James Cromwell Gets Arrested for Animal Welfare

Hollywood actor James Cromwell says he considers arrests during his animal welfare protests to be "no big deal“.

„We've been arrested a few times and it seems to make a difference. It wouldn't be as much fun otherwise", said the 82-year-old, who had glued himself to the counter of a Starbucks branch in May, in an interview with US magazine "Variety“. „And there is progress.“

He sees his white skin colour as a privilege, to which he likely owes the fact that arrests haven't left him with worse memories, the actor explained. Nevertheless, a police officer had once dug the handcuffs in "really hard“: "They were angry at us because a police officer's funeral was taking place at the same time and they thought we had deliberately timed our action to coincide with it." In the back seat of the police car, with his hands behind his back and no room for his knees, he had experienced "bloody awful pain", Cromwell reported.

The actor, who has appeared in "L.A. Confidential", „The Green Mile" and "The Artist" and was nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the warm-hearted farmer in "Babe" (1995), had protested in May against the prices for vegan milk at Starbucks. Because he ultimately left the café himself, he had escaped arrest.

The action, in which he had fixed his hand to the café counter with superglue, "didn't hurt at all", Cromwell recounted. The acetone he used to free himself "is probably not the best thing you can put on your skin" – "it took about ten minutes to get it off."