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Date::  January 18, 2004
Author::  Bob Strauss 
Source::  San Bernardino Sun

Ray Romano had great success with his last movie outing. Of course, it was an animated feature, "Ice Age,' for which he just supplied the voice of a woolly mammoth.

"This time you've gotta look at me,' notes the ever self-deprecating star of TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond,' in reference to his first, full-body movie appearance in "Welcome to Mooseport.'

Television's best-paid actor makes his big-screen debut as Handy Harrison, a hardware store owner from the title New England town, who finds himself in the unlikely situation of running for mayor against a former U.S. president (Gene Hackman) in order to impress the woman ("ER's' Maura Tierney) they both covet.

The 46-year-old Romano, whose only previous movie experience was in the ensemble cast of a yet-to-be-released indie called "Eulogy,' admits headlining a Hollywood studio comedy was intimidating. 

"This was my first big film, first leading role, first anything,' he says in his trademark Queens accent. "Scary. It's a new thing to possibly fail at, is the way I look at it. I mean, creatively I'm attracted to it. That doesn't mean that I'll be good at it or that the audience will accept me in movies. There are people who are on TV shows who are very good actors who still can't make the transition into film, for whatever reason. There are so many factors that I'm not taking anything for granted.'

Romano reckons that Handy will, at the very least, be an effective baby step away from his popular television persona.

"It's not a super stretch,' he admits. "I didn't want to play Ray Barone, but you've got to be careful. I figure, if it's going to work at all, I've got to wean the audience off of Ray Barone, so he can't be too far from him. He's kind of an everyguy, but he's less selfish and less obsessed and immature. A little more earnest than Ray Barone, but he's got some of his mannerisms and, hopefully, likability.'

Although there's been much muttering about this season perhaps being "Raymond's' last, Romano says that his move into movies should not be taken as any kind of indicator about his television future. He says that he, show-runner Phil Rosenthal and the writers will decide within the next few weeks whether they'll return for a ninth season next fall.

"First of all, whether or not this movie succeeds or any other career opportunities present themselves to me has nothing to do with what decision we make on the show,' Romano insists. "My heart and soul was in this show for the last eight years, and what got us here was our commitment to the quality of it. So that's all that's going to influence our decision. If we think there are more stories to do in another year, we're going to do it.

"After 200 shows, we're beginning to feel like we've said it all,' he adds. "It's getting harder to come up with fresh, original ideas. We just want to go out with the same quality. We don't want to start repeating ourselves and we don't want to just phone it in. So, we'll see.'

And if the show ends, who knows? Now that he's gotten some political experience in "Mooseport,' maybe Romano could run for office like Arnold Schwarzenegger did. He is, after all, at least as popular -- if not nearly as confident.

"No, not one iota,' Romano says of any real-world political ambitions. "I am the most nonpolitical celebrity out there. Unfortunately, I'm not worldly, I'm not knowledgeable enough to run -- although, I dunno, is that prerequisite?'