Mark Ruffalo has played his fair share of cops, so why are another one? That and many other questions were put to one of Hollywood's hardest working actors, as he and Paul Fischer talked serial killers, cops and Hollywood.
Question: What research did you feel necessary to do or do you think everything was pretty much ....
Ruffalo: Done for me?
Question: Done for you.
Ruffalo: I actually ended up doing quite a bit of research. The one thing I wanted to do was get together with Dave Toschi. And so I went to San Francisco for a few days and spent some time with him at his work and hanging out with him. And that was a big part of the whole performance, was that time I spent with him.
Question: Now you've played a cop a number of times, a few times. What is about that profession that's intriguing and what do you do to try and make ...
Ruffalo: Those different?
Question: Yeah, to try and give it as much interest as possible.
Ruffalo: They're as close to being bad guys as you can get without being a bad guy so they're walking a very fine line, you know. And I mean they're certainly in the realm of good and bad and black and white and all that. So it usually has some dramatic stuff around it. It isn't like I choose it - those are the only jobs they're giving me too you know, that they offer me. There's this projection that we like go around like, 'Oh yeah I'll take that'. No. They're the only jobs they give you. You'd be surprised how little there is of choosing. And it's ended up that I've been a cop a few times now and how that's happened, I don't know. I've been running from cops most of my life. But how that's happened ..... Ruffalo: Yeah. He's a real guy and I feel like I owe it to him to be as honest about who he was and what it cost him and what he went through as I can for the movie. And that's basically what I said to him when I went to meet him. He's like: 'I just don't know why you're here to talk to me'. And I said 'I'm here because I want to honour you, man'. 'I want try and be as honest about your life as I possibly can in the context of this film. [...]
Question: What about the obsessive nature of his character. Could you relate to that?
Ruffalo: To Dave? Dave Toschi? Well I mean shit, I've been doing this for twenty something years and you have to be a little obsessed I think to keep going. I don't relate to it - I don't have that kind of obsession. I guess I do in my acting and what I want and what I'd like my career to look like and all that and I keep hammering at it and this was like a career defining moment for him. And actually when it all blew up in his face it destroyed him and his family.
Question: I would imagine you're at the point in your career where you would have said no to another cop movie at this point. What made you say yes to this one?
Ruffalo: The first thing is the calling part of it, is that David Fincher rang and I'd like to work with him. And then I pretty much go by the material. I mean that's pretty much first and foremost. Then I read it and I just thought it was - there's a whole metaphorical side to this movie about where we are in the world today and about the way we treat evidence and law and presumptions and so that also struck me as well. Sociologically where we are today in the world because of a lot of presumptions, because we didn't follow the letter of the law in evidence, because we weren't as thorough maybe as some of these cops were back then. And so there was that aspect of it too. There was the metaphorical aspect as an artist. And then there's me just playing this guy, this real guy that really took this journey. And I saw a picture of him and I was like 'I have never played that. I have never played that guy'. So that was another thing. Have I done it? I
Question: So what are the challenges for you. You were sort of joking about what the offers are or what have you but you still have a very respectable career. Ruffalo: I hope so.
Question: You still get great roles. What are the challenges for you to find characters and find projects that you can really sink your teeth into?
Ruffalo: Well there's not a lot of great writing you know. What happens now is that there's, it's writing by committee and they want - even this movie, the release of this movie, OK? This movie could have been released in November. It stands up with anything that's out there right now I think. But because it's a serial killer movie that they don't catch the serial killer in the end, everyone's like freaked out. They don't know ... 'What do we do with this movie?' you know. And it's that sort of mentality that is making the world a much smaller place. It's just the surer thing, the surer bet, you know. So characters are less interesting, stories are less risky. Question: Are you a cynic?
Ruffalo: Listen. Not only is that glass half empty - it's also a little glass.
Question: Do you see this movie getting under the skin, I mean this case has a way of getting people wrapped up in it. Did you see it happening with the film makers? Did it happen to you?
Ruffalo: It's like the perfect snake eating its own tail. Fincher, who became obsessed with this case makes a movie about obsession - about people's obsession about the case. It just keeps going around and around and around.
Question: So Fincher is obsessive is he?
Ruffalo: Fincher is, when he's working on something, becomes obsessed with it. He wants to know every little detail about it. He is so detailed oriented. Only because he doesn't want to be the guy who shows up and knows less than anybody else there. He is an incredibly conscientious film maker. As far as his work ethic, and I mean I have never worked with him before. But he steeped himself in this material. He steeped himself. I mean we probably came closer to solving this case than anybody has. I mean, we had the resources, we had the people, we had the technology. I mean we've been able to do stuff with ... he'll talk to these cops and they'll say 'I never knew that'. He'll spit out pieces and they're like 'I never knew that' - guys that worked on this case, whose whole life was this case. Question: What are you doing next now?
