The 37-year-old—who last year relocated to Park Slope with his actor wife and their baby girl, Ramona—is about to unleash that scene-stealing charisma in a production of The Seagull at the Walter Kerr Theatre, opening September 25. A few weeks before his Broadway debut, Sarsgaard spoke to us over the phone from his Brooklyn townhouse.
Time Out New York: It sounds like you’re multitasking. What have I caught you doing? Peter Sarsgaard:Right now I’m making some meatballs. I have the mixture put together and I’m thinking I’m going to make the balls a little bit smaller than usual. I’m thinking Ping-Pong size.
TONY: Mmm…meatballs. Not a bad way to spend your free time. Peter Sarsgaard: In my free time—that’s a phrase that doesn’t really exist. Most of what I do in my free time these days is, you know, be a father.
TONY: How are you liking Park Slope so far? Peter Sarsgaard: Very much. The West Village, where I had lived, paid a price when the Gansevoort Hotel and all those things went in. A lot of taxi traffic and a lot more paparazzi.
TONY: Why not use a disguise? Ape suits are pretty cheap these days. Peter Sarsgaard: Whenever I see somebody in sunglasses and a hat I always assume they’re famous. [Pauses] An ape suit? That would really throw them off.
TONY: Totally. Speaking of costumes, I assume this production of The Seagull finds you in bird garb, shouting, “Caw! Caw! Caw!” Peter Sarsgaard: Absolutely. And dropping clams onto rocks to see if they split open.
TONY: Your Tony Award awaits. Do you have any preshow superstitions? Peter Sarsgaard: Am I superstitious? I mean, I’m Catholic—so yeah, deeply. But I have done things that were a little OCD, yes.
TONY: Like what? Peter Sarsgaard: I’d have to say something a certain number of times. Sometimes I’d say it loud enough so I could be overheard. And then I couldn’t explain it to anyone.
TONY: Has it ever freaked out your costars? Peter Sarsgaard: The only person who commented on it was Chloë Sevigny. She tells people it’s something I do all the time. I don’t think it is, but I certainly did it around her on Boys Don’t Cry.
TONY: What was it you were doing? Peter Sarsgaard: I’d say “motherfucker” five times. And then, if I was asked about it, I would act like it didn’t happen.
TONY: Awesome. Did you do anything to prepare for your big make-out scene with Liam Neeson in Kinsey? Peter Sarsgaard: We did a movie together called K-19: The Widowmaker. That’s how we prepared for it. You know, it’s funny. You constantly end up in strange situations with people as an actor—and you just do it. God knows they’re paying you enough.
TONY: But as a straight guy, wasn’t it hard to go through with it? Peter Sarsgaard: It wasn’t as hard as, say, running around with all my gear on in Jarhead. I’d rather go for an awkward moment than physical exertion any day. The only thing that I think [male actors] get freaked out about when they have to do something like kiss a guy in a movie—when to their knowledge they’re straight—is that they’re afraid they’re going to be turned on. And if you’re not afraid that you’re going to be turned on—meaning that you know what you like—then really it’s not that hard.
TONY: After the SNL appearance, has it become difficult for even you to say your last name the right way? Peter Sarsgaard: You mean without a pirate accent? My name has always seemed very normal to me. And it’s not hard to say. It’s phonetic. Whereas Gyllenhaal, for example, it’s perfectly understandable that you wouldn’t come out with that.
TONY: Yeah, it’s sort of like, “Buy a vowel!” Peter Sarsgaard: I mean, there’s loads of consonants right in a row at the beginning—G-Y-L-L, still no vowel. The double a at the end is just to let you relax after going through all those consonants. TONY: You hooked up with Maggie just because she also has a double a in her last name, didn’t you? Peter Sarsgaard: [Laughs] Yeah. I don’t know. No. Source: www.timeout.com
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"It was an Oscar-winning film lauded for its sensitive portrayal of two lovelorn cowboys and their illicit passion in America's homophobic Midwest. But despite the success of Brokeback Mountain, starring the late Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, the author on whose story it was based has complained that the tale has become "the source of constant irritation in my private life".Annie Proulx, 73, the Pulitzer prize-winning author whose short story was made into the Hollywood film in 2005, said she had been pestered ever since by "pornish" mail sent by fans offering their interpretations of the story.
When the story was published in 1999, it was praised for its delicate handling of homophobia in the ranching country of Wyoming. But her fans feel she could have gone further in her descriptions of the love shared by the two central characters.
She told The Wall Street Journal: "There are countless people out there who think the story is open range to explore their fantasies and to correct what they see as an unbearably disappointing story. They constantly send ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to reply with praise and applause for 'fixing' the story. They certainly don't get the message that if you can't fix it, you've got to stand it.
"Brokeback Mountain has had little effect on my writing life, but is the source of constant irritation in my private life."The film, directed by Ang Lee, received critical acclaim and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning three".
"The first thing you notice about Michael Cera in person is that he seems a lot smaller and skinnier than he does in the movies. Maybe it’s actually true that the camera adds ten pounds. He’s also even nicer and seemingly more vulnerable than the characters he plays, if that were actually possible. His role as Nick in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is nothing new for him, but because he’s so honest and innocent, it hasn’t gotten old. He’s like the Lloyd Dobbler for an entirely new generation.-I’m curious, because you guys are kind of in the target demo that movies like this and Superbad and Juno are aimed at. What do you think is different about these movies of the last couple of years, as opposed to back in the ’90s when we had a lot of teen movies that were maybe a little more gross-out based, a little more sexist perhaps. Do you like any of the movies that come out now?
-I like anything that feels authentic or comes from a real place. Comes from someone’s heart. I’ve never liked those gross out comedies. I watch a lot of movies and that’s not really what I watch or like. I just try and do things that I think I would like.-So you play guitar?
-Yeah, and a little piano.
-We keep hearing things about the Arrested Development movie, is it actually happening as far as you know?
-We’re not in production and I haven’t read a script. I know Jason (Bateman) wants to, and I don’t know if Mitch (Hurwitz) wants to. But, I would only want to be a part of it if it was going to be good. Because, its good to end on a high note, I think, and go out with a bang and leave the winning war. That’s just my instinct. I don’t think it would be worth doing unless it was going to live up to the expectation that might come with it.-Do you go home a lot?
-Yeah, I’m home right now in Toronto. Yeah, I’m going to be here a little while after the festival". Source: blog.spout.com
Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the World Premiere of "Uncertainty" with Lynn Collins. "There are other elements in Miracle at St. Anna that feel off to me, but I'm more than willing to accept how that may not be because of any failings on the part of Lee or McBride, but rather because I'm simply incapable of wrapping my mind around the brute enormity of war -- and racism -- in the 1940's from a remove of seven decades in time. Miller's Train is certainly from the same mold as Lenny in Of Mice and Men; I couldn't imagine a character so simple being able to serve, but, then again, I wasn't there. I could wrap my head around a scene set on the home front, where our four soldiers are denied counter service at a Southern ice cream parlor while German POW's sit out front, but not around the scene's denouement, which felt strained and stilted.But then Lee follows that with a shot of our four heroes -- not protagonists, but heroes -- looking right into the camera, weary and wounded and tired: This is what we're willing to do; what are you willing to do to earn that? It's a question all soldiers, and especially these soldiers, have the right to ask; it's a question very few film makers would be willing to ask of us on their behalf. Terence Blanchard's score is haunting; Matthew Libatique's cinematography captures frenzy and grace, brutal slaughter and exhilarating life. The four leads are superb, as well -- each turning potential boiler-plate war movie caricatures into something richer and deeper while still maintaining the movie-style shimmer of archetype and affect". Source: www.cinematical.com
"I know people want to know about me and Brad. But I don't want to go into the details of our marriage, because it's best not to. That's what helps keep it normal. Besides, there's enough false information out there to last you a lifetime. But seeing there's a theme here, I will say one thing. I'll tell you about Brad's laugh. I don't know how to explain it except it sounds like a twelve-year-old boy who just threw a water balloon down on somebody. Just the other night, he was watching the Robin Williams HBO special while I was sending out e-mails in another room, and out burst that great mischievous laugh. I just looked up and giggled.When I got the script to this movie, The Good Girl, I read it in an hour. The writer, Mike White, has an ability to create characters that are so creepy and dysfunctional and human, with this duality that makes people feel empathy for them at the same time. My first thought was: Was this sent to the right person? I called my agent. "Are they sure? Let's say yes before they realize they've sent it to the wrong person!"
On the first day of shooting, we started in the middle of the movie. Right at the center of my character's arc, where she's losing her mind and she's got to get rid of her illicit lover and she doesn't know what to do, but she's got to get rid of him, so she buys these blackberries. I don't want to give away too much. But I had to do this really tense scene with the blackberries on the very first day, and this fear welled up in me, and next thing I knew I'm asking Miguel Arteta, the director, if maybe we could move the location and start with another scene. I'll never forget what he said: "The way I look at it, you might as well jump chest first into the empty pool."You know what I'm hoping? One of these days there will be a moment when I can get up on that karaoke stage and sing. Let's face it, if I make a living making people laugh, why stop here?
The 37-year-old—who last year relocated to Park Slope with his actor wife and their baby girl, Ramona—is about to unleash that scene-stealing charisma in a production of The Seagull at the Walter Kerr Theatre, opening September 25. A few weeks before his Broadway debut, Sarsgaard spoke to us over the phone from his Brooklyn townhouse.
Peter Sarsgaard: It wasn’t as hard as, say, running around with all my gear on in Jarhead. I’d rather go for an awkward moment than physical exertion any day. The only thing that I think [male actors] get freaked out about when they have to do something like kiss a guy in a movie—when to their knowledge they’re straight—is that they’re afraid they’re going to be turned on. And if you’re not afraid that you’re going to be turned on—meaning that you know what you like—then really it’s not that hard.
TONY: You hooked up with Maggie just because she also has a double a in her last name, didn’t you?
