Desperately Speaking Josh

Ever since Pearl Harbor we've gotten a few (thousand) letters about Josh Hartnett. We headed to his hometown in Minnesota to search for one of Hollywood's mosh elusive stars. BY ALI GAZAN

I'll admit I have a small crush on Josh Hartnett.Okay maybe it's more like I'd change my last name for him,But beyond his steller looks,I dont' know much about him except that he plays a sergeant in the new movie Black Hawk Down,and a guy who gives up girls for Lent in March's 40 days and 40 nights.This man of mystery doesn't do tons of interviews,and he's pretty MIA on th ecelebrity party scene.So I figured the best way to learn about the 23-year-old actor would be to make a pilgrimage to Minnesota and talk to people who knew him when...

Welcome to MIN-EH-SOH-TA(GOTTA LOVE THE ACCENT)

When I land in Minneapolis at 8:30 a.m.,it's only 33 degrees and I'm freezing.I can't believe Josh hasn't moved to L.A. yet!He must really like snow.All I can think about is how amazing it would be to run into him.I know he still lives here-he moved across the river from St.Paul-so there's definitely a chance of a run-in.

I meet up with Bruce,the photographer who's chauffeuring me around.He's rediculously cool and an obsessive Diet Coke drinker just like me.Perfect.I jump in his red Subaru Outback and we're off to th eYouth Performance Company(YPC),a community theater group for actors between the ages of 14 and 22,where JOsh performed his first play.

I never would of noticed YPC if I hadn't been looking for it.It's a nondescript white concrete building that has a small sign displaying its name.I sit across from Sherilyn Howe,YPC's assistant director,on overstuffed animal-print chairs in the brightly painted audition room.Ooh-maybe Josh sat in these exact seats!"We get lovely e-mails from 14-year-old girls asking if this is really where he did shos,"laughs Sherily,who worked with Josh.

I remember reading that he only got into acting after a torn ligament ended his football days during highschool.His aunt encouraged him to audition at YPC.Sherily tells me he ended up doing five shows there, including Tom Sawyer and Incident at Little Rock.

During a show,Josh had Sherilyn for his "secret friend"(think secret santa minus christmas).HE completely forgot about it.So when it was time to exchange gifts at the cast party,Josh raided the kitchen and gave her a stick of butter,a bag of silvered almongs,and some glow tape.JOsh made it up to her,though-sort of."The next week he gave me $20 worth of candy,"seys Sherilyn."The best part was the Snot,a big nose with green sour-apple candy that you sucked out of it.He thought that was really funny."

Jacie Knight,YPC's casting director,picked Josh to play Huck Finn when he was 15."He had the essence of Huck that little edge,"says Jacie.She knows him well-Josh told Movieline that out of all the characters he's played,he's most like Huck.Jacie adds that he took direction well and was super serious about his acting.I've read articles where movie directors say the same thing.See-he is more than just eye candy!

Still Jacie never thought he'd bge a big name in Hollywood."He's strikingly good-looking,so I thought htat he'd maybe do a soap oprah,"she explains."He's just not driven to be a movie star.Of course we wre thrilled for him."

"We actually all take time off from work to see his movies,"adds Sherilyn."It was very difficult watching the love scene in PearlHarbor becuase we went laughing histarically.We're a horrible audience becuase we were like,'Oh look at his hair!'"

Gettin' Spicy

Bruce and I are starving.So we make our next stop Tandoor and Indian restaurant in Bloomington,where Josh went for a dinner party in honor of a friend's wedding.When I read about the sighting in th egossip pages of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune,I pictured a dimly lit,swanky restaurant with wannabe-model waitresses.But it's just an inconspiciuous place in a strip mall off the highway.

Bruce and I plop down at a table before making our way toward the all-you-can-eat luch buffet set up in the back.While I much on some naan(Indian bread), the owners of Tandoor Sarita and Kul Kalra,tell us about their Josh experience.

"He was dressed really casually,so nobody recognized him,"explains Sarita,who received a phone call from thegroom a few days before the paryt to warn her that somone fauous would be attending,though he didn't tell her who.

"He like's to keep a low profile,"adds Kul."You wouldn't believe how nice he is."Josh took pictures with the Kalras,the kitchen staff,and anyone else who asked.They even gave me a photo.The Kalras say he loves Indian food,especially tandoor chicken.I didn't try that-I'm a veggie and read on the Website Josh Hartnett Fever(www.joshhartnettfever.tripod.com)that he was too Apparently not!But I like a guy who branches out beyond burgers and fries.

BACK TO SCHOOL

South High School,where Josh attended 11th and 12th grades and graduated in 1996,is located in one of the rougher scetions of Minneapolis,but the tree-lined streets make it look like a suburban residential neightborhood.The school's large and has a very deverse student boundryof more than 2,000.Above the entrence there's a white banner with "Welcome to South High School"in orange block letters.

We check in at the security desk and walk through the orange and brown cafeteria to the main office.It's around 11 a.m.,and the office is packed with students and faculty Zee Gregerson,South's public relations consultant,shows me the page of Josh stickes she found in a magazin.She keeps them in her desk drawer.Pretty funny.

I meet up with Louise Bormann,former director of the theater program and go the her class romm to see what she knows.She teaches English now and has piles of books,like Catcher in th eRye and The Poisonwood Bible,on her shelves.Her walls are comvered with laminated posters from the shows she directed,and she points out the ones from the musicals JOsh was in-Gys and Dolls and West Side Story.He can sing and dance too?

"He was a phenomenal,"says Louise."He did all these great lifts and threw people around."

During Guys and Dolls,he also had a kissing scene.Louise always coaches the students through their first stage smooch,but it seems that Josh didn't need any help.When he and his female co-star locked lips,the girl was so flustered she dropped the piece of paper in her hand.