Ruffalo: I'm hanging out with my kids.
Question: You are taking a break?
Ruffalo: Yeah. I'm looking for a job.
Question: I thought you were going to do The Brass Wall.
Ruffalo: They're still writing it. You know, God help us, that happens. Yeah, they're in the middle of writing it and I'd like to do it but that's months and months away.
Question: You didn't make anything after this?
Ruffalo: I did Reservation Road, yeah.
Question: Fincher's movie Seven kind of defined a certain kind of serial killer genre movies for years. Was he consciously trying to show the opposite side of the real life frustrations?
Ruffalo: I think he said to himself 'If I'm going to do this I'm going to totally, you know, just recreate it for myself'. Question: What will you and your wife be doing for Valentines Day? Anything fun?
Ruffalo: We're going to try and get a room at the Chateau. and I'll get in. No I don't know what we're doing.
Question: Don't get the one next to Lindsay Lohan. Ruffalo: No is she still there?" Source: www.Darkhorizons.com
"Like Stéphane (the character played by Gael García Bernal), Gondry once held down a dead-end job at a Paris calendar publisher. Like Stéphane, he once nursed a forlorn crush on a casual female acquaintance. In real life, his love was not reciprocated. In the film, it sort of is, although during the production Gondry was not entirely certain of this and had to ask Charlotte Gainsbourg (the actor who plays the girl) for reassurance. Afterwards, he felt happy and relieved. [...] He made "Human Nature" and the Oscar-winning "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in tandem with the writer Charlie Kaufman. He collaborated with the comic Dave Chappelle on the eponymous Dave Chappelle's Block Party. "The Science of Sleep" is his first outing as both writer and director - the first one he can truly call his own.
While film lacks the pure emotional wallop of "Eternal Sunshine", it remains a beguiling, sugar-frosted fantasy, utterly unlike anything else currently doing the rounds. It also boasts a lovely chemistry between Bernal and Gainsbourg as the mismatched playmates who may just become lovers.
Of course, movies have a knack of bamboozling the viewer. Previously, I had always imagined a similar connection between Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine. Off-screen, however, this turns out not to have been the case.
"Much more difficulty," Gondry says. "They were very different personalities and I think they are coming from such different backgrounds that they are having to stretch to meet. They did an amazing job, but it was a lot to ask for them to become friends." This thorny relationship was reflected across the entire production. "We had two producers, one from New York and one from LA, so different backgrounds again. Then you had Charlie Kaufman and Jim Carrey, two strong personalities. And I was in the middle. I would talk to Jim Carrey and listen to his ideas. And I liked them, but they were -" he gestures across the room - "way over here." Like what? "Well, I remember he would go, 'Oh, maybe I'm eating a cake and my house is inside the cake.' Or, 'Maybe I suddenly lose my eye and I'm rotting and it's like a horror movie.' And I would never even dare to pass these ideas on to Charlie Kaufman. His views were very different."
Gondry insists he never feels resentful that "Eternal Sunshine" is generally viewed as a Kaufman film, with the director playing second fiddle. "People write these things in newspapers, so it's obvious they gravitate towards the writer," he shrugs. "Yet film is a visual language, not a written one. So when people say I can't tell a story because I'm coming from videos, it's very dismissive of what movies really are."
"English is more direct, more confident," Gondry says. "I had an English girlfriend after breaking up with Paul's mother, who is French. I would never say 'I love you' in French. It is too definitive. If you say it once, that's it. It's like saying, 'I will die for you.' In England, you can say it casually."
He pauses to ponder this conundrum; this thicket of missed connections and language barriers, gaudy dreams and cold realities. Eventually he is forced to let it lie. "I wish there was an easy answer," he sighs. "It is very complexicated". Source: Film.Guardian.co.uk
I've been thinking about Peter lately, after his descend of my "Ignition List", and I would want to make it up... a little, admiring the splendor of his powers in affective areas, with Maggie, baby Ramona (beyond tender), Jake, a flower... he deserves no less a top ranking in my (our) heart. The word that came in my head before about Peter was "sexy", now (after his paternity) is "gratifying". Choose the word you prefer.
"It feels like Spring again You sprung this on me and then It feels like Spring again But I guess it never really ends It just comes around again And I collect all the cards that you sent. But I could not say If I should stay I might not even Even remember your name Oh what a shame Oh I'm a bad valentine, a bad valentine I'm a bad valentine Oh I'm so bad, bad, bad, all the time Oh I'm a bad valentine Ooh I love you baby Aah I love you maybe Ooh I love you baby Or maybe, maybe I'm just insane. I'm a bad valentine, a bad valentine Oh I'm so bad, bad, bad, all the time Oh I'm a bad valentine" -sung by TRANSVISION VAMP. Wendy James was one of the 80's girl-crushes I had.
