| On a Deep Sea Quest for THE LADY IN THE WATER With Actor Paul Giamatti |
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| Wednesday, 19 July 2006 | |
 REPORTED BY Joseph B. MauceriRunning from his past and miles from his purpose, Cleveland Heep, played by actor Paul Giamatti, is a former doctor taking refuge as the superintendent of The Cove, a run-of-the-mill apartment complex in the Philadelphia suburbs, where he buries himself in the busy routine of quick fixes and all but anonymous interactions with the world around him. But Clevelandís attempts to suppress his tremendous pain and sadness have manifested into a stutter, leaving the other tenants to regard him, as Paul Giamatti describes, as ìa bit of a sad figure ñ a guy with a cloud over him Paul Giamatti (Cleveland Heep) has a diverse roster of award winning and critically acclaimed performances. Paul has established himself as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. His recent performance in Ron Howards ìCinderella Manî earned Academy and Golden Globe Award nominations as well as a SAG Award and Broadcast Film CriticsíAward for Best Supporting Actor. Giamatti also earned critical reviews for his performance in Alexander Payneís ìSideways,î including Best Actor from the Independent Spirit Awards, New York Film Critics Circle and a Golden Globe nomination. Giamatti first captured recognition in Betty Thomasíhit comedy ìPrivate Parts.î His extensive list of film credits includes Milos Formans ìMan on the Moonî; Julian Goldbergers The Hawk is Dying, Tim RobbinsíThe Cradle Will Rock; F. Gary Grayís ìThe Negotiatorî; Steven Spielbergís ìSaving Private Ryanî; Peter Weirís ìThe Truman Showî; Mike Newellís ìDonnie Brascoî; Todd SolondzíìStorytellingî; Tim Burtonís ìPlanet of the Apesî; ìDuets,î opposite Gwyneth Paltrow; the animated film ìRobotsî; and ìBig Mommas House,î co-starring Martin Lawrence. He also appeared in James Foleyís ìConfidenceî; and John Wooís ìPaycheck.î This summer, Giamatti lends his vocal talent to the John A. Davis animated family adventure ìThe Ant Bully,î alongside Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep, and also stars opposite Edward Norton and Jessica Biel in ìThe Illusionist,î directed by Neil Burger. He is currently in production on the Weinstein Companys ìThe Nanny Diaries,î an adaptation of the best-selling novel directed by the team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Later this year, Giamatti begins the David Dobkin holiday film ìFred Clausî with Vince Vaughn and Kevin Spacey. Most recently, he wrapped production on the action film ìShoot Em Up,î written and directed by Michael Davis, with co-stars Clive Owen and Monica Belluci, and in 2007 he will headline the voice cast of Rob Zombie Presents the ìHaunted World of El Superbeastoî as the villain, Dr. Satan. The 2-D animated comedy, based on the Spookshow International comic book "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto" created by Zombie, follows the exploits of a washed-up Mexican wrestler in the mythic world of Monsterland. FEARS: How was the character interpreted? PAUL GIAMATTI: Well, I guess to some extent, it was my interpretation of the script. But everything was in the script. Its great. I mean, you know, the guys a doctor but you only hear that once. And you never hear it again. It becomes significant at the end of the movie, but thatÖ it was important. There were times Night would say to me, Dont forget the guy is a doctor. Because I would react in a way that seemed more like a janitor. It was important to keep in mind how this guy behaved. We had this kind of back-story, that he was from U-Cal Berkeley, a slightly crunchy kind of guy with the glasses and stuff, but mostly the script is there. He rehearses a lot and it gives you the opportunity to get a lot of detail into it, instead of just diving into it with no rehearsal and throw the thing together as it goes along. He lets you build the detail into it. The rehearsal time is nice. I mean, Im fine not doing it too ñ that that can bring a whole different thing to it. The story had to be so clear, and Night wanted to make sure that everyone was telling the story as clearly as possible because if they werent, there was kind of no point to it. If the audience isnt following the story, then theyre literally going to miss the whole point of the movie. FEARS: Do you love of books as much as your character? Did reading any genre fiction help inform the character? PAUL GIAMATTI: Yes, I love science and all that stuff. It definitely gave me the opportunity to sit around and read wacky books about ghosts and weirdness and UFOs, so it gave me an excuse to indulge in that stuff, which was good. It read weird stuff, like books on Big Foot. It didnt have any bearing on the movie. I