"The girls oved him,"she continues,laughing."He used to hang out at one spot on the balcony overlooking the cafeteria everyday ,and the girls would go on the other side and go 'Oooh.'But he had a girlfriend I think he's still with her."

What?He has a girlfriend?Definitlya bummer.But all Louise knows is minor details about her,like she did theater with Josh and they've been together for a while.

Time for second period

I head out to meet other teachers who knew Josh.Jogn Rozeboon taught him during his senior year of honors physics.He must be pretty smart if he was in honor class.

I also chat with Neil Anderson,the swim coach from 1979to 1999.Josh didn't swim,but three fo his buddies did.Neil says he only got close to Josh when the captain of the team(who was Josh's good friend)commited suicide during there senior year.

"Those boys had a hard time dealing with the whole thing,"says Neil."It was totally out of the blue."That must have been devastating for Josh to lose a good friend,especially in his senior yar of high school.

"Josh was a really resectful,quiet kid,"says Neil,leaning back in his chair in his small,cluttered office."I knew he has good looks-you wished you looked like him when you were a senior in high school.But he was really private.I never thought he's wind up as a movie star."

Neil shows me where Josh and his friends used to hang out.enen though everyone sweres Josh wsn't in a clifque,I can tell he was part of the cool crowd just by checking out the spot he and his friends claimed the balcony.From there they could see the luchroom,three hallways,and the senior lockers.And,more inportantly,everyone could see them.

Neil also show's me a copy of Josh's senior yearbook-apperently the only one left in the school.It's more thick,more than 200 pages.His picture is th eemitom of smooth-he's leaning up against a car pumping gas.There's a Jimi Hendrix quote under his photo:"I used to live in a room full of mirrors/All I seen was me/Well I can't stand it no more/So I smashing the mirror and set me free."The seems so Josh-totally introspective and a bit hippieish.I'm wondering what kind of music Josh listened to in high school when a girl with a blond ponytail comes over and says,"I heard you're writing a story about Josh Hartnett. I know him."

Jenny Parker,17,says she met Josh becuase her older sister was in YPC' s Tom Sawyer with him.She's go to the show each time it was performed just to see him."He was the kind of guy I'd nevcer be able to date but one I'd always dream about,"she giggles.

Then Jenny casually mentions she recently saw Josh at the Gap in Uptown,a funky section of Minneapolis Definitely another stop to add to the list,which is getting long.It's already 2 p.m.,and I still want to go to Josh's house and his granmother's place.

HOME SWEET HOME

We're on out way to the home where Josh grew up with his dad,Daniel,a commercialbuilding contractor;his stepmom,Molly,an artist;and his three younger siblings,Jessica,Jake,and Joe.(For most of his life his mom lived in San Francisco,where he was born.)

Josh's childhood home sits a few blocks away from the Mississippi River,which makes sense since he's been spotted running along the river.The mosest house has a cream stucco exterior with blue shutters,and there's a garage out back.I check for Josh's Audi,but it isn't there.Even though they live in St.Paul,it dosent feel like a city .I can't see a single skyscraper,and htere are more trees than taxis.He's close with his family,so I'm not surprised his grandmother(his dad's mom)lives only a short drive away.Her home has light gray siding and an American flag hanging by the door.Now if I could only see the inside....

FALL INTO THE GAP

I don't get embarrassed easily,but I feel like an idiot walking into the Gap and askng if Josh has ever been there.I take a deep breath and approach a young sales guy who looks like he might know who Josh is.

"Yeah,he's been in here twice in the last month,"says Benjamin Jones a Gap manager.I guess I picked the right person."Both times he's been with a girl with short brown hair who's about 5'4",and they left holding hands."

That must be his girlfriend!After I recovered from the sucky info,I find out he bought a red turtleneck once.Another time the girl tried on 20 pairs of jeans but didn't buy any."He's in here a lot becuase he lives around here,"Ben shrugs.

The Ben nonchalantly asks if I want to know which building he lives in I want to scream,"Yes!Please!"but I remain cool.I say"sure"and resists sprinting to it.

JOSH+FOOD=HAPPINESS

It's nearing 7 p.m.,and I 'm tired and hungry.bruce suggests we eat at Dixies Calhoun,a Southern food restaurant in Uptown where he thinks Josh may go,especially if he lives in the area.Food and a possible Josh sighting?I'm in.

The frist person I ask about Josh has no idea who he is and gives me the "Are you insane?"look.But then I find Jennifer Herrly,30,who waited on him and his friends.

"I was working on the patio one afternoon,and there was a couple of kids in their 20s,"she explains."I wasn't thinking,and said 'Are you Josh Hartnett?'as if I were some teenybopper having a heart attack."

She only knew him becuase she and her best friend had just seen Pearl Harbor and had been trying to decied who was cuter,Josh or Ben Affleck.She compimented him on his Pearl perfomance."He said thank you and was very gracious,"she says.Sounds like the boys got manners.

I'm so jelouls of everyone wh'e had a run-in with Josh,but I have one last hop-his apartment building.

UPTOWN BABY,UPTOWN BABY

We head over an dBruce takes pictures of me in the coutyard of Josh's building.Most of the apartments have balconies facing a gorgeous lake and makeshift beach.There's a private pool in the complex,too.I hear some pro athletes live there.

Im leaping around like a dork for the photographs and can just imagin Josh looking out of his window an dseeing me.But I've already dealt with the I'm-a-tool feeling,so I jump up and down to celebrate.And who knows-may be if he sees,he'll come down and jump around with me.Or at least start asking me questions like,Am I crazy?

Pretty much,yeah.