HELEN MIRREN SHOCKS BAFTA VIEWERS WITH F-WORD "The journalist warned her it was "a channel where people don't swear". She replied, "Where people don't swear? F**king nutbag!" Source: Mirror.co.uk, 2-12-07.
"There was plenty of rudeness to go around on both sides, not just from the famous but from the fans as well. From one who stood for hours on the red carpet to hopefully get a photo with Kate Winslet, I can attest to it. Most notably, with Jake Gyllenhaal, who was gracious with his time and generous to a fault. As he stopped to sign for someone next to me a man rudely yelled practically in his face 'are you gay' over and over and Jake gave the most brilliant look at me and the girl whose paper he was signing. We all three were embarrassed for him (the man, not Jake). Jake loudly said 'no' back to shut the bloke up. This apparently did not satisfy and the man said 'bisexual', Jake laughed no, looking straight at me, as if he couldn't believe it. I think my jaw was hanging at the man's audacity. I must have looked so funny. The man finally shouted 'dating Austin' (redundantly, for hello, it's a man's name) and Jake laughed and said 'no' again before moving on. Anyway it was the most comical and surreal moment for my brush with celebrity and made me grateful I'm just a nurse. I wouldn't have had the patience with such rudeness." Source: www.Talkentertainment.com, found by Penny Lane.
Penélope and Jake talking during BAFTAs. Penélope Cruz arriving in car to Nobu Berkeley Restaurant, London, 12th February.
"Jake Gyllenhaal dines at London’s exclusive Nobu restaurant on Monday night wearing a “The Duffer of St. George” cap. (Duffer sells everything from fresh and funky streetwear to modern looks.) Jake, 25, recently walked the red carpet at the BAFTA Awards." Source: www.JustJared.com Source: Squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants
Ok, dear weird kindred, marriage and insomnia can be a strange combination, specially if your husband is so understanding somehow it makes feel you more guilty. The case is that there is a guy out there who supposedly was in love with me (sounds 100% corny at this point, I know, but not it's less true even so), and I want to dedicate to him this post. I won't say his name, because maybe that only would magnify my vanity, but we shared a story. His favourite song was "California Sun" by The Ramones, and his favourite movie is/was "Memento", we would watch things as "The Blank Generation" and would get drunk, we would listen to Herman Brood songs and even cried when he committed suicide, and read fanzines, so I have too much class (or I'm much of a coward) to post this in the San Valentine day. You said me you danced without a sense of rhythm, but you know what? you're a liar.
"All my friends say I'm a fool/I can't still stand that new boy hangin' around/ Every night, honey, you're, you're not on the dancefloor/I know he is back in town/ And Marguerita, I want you so much/Can't handle myself/Tryin' to find me another love/But I just turn out to be foolin' myself, 'cause honey/I want you/I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else/I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else./Hey, didn't see you hangin' around in the après-ski/And I didn't see you downtown/I know your rock'n'roll fancy playboy kind of boyfriend/ And I hate to see him back in town/Hey, Marguerita, I want you so much/Can't handle myself/Oh, I tried so hard to find me another love/But I just fooled myself, 'cause/I want you/I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else/I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else/'Cause when you're near/I can hear you moan/As long as you're hangin' round/I don't feel down/Hey!/ I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else/I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else/Hey!/I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else/I love you like I love myself/And I don't need no, I don't need nobody, child/(Hey, mama) I love you like I love myself/And I don't need nobody else." "I LOVE YOU LIKE I LOVE MYSELF" -HERMAN BROOD.
"The Motion Picture Academy held its Sci-Tech Awards Saturday night at the Beverly Wilshire , a new venue for the kudofest, which has bounced around for several years. New mom Maggie Gyllenhaal hosted, looking radiant in a pewter dress while beau Peter Sarsgaard watched from a front table. As usual, the honorees included more than a few cutups. "An award like this is a rare and beautiful thing. An award like this to a geek... is the square of that" quipped Industrial Light & Magic's Colin Davidson from the podium. [...]
Gyllenhaal warned everyone at the outset that "I fulfilled my college science requirement by taking earth science and dinosaurs," then ploughed gamely through monologues about densitometers, optical flow-based image manipulation and lossy compression. More of a problem, she said, was her contact lenses, which need a new prescription and weren't strong enough for her to see the script on her teleprompter.
"I couldn't even read 'I-L-M,'" a chagrinned Gyllenhaal told Variety afterwards. Still, she kept the aud on her side and got a big hand at the end. As for Sarsgaard, he said "I just love watching her talk. Especially in a nice dress." Source: Weblogs.Variety.com, found by Penny Lane.
"I was really killed by Babel, I loved it so much. Especially the two women, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi. And what else? Maggie Gyllenhaal in Sherrybaby. She's my favorite, she's the best actress working. I'm obsessed with her. I think she is the real deal." -Gwyneth Paltrow dixit. Source: www.ew.com
