Alec Baldwin says the year since his trial suddenly ended with a dismissal has been far better than the few years that preceded it, and the effect that time has had on him has been "immeasurable."
"Something as powerful as that happens in your life, you don’t know how much it changes you," he said. "I can’t even tell you how different I am from three-and-a-half years ago. And what I want and what I don’t want, and how I want to live my life and not live my life."
The 67-year-old actor spoke to The Associated Press at San Diego's Comic-Con International, where he was part of a panel on 75 years of Charles Schulz's "Peanuts," whose simplicity, existential philosophy and moral outlook have been very much on his mind.
Baldwin spoke while a suited Snoopy character stood nearby after posing for photos with him.
In a foreword Baldwin wrote for "The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978," he said while reading Schulz's newspaper comic strip every day as a child, he realized Charlie Brown, more than anyone, wanted the things he wanted.
Chief among those wants are "the desire to have friends and the desire to hold your friends close to you."
That hasn’t changed in the years since.
"Come on, what man my age doesn’t relate to Charlie Brown? If Charlie Brown was 67 years old, he’d be me, but he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to have seven (small) children," he said with a laugh.
But he aspires to the qualities of a different character.
"Lucy. I want to be Lucy. Lucy is in charge. She’s got it all figured out," he said. "She pauses for a moment of self-awareness, but not too long."
Baldwin said he admired Schulz's simple line drawings combined with the real circumstances of the characters, embodied by real children's voices when the animated holiday specials emerged in his childhood.
"It’s so complicated and simple at the same time, which is what I think makes it beautiful," he said.
And he admired Schulz's willingness to embrace melancholy, and deeper darknesses, in stories about inner struggle that needed no villains.
"A dog sitting on top of a dog house would have the same impact on you as, like, Nietzsche," he said, looking across the room at Snoopy. "They should have named the dog Nietzsche."
Baldwin's career has had several distinct phases. Early on he played tough husbands and boyfriends in supporting roles including "Married to the Mob" and "Working Girl." He moved on to heroic leading man in "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Shadow."
Downshifting to memorable character parts, he showed his gift for manly speeches in "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "The Departed," and his comedy prowess in seven seasons of "30 Rock" and as a constant host and guest on "Saturday Night Live."
In July 2024 his trial in New Mexico on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western "Rust" fell apart halfway through. A judge dismissed the case on allegations authorities withheld evidence.
"I can’t believe that happened on that day the way it happened," he said. "And it couldn’t have been better for us in certain terms because of the malice and so forth and everything that’s embodied in that whole situation."
The next phase is uncertain. He says he's "just trying to move forward with my wife and my family."
He and wife Hilaria and their seven small kids recently appeared on the TLC reality series "The Baldwins."
He says he has successfully sold his young ones on "Peanuts," especially the Halloween and Christmas specials, as he did with his now nearly 30-year-old daughter Ireland when she was young.
He notices their personalities zig-zagging between the traits of Schulz's characters.
"They’re Charlie Brown, now they’re Snoopy, now they’re Schroeder, now they’re Linus, now they’re Pig-Pen," he said. "They’re Pig-Pen most of the time, I must say."
And their house is full of themed toys.
He keeps a small Snoopy figure among the things in his office, a reminder to try to maintain "love, kindness, patience."
"Peanuts are still kind of like, in that zone," he said. "Let’s just try to be good people."
