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February 2002 - Dolly Magazine
by Katherine Tulich Dont mention the word heart-throb or hunk to Josh Hartnett. You certainly wont get a date with him that way. Katherine Tulich flew to Hollywood to find out why.
He may be one of the hottest stars in Hollywood, but away from the movie screen Josh dresses as un-star-like as possible on purpose. Standing at a striking six foot three inches, he tends to stoop when he walks into a room, almost as if he is embarrassed about his height. Today he dressed in a faded green T-shirt, shorts, worn brown sandals and a clue beach hat. But despite his attempt to fade into the wallpaper, his dreamy brown eyes soon have everyone drooling. Hes polite and laid-back, but even Josh cant help but admit hes completely overwhelmed by the ruckus thats suddenly surrounding him.
"I never quite expected this and all the press attention," he says. But the shy young man, who still lives in rural Minnesota near his family, is getting plenty of attention especially from his female co-stars. And his Virgin Suicides co-star, Kirsten Dunst, is no expectation.
"I cant believe Im being asked questions about him,she says. I hope that hes being asked questions about me. It drives me crazy young Hollywood so you know, your heads going to get a little expanded. Hes in his playboy stage right now thats what I call it. I dont talk to Josh a lot, but when I do run into him, he always has a different girl with him. You know, girls need to get over the bad-boy type and go for the dork."
"But I love Josh, hes adorable. And the thing I like about him is that he still lives in Minnesota, he hangs with his friends, and I can tell hes still a home kind of guy. So that makes me happy he just needs to stay grounded, thats the thing. Its hard not to explode when youre that cute and every girl wants you."
When asked about his list of beautiful leading ladies, Josh blushes. He admits the best thing about Pearl Harbor was working with English actress Kate Beckinsdale.
"I got to make out with Kate Beckinsdale," he giggles, though he admits "the love scenes were nerve-wracking, mainly because Kates partner and three-year-old daughter were there the whole time." As Kate says, "Josh is such a gentleman; he was terribly freaked that he was fooling around with somebodys mother."
His role in O, an updated version of Shakespeares Othello, had rumours flying about a romance with co-star, Julia Stiles. That is, especially when the two were spotted together at the Sundance Film Festival last January. But Josh scoffs at such rumours as nonsense spread by the Internet.
"There are so many wild rumours being said that simply are not true," he reasons. "They just make stuff up."
Also made up, according to Natalie Imbruglia, are reports that she and Josh were dating.
"Not true," Natalie says. "I've got photographed with him at a premiere. I just got introduced with him, and got photographed with him. So I knew this was going to be my boyfriend for the month. I even rang my mum just to warn her!"
While many women would love to date Josh, the secretive star insists hes not dating anyone at the moment. Or maybe hes just training for his new movie, 40 Days and 40 Nights, where he plays an average guy who is devastated when his girlfriend leaves him, so he decides to swear off sex for the 40 days of Lent.
As Josh removes his hat self-consciously rubs his hand over his buzz-cut hair (for his role as a US soldier in the movie, Black Hawk Down), he ponders his future as a pin-up boy.
"Im not sure Im ready for all this," he says wistfully. "Hopefully, I will still be able to walk out of my house and go to the coffee shop and hang with my friends, without having to wear a beard and funny glasses." Now that would definitely be a sight to see!
February 2002 - Teen People Magazine
by Robert Abele You could say Josh Hartnett started his acting career on the football field. It wasnt that he pretended to enjoy playing for St. Pauls Cretin-Derham Hall high school team, or that he faked the resulting torn ligaments in his left knee. Its just that if he hadnt been sidelined for an extended period, he never would have found himself moping around the house with nothing to do. And therefore he probably wouldnt have succumbed to the persistent nudging of his theater-loving aunt, who thought that her 16-year-old nephew might like to take a shot at getting up onstage.
