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There are strange confluences in the lives of actors when, due to
studio head-fakes and the general vagaries of release schedules,
they seem to pop up in several movies at once, causing a spike in
audience awareness. Tobey Maguire stands on such a precipice.
The 24 year-old actor, best known for last summer's Pleasantville,
stars in two of the year's most high-profile holiday releases: the
Civil War epic Ride With the Devil, from Sense & Sensibility
director Ang Lee; and next month's The Cider House Rules, the
long-awaited film adaptation of John Irving's beloved novel. And it
could have been a hat trick if Paramount stuck with their original
late '99 release plan of Wonder Boys (in which Maguire appears
opposite Michael Douglas and Robert Downey, Jr.). Finally enjoying
some well-deserved time off, Maguire recently sat down with
Entertainment Today to talk about his easygoing acting approach and
ongoing admiration for director Ang Lee.
Entertainment Today: So Ride With the Devil represents your second
collaboration with Ang Lee. What was it like working with him again,
especially in Devil's big battle sequences?
Tobey Maguire: Ang's just great. He does a lot of his work in the
casting. And then he just gets you revved up. With the battle stuff,
it was just crazy. Stuff was blowing up around me, really just
flying all about - bang, bang! Horses are getting all skittish, and
it's a lot of choreography: "The cameras have to go here, the shots
have to happen here." And you've only got one or two times to do it
because they have to reset all this stuff. A lot of it is kind of a
surprise because you don't rehearse with all that stuff.
ET: What can you tell us about The Cider House Rules?
TM: I came off of Ride With the Devil, I was kind of tired, wanted
to take a break. And then they told me about this movie. I went out
and met Lasse [Hallstrom], and he's such a wonderful guy and a great
director. And I'm such a fan of his movies that [once] we started
chatting about the movie and the character I just felt like I had to
do it…. And it was a great experience. Great actors, and working
with Lasse, who really makes you feel like you can contribute a lot.
ET: Despite the tremendous boom in "youth movies," there seems to be
a paucity of quality roles for teen actors, young actors. Yet in a
few short years you've managed to appear in some tremendously
diverse and interesting films. What do you look for in the roles you
choose, and what kind of material do you get offered?
TM: For me, I hate to generalize. I like to do all kinds of stuff.
For instance, I thought When Harry Met Sally… was a great romantic
comedy, and I'd love to do something like that. I thought The
Fugitive was a great action movie. I thought The Apostle was an
amazing character study, a small-ish kind of film, and I'd love to
do something like that. There's so many things I want to do. I want
to work with great filmmakers, great actors, great scripts. And
there's no reason for me to do anything short of that, because I'm
24, I don't have a family, I don't need to make tons of money [and]
I'm not dying to get famous.
ET: You were born out here, in Santa Monica, right?
TM: Well, I spent a lot of time there. I was born in Inglewood, I
grew up in Venice. Then Palm Springs, Washington state and Oregon.
ET: So when did the acting bug bite?
TM: (without hesitation) My mom urged me into it. I started
professionally when I was about 14. It took a while for it to catch
on. I was maybe 16 when I decided it something I really wanted to
do.
ET: There seem to be a lot of young actors that already possess a
certain world-weariness. Yet you almost always bring a sense of
bemusement to your roles. Is acting a positive influence in your
life?
TM: It is what I do. I think for the most part it's a pretty good
job to have. It keeps me moving around. I feel unsettled sometimes,
but I'm taking a break now and creating a nice little home for
myself, which I think is very important. If I didn't like it, I
don't think I would do it.
ET: What makes a good director?
TM: Well, I like to watch director's movies and then decide.
(laughs) It's hard to tell if you're going to work with a first time
director, because they could be just a great pitch man. There's so
much to the job. You and I could sit here and talk about it for a
while.… I mean, the [problems] of how to present the story and how
to be innovative visually. What I like to do is [what I did with Ang,]
watch a few of Ang's movies and say, "Wow, he's good. I want to work
with him."
ET: Was there anything you learned about Ang on Ride With the Devil
that you didn't know before? That was different from The Ice Storm?
TM: (long pause) I'm not sure. He certainly showed us things that
he's never shown us before and once again handled them very well,
with great attention to detail. I think he's got the right formula
going, whatever that is. I think he had that on The Ice Storm as
well, but this film just stretched and challenged him in diffrent
ways.
ET: The Ice Storm was a film so rooted in melancholy. What was the
experience like for yourself and the other young actors on the set?
TM: It was a great experience. I was really treated with respect and
the material was so good. It was a different time in my life. I was
20 years old and out on my own in Connecticut, in this hotel room.
And I had a lot of time off on that movie too, so I just had to fill
my days up. I'd just be out in some time. It was interesting and the
work was great.
ET: What do you feel are your strengths as an actor?
(long pause)
ET: Earlier [in group interviews] you touched on the struggles of
your Ride character becoming a man, not having a lot of
relationships and responsibilites that hold you down, and how you
could relate to that. Do you feel that informs your work?
TM: I just try to try to keep an attitude that I don't know what I'm
doing. Not to the point where I'm beating myself up, but I just go
in thinking that I have a lot to learn. And I hope I still have that
attitude 30 years from now.
ET: Like a sponge?
TM: Yeah, going in, being committed, giving everything I have, being
prepared. I mean, I couldn't stress the importance of preparation
enough as an actor. But beyond that, just trying to stay open.
ET: What's preparation for you?
TM: A lot of directors like to handle stuff like that differently,
so I'm open to how the director likes to handle it. I like to get
familiar with material, and what the intentions are, and what we're
doing and how the director sees the film. And then I just hope that
we're all trying to make the same movie.
ET: You've mentioned watching films a lot. You're obviously able to
make a qualitative judgement of directors, find things that attract
you to working with certain people. What kind of films do you enjoy?
TM: All kinds. I love going to the movies. This year,[I liked]
Election - a lot. The Sixth Sense, The Matrix, Fight Club. I think
Fincher's unbelievable, and Ed Norton… I really admire his work. I
gotta be honest with you, I gotta go see it again.
ET: Do you think you can you learn from bad director?
TM: I suppose. It's been a while since I've had the "opportunity" to
work with one -
ET: The problem.
TM: (laughs) Yeah. But I suppose you can learn from anything, right?
With a keen eye for interesting projects and friends like Ang Lee,
it may be a while before Tobey Maguire has to face that dilemma.
© Brent Simon, Entertainment Today |