read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft, even though it didnt necessarily have anything to do with the movie, it felt like the right idea. The creepy element, and the whole idea that theres this whole weird menacing world going on while the normal world is also going on. It felt right. That whole pre-historical thing in the beginning of the movie [the credits] is something that was in the script and then he didnt want to do. Then he decided to do it again, and Im glad he did, because I like the whole mythic caveman kind of thing. Its great! FEARS: Do you feel that books and stories still important for kids? PAUL GIAMATTI: Books and stories are definitely still important for children. The story you get from a book or someone telling it is more usefulÖ TV and all that is fine, but I think sometimes the story when told is great because you can imagine the whole thing in your own head. Its definitely important, yeah. FEARS: How did you come to the role? PAUL GIAMATTI: Night was very secretive about the script. I met him for lunch, and he was real cagey about the script and what it was about. He just wanted to hang out and have lunch. It was pleasant, but he was real cagey. Then he sent me the script, and I read it. It was weird, but it was really good [laughs]. It was really odd, in a good way. I was like, ìThis is just weird, and he can pull this off itll be cool.î FEARS: Didnt really need to see a script? PAUL GIAMATTI: I would have been sold anyway. I would like to have known what was going to be going on. Id like to know Im not going to be naked and painted like an idiot, or something like that. I would have been sold anyway, because I like his movies. FEARS: Itís a complex plot. Did you initially get his vision? PAUL GIAMATTI: He didnt explain it to me and I had to read it. He wouldnt tell me what it was about, and I didnt ask. He said, Its a fairy tale, thats all he said to me. This movie is like a fairy tale. I was like, All rightÖ I mean I understood it; its an ambitious idea. Its ambitious to make the main point to the movie the story and to literally make the action of the movie the unfolding of the plot, in two ways. The plot unfolds, because all anybody does in the movie is sit around and tell each other the plot. Its a really weird thing to try to do. But he pulls it off, I think. A lot of times with the writer-director guys, it ends up being like what you thought it was going to look like because its so specific and Night is so specific about it to begin with. FEARS: THE LADY IN THE WATER does have these apocalyptic and philosophical underpinnings. Did you discuss that at all in preparing for the film? PAUL GIAMATTI: [We discussed it] sometimes. I mean, definitely. You know, he wants it to have a big, cosmic kind of message to it. When that eagle comes down in the end, its kind of a myth more than a bedtime story. He really wants to create kind of this weird, modern myth. [Joseph Campbell] Theres a lot of Joseph Campbell stuff. I mean, I dont know whether he intends that, or hes consciously doing that, but theres an awful lot of it in there. Id be interested to know. [When you interview him] ask him, because hed never cop to that, to me. FEARS: You spend several scenes underwater. Did you do your own stunts? PAUL GIAMATTI: Right. I did all that stuff. Thats me [laughs]. Its all cut, so I didnt have to hold my breath for the length of that sequence. But there were times when I had to hold my breath for a long time, definitely. I think its still in the movie, that part when I have to breathe out of that glass [underwater]. It gives a surprising amount of air. I was amazed by how much air I got out it. I was like, This is going to look ridiculous, Im not going to be able to do this. But I learned how to do it, and you can actually get a lot of air out of it, which is convincing [on-camera]. I enjoyed doing that, it was a lot of fun, actually. FEARS: Night shot this film in sequence. Was that particularly helpful for this story? PAUL GIAMATTI: I think that was probably pretty helpful. Ive never done that before, and sometimes, in ways, its actually OK to not shoot it in sequence because you get the hard parts over with early. But I think for the clarity of this story it was important. FEARS: How was it to working with Bryce Howard on this film, especially being that youíve worked with her father, Ron Howard, on several occasions? Did you speak to Ron at all while working on LADY? PAUL GIAMATTI: He was like, What are you doing with my daughter in this movie? He was a little bit like, Ö So what, exactlyÖ? She was great. Shes fantastic, and she is an incredibly open and vivid and vibrant person and shes just really fun. Shes a really good actress. It was meant to be, I mean, the holding-close; theres meant to be a somewhat sexual undertone to some of it. I mean, that theres a kind of attraction and it works that way, then it turns into a father/daughter thing. So that makes it a little bit interesting, but she was great. She is incredibly skillful, and shes one of those people who makes you better. She sharpens you up a lot. FEARS: How was it acting with Night? PAUL GIAMATTI: I had seen him in his other movies, and I always thought he was good. I never thought about the fact he wasnt an actor or anything. Hes really good, and hes totally natural. Hes very hard on himself, wants to make sure that he does a good job. Hes interested in it and he has a good time doing it so it actually kind of never occurred to me that he wasnt an actor. There were times I was like, Damn, hes a good-looking man, Its like, Wow, god. Hes got more on the ball that I do as an actor. He can just kind of stand there with a smoldery look and I was like, God, I wish I wish I could do that. I think the way he looks, and his naturalness, lends himself to being an actor. FEARS:Is it any different working with a writer-director? PAUL GIAMATTI: If the guy is good, like these guys are, its actually much better. Because they know it better than you are ever going to know it. So they have a really sure hand on it, and it just feels comfortable. It just feels really comfortable to me. Somebody like Alexander Payne and Night, theres a real comfort level with it. Theyre not trying to negotiates something with another writer; theyre got the whole together, and thats all taken care of. You know what I mean? So thats great, you feel like you can do your job and they can really help you. FEARS: Two of my favorite films so far this year are THE LADY IN THE WATER and ìThe Illusionist,î and you star in both. Do you enjoy working in these fantastical worlds? PAUL GIAMATTI: It may not actually have happened that way. Whats weird about that movie is, it has a twist but the actual twist might be that thats not the twist. That may not be what happened. [The Illusionist] gave me the opportunity to play a different character. I got to have an accent, wear a cool hat, have a pipe and stuff like that, and jump out of carriages, yell at peopleÖ it was great! [laughs] That was really fun, doing the period thing. You dont get to do that very much anymore. FEARS: And with LADY? PAUL GIAMATTI: None of its real. Its a story. None of it is actually happening. Its kind of weird in that way. I play an ordinary guy, but [the fantastical elements] give me free rein. But back to Illusionist -- The interesting thing about The Illusionist is, that at the end of that I never thought of that thing. I mean, the director said that to me later that, you know, it could all be in my characters head in the end, that whole thing. I hadnt thought of that at all, and that was kind of cool. Because I thought, Oh, that pretty cut and dried, but its not, really. FEARS:Youíre in another fantastical project, Rob Zombieís ìEl Superbeasto.î Who was it working with Rob and doing the voice for an animated character? PAUL GIAMATTI: Yeah, I recorded this thing called ìThe Haunted World of El Superbeasto,î which is basically this really dirty cartoon. Its just a lot of sex and drugs, and violenceÖ that is good! [laughs] I think we need a cartoon like that. Its like those 70s cartoons, like Fritz the Cat and stuff like that. I play this guy, Dr. Satan, who is trying to take over the world and may be gay, orÖ something. I dont know. Working with Rob Zombie was great. Hes a really smart guy, and the script is very funny. We had a good time doing that, it was the most fun Ive had doing one of those kinds of things [voice over work]. I did actually got to interact with the other actors, which was interesting ñ they dont usually do that in cartoons. But I think he [Zombie] thoughtÖ he wanted that feeling of people screwing around together a little bit and it has a really snarky feel to it. Its like a bunch of guys making dirty jokes. I worked with this guy, Tom Poppa, whos one of the writers. Hes a comedian, and he does the voice of El Superbeasto, the Mexican wrestler in it. The detective is one of those masked, Mexican wrestlers and he goes around doing drugs and shooting people and screwing people. [Rob Zombie] wants a theatrical release for it. Definitely. Its an unusual thing. Somebody hasnt done a dirty feature cartoon in a long time. FEARS:Whats coming up next? PAUL GIAMATTI: I did ìEl Superbeasto,î and I have ìThe Ant Bullyî coming up. I play an exterminator. ìThe Illusionist.î And I did a thing called ìThe Amazing Screw-on Head,î which is a cartoon. Its a half hour cartoon for the Sci-Fi Channel and its about a Civil War era secret agent. LINK THIS ARTICLE             |
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