INTERVIEW WITH JOSH HARTNETT ('Matthew'):
Aug 31 2004

Why were you so passionate about this project?
I really wanted to work with Paul McGuigan and I liked the original movie.

I was passionate about it because the movie was all about passion. I don't know, I just felt like I could understand. I thought it was a cool, different kind of movie that hadn’t been made like this in a long time. I just thought it was cool.

How different was your interpretation of the character from the original?
Well, there’s not a lot of interpretation involved in the character because he’s mostly a reactive character. So, you just kind of go in there emotionally and just let yourself loose.

How challenging is it to play a reactive character?
It is challenging. It’s challenging to stay on point all the time and try and make sure that you’re in the right place all the time, especially on any given day. In a certain location, we’d have all the big scenes to do in one location, different times in his life. Yeah, it was a challenge in that way. Time constraints were a challenge. But it wasn’t like… I just finished this movie called “Mozart and the Whale” and it wasn’t like playing an autistic man. That was a huge challenge in a different rite.

This character is antisocial. How did you find something sympathetic about him?
I found him sympathetic in my reading of it, so I just played him the way that I heard it - or read it.

How many times have you been asked about obsessive love recently?
Hmm… 7,542 in the last two days. But it’s good.

And have you experienced obsessive love?
Yeah, I have, but never to this extent. I think what the movie is about is this fine line between love and obsession. I think that love, true love or whatever they call it, is just requited obsession. If you look at what you do when you’re first in love with someone, then it’s always pretty ridiculous and it is a little bit obsessive. I think everybody experiences some of that in their life, but not to the extent of the Alex character [played by Rose Byrne].

How does Wicker Park differentiate itself from the French version?
I don't know. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to [the original]. After I saw it and I knew I liked the French version, I didn’t watch it again. I tried not to pay any attention to what the similarities would be because I wanted this one to stand on its own. I don't know, I haven’t seen it since. I know that there are certain things like the visuals, and the characters. I think we act quite a bit differently, the ending is different. I don't know, but you don’t want to give too much away.

Does this version tie things up more?
I’ll just ask you this. Who did Vincent Cassell end up with at the end of “The Apartment?” He ended up with Monica Bellucci. I think ours is a little bit more true to life, a little bit more true to fashion. I just felt like when I watched “The Apartment,” I was like, “What?” I mean, I liked the movie, but the ending really confused me. I understood it intellectually, what he was trying to say with it, but I was like, “You can’t be- - that’s just wrong to flip that at the very end for no reason.” So we just did it this way. We thought it worked better.

How did you come to this project?
I read the script, watched the movie, and then kind of said, “Yeah, it’s a good deal.” But there was somebody else directing it and I wasn’t that interested in the project at the time. And then when McGuigan signed on to do it, I saw “Gangster No. 1” and I said, “Yeah I really want to work with this guy.”

Can you talk about “Mozart and the Whale?”
Playing a man with Asperger's is a difficult challenge. But playing anybody who is going to represent, in a way, the average person’s idea of what people with this specific disorder or whatever might have is a huge challenge because you don’t want to…it has to be right on. You can’t be over the top. I [would] just always ask this woman psychologist who we had with us every day, “Am I diagnosable? Am I in the right spot?” And aside from that, just trying to create the character in the midst of this love story. This is a true story about him meeting his wife. It’s a big responsibility.

Was "Mozart" a draining role?
It gave so much back, I don't know how to explain it. When you're feeling challenged, I don't know if you guys ever had a deadline or something you had to meet on a story that you really were involved in, you really didn’t want to let it end, and you were working 20 hours a day just to finish it in time. Yeah, it’s draining, but at the same time, it’s so rewarding that you don’t feel like you missed that time when it’s over.

Did it change your perception of things in general?
I think every movie I do gives me a new perspective on different things.

How hard was it to get that made?
For a while, when I took a year off - when I took nine months off to get “Mozart and the Whale” together - it was kind of stressful because I was worried that nobody would put the money up for it, for “Mozart.” And I kind of put all my eggs in that basket.

And if it didn’t work out, it would be a lot of wasted time. But that’s the kind of risk that I guess I like to take. Actors have this all the time where they’re worried about whether they’ll ever work again. Fortunately for me, I have a whole lot of stuff in my life that I like to do and I guess I just don’t think about it as much. But when there is something I really want to do and I’m really passionate about, it’s nerve wracking waiting for it to happen.

What’s your character in “Sin City?”
I play a kind of unnamed character. I’m only in it for two… The reason I got into it is because Robert Rodriguez needed to get the rights from Frank Miller. Frank had felt like he had been duped before. He didn’t want to give the rights away to his baby, “Sin City.” I had worked with Robert before and I told him at the time, anytime he ever wanted me to do anything, I’d be up for it. And I was about to go shoot “Mozart.” He was like, “Well, just come down here for a couple days. We’ll shot a scene and show Frank that we’re going to do this right.” So I went down there and then Frank gave him the rights after that. Then Robert called me back after I got done with “Mozart” and said, “Can you come down and just do one more scene for the end of the movie.” So I’m just in the beginning and the end.

Is it a scene from the comics?
Mm-hmm. He’s a much bigger character not in this story. They call him any number of things, from The Ladykiller to…In the script, we call him The Man. So it’s kind of like take what you will from that.

How was working with Robert Rodriguez?
I’ve worked with him twice now.

But this time he’s using different technology.
Yeah, but he’s still doing the same [things]. He’s still working with the same crew, he’s still working in Austin. He’s still doing it exactly the way he wants to do it all the time.

Sort of like you?
I guess, but I don’t have a studio where I live and I don’t have a whole bundle of people working for me at all times. He’s doing it his way and I appreciate that. I like him for it.

Have you been approached for “Superman” again?
I was approached a couple of times for it. I’m not going to do it.

They tried again?
They tried to get me a couple of times and it just wasn’t for me.

A big franchise doesn’t hold any interest to you?
Depending on what it was. If it was a franchise that I thought… If the character was up my alley, I’d do it. But there aren’t that many characters the big studios have been making that have been intriguing to me.

Are there any books you would like to buy and star in?
Unfortunately, there are people that snap up books before they’re even printed and every book that I’ve gone, “My God, somebody should make this into a movie,” somebody already is. Unfortunately, sometimes it’ll sit in development for years and years and years.

Can you name any specific books?
I love that book “Perfume.”

Is Tom Tykwer doing that?
Well, it was going to be Julian Schnabel for a while directing it. And I went up to his studio and tried to coerce him into casting me. It’s definitely not a role that people would really consider me for usually, so I just wanted to see if I could get my foot in the door. That was a couple years ago. And then the movie went to this guy who did “Run Lola Run.” Who knows where it’s going to go from here, but I’ve got other things that I gotta do. We’re doing “Rum Diary,” which is a Hunter Thompson book. That’s one that I really wanted to do and luckily got involved with it at the right time. And “Black Dahlia.” Same thing, another book I really wanted to be a part of. And we’re doing that, too. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.

When do you start “Black Dahlia” and “Rum Diary?”
Probably next year. “Black Dahlia’s” going to come first, right after “Lucky Slevin.” And then “Rum Diary” is going to come after that, shooting in San Juan.

What’s the next movie you and your “Wicker Park” director are doing together?
“Lucky Slevin,” that’s what it’s called. We can’t talk about who’s in it yet, can we? Because they haven’t officially signed on yet, but it’s a pretty amazing cast, great script and crappy director [Hartnett makes that comment as director McGuigan enters the room].