Daniel Baldwin has won an award for his new documentary, the first ever film or TV project to feature all four of the famous Baldwin brothers.
“My Promise to P.J.,” directed by Daniel Baldwin, was honored for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 2021 Garden State Film Festival last week. The film chronicles how Baldwin promised family friend P.J. Raynor that if Raynor got sober, they would both do the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Raynor overdosed and died, but Baldwin chose to honor Raynor by going on an intensive training program, losing 58 pounds and carrying P.J.’s ashes as he ran with the bulls in July 2019.
The film, which premiered on WCNY last year as part of the virtual Syracuse International Film Festival, featured interviews with Daniel, Alec, Billy and Stephen Baldwin, along with Raynor’s family, actor Andy Dick, and others. Footage included scenes of Daniel Baldwin working out in a Syracuse-area YMCA gym, and stories of his own struggles with an addiction to cocaine.
“I’m very proud of him. I’m very proud of you, Daniel, because I’ve never made a film. I’ve never made produced, and wrote, and directed a film, and saw it through that whole process. I mean, I directed a film once and it was a complete waste of my time. I do not have the ability to be a director. I learned that pretty quickly,” Alec Baldwin said in an Instagram video, referencing the 2003 film he directed, “Shortcut to Happiness.”
“So congratulations to my brother Daniel, I’m really proud of you. Maybe you’ll start to move down the gameboard and advance a little bit as a director, become a very prominent director... and give me a job, so I can pay my bills because I have six kids,” he added with a smile. “Congratulations to Daniel.”
Alec Baldwin added that he hopes Daniel will sell the film soon for distribution to a network or streaming service so more people can see it.
About the Baldwin brothers:
Daniel Baldwin, 60, moved to Central New York a few years ago to be closer to his mother, Camillus breast cancer research fund raiser Carol M. Baldwin. He hosted a radio show on ESPN Syracuse for two years and recently announced plans to open a drug rehabilitation center in either Onondaga or Oswego County with help from his brothers. He also continues to act in front of the camera, with more than 100 TV and film credits including “Homicide: Life on the Streets,” “Cold Case,” and “Bodily Harm”; his directorial credits include 2001′s “Fall: The Price of Silence” and 2014′s “The Wisdom to Know the Difference”
Alec Baldwin, 63, is the oldest of the brothers and is best known for roles in “30 Rock,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Departed,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Beetlejuice,” and “The Boss Baby.” He was nominated for an Oscar for 2004′s “The Cooler” and won three Emmy Awards.
Billy Baldwin, 57, who is typically credited as “William Baldwin,” has appeared in films and TV shows like “Backdraft,” “Sliver,” “A Pyromaniac’s Love Story,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “The Purge,” “MacGyver,” and “Gossip Girl.”
Stephen Baldwin, 54, has appeared in movies and TV shows like “The Usual Suspects,” “Bio-Dome,” “The Flintstones in Viva Las Vegas,” “Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice,” “Celebrity Apprentice,” and “Celebrity Big Brother.” His daughter Hailey Bieber is a model and married to singer Justin Bieber.
All four brothers were born and raised on Long Island, where their parents moved after meeting at Syracuse University. Alec, Billy, Daniel and Stephen still frequently visit the Syracuse area to see family, including their mother and sisters, and support the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund.