With a willingness to play just about any kind of character from comedy to horror, Alec Baldwin's career seems to have reached its climax with his impersonation of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. And this fearlessness is what led to his casting as the title character in the animated comedy The Boss Baby.

Alec Baldwin at the premiere of Boss BabyAlec Baldwin at the premiere of Boss Baby

Director Tom McGrath knew Baldwin was perfect for the role, and pitched it to him by sending a clip of an adorable baby with Baldwin's voice spewing his profane "coffee is for closers" speech from Glengarry Glen Ross.

"Alec knows where the comedy is," McGrath says, "Boss Baby is this suave business guy, but when things go wrong, he throws a fit."

And Baldwin is aware that he tends to lean into slightly unhinged characters. "A lot of actors who are phenomenally successful and have the greatest careers like Hanks and Cruise, they don't want to play that negative value," he says. "They want to play the hero, someone that is likeable. So when you become that guy who will do that, then you have no shortage of offers to play that part."

The Boss Baby is the story of two brothers, and Alec felt he could identify, because he has three brothers himself: actors Daniel, William and Stephen. "There was a lot of wrestling to be who would be the boss," he admits about his childhood. "But when you think about it, I really was the boss. I was the oldest son. I would say I was a benevolent dictator in my home as a child. I was a good king!"

He thinks, then adds: "But my brother Stephen was the most loved by my mother. If any of us did anything we got punished, but Stephen never got punished. My brother Stephen would do something, he'd take a toy of ours and use it and break it, and we'd go to get him for it and my mother would grab him and go, 'Don't you touch him!' And she would shield him and protect him."

In the film, the Boss Baby takes over the home, pushing older brother Tim around and leading him into an adventure. But Baldwin loved that there was a deeper theme running under all of it. "The message of the film is that love conquers all," he says. "Although Boss Baby comes in and he's got his agenda and he's very pushy and he's very aggressive and he's very disruptive, he and Tim become a family."

Watch the trailer for Boss Baby: