Interview Magazine interview

Actors and actresses in the sixteen-to-twenty age bracket have become the dominant market force in Hollywood via the recent onslaught of teen ensemble movies and TV shows. But when the shrine goes off these wet-behind-the-ears wonders, as it inevitably will for most of them, only those who possess true talent will endure- and Josh Hartnett should among them. As the son of scream queen emerita Jamie Lee Curtis in last summer's Halloween:H20, Hartnett infused his relatively thankness role with a thoughtful, brooding presence tempered by good humor, which helped push the movie beyond its horror formula into the family drama. He's currently playing a cool loser in the youth-studded sci-fi thriller The Faculty. But Hartnett sprung the teenybopper casting trip when Warren Beatty chose him for a part in the upcoming Town & Country; we'll also see him next year in Sofla Coppola's first feature as a director, The Virgin Suicides, a decidedly adult dark comedy. Offscreen and on, this twenty-year-old Minnesotan distingueshes himself from the pack: He's funny, unaffected, and refreshingly ingenuous.

Laura Jamison: When did you start acting?

Josh Hartnett: About three years ago in Minneapolis. I had torn some ligaments in my knee and I couldn't play football anymore. I was moping around and my aunt, who's into theater, got me to audition for a production of Tom Sawyer. I didn't want to do it because I thought theater was...you know how it's perceived when you're in high school.

LJ: Geeky?

JH: Yeah. So I went but I was still aloof. I said, "Fine, if I get Huck Finn, I'll do it. If not, forget it." And I got Huck Finn and didn't really stop doing theater for the next two years. I found it exciting living other people's lives.

LJ: Now you're landing roles in Hollywood films. What's it been like making that leap?

JH: I was so naive. I thought I'd go to Hollywood, make a million bucks, then move to Paris and paint. Then I realized it's not that easy to do things the way you want to in Hollywood- or even to do them at all.

LJ: You had a role as a pretty troubled character in the short-lived TV series Cracker. Was that good casting?

JH: Yeah. I'm very good at playing troubled. I don't know why. After my dad watched Cracker, he said to me, "I'm sorry for whatever I did." I said, "You didn't do anything- I was acting." My performance made him feel bad; he said he'd seen all those faces before.

LJ: What do your parents think of your acting career?

JH: We had a few disagreements about it at first because when I decided to give up on high school. It's always hard for me to understand that someone might have a problem with what I'm doing. I guess I'm kind of a self-involved person, but I don't think there are many actors who aren't.

LJ: All right. So who dp you play in the Faculty?

JH: He's called Zeke. When the part was brought to me, I was told he was the coolest guy in school and that was about it. I was like, "Oh, OK." But what I got from reading the script was that he's the classic underachiever. He could do anything he wants to. He just decides he doesn't want to because, you know, fuck the system, man.

LJ: It turns out the teachers are aliens, right? And one of the students starts figuring it out and tells the others. Is that your character?

JH: Definitely not! Zeke's oblivious. But I get to drive real fast and get the girl and all that kind of stuff.

LJ: Do you have any thoughts about this whole youth phenomenon in movies, of which you're a part?

JH: I think the studios are just cashing in on the young actors who are drawing audiences. I don't know how long it's going to last and I don't know which actors are going to make it beyond this trend and which aren't. I suspect there're going to be a lot of has-beens pretty quickly. It's be nice not to be one of them, but you can't worry about that. Almost everybody out there right now claims they want to be a real actor. It's not like the brat-pack, you know?

LJ: Because you grew up in the midwest, would you say Hollywood has been a culture shock for you?

JH: A little. Everybody is trying to position themselves all the time. It's this big game that never ends. If you do that for too long, you might look back one day and say, "What happened to my life?" The film I'm working on right now (Town & Country) stars Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton, who aren't the kin of people who need to position themselves. You know who's boss, and that's kind of refreshing in an old-fashioned sort of way.

LJ: But I bet you have more of a chance of being on the cover of Entwetainment Weekly than Warren or Diane. They may be legends but you guys are pushing them aside in terms of publicity right now.

JH: Well, that's why I'm in the film.

LJ: You're the token youngster?

JH: I hope not token.

LJ: I don't mean to trivialize you like that, but they needed a youngster, you mean?

JH: I guess. If you want to call me a youngster. They just want everybody to see the movie, including the younger crowd.

LJ: Actresses have always been chosen for roles because of their looks. It wasn't always so true for men, but I think it is now for your group. Do you have any thoughts on that?

JH: I don't buy into it. There've always been people who aren't considered that beautiful, but they become what they've wanted because of their vision or drive. I hope my getting jobs isn't based on my looks. It might be, but it's be cool if it wasn't.

LJ: Is there a way to present yourself in a certain way?

JH: Well, you know, I've been getting manicures and stuff.

LJ: That's good- Keep it up.

JH: There seems to be a kind of Noxzema feel about my group of actors. Responsibility and cleanliness are in. It doesn't mean there isn't any debauchery in Hollywood anymore; that's always going to be here. Not that anybody's been pushing me into rock 'n' roll lifestyle- it's just not chic anymore. Moderation is a pretty big word among the people I know. There's practically around at the moment; it's pretty unexciting, actually. But I've been lucky enough to play a couple of dirty characters onscreen and that's good because you don't want everything to become sterile. You don't want to lose the messiness of life.

Interview by Laura Jamison; from January 1999 issue of Interview.