Teen People: The Guy can't Help It

February 2002 by Robert Abele

Until then,Josh's only brush with acting was in a short film about a Dairy Queen robbery that he and some of his pals made.It had been a convicing performance,though:One alarmed a neighbor who witnessed the shooting actually called the cops."It's a good thing we were taking a break eating Dilly Bars,"Josh later said about the visit from law enforcement."If we'd had our fake yellow pistols in our hands,we probably would have all been goners."

Although being a theatre geek didn't immediately appeal tosomeone more accustomed to jock adulation,boredom soon manager Daniel and stepson of homemaker and artist Molly,trudged over to the Youth Performance Company and tried out for the role of Huckleberry Finn in a production of Tom Sawyer-and got it .It may have helped that he felt he had something in common with the good natured,rabble rousing Huck:" I always wanted to get out [in the world] and see what was there,"he has said."What defines me is wanderlust."

He got out,all right.Seven years later,at just 23,Josh has become a global movie star.His laserlike stare,brooding good looks and undeniable talent have transformed the 6'3"midwesterner into one of the hottest heartthrobs in Hollywood.He's appeared in everything from campy horror flicks(halloween h2o) to indie art house films(The virgin suicides)to the megabudget blockbuster that made im a magazine coverboy (PearlHarbor).His latest film,BlackHawkDown,the true story of the disastrous 1993 Somalian firefight involving U.S.soldiers(yes,Josh is back in uniform),should cement his leading-man status.

His roles so far have tended toward the tortured and introspective,but in March,Josh can be seen exploring the not-as-easy-as-it-looks genre of light romantic comedy.The film's title,400 DAys and 40 nights,refers to just how long the actor's romantically disillusioned character tries to swear off all sex-while his ex tries to tempt him back by turning him on.

Almost an entire movie without a Josh kiss may sound like a cruel joke to his fans,but as always it will be worth the wait.After all,he's been honing his,um,oral skills as far back as highschool,when Josh playing the suave gambler Sky Masterson in rehearsals for the musical Guys and Dollsplanted one on his costar that was so dizzying,it caused her to drop a piece of paper she was holding for the scene.(The dropped paper became a bit in the show.)Recallls South Highs theatre director at the time,Louise Bormann:"He was smooth.It was like,'Whoa!Here's a kid I don't need to coach!'"

Josh had transferred to South Hingh in Minneapolis for it's expansive theater program.The large 2,000 student school put up four main-stage productions a year (actress Rachael Leight Cook,Josh's costar in last yar's little -seen BlowDry,was two years behind him).Bormann remembers her lanky student as a natural right from the start:hardworking yet affecting an efforless grace,qualities perfectly suited for the department's lavish musicals."He had excellent instincts,"she says,citing his Bernardo,the combustible Pueto Rican leader of the Sharks in West Side Story."It's a challenging role,with the accent,the dancing,the singing,the fighting.He was exceptional.He has a wonderful voice,and he dances just as beutifully.He did all these lifts,and just really moved."

When a local agent expressed an interst in the teenager,Josh decided there might be a career in acting after all.Never at the top of his class academically-"I think education is very important,but I didn't want to do all the nonsense busywork," and got into drama school at SUNY Purchase College in New York.Bot,following a vague disagreement with the university officials(he had alluded to something about academic policies)during the first year,he lit out for Los Angeles.It was early 1997, and he gave himself two months to break into acting.

It only took about a week.At the time casting director Annd McCarthy and her partnert were searching for the right young actor to play a high school student who had a volatile relatoinship with his father."We had read every 18-year-old in town,and then[JOsh] walked in and blew us away,"says McCarthy,who recalls being struck by his"great presence."She adds:"He's really intense and soft spoken,and he's got a great energy.I brought him in for the director and he was like'Where has he been this whole time?'I said,'Uh...Minnesota?' "

That movie was never made,but suddently the name "Josh Hartnett" was on everyone's radar.Within two months he landed a role on the TV series Cracker as the troubled son of the title character, a crime-solvingpsychologist.Although short-lived,the parrtlayal made a big impression on Hollywood's star-makers-and on Josh's father.Daniel and his second wife ,Molly, had basically raised Josh(his mother had moved to Sans Fransisco after his parents divorse),and thefather and son had a long history of butting heads."After mydad watched Cracker,he said,'Im sorry for whatever Idid,"Josh once told an interveiwer."I said,'You did'nt do anything-I was acting.'My performance made him feel bad;he said he'd seen all those faces before."

