AND THE WINNER IS…

ATWI… POLL

Whick five would you nominate for Best Actor? Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) Matt Damon (The Good Shepherd) Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond or The Departed) Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking) Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) Derek Luke (Catch a Fire) Peter O’Toole (Venus) Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) Ken Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima) Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) Current Results

When we finally connect, Blunt proves to be one of the most pleasant, honest, and insightful interview subjects I have encountered. I reach her at the hotel she at which she is staying while shooting in Los Angeles; that day, she had wrapped up production on The Jane Austen Book Club, and she is scheduled to begin shooting scenes in Charlie Wilson’s War with Tom Hanks the following morning. With a schedule like that, I nearly forget she’s just twenty-three years old… that is, until she gushes thanks for “saving me, ’cause I’m watching Pride and Prejduice for the fourth time!”

Before we talk about The Devil Wears Prada, I hoped to discuss some of your history a little bit. I thought it might be a nice place to begin if you could tell me a little bit about your childhood—where you grew up, what your family was like, and what you were like, in terms of interests and that sort of thing…
Sure. I grew up in London—in Southwest London. I’m one of four kids. My mother is an English and drama teacher. And my dad is a lawyer; he defends criminals for a living [laughs], so he’s the biggest actor of all of us, probably. But I grew up in a very rowdy, very supportive, fun-loving family. And I was the second kid. And, you know, we’re all very close. You know, we would do the normal and healthy thing of scoring points off each other, but we’re each others biggest protectors. And I went to co-ed schools. What else do you want to know? I’m being vague.

No, it’s good. I want to ask you about statement of yours that I’ve read—I’m not sure if it was taken out of context or if there is more to it—in which you said you didn’t really feel you had an identity growing up. What did you mean?
I think I was hindered because I had a stutter as a child which was, you know, mortifying, not just for me, but for people who I’d speak to. You know, it was just embarrassing for everyone. But when it came to not having an identity, it was that I know I was a bit of a drifter, as a kid, and I maybe had a yearning for more than the situation offered me. I had that feeling that it never felt like it was enough. And I was sort of not necessarily in the “cool group” or the “loser group”; I was sort of in the middle, which is often pretty lonely. [laughs] I would preferred to have been in the “geek gang.” But, you know, I had a very happy childhood. It was just that I felt a bit of a drifter. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. You know, a lot of kids have ambitions, and I really wasn’t sure of what—I didn’t have that burning ambition for anything. So, in that respect—I wish I hadn’t said that about not really feeling I had an identity. I think I did know who I was. It was just that I was drifting around, you know? I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, rather than I wasn’t sure who I was.

Sure. That actually leads very well into the next question, which is how did you desire the interest and desire to become an actor?
Well, I did it at school, you know? I had a lot of interest in the school plays. And I overcame the speech impediment when I was on the stage, which was really interesting. Maybe, sort of, you transform into somebody else and it goes, or you kind of have to do it and so you just do it. I mean, it’s often, when you’re asked to do a stunt, I’d never freaking do it in a million years if someone asked me to do it in real life, but if you’re on camera you sometimes just kinda do it, you just put yourself in that place and you do it. So I think that was what it was like with the stammer. You know, I really enjoyed the plays, and I found it very liberating, but I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. It wasn’t that I had this burning desire to be an actress, you know? I’m sure actors hate that story, ‘cause so many people have that desire from such a young age. And I was in a normal school—it wasn’t a drama school, and I didn’t train or anything. But then, when I was still at school, I got an agent when I did a play at the Edinburgh Festival, and that was it. That was it. I was kind of relieved someone had decided for me what I was gonna do. And I landed right with me. It felt right that I should give it a go. And for me, at the time, it didn’t feel like it was the be-all and end-all; it was something that I was really going to put my hand to, and that I was going to really give it my all, and see what would happen.

Sure. And before The Royal Family, which I gather was sort of a big break for you—
It was the break. Yeah.

Was there any formal training at all?
No. No. I mean, I did it at school, but it was just, I think, like every kid does some drama at school.

So how would you say, mentally, you approach a part? Are you a Method actor, or do you use some other sort of approach that you can describe at all?
I’m not Method. I wouldn’t say I’m Method. And I’m not someone who draws spider-diagrams and writes character notes. I’ll occasionally keep a journal if I feel it’s really necessary. But I think all the time. I spend a lot of time on my own in this job, which is helpful, because I have a lot of time to think and to delve into ideas. And I’ve always been fascinated by people, and I think a lot of people have ingrained themselves upon my memory, and so I just pick bits from people I’ve watched. I’m just fascinated by people—I think the diversity of them is remarkable—so I probably just steal impersonations of people I’ve met.

That covers the mental aspect of the preparation, but in terms of what you physically bring to a part—I’m sure I’m not the first person to tell you that there’s something pretty interesting about your eyes, for instance. Everybody has their own things that stand out. Can you pinpoint if you think anything physically about you has impacted the roles you’re offered?
Physically about, like, my face? Or the way I—

Well, just anything. I’ve know you’ve talked about your eyes and how they might impact the sort of characters you’re asked to play. So that, or anything else…
Well, I’ve been told a lot that I have a stillness, which I don’t want to elaborate on ‘cause it just sounds like [laughs], you know, I’m talking about, you know, myself and why I work. You know? It’s just, I’ve heard about that, and I’ve heard about eyes, and stuff.

What do you think people see in your eyes?
Thought? I don’t know.

Certainly with My Summer of Love and The Devil Wears Prada, it’s almost like a devious side. I don’t know…
[laughs] That’s worrying, isn’t it? Yeah, I think— I mean, your eyes are the—what do they say? Your eyes are the—

Portal into your soul or something…
Yes! It’s true. It’s true. You can tell a lot by a person’s eyes. And I think actors can rely upon their eyes more than they think they can, you know? I’ve learned a lot just from watching people. And you learn a lot when you start working in film—how close the camera is, and how little you need to do to read the slightest nuance. A lot of that is through your eyes. And I’ve always found Al Pacino’s eyes fascinating, ‘cause he has kind of these expressionless eyes, but they tell so much, you know what I mean? It’s very hard to sum up, but they’re sort of staring. And they’re big, beautiful brown eyes, but they’re quite staring, but yet you can read so much into them. His face is just full of nuance.

Are there any people who you saw growing up or since you’ve been in the industry who have particularly influenced the way you work?
Meryl, obviously—she’s gonna roll her eyes at that. And Cate Blanchett—I’m a huge fan of hers. I would say those two. I think it’s easier to look at women when it comes to people who have really influenced me.

Can you elaborate a little on what you’ve taken from those two? I know that everything they do is terrific—
Yeah.

But in terms of the craft…
Sure. I think with Meryl, I mean, I learned more when I was working with her. But she’s so committed to every aspect of creating a character—everything is thought through, everything is so deeply considered, and she never, ever stops playing. And that’s just thrilling to watch and to work with. She never stops, whether it be a rehearsal, or my close-up, or her close-up. She didn’t ever stop. It was just exploring, delving, delving, exploring. She doesn’t settle. And she doesn’t rely on her title, you know? And I think that with Cate Blanchett, I can’t say much more than I just am fascinated by her. I love watching her. I love watching her! I think she’s magnetic and chameleon-like. And so those two are my heroines, because I think what I want more than anything else is not to be typecast, and I don’t think they have ever been typecast. They’re brave with their choices. And I never want to wuss-out on a film role, you know? I always want to do something that’s a challenge, that’s different.

You’ve done quite a bit of work in each of the three mediums for actors—stage, television, and film. Do you prefer one over the others, and if so, why?
It’s so hard! It’s so hard to differentiate between them and to talk comparison because they’re so different. No, I couldn’t say—oh, God, that’s so freaking hard. I just can’t because they’re so different. I think, recently— I mean, it depends on what scripts you’re reading. I guess I’ve read some terrible film scripts, but occasionally you’ll get that one where everything just strikes gold. I think a film can touch the soul in ways that theater can’t. I think it can reach deeper, just ‘cause you see more, you see closer. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, absolutely. The camera allows you to.
And I love that about film. But I love the live discipline of theater. I love the camaraderie of doing theater. So it’s very hard to say.

One of your major successes prior to The Devil Wears Prada was My Summer of Love, and I wanted to ask you about the part of Tamsin, the challenges that came with playing such a complex character, and also what it meant to your career subsequently?
Well, it’s funny, ‘cause I was sorta dragged along to that audition by my agent ‘cause I’d heard that I had to improvise in the audition, and I was like, “Oh my God!” Just give me the fucking script and the pages and I’ll go and read. But I don’t know what to do—I hadn’t trained, I had no idea, you know, how to improvise, you know? But I went along and I met Pavel. I think the problem with improvising when you’re not experienced with it is that, rather than the character speaking, it’s Emily kind of, like, scrabbling around for something funny to say, something cool, you know, great to say. But once I met Pavel, and I met Natalie, I think Natalie and I were very brave with each other. I think we had a sense of abandon; we had a shared sense of abandon when it came to these characters and how far we were prepared to go. And I know that when I auditioned with Natalie, who’d been cast, I know she said I was the only one who actually really held her close when we danced together in the audition, and that sort of set the tone for the rest of the film. We had to try and be fearless, you know, with ourselves and with each other. But Tamsin was incredibly complicated. We’ve all met girls like her. I mean, I had to remember that we’ve all met those girls who are magnetic and who you would love to be around; they have a kind of light around them. I went to school with girls like that. And you shouldn’t trust them, but you can’t help but want to be around them. And the challenge of Tamsin was to play someone who was that manipulative, but that you’d still like her, that you’d be fascinated by her. So that was a challenge for me. And the film was so moving, and it was a very emotional film, and a very real film. A lot of people were very effected by it, and hated Tamsin at the end for what she did, like genuinely felt a real, unsettling anger at what she did to Mona at the end of the film. And that’s great. That’s what you want, isn’t it? I’d much rather have that reaction than people walk out and go, “What do you want to do for dinner?” But I was a little startled by the reaction—how much people were really unsettled by the character—which is what I wanted, so I was thrilled about that.

Another character who you certainly can’t forget after seeing the movie is Emily in The Devil Wears Prada—
[laughs] She’s such a moron! Wouldn’t you just hate to hang out with her? I mean, I watched it back and I was like, “I am actually excruciating. I would never want to hang out with that girl!”

Well, it’s like watching a train wreck, but it’s hilarious!
[laughs]

What were the series of events from when you first heard the part to getting it? I imagine it was sort of a big turning point—
Huge!

It sounds like the roles are pouring in now for you…
M-hmm. Well, I think that, you know, when I heard about The Devil Wears Prada, my agent, Chris, loved it, loved it, loved it, was pushing me, pushing me to read it, pushing me to read it. And I wonder if I’d almost started to typecast myself, you know, in a very wrong way. I wonder if I’d almost started to do that to myself. ‘Cause he explained the script to me—he kind of, like, you know, told me what it was like—and I just wasn’t sure. You know, I wasn’t sure why he was thinking I could do this. But then I read it and it made me laugh so much. And I also knew that girl, you know? I’d been with girls like that and found them hell to be around, you know, in those fashion shoots, and I’ve met them when I’ve gone to those magazines, and all of that. She’s based on a couple of people who I’ve met and I’ve done impersonations of, so it was a cheat, you know? I’ve done those impersonations for a while. Oh, maybe don’t say that, I have to give myself some credit! [laughs] I was like, “I cheated!” And I felt sorry for her. I really loved her. I thought she was desperate, and I always feel sorry for people like that, you know? Just, they’re hopeless, in a way. She’s such a hopeless case! And it still makes laugh, thinking about when I first read the script, and those one-liners. I mean, she had a couple of one-liners where I was like, “I have to do this!”

Well that actually leads into the next question. I have to ask you, between the one-liners and the mannerisms—I remember the hand gesture—were there any—
That was me! You see, I came up with that hand gesture thing.

Tell me where you pulled that from!
I saw a woman do it to her child [laughs] about a month before we did the film—and I thought it was really funny—and the kid was just kinda baffled by it, you know? And I thought it was funny. And so we were doing the scene and I suddenly remembered what I’d seen. And David Frankel, the director, was great, ‘cause he’d really let us play. We’d all riff around a subject—“How can you make it funnier, how can we make it funnier?” And he let Annie and I have a really free reign, which was exciting for us, you know? So I suddenly remembered seeing this woman do it and I said to David, “Can I try something this take?” ‘Cause I think she’s supposed to say, [imitates squeaky American accent] “So I’m going to go out with Nate, and it’s going to be a great birthday party,” blah-blah-blah, and I’m supposed to say, “I- I- I couldn’t care less, Andrea,” or something like that. And I suddenly just said to David, “Can I try something?” And he said, “Of course.” And he loved it, so we kept it.

Was there a lot of improvisation on the set?
There was a lot. There was a lot of playing. Just watch the outtakes. If you watch the gag-reel on the DVD, you’ll see a lot of the alternate lines that people came up with. I mean, Stanley and Meryl were just genius with what they did [laughs] with their words.

You and Stanley Tucci had a bit of a competition, right?
To see who could be more hammy?

Yeah, that’s what I’ve read…
I think we had such a like for each other. We got on so well, and had like the same sense of humor, so I think you see how far you’ll go to make the other person laugh. And I think that’s how it started. And then it did seem to turn into this hammy competition which I know I won—when I watched it back, I was like, “Oh, please!” [laughs] I went straight to the meat.

I obviously don’t know you, so I wonder how much of the character’s posture, voice, or even the tempo of the way she speaks is deliberately not your own?
I think the way Emily speaks is a more posher-pronounced British accent, and there’s a tightness in the way she speaks. I mean, the woman’s on the edge of a nervous breakdown, so all of that has to be taken into account when you create a voice for a character, so I think the voice was just tighter, and more hardened, and more clipped, and posher.

Was it always meant to be a British accent?
No. She was supposed to be American. So I’m sure a lot of American accents are out there like, “That fucking Brit!”

How did that change happen?
Well, when I read the script, physically and everything she made me think of John Cleese when I imagined her. And she’s so imperial. I think that’s aided by a British accent—there’s something kind of annoying about it and snooty, and I thought it would work, I thought it would help me, I thought it would help me get there. You know, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to do an American accent—every film since Prada I’ve done an American accent—but I just felt it was right for her. And David liked it so much. And the writer said to him—I think she watched my tape before he did—and she said, “It’s funnier with an English accent.”

Sure. Probably more condescending, almost…
Yeah, more condescending. Exactly.

I can’t believe it, but did a producer say something to you about your weight for the role?
Well, I think that they wanted all of us to be, you know, ill-thin. [laughs] Specifically Emily. I mean, you know, in any other role, no one’s ever told me to lose wait, you know, ‘cause I—I’ve never been told that. But for this role, I mean, the girl is on the edge of ill-thin—that’s how she’s described, and that’s how this producer described to me how I should look. Which is, you know—I get it, I understand that. But we did a huge amount with costume. They definitely cinched me in with belts, and they flatten your boobs down, and everything, so there’s a lot of tricks.

Obviously I’m interested to know how you got on with Anne Hathaway because you’re close in age but also, of course, Meryl Streep. It must be sort of intimidating to be working with someone who people consider maybe the greatest actress ever…
She is the greatest. I mean, well, that’s what was good for Annie and I, that we had a shared intimidation-factor. What’s the right way of saying it? We had this shared fear of saying something idiotic in front of Meryl, you know? We had this shared understanding of how painful that experience could be, you know, if we said something stupid to Meryl, or if we, kind of, did a terrible take and she witnessed everything. So we would have these neurotic phone calls to each other, and we’d laugh so hard about, like, stupid things we’d said trying to, you know, ingratiate ourselves to Meryl Streep. Which was stupid, ‘cause Meryl is incredibly warm and gregarious—off the set, I will say. On set, she definitely maintained a cool reserve, which was intimidating, which is exactly what she wanted for us. But, you know, we would have these neurotic phone calls saying, “Oh my God! I can’t believe what I’ve just said to Meryl!” Which was really cool. Bizarrely, we were two actresses in this business who genuinely liked each other, genuinely got on with each other. Which was useful, ‘cause I had to be so vile to her. [laughs] So it was good. And she was a playmate. She was my sparring partner, you know? It was very cool.

How would you say the film has impacted your life? It’s only been a few months, but what’s changed?
It’s been an overwhelming change. Honestly, it’s been an overwhelming change. And particularly now, with the nominations, I don’t sleep very well at night. I’ve never really had this much acclaim and attention, and I am trying to take it in my stride, and not to feel like a flying kite about it all. But it’s so exciting for me. And unexpected, ‘cause I think that comedic roles are overshadowed by the weeping, dramatic ones a lot. This is a tough category, so I didn’t expect it. And to have another nomination for this TV film I did is just the icing on it. I just can’t believe it.

Do you find yourself recognized a lot more?
Since the film? Yes.

Obviously, when you get a Globe nomination, the next thing is you start hearing the Oscar buzz. That’s what my site is all about, and I can tell you that it’s definitely growing. So how do you receive that? I know that they’ve had this parody film this year, the Christopher Guest one—
Oh, For Your Consideration. I haven’t seen it yet. I really want to see that.

It’s cute. And it’s funny, especially for me, because that’s what I’m doing—
Of course.

But, I wonder, from the other side, being the recipient of the buzz, how do you manage to handle it all? I’m sure you can’t avoid being hopeful about it…
You can’t—you’re absolutely right. And it would be false of me to say that I’m, you know, avoiding being hopeful about it. You know, of course, of course that would be— that would be—oh God, it’s such a cliché—what else can you say about it, you know? It would be a huge deal. It would be a life-changing moment for me if I heard that I was being acknowledged in that way. But already, like, I’m wary of these awards. I know a lot of it is about politics, and sadly, I don’t think you can always rely on the performance alone to be acknowledged for these things. So I’m really trying not to hold my breath. I certainly wasn’t with the Globes. I mean, but, if I heard about an Oscar nom, that would just finish— it would give me a heart attack. I mean, it would be remarkable. But I’m very aware, especially with this kind of role, how comedy is regarded. And I think people underestimate how hard it is to do comedy, you know? And a lot of the time, I think it must be that the dramatic roles appear to be more extraordinary, you know? If you are moved enough to cry watching someone, or if you watch them cry, it’s a more extraordinary moment than if someone’s made you laugh. Do you know what I mean? So, in that respect, I’m not holding my breath. But it has been an amazing time. And it’s a wonderful thing to be hopeful. I think it’s invigorating to be hopeful, isn’t it?

Of course. And, regardless of whether or not there are further awards, you seem to be doing very well, looking over the list of some of the people you’re working with in upcoming films. I know you’re shooting a film now, so to wrap up, maybe you could talk a little bit about what that is and what other upcoming projects you’ll be working on…
Well, I just finished shooting The Jane Austen Book Club, and I’m so happy to talk about this one because it was a very exciting time for me, because the director, Robin, she extended her hand to me and asked me to play this bookish, serious, secretive, unhappy wallflower, and I’d never been seen in that kind of role, and always wanted to play it. And, in a funny way, that girl is closer to me, and my childhood, and what I know than any other role, you know? I was that kid with the stutter who just sat by and watched people and read a lot, you know? And so I was so excited that she wanted me to do it. And I have this geeky, bobbed-wig. [laughs] I look such a nerd, I can’t even talk about it—like, I showed my boyfriend a picture, he was, like, “Oh, my God!” I’m wearing, like, no makeup. And I’m playing a French teacher whose never been to France. And, again, it’s a dramedy. It’s not all, you know, doom and gloom; it’s a very funny, heartwarming script.

And then there’s also something with Tom Hanks, right?
Yes! Well, I did a film with Colin Hanks and John Malkovich and Tom—played a cameo in it. And then I’m about to do—I literally start Charlie Wilson’s War tomorrow with Tom, but I’m just doing a guest spot on that because you just simply don’t say “No” to Mike Nichols. I’m excited about that.

Sure. Well, you’re wonderful in the film, thank you so much for speaking with me, and maybe on nomination day you’ll be willing to chat again…
Oh, of course! I have every part of my body crossed. Thank you so much.

A Tale of Two Matthews: McConaughey and Fox co-star as coaches in We Are Marshall

I’ve found that a movie’s box-office intake generally does not correspond with its quality, and so I tend not to emphasize those statistics on the web site. I will discuss them today, however, because I am frankly annoyed by this weekend’s numbers. Night at the Museum, a family comedy, predictably opened at #1. The Pursuit of Happyness, a family drama, held the #2 spot. And then things got weird…

Rocky Balboa, the sixth (and this decade’s first) stop at the Rocky-franchise piggy bank for Sylvester Stallone, opened on Wednesday with a surprising $6.2 million take, followed on Thursday with $3.5, Friday with $5, Saturday with $5.3, and Sunday with $2.3, bringing its pre-Christmas Day total opening to roughly $22.3 million, good enough for third place.

Another movie that opened this weekend was We Are Marshall, which also deals with sports, as well as tests of the human spirit experienced by athletes. The film, which stars Matthew McConaughey, who can usually be counted on to open a movie strongly, and Matthew Fox, the star of television’s hit series Lost, opened Friday with a dismal $2.7 million showing, followed on Saturday with $2.6, and Sunday with $1.3, a discouraging downward trend that amounted to a pre-Christmas Day opening cume of roughly $6.6 million, landing it in seventh place, or last for any of this weeks widely-opened movies.

Why does this matter? Why do I personally care? For a few reasons…

#1: I liked We Are Marshall. Yeah, it’s a bit corny. Yeah, it’s a bit eccentric. But it’s an emotional rollercoaster of a sports movie, and a pretty good one at that. Plus, in the year of The Departed, Little Children, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Apocalypto, it’s nice to find a movie that leaves you hopeful, as opposed to wanting to kill yourself. It took guts to release the film against the Oscar-fare that starts to take over movie theaters at this time of year and, as it turns out, it was a financial that has not paid off. As a movie, however, it accomplished what it set out to do: to bring a true story to the screen and treat those who lives through the events it recounts with dignity.

Rocky Balboa also is a bit corny. It also is a bit eccentric. And, according to some critics, it also is not half-bad. (Then again, what isn’t compared to the last time we saw Rocky in Rocky V?) That said, it epitomizes a sad lack of creativity on the part of the big Hollywood studios and a lack of imagination on the part of American moviegoers who, like a child, prefer the familiar over trying new things. Sequels, remakes, and copycat movies steal the thunder from smaller movies that tell more valuable stories. Because American moviegoers will pay for it, the studios serve up the same schlock year after year. And because American moviegoers will pay for it, a guy like Sylvester Stallone knows that he can phone it in once every few years; all he has to do is travel the country on the studio’s dime, talk to some press, show up at a few events, walk a few red carpets, and WHAM, he makes a killing. Which leads to the next reason I’m annoyed about this weekend’s box-office…

#2: Cut to Boston on Tuesday, December 5, 2006. That morning, I had an interview scheduled with Matthew Fox, who makes his major motion picture debut in We Are Marshall as assistant coach Red Dawson. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Fox, as I was until shortly before the interview, he is actually quite a big deal. He is the star of Lost, one of the biggest shows on television. He is a handsome sex symbol. And he is at the height of his popularity—three nights before we sat down, he hosted Saturday Night Live and undoubtedly earned a few more fans. He fit the profile of an actor who might be a little full of himself, a little arrogant, and a little diva-ish.

As it turned out, he could not have been further from that. Over the fifteen or twenty minutes that we spoke, he could not have been more pleasant, humble, or down-to-Earth. He was a class-act, and he made at least one new fan that day.

Following the interview, I left my materials with the hotel where I had met him and headed out to do some other business in the area. I returned that evening and was waiting to pick them up in the fairly deserted lobby when a familiar looking big guy strolled in with some female assistants. Right away, I recognized him as Sylvester Stallone, and realized he also was probably in town to promote Rocky Balboa.

Now, at the time “The Italian Stallion” strolled into that hotel, I had a fair amount of respect for him. After all, I knew his backstory. This was a guy who had made a character, a script, a career, and tens of millions of dollars out of nothing. in 1976, the year of America’s bicentennial, he was a poor young guy who wanted to be in the movies, so he wrote a great script about a character living the American dream, shopped it around, and got huge offers, but refused to sell it until someone told him he could play the title character. That script was Rocky, and the film that resulted from it went on to beat out All the President’s Men, Taxi Driver, Network, Bound for Glory to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. While the years since have not exactly marked an upward arc in terms of Stallone’s films, he did become synonymous with two of the most loved characters in movie history, the perpetual underdog Rocky and the tough son-of-a-bitch Rambo.

In the past, I’ve been disappointed after encounters with many people I’ve admired—people I know in my personal life, professional athletes, and yes, movie stars—but something especially stung after seeing how Stallone, who I wanted to like so much, treated my friend and I when we approached him in the lobby—two well-dressed, clean-cut, non-aggressive young fans who were legitimately in the hotel anyway—to request an autograph on some hotel stationery. We were the only two people present who weren’t hotel employees or members of his own posse, and it wasn’t like he was checking in or carrying his luggage—he was just standing staring into space while others took care of his business. As we walked in his direction, some of the women around him basically surrounded him, and the hotel desk clerk came out from behind the desk and pushed us back. Throughout this, Stallone just stood there, kept staring off into space, and did nothing to quell the situation. Eventually, I got tired of being hassled by the hotel employee, told her to relax, and said, “Why can’t I just ask him if he’ll sign an autograph, and if he says no then that’s it?” She finally backed off, and by this time Stallone had made his way a few feet over (though still within earshot) to wait for an elevator. I said very quietly, “Mr. Stallone, would you sign this for me?” And, maintaining that vacant stare, while doing absolutely nothing else, he just shook his head no.

It struck me at that moment that this was no Rocky, no man of the people, but rather an aging man struggling desperately to hold on to a little of the spotlight and squeeze a little more money out of the general public who have become suckers—suckers like me—for the character he brought to life. Am I writing this piece because I’m pissed off at Sylvester Stallone? Eh, in part, but I know that everyone can have a bad day, and that famous people sometimes like their privacy, and that he might have any other number of excuses. Mainly, I’m writing about this incident because it reinforced to me, on a personal level, how much American moviegoers want a hero to admire, now more than ever, to the extent that they would rather go back to watch the same old shtick from a familiar fake like Stallone posing as a hero than check out a class-act like Fox celebrating a real life hero. In my opinion, that’s a shame. And it’s their loss.

Over the coming years, I am quite confident that we’ll be hearing a lot more from Matthew Fox than Sly Stallone, beginning here with a transcript of my conversation with him…

Before we talk about We Are Marshall, I was hoping to discuss some of your earlier life. Can you talk a little bit about your youth—where you were born and raised, your parents, some of your early interests, that kind of thing?
Sure. Well, I was born in Abington, P.A., outside of Philadelphia. And my mom and my dad and my older brother moved to Wyoming when I was a little less than one. Grew up in Wyoming until—you know, I spent up until I was almost eighteen years old there in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then over to Togwotee Pass and into Wind River Valley. And Dad, early on, was an outfitter and ran, as a foreman, a couple of ranches, and then bought his own place in Wind River Valley in Crowheart, Wyoming. I lived in Crowheart probably from the time I was about eight until I graduated from high school, and absolutely loved it there. You know, it’s a tough life, you know, as a rancher and a farmer, and we were broke. But, early interests—you know, I was always into sports. My dad was a football player, and loved the game, and taught me to love it really, really early. And I played football through high school, I played basketball, I ran track. And then, from there, I went to Deerfield Academy here in Deerfield, Mass., sort of repeating my senior year. And, from there, I went on to Columbia University in New York.

Throughout your childhood, did you have any television shows or films that really influenced you?
No. My mom and dad were opposed to having a television in the house, and we never really had a television in the house. [laughs]

That’s ironic…
Yeah. They were real proponents of reading fiction, and so that was the way, you know, they wanted us to be creative in entertaining ourselves, and they also said, you know, anytime we were really bored out of our minds, you know, pick up a book. So we always did that. Still, to this day, it’s one of my favorite things, reading. So, you know, my whole life, I’ve been sort of left out of that pop culture reference type thing about The Brady Bunch and all the things that were going on when I was, you know, at that age. So yeah.

One of those books wouldn’t have been The Lord of the Flies, would it have?
Yeah, yeah, I really dug that book. And also Heart of Darkness. Yeah. Those are really important themes, and I love that question. I think that Lost is a book that—I mean a series that—I always felt, from the time that I read the pilot, had the potential to deal with that big question. And, yeah, two and a half years later, we’re definitely gonna end up dealing with that question. [laughs] I mean, there’s no question.

When you came out of Columbia, this wasn’t the direction you were heading in. I understand that you had applied to work at Prudential-Bache, but something happened along the way that made you decide to pursue other options…
Yeah. I actually did one interview— I got my degree in economics there, and I got an interview at Pru-Bache. And I went to this interview. And I didn’t have a suit; I had to borrow a suit from my buddy, John Dwyer, at Columbia. He’s a little shorter than I am, so this thing didn’t quite fit. And, you know, I wasn’t just wearing borrowed clothes; I had a pair of penny loafers. And I’ll never forget this—I mean, it was a hugely defining moment for me—but I, you know, went up there and met all these young sort of mid- to late-twenty, type-A, go-getting, you know, Gordon Gekko-wannabes, and thought that that’s what I was gonna do. And it was like, I dunno, four to six of these guys. And I was sort of, like, floating through this thing. And they were, like, talking about how great it was to do what they were doing. And at the end of the meeting, I was like, “I gotta go,” and everybody kinda circles up, and I was standing in this circle saying goodbye to them, and one of them leaned over to somebody commenting on how well I’d do at Pru-Bache and then said, [takes on an arrogant voice] “But he’s gonna have to do something about those shoes!” And I looked down, and I looked around, and every single one of them had the same freaking pair of black Oxfords on, and I had my penny loafers—these borrowed penny loafers—on. And, I swear to God, right in that moment, I said, “There’s no way in hell I can do this, man.” [laughs] That was the last thing I’d be able to do.

I know there was some modeling along the way. How did that come about? And how did that channel into acting?
The modeling was really just ‘cause I was broke. And I dated a girl the first two years I was at Columbia whose mom had been in the business for a long time. And I was looking for a way to—in the shortest amount of time commitment—make the most amount of money to help put myself through school. And she said, “Well, you should look into doing some modeling.” And so I basically just took some pictures, and started getting gigs doing like, you know, really bad catalog modeling. You know, J.C. Penny and shit like that. I didn’t care. I mean, you know, throw a sweatshirt on me, and hold a football, and pay me three hundred bucks an hour, I’m happy. I mean, you know? And that’s what I used it for; it was really to put myself through school. And I actually started doing a couple of T.V. commercials. I got a couple, which is even better than that, because it’s like a day’s commitment of time, and you get paid on residual—it really put me through school. And it wasn’t until I, sort of, had that spring epiphany that there was no way in hell I was gonna go down and work on Wall Street that I started considering, you know, maybe taking it a little more seriously. So, sort of, in combination with doing a little bit more modeling, going to Europe with my then—we might have been married then—but she’s Italian, so it sort of made sense for us to Italy for a year. And I worked over there. And then, you know, started studying a new art. And when I felt like I was ready, I started, sort of, stepping out and auditioning for some jobs, and started getting some of them.

I want to talk about how you tackle acting. There obviously are all kinds of ways—Method acting, other kinds. McG said that you understand “the power of stillness.” Can you further articulate how you approach a role?
You know, talking about the process of acting is, I don’t know, it’s difficult. It’s a very vague sort of—you ultimately just bring yourself to it, I mean, you know? I’d say I’m pretty Method. You know, I kinda live the thing, you know, a little bit. It’s not something that I just, you know, pop in and out of. You know, something like We Are Marshall, I mean, that was a heavy four months for me, man. [laughs] But the actual process of getting it done—it’s coming at it from a lot of different angles. I don’t really even know how to describe it. I mean, it’s just something that I do, and I love it.

Before we hit We Are Marshall, I want to touch on some of the other milestones of your career. To begin with, how did Party of Five come about? How would you describe your time on the show? And why, when it ended, was there that long hiatus before you worked again?
I got Party of Five out of New York. Margherita and I always had a deal that we would never move to L.A. until work took us there, demanded that we go there. We loved New York. I think still, to this day, we feel more like New Yorkers than, you know, Southern Californians, for sure. You know, I owe a lot to that six years on Party of Five. I mean, I looked at that as, like, graduate school for me as an actor; I mean, I was gonna get everything I possibly could out of it. Tonally, it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. It was a very soft show. In my mind, it was a show that was written exclusively for a female audience, and the male characters in the show were, sort of, slightly two-dimensional; they were, kind of, what a woman will tell you that they want a man to be but, you know, sort of leaving out, like, a huge part of what we actually are and, in truth, what they actually want. But I still learned a shitload doing that show and it was important to me that I get the most out of it that I could. And the reason why there was such a huge—that was self-imposed. It wasn’t that I was out knockin’ around and not getting hired; I mean, I didn’t look for work for two years, and I did that because I felt that it was very important to, sort of, let that version of myself go in people’s minds. I mean, you know, a lot of people, when you do a show for six years and you’re in their living rooms as Charlie Salinger, they think that you are Charlie Salinger. And even people in the business are like, “Well, we would never look at Matthew Fox to do this role, because look what he is.” That’s just the furthest thing, man—that was me playing a character. I mean, you know, I knew all along that it was gonna be important for me to change my appearance, it was gonna be important for me to make choices right after that were really hard and edgy. And that was the Haunted choice was all about; I wanted to play somebody that was, sort of, really the opposite of Charlie Salinger—totally non-emotional, kinda hard-boiled. And, in the interim, I just did plays, you know? I went and got involved in a theater company in L.A., and did a couple plays there, and had a great experience there, and wanted to just let people, sort of, forget about the Party of Five thing before I re-entered doing something else. But, you know, I think the reason why it was two years was that, when you do six years of something, you need that much time. With a film, you know, you do one movie, you come, then you go, and you just do, like, different versions of yourself, like, one after the other. But I had to let things, sort of, like, chill out on the Party of Five thing and then come back.

I hope you can tell me when you first heard about Lost and what it is that has really made it such a phenomenal hit…
Heard about when I met J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof; it’s gonna be three years ago this spring. And I think what makes it such a huge phenomenon is just that it’s a totally unique premise. I mean, you know, there was the pre-Lost period of time, in which it was a lawyer drama, a cop drama, a hospital drama, a family drama, an investigative series, or a reality show. I mean, you know, then suddenly, this show has an airplane crashing on island in the South Pacific, and you’re like, “I have no idea what’s gonna happen next.” You know, nothing like that had been done. I mean, number one, I had no idea how this is a T.V. series—I mean, this is what the audience is saying—I have no idea how this is a T.V. series, I have no idea what’s coming next, I have no idea what this “thing” is, I can’t put it into what would be the normal, standard template for a T.V. show. And that alone made it really attractive to people. And then, you know, two and a half years later, I mean, you know, they still watch an episode of Lost, are totally surprised and blown away by what the show is doing, get to an end of an episode, and can’t freaking wait to find out what’s gonna happen next. And, as far as series television goes, that’s as good as it gets. If you’ve got your audience being surprised, and having a story unfold for them where they don’t; have any idea where it’s going, and they cannot wait to find out where it’s going. And then there’s a whole bunch of other things, too, I think, that, you know— The flashback thing, I think, is something that’s really a unique part of our show and has never been done before. I think that it’s the first show to ever become really interactive with its audience using the Internet and opening up that whole thing—almost to what could potentially end up being a dangerous degree, because people are getting interactive to the point where they get dissatisfied with what the show actually does; they want it to do something else because that’s what they have in their mind. You know, there’s a lot of other things. You know, it’s unique in a lot of ways.

I’m sorry to keep asking how things came to your attention, but how did We Are Marshall? What appealed to you about it? And, scheduling-wise, how were you able to get it in when you were doing Lost at the same time?
You know, I was reading a lot of scripts. I had been looking for the right thing since Lost started. And, you know, there’s no question that Lost has suddenly opened up a whole new, you know, thing. It’s the first time in my career that the studios are offering me big movies, you know? And that’s been a very exciting thing. But it took me a little while; I mean, I turned down a lot of shitty horror movies before. [laughs] You know, the first hiatus, I got offered a whole bunch of movies, but they just weren’t the kind of thing that I want to do. And, last spring, you know, I read this, and I was blown away by the script. Then I met McG, and I was blown away by McG. And then I met Red. And all these things, sort of, just became, like—I had no choice but to do this project. And that’s the coolest feeling, is when it, sort of, becomes inevitable, you know, kind of like you don’t have any chance, like, “I have to do this one.” And then, you know, I mean, the scheduling was amazing. I mean, I didn’t just do this one; I did another one. I did Vantage Point. I did two features in my hiatus. I had Touchstone, Warner Brothers, and Sony organizing that; I owe them all a lot for getting that done. It was pretty remarkable. I mean, I had to work my ass off six days a week during my hiatus [laughs], so I had to carry some of the burden. But they definitely managed to get that done, and that’s amazing.