Aaron