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Shy, introspective, reluctant, Seabiscuit's Tobey
Maguire is odds-on favourite to become the next thinking man's
superstar, whether he likes it or not
Tobey Maguire is not in the least tickled by fame. Although often
depicted as shy, it's revealing to look back through the interviews
he has given since first breaking through on Ang Lee's The Ice Storm
and Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry six years ago. In 1998, he
held forth at length on the difficulties of his itinerant childhood
(he became so nervous at having to make new friends at so many
schools that for a while he "threw up every morning, as if I was
pregnant"), and the pressures of acting as a teenager ("I had a kind
of semi-breakdown. I decided I needed to quit and go home to live
with my room."). But like the actors he idolized growing up – Pacino,
De Niro, Hoffman – Maguire soon came to the view that while his work
was paramount, the celebrity which his talent had started to create
was nothing more than an unfortunate by-product. By the time he was
catapulted into major stardom with Sam Raimi's inspired casting of
him as Spiderman, his responses to questions had become shorter,
less revealing, and far more defensive.
This caution is very much on display at the UK press conference for
Seabiscuit, the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book
about a clapped out racehorse and struggling jockey who combine with
an equally damaged trainer and owner to create an unlikely sporting
phenomenon. Seabiscuit was a bona fide celebrity of the 1930s
depression years, capturing the hearts of America at a time when its
people desperately needed the succor of symbolic
triumph-over-adversity success stories. In 1938, the incredible
victories of this undersized, unfancied racehorse and oversized,
half-blind jockey filled more US newspaper column inches than
Roosevelt, Mussolini or Hitler. And with America now undergoing a
turbulent era of a different sort, Gary Ross's uncynical,
accomplished, old-fashioned-epic of a screen version has keyed into
a similar wave of sentiment. Seabiscuit has surprised many film
industry insiders by outperforming many of this year's shoot-em-up
sequels to become the sleeper action movie hit of the summer. A
return to straightforward narrative, a quartet of old-school heroes
that struggle against their flaws to reveal a basic goodness, and a
series of truly breath-taking race sequences are the formula which
has made the movie a word-of-mouth winner, and given Tobey Maguire
his second major blockbuster hit – another one in the eye for those
studio bigwigs who worried that he didn't have the charisma to
become a big-name draw.
Nevertheless, the actor is not about to drop the fencing game he
plays with the press. Where director Ross is ebullient, forthcoming
and jovial, Maguire is guarded and suspicious. Any difficult topics
(such as the fabricated rumors about him being fired and then
rehired prior to filming Spiderman 2) are met with a piercing stare,
a long pause, and then a clipped, polite and deliberately measured
response. Short shrift is given to one hack who dares comment on the
risk he took in taking on the role of Red Pollard, speculating that
a flop might have affected his place in the new Hollywood pecking
order – ("Uh, I didn't hear a question there," growls Tobey, after
another awkward pause. "Just a statement.").
An hour or so later, Empire sits down for a one-on-one chat, during
which Maguire repeatedly drags at an almost comically giant cigar
(which psychologists would probably interpret as the most literal of
smokescreens). The studied reserve remains in place, and the pace of
his conversation remains slow and deliberate, which, given his
obvious intelligence, could easily be a neat trick to reduce the
number of questions he actually has to answer. Maguire is nothing if
not a smart operator, as you would expect from a 28-year-old who is
able to give such carefully nuanced performances even in big-budget
movies.
He can also be admirably honest – prepared to admit that there is
more to his character than meets the public eye. "I'm more outgoing
than I am publicly," he says, when asks if his 'shyness' can be a
hindrance in a profession such as acting, "so it's not such a
challenge. I like to perform and I like to tell stories – I'm much
different personally. Not that I'm not truthful in interviews or
when I'm making a public appearance or whatever, but my point of
view is that I'm there to do a job." He reflects on his last
sentence and grimaces. "Public appearance - what a terrible phrase
that is!"
Is he actually uncomfortable with the notion of celebrity?
"I definitely don't have much interest in it. A lot of people
embrace that and want to be known for their personality, and that's
just not interesting for me. I could go out and wear loud clothes
and make jokes or do things onstage in public, but I'm not an
attention-seeker in that way. I do feel a responsibility to promote
the films that I'm in, but that's about it."
It may seem odd that a boy who doesn't crave attention found himself
in front of a movie camera, but even though he now thrives on his
work, it was actually his mother who originally encouraged him to
take acting classes – the young Tobey Maguire was on his way to
becoming a chef. "I was going to take home economics, and she gave
me a hundred bucks to take drama instead. I think she wanted to be
an actress herself and maybe she saw or thought she saw qualities in
me and wanted me to realize her dreams for her. She's very proud
now." Ironically, it is the grounded side of Maguire's character
that makes him so appealing to directors. Gary Ross first worked
with him on Pleasantville, and had no qualms about casting him again
in Seabiscuit. "He's going to be huge," gushes the director. "People
are chasing this guy now because he's a bankable star but he can
also act, and not every bankable star can do that. There also aren't
that many talented people in his generation.
There's Leo, Jake Gyllenhaal, and who else? All the right things are
important to Tobey - I don't think he cares that much about being in
movies. He cares about the work, but not about being famous. He's
not mired in a bunch of nonsense. Chris Cooper (who plays
Seabiscuit's trainer) said that for his age, he is the most relaxed
and yet focused actor that he'd ever seen. I'm his biggest fan - I'd
work with him forever."
Ross also thinks Maguire's background has enabled him to bring an
unusual depth to his characters. "He's aggressive and confident, but
also very self-effacing, which is an interesting combination. He's
been on his own a lot since he was 13-14 years old, and I don't
think it's any secret that he got himself sober at an age where most
people are just starting to get loaded. He is mature beyond his
years. For Seabiscuit, he did this amazing chart of his character's
intentions and circumstances for each scene in the movie. They were
like these elegant little haikus – I am this, the world is this
right now, I want to do this. I would go and crib off it myself."
Though he is clearly uncomfortable with drawing too many parallels
between himself and his characters, Maguire agrees that there are
parallels with Red Pollard. "I relate to the character in terms of
being somewhat disengaged, and being self-protective, and I also
relate to the idea of breaking down those walls and re-engaging. I'm
definitely drawing from myself when I'm playing roles, but it's not
always that specific. Red is also a very different person from me,
but when I read the script it affected me and I believed that the
film could find and connect to an audience. It's rare that you get a
script and you well up while you're reading it, but that's what was
happening."
There does seem to be a theme that runs through the characters Tobey
Maguire takes on – Peter Parker and Red Pollard for example, are
both awkward misfits who overcome their failings to achieve success
and adulation. "I suppose," he concedes. "And before Spider-man it
was always the 'wise beyond his years' type of character. But I'm
just trying to do good stories, and if there's a theme that runs
through the roles I choose, then that just so happens. It's not for
any reason."
How does a self-protective person deal with the craziness of
Hollywood, where reticence can frequently be a career hindrance.
Does the flamboyance of film-making seem strange to him sometimes?
"Yeah, I get those feelings. It is strange, making movies – it's a
weird profession. But my experience of Hollywood is not an
outsider's perspective. I was born in Los Angeles so to me it's just
the town that I live in, and the business is just a business." It
must have been a help to observe close friend Leonardo DiCaprio deal
with the maelstrom of success at a very young age. "I think he
handled himself with a lot of grace, so it was good to be around
that. And I'm much better off that it happened to me later. I don't
know how I would have reacted if it had happened eight or nine years
earlier, but I'm glad it took the time it did."
Has life changed much since the global success of Spiderman? 'I
guess there's more paparazzi and more people recognize me, so some
little things have changed, but I live my life pretty much in the
same way. There's more convenience and luxury – and more
opportunities in my profession."
This last comment is telling. For no-one should mistake Tobey
Maguire's indifference to fame as a lack of commitment to his trade.
Just the physical demands he is prepared to put on himself are
testament enough to his dedication - he lost 21 pounds from an
already slight frame to get himself jockey-thin for Seabiscuit.
Then, as well as grueling 14-hour-a-day shoots for Ross, he'd be
working out several times a week, while restricting himself to 1500
calories a day to maintain his shape. "It's more of a mental than a
physical challenge," he says. "You have to be responsible and
consistent, but you're sitting there at your meal and thinking 'God,
do I really have to eat this kind of meal day after day?'. But real
jockeys have it much more difficult because they don't have an
off-season – I've got to make it through eight months and then it
all goes away, but they have to make weight every single day. If I
cheat for a day or two and gain a couple of pounds then I can make
up for it later. They can't do that ever." Real jockeys, on the
other hand, don't suddenly have to morph their beanpole figures into
the kind of physique suitable to play a superhero – Seabiscuit was
immediately followed by Spiderman 2 in Maguire's schedule, and
rumour has it that the stunts in the sequel were a lot more
demanding of its lead actor. "The action is going to be a lot
better," he agrees. "But I think the story is even stronger too –
it's a lot more personal. In this picture we all had the opportunity
to see if we could improve."
Tobey Maguire's determination to drive his acting to the limits
don't stop at the extremes of Seabiscuit and Spiderman. He says he'd
even be tempted to take on a role which required him to play fat,
Jake La Motta-style. "That would be amazing," he beams hungrily,
relaxing into a rare laugh. "I haven't read any scripts like that,
but I'll look forward to them."
© Ed Halliwell, Empire Magazine |