Let's hope that his father was not so fimiliar with some of the looks Josh would employ in his first movies,the horror flicks Halloween H2o and The Faculty.The fan base was now building,as were the comments about his unapologetic bedhead hairstyle.:When it's shorter,I like to rub my head;it's a source of comfort to me,"Josh has said."It's not the most flattering look in the world,but I like it."("I think it's adorable," argues McCarthy."It's so signatureJosh")

"He could do anything and look good,"say director Mark Piznarski,who would be the first to give Josh a romantic part,as Lelee Sobieski's longtime beau and Chris Klein's rival in the teenage love triangle Here on Earth.Piznarski considers Josh on e of the most "gifted" actors he's worked with,a "throwback to guys like [Marlon]Brando and [James]Dean-the way they really internalize the difficulties and the pain the character is going through.He just comes off in such a wholesome,realistic way."For Josh,a bonus of shooting Here on Earth was the opportunity to make a movie in a town only an hour away from Minneapolis/St.Paul.Members of his family come to visit(he' s the eldest of four,with two younger brothers and a sister),and he got to hang out with his old friends on his 21st birthday.In fact,although he was thrilled to be working steadily,JOsh's preference for a down-to -earth lifestyle was becoming hard to reconcile with his status as a puickly rising star.In 2000,critics praised Josh not only for Here on Earth but also for his role as a treacherous boyfriend in Sofia Cappola's eerie film adaptation of the Jeffrey Eugenides novel The Virgin Suicides.The growing clamor for his talents was made abundantly clear when Piznarski got a call asking if he thought Josh was a good choice for a certain expensive three-hour epic abour World War II,then in the planning stages."you couldn't do any better,"Responded the director.Thus,Josh received the offer to star as all American flyboy Danny Walker,opposite Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale in Pearl HarborBut Josh was in no hurry to achieve stardom."If you're going on the freeway,"he once said,"you get to the place you want to a lot quicker,but you don't see the surrounding area.I've taken the side streets pretty much my whole life,so hopefully that'll keep working out."He wrestled with whether to take the Pearl Harbor role,unsure about how the escalation in his fame would affect his life.So one day,while his dad was washing the car,Josh walked up and poured out his heart to him,explaining how the opportunity conflickted with the relatively humble goal he had started out with:to be able to go into the store he used to work in,point to a box and say,"Look!That's me!"Surely,he thought,the trapping of celebrity that would come with the Titanic-size Pearl Harbor would weigh him down.

But Dad reminded his son of what he'd said when he left Minnesota to tackle acting:"I'm gonna see how far I can ride this thing."The ride was still on; it had merely increased in momentum.Fame,he wxplained to Josh ws temporary.Regret lasted much longer-did he really want to risk lamenting the fact that he had not taken the chance?His father's perceptive words were just what he needed to hear:Josh dug into the effects_laden,$135 million production and pulled out a steller characterization of torn loyalties and innocent love.

For Josh, a mix of roles is crucial,and last summer he got an opportunity to showcase a chilling portrayal in the grim,violent O,the updated version of Othello he had made two years earlier."I've been lucky enough to play a couple of dirty characters...and that's good becuase you dont want everythign to become sterile,"he said of his roles asd the vilainouse Iago counterpart,Hugo."You dont want to lose the mesiness of life."

The messiness of Hollywood relationships,however,is another thing altogether."It's hard for me to work closely with a girl and not completely fall in love with her as a person,"he said recently about movie-set romances.Although he never talks about who he's seeing,it's been reported that exes include actress Monet Mazur and model Gisele Bundchen(but he denies rumors about O costar Julia Stiles).He has admitting to having an on-and-off girlfriend who,he's thrilled to note,has no connection to his line of work.

His career may still be on the fast track,but these days Josh is lliving his life in the slow lane,where he can take in the scenery at his own pace and spend more time with his friends and family.He moved back to Minnesota,where he dosn't have to think about his career 24/7("not living in Los Angles is means of survival"he has said).You might catch him in his old stamping grounds,like the Youth Performance Company,where he still checks in to catch shows.Louise Bormann remembers the time when he stopped by to see her final play before she transferred to another teachng position."He hugged me so many times,and he was so excited and wanted to tell me what he was doing,"recalls Bormann,her voice full of pride in her former student,whose success,she admits,sometimes makes her cry.For her,the story of Josh Hartnett has a well developed Hollywood ending :One of the good one's hardworking,respectful,smart-makes it big."it's as thrilling as can be.I don't think what's happening to him has turned him into someone else.He's just a great kid."