David Carradine and Chris Penn, both under dramatic circumstances.

Carradine was found naked and hanging by the neck in a Bangkok hotel room closet in 2009.

"No one will ever know what happened to David," Madsen says. "Nobody's ever going to know who shot Kennedy, and no one's going to know who did Marilyn Monroe in, and certainly no one is going to know whatever happened to David Carradine. It's one of those strange enigmas."

But Carradine's bizarre death was "typical of David" in that he was a puzzle of a man, Madsen says.

"It would have to end the way that it did -- in that no explanation is ever going to be known."

Chris Penn died in 2006 at age 40, officially suffering heart disease, although Sean Penn has said his brother's weight likely did him in.

Hopper died last year at age 74 after battling prostate cancer and a very public divorce.

"I'm troubled by all three of them -- the way that they went," Madsen says. "David, Dennis and Chris is a three-way punch.

"Chris has been gone for a while now, but David and Dennis -- they were involved in my daily life," Madsen says, explaining they gave him personal advice and support in the film industry.

As for this weekend, Madsen is making the most of it, hosting an official film-fest party Friday at club Bank (Bellagio) and appearing Saturday at club Chateau (Paris Las Vegas).

He has at least two films coming out this year: the thriller "Loosies," in which he plays a detective, and horror film "Infected," in which he's a dad with a shotgun in the woods.

At home, he and wife DeAnna raise five sons (no daughters). He's bringing them to the film fest. When the Madsens found out DeAnna was carrying his fifth boy, he was bewildered.

"I guess my testosterone level has maintained a high note," he says.

"But it's all coming back to haunt me, though, you see. Now I'm surrounded by a pack of wolves," he jokes and laughs.

"I'm in the process of becoming dethroned. They're all determined to become the alpha dog. It's a little daunting."

I told Madsen he makes himself sound like King Henry II in "Lion in Winter," fighting sired cubs over a golden crown.

"Yeah," he said in his manly gruff, rolling with laughter. "That's me!"

Doug Elfman's column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Contact him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.