Until then, Joshs 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 convincing performance, though: One alarmed neighbor who witnessed the shooting actually called the cops. "Its a good thing we were taking a break and 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 theater geek didnt immediately appeal to someone more accustomed to jock adulation, boredom soon made the idea more appetizing. So Josh, the son of real estate 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 midwesterner into one of the hottest heartthrobs in Hollywood. Hes appeared in everything from campy horror flicks (Halloween H20) to indie art house films (The Virgin Suicides) to the megabudget blockbuster that made him a magazine coverboy (Pearl Harbor). His latest film, Black Hawk Down, 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 films title, 40 Days and 40 Nights, refers to just how long the actors 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, hes been honing his, um, oral skills as far back as high school, when Josh, playing the suave gambler Sky Masterson in rehearsals for the musical Guys and Dolls, planted 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.) Recalls South Highs theater director at the time, Louise Bormann: "He was smooth. It was like, Whoa! Heres a kid I dont need to coach!"
Josh had transferred to South High in Minneapolis for its expansive theater program. The large 2,000-student school put up four main-stage productions a year (actress Rachael Leigh Cook, Joshs costar in last years little-seen Blow Dry, was two years behind him). Bormann remembers her lanky student as a natural right from the start: hardworking yet affecting an effortless grace, qualities perfectly suited for the departments lavish musicals. "He had excellent instincts," she says, citing his Bernardo, the combustible Puerto Rican leader of the Sharks in West Side Story. "Its a challenging role, with the accent, the dancing, the singing, the fighting. He was exceptional. He has a wonderful voice, and he dances just beautifully. He did all these lifts, and just really moved."
When a local agent expressed an interest 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 didnt want to do all that nonsense busywork," he said recently - he nonetheless graduated from South High and got into the drama school at SUNY Purchase College in New York. But, following a vague disagreement with university officials (he has 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 Anne McCarthy and her partner were searching for the right young actor to play a high school student who had a volatile relationship 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 hes 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 suddenly the name "Josh Hartnett" was on everyones radar. Within two months he landed a role on the TV series Cracker as the troubled son of the title character, a crime-solving psychologist. Although short-lived, the portrayal made a big impression on Hollywoods star-makers - and on Joshs father. Daniel and his second wife, Molly, had basically raised Josh (his mother had moved to San Francisco after his parents divorced), and the father and son had a long history of butting heads. "After my dad watched Cracker, he said, "Im sorry for whatever I did," Josh once told an interviewer. "I said, You didnt do anything - I was acting. My performance made him feel bad; he said hed seen all those faces before."
Lets hope that his father was not so familiar with some of the looks Josh would employ in his first movies, the horror flicks Halloween H20 and The Faculty. The fan base was now building, as were the comments about his unapologetic bed-head hairstyle. "When its shorter, I like to rub my head; its 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 its adorable, argues McCarthy. Its so signature Josh.)
"He could do anything and look good," says director Mark Piznarski, who would be the first to give Josh a romantic part, as Leelee Sobieskis longtime beau and Chris Kleins rival in the teenage love triangle Here on Earth. Piznarski considers Josh one of the most gifted actors hes 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 came to visit (hes 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.
I
n fact, although he was thrilled to be working steadily, Joshs preference for a down-to-earth lifestyle was becoming hard to reconcile with his status as a quickly rising star. In 2000, critics praised Josh not only for Here on Earth but also for his role as a treacherous boyfriend in Sofia Coppolas 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 about World War II, then in the planning stages. "You couldnt 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 Harbor.
But Josh was in no hurry to achieve stardom. "If youre going on the freeway," he once said, "you get to the place you want to a lot quicker, but you dont see the surrounding area. Ive taken the side streets pretty much my whole life, so hopefully thatll 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 conflicted with the relatively humble goal he had started out with: to be able to go into the video store he used to work in, point to a box and say, "Look! Thats me!" Surely, he thought, the trappings of celebrity that would come with the Titanic-size Pearl Harbor would weigh him down.
But Dad reminded his son of what hed said when he left Minnesota to tackle acting: "Im gonna see how far I can ride this thing." The ride was still on; it had merely increased in momentum. Fame, he explained to Josh, was temporary. Regret lasted much longerdid he really want to risk lamenting the fact that he had not taken the chance? His fathers perceptive words were just what he needed to hear: Josh dug into the effects-laden, $135 million production and pulled out a stellar characterization of torn loyalties and innocent love.
August 2001 - Entertainment Weekly
by Daniel Fierman Summer heats up with a provocative update of 'Othello' and nine other alterna-movies not to be missed.
Tim Blake Nelson's collections of watches numbers more than 120. They sit in his bedroom closet, clutter his shelves. The director wears a different one every day and can identify the make and model on your wrist.
"Bulova. 1960's. Maybe 50's. Right? Right? Can I see? Wow. Wow. Was it your dad's? Beautiful lines."
He turns the body over, Studies the band. Follows the sweep of the second hand and records the shape of the numbers. In short, he is a man obsessed with time.
And getting his second feature to the screen required patience of near Sisyphean proportions.
The story of O - How the intense teen drama got stuck in a quagmire of political campaigns, studio jitters, and myriad postponements-began in 1997, when TV writer Brad Kaaya (Mad TV) brought his idea for Othello in prep school to the Sundance screenwriters lab. "I always identified with Othello, " Kayaan says. "Not that I want to run around killing white women, but having been black in an almost all-white private school, allowed into worlds that other black kids weren't, I had some sense of the character."
Kaaya's screenplay scrapped Shakespeare's language and contemporized the action. Venetian general Othello became basketball floor general Odin. Demonic lieutenant Iago became sulen wing man Hugo. Desdemona became Desi, the dean's daughter. Cyprus became Charleston S.C. But the marrow of the classic remained: Machiavellian manipulation, interracial romance, and brutal violence born of roiling jealousy.
Impresses by Nelson's feature directorial debut, the moody 1997 Southern gothic epic Eye of God, Kaaya's manager sent the script to the sometime actor (who most recently played the dingbat convict Delmar in O Brother Where Art Thou?) on the Australian set of The Thin Red Line. "I said, NO WAY!" shouts Nelson, 37, nearly spilling his coffee in a Manhattan caf. "When will it end?" How many classics murdered in a high school setting do we have to sit through before they just...stop?
"Then like everyone working with [director] Terry Malick, I had a lot of downtime," Nelson continues. "And I read it. And I thought, this story is not only credible, but most appropriate in high school. With all the murdered! And I changed my mind."
By early 1999, $3.5 million in funding had been secured from independent financiers and the filmmakers found their Odin in Mekhi Phifer (Soul Food). "The role has a great history, especially for African-American actors. And Tim was so passionate and intelligent," says the 26-year-old-actor, reclining shirtless in a Manhattan hotel. "It seemed important. And I got to play ball.
The rest of the cast filled out around him. Josh Hartnett, then 20, was tapped to costar as Hugo, and after first considering Mena Suvari and Natasha Lyonne, Nelson chose Julia Stiles to play the girl who becomes the focus of Odin's jealous obsession. "I was 16 when I first read the script," says the actress, now 20, pausing to consider the time that passed. "Wow." With an up-and-coming director and an attractive cast of then relative unknowns, Miramax's Dimension Films bought the distribution rights. According to Eric Gitter, one of O's producers, the studio guaranteed a release in 1,000 theaters within one year of the movie's delivery, supported by $10 million in prints and advertising.
Here's where things in this kind of story usually go sour. But they didn't this time. There were no fights on the set. No weather delays. No one turned up in jail. Hartnett never demanded his Double Stuff Ores be dyed pink and fed him by left-handed Sherpas. By all accounts, the 33-day shoot was unremarkable.
Then, on April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Colorado's Colombine High School and murdered 12 fellow students and one teacher, wounded 23 others before killing themselves.
"I'll never forget it," says Gitter. "I was watching dailies- the scene where Josh gets taken out of the school after the shootings and put into the police car. The tape ended and I stopped the VCR to put another tape in. And you know how your television set comes on when you do that? Columbine was happening. Live. I called Tim and the two of us just sat on the phone speechless for an hour."
Things curdled quickly. On June 5, Nelson-having received assurances from studio executives that the film would be unaffected by the violence at Columbine-screened his first cut for executives. When the lights came up, there was silence. "It was foreboding," says the director, sighing. "But while Columbine was horrifying, I never imagined it would be a problem. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I couldn't help but think, Hang on, isn't that why we made the movie?"
Filled with mild dread, Nelson flew to Mississippi to begin work on 0 Brother, Where Art Thou? Acting during the day and editing O at night, he produced a near-final print that was test-screened three times to progressively better response that fall and delivered to Dimension topper Bob Weinstein on March 17, 2000.
Over the next 12 months, dammed by its very topicality, O would be given seven official release dates. Not one was sold. We'd get close," says Nelson. "But signs that the movie would be in theaters wouldn't be there:no ads, no interviews. Then they would push the movie again.
And when it came to the opinions of the cast, the stars were crossed. "Hell, I understood Miramax's position," says Phifer. "You don't want to look like you're capitalizing on grief." But, argues Hartnett, "People are smart. It wasn't like this was going to have kids killing each other."
To the filmmakers, it become clear that the usually gusty Miramax-which just happens to be run by Harvey Weinstein, a big-money supporter of the Democratic Party-was squeamish about releasing the film during the 2000's political races. "You never want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but come on," says Gitter. "You're hearing a party campaign on an [anti-movie violence] platform as loudly as they can, and they're funded by the guy who runs the company that has your film."
"Bob Weinstein was a fan of the movie. Harvey was the problem," says a source privy to the discussion between Miramax and the filmmakers. "And Harvey's problems never had to do with the quality of the film or its ability to turn a profit. It was working with Hilary Clinton and Gore-Liberman. His critics could call him a hypocrite for releasing O. And that stuff is important to Harvey." In Dimension's only comment for his story, a spokesperson responds, "Bob and Harvey both loved O but did not want their politics to distract from the film."
It wasn't until this year, with both the Clinton Senate campaign and the presidential race concluded, that O began to look like it might actually open. In January, the Weinsteins proposed selling the film to the Canada-based indie Lions Gate, which had handled Kevin Smith's controversial Dogma for them in 1999. The producers balked, concerned that the sale might jeopardize their contractual guarantees from Miramax.
Finally, according to Gitter, at a heated meeting at Los Angeles' Peninsula Hotel, Harvey Weinstein announced he had no intention of ever releasing the film. Gitter left furious. So furious that on March 19 he took took legal action.
The now-sealed suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, claimed that Miramax was in breach of contract for failing to release the film a year after print was delivered. According to published reports, it alleged that Harvey "overtly threatened" Gitter at that meeting, saying that the brothers "would see to it that the film was released on 1,000 poorly venued screens at inopportune times with no public relations support." The suite also stated that Harvey said "he and his brother would see to it that 'no one in Hollywood' would do any future business with Mr. Gitter personally."
The bottom line? The plaintiff asked for $17.85 million in compensatory and punitive damage. "I don't think they thought we would take legal action," says Gitter. "When Davey takes on Goliath, it takes a set of 'em to fight for the big guy." "It was brave," says Julia Stiles no stranger to high school Shakespeare updates (10 Things I Hate About You). "Miramax is huge and their you're never-going-to-work-again threats could be true. It's almost like going against the tobacco companies. Not that they're that bad-but, wow, scary."
Miramax sent its lawyers into action and, on April 10, sold domestic rights-keeping international distribution rights-to Lions Gate, which currently has the arguably most provocative troubled-teen drama Bully in theaters. Rumors quickly swirled that the O team was unhappy with the movie's new home. "Completely inaccurate," says Gitter, who maintains the producers were only concerned with the terms of sale and subsequent theatrical release. "Everything is acceptable," he says with a coy laugh. "Now."
As for Lions Gate, "We saw O and pursued it aggressively," says president Tom Ortenberg, who plans to put the film in 1,500 theaters and vows that even if there's another outbreak of school violence, he will release the movie Aug 31. "A finished film of this caliber and cast isn't exactly available often."
There may be one blessing in this mess: Thanks to their work in Pearl Harbor, Save the Last Dance, and MTV's Hip Hopera: Carmen, Hartnett, Stiles and Phifer have seen their stars rise since O's completion. "What can I say? It worked out," says Gitter, who settled his dispute with Miramax in June and like the studio, is legally bound from discussing the case. "We're satisfied."
"it feels great, but sometimes I can't help but think: What have I done since O?" says Nelson, glancing at the 1950s Delbana on his wrist. "I've acted three, no four movies and written and directed [the upcoming Holocaust drama] The Grey Zone. It's been a long time. But, hey, it's nice to finally see that ad campaign."
The tag line: TRUST. SEDUCTION. BETRAYAL. EVERYTHING COMES FULL CIRCLE. More than two years after O wrapped, it looks as though everything finally has.
August 2001 - Bliss Magazine
by (unknown) Gorge Josh Hartnett exploded onto cinema screens in Pearl Harbor and
now's he's going to blow you away in our special Bliss interview...
Q: How did you feel about getting the part in Pearl Harbor?
A: "I asked my dad if he thought it was a good idea for me to do a big blockbuster-type movie. I really wasn't sure whether I could deal with that kind of change in my life. And he said the coolest thing:'Fame can be temporary - you can always quit id you want to. But regret can be permanent.'"
Q: And did you co-star Ben Affleck give you any advice?
A: "Yeah. The first day I met him, he marched up to me and said:'Josh, this film is going to change your life!'"
Q: What's the downside of fame for you?
A: "Now being able to go out in public and not being able to live my life the way I want to. I'm the sort of person who likes to just walk around and get on with things - that's not the easiest of things to do when you've got a high profile."
Q: Do you wish you weren't recognized?
A: "Well, I like the level of game I've had and hopefully it won't get any higher. But if it does, I guess eventually people will get sick of seeing me out in public and they'll just leave me alone again."
Q: Come on, Josh! There must be a positive side to being famous!
A: "Well, before Pearl Harbor, nobody knew who I was. But people are going to know who I am, so I don't have to fight for recognition any more. Maybe that'll be a good thing. We'll have to see."
Q: How do your friends handle you being a celebrity?
A: "My friends will always tell me if I'm being different and, every once in a while, they'll bring me back down to earth. I've had the same friends for
a long time. I think that says a lot about me, but it also says a lot about them, too. To be honest, it's a lot harder for them. We all used to go out and meet girls and have an equal chance of scoring. But nowadays it's
different 'cause the chances are that girls will know who I am. It tends to make everything a bit awkward.
Q: So what does it fell like being a heart-throb?
A: "Everyone wants to be considered a great-looking peron. And I think it's really flattering, but I want to try to fo it a bit differently. I think I'll stick around a bit longer if I try to remain a little elusive.
Q: Is it true that you once auditioned for Dawson's Creek?
A: "Yeah, it is. One of the first auditions I ever went to was for a part in Dawson's Creek. I only went to one casting, but it's been blown up by the press to me auditioning for the show 55 times and trying to have (James) Van Der Beek assassinated! I have no idea where those rumors came from. The truth is, I didn't persue the part because I landed a part in Cracker(a US TV series) instead."
August 2001 - Toronto Sun
by Bruce Kirkland HOLLYWOOD -- You can take the boy out of the country but, in Josh Hartnett's case, not for very long. And you certainly cant take the country out of this Minnesota boy.
The lanky 6-foot-3, dressed-down, no-pretentions actor comes strolling into the interview room looking more like a tradesman than the rising movie star who is featured as the villain in the film O. The new high school version of Shakespeare's Othello opens in Toronto tomorrow after a long, contentious delay in its planned release. Polite and humble, Hartnett pulls off his dilapidated ball cap and squeezes it back into shape before dumping it on the table.
The cap is filthy, well enough worn that it has holes in the webbing and it advertises a cigarette brand. Turns out "a buddy" back in Minneapolis, where Hartnett grew up after being born in San Francisco, gave it to him for his 23rd birthday back on July 21. The hat has sentimental value.
"He's had it for 10 years," Hartnett explains. "It's the coolest hat. He said: 'You hold it for a few years and then give it to someone else.' But I can't wear it around very much because it's a (cigarette brand) hat and I don't want to support the tobacco companies."
The anecdote is a perfect illustration of Hartnett's eccentric yet likable character. As celebrity beckons, primarily because he had a major role with Ben Affleck in the Hollywood blockbuster Pearl Harbor, Hartnett looks for ways to soften the blow, escape the insanity.
Take the case of Pearl Harbor: "Just by chance -- not really by chance, it was kind of by design -- I was shooting a movie in Africa when Pearl Harbor came out, so we went through the press (in Hawaii) and I took off back to Africa where I was in Morocco and I could walk down the street and I was just that white guy. So I missed a lot of the hype the first month-and-a-half it was out. And the last month-and-a-half I've been in Minnesota and I've been putting together a house so I haven't been out all that much."
Celebrity means little. "You know, I don't see that much of it. The only time I see it is when I come back here and that's okay, I guess, because I don't come back very long."
He's in Hollywood today to talk about O, in which he plays the villainous Hugo, the high school equivalent of Iago in the play Othello. Don't think that being a Minneapolis country boy means that Hartnett doesn't know his Shakespeare, even if he's not the academic type.
"Iago is one of the best characters in Shakespeare," he says, adding that the character of Hugo was made less evil but more motivated so that youngsters could relate to him now. In Hugo's case, he is in angst because he yearns for the love of his father, who would rather deflect that passion towards the star basketball player on his school team. In this case that's Odim (played by Mekhi Phifer), the equivalent to the Othello character. Julia Stiles plays the young woman caught between them as the tragic plot unfolds.
Playing Hugo took a toll on Hartnett, who freely calls himself an intensely emotional guy. "This was one that beat me down the most, because having to find jealousy and envy within yourself and then to magnify it ... (he searches for words, seeming to choke up, but you get the picture).
"After this movie, I did an admittedly not great film called Here On Earth. But the character was a sweet, sweet guy and it really helped me get out of this. It was tough."
The country boy has a deep wellspring of feeling.
July 2001 - Total Film Magazine
by (unknown) Two years ago, Josh Hartnett was just another wannabe on the Hollywood Circuit. He popped up in teen fodder like Halloween H20 and The Faculty, but it wasnt until Sofia Coppolas The Virgin Suicides that he began to attract serious attention. Now the 22-year-old is hard on Leonardo DiCaprios heels, starring in Pearl Harbor as fighter pilot Danny, and currently shooting the lead in Ridley Scotts Black Hawk Down. Not bad for someone who only took up acting after a knee injury ended his high-school football career
When you learned about Pearl Harbor in school, what place did it have in US history?
"It was a few pages in the history book. You study American History by wars in high school, and you miss pretty much everything in between. So it was basically just the opening few pages to World War Two from an American perspective, obviously. But we learned a lot before filming began. The biggest part of learning about the event was talking to people who were actually there."
Did talking to Pearl Harbor veterans give you a sense of what it was really like on the day?
"I didn't press real hard about the actual event because they told only what they wanted to tell. Like, my great uncle took part in D-Day, but he never talked to me about it. These guys, even now, when they talk about Pearl Harbor they get tears in their eyes because they had friends who died there. But from the few stories that I did hear just about what happened on the day, what had gone on the night before, how they reacted when they were being bombed I think the most frightening thing was afterwards, the calm after the storm."
Michael Bay made you go to boot camp before shooting started what was that like?
"It was only five days but it felt like an eternity. Wed get up at 4:30am, when the trainers would drop a grenade outside our barracks so it would shake us out of bed. It was ridiculous, but its what you have to do in the army. Theyd make us do push-ups and sit-ups until we couldnt stand it any more. We would do it until we thought we were going to die."
Did you do any of your own stunts?
"Yeah. The stunt guys only came in for the really menial stuff, like when me and Ben get in a fight. When the really big explosions were happening they wanted to get my face funning away, so I did all that shit. Thats genuine fear on my face! It was like they were trying to protect the stunt doubles and didnt care about the actors, but it was fun."
How did you get on with Ben Affleck?
"Hes a really intelligent guy. I look up to him a lot. But I got to know some the other guys better, Ewen Bremner, and a bunch of the girls too. Wed have barbecues at the weekend and Ben came to a couple. It was a good atmosphere."
When did it hit home how huge this film was?
"Michael Bay never let us forget that we were working on one of the biggest movies of all time. He'd remind us any time we messed up: This is costing $50,000 a minute, so youd better start doing it right."
Do you think it will change your life?
"Well, right now Im in Morocco shooting Black Hawk Down and playing another pilot. Theres no real sense of anticipation here in fact, I dont think they know what Pearl Harbor is."
Has your Black Hawk Down co-star Ewan McGregor been passing on flying tips, because his brother is a pilot in the RAF?
"Yeah? I didn't know his brother was pilot. Ewans only three doors down from me as I speak. Ill ask him about it later"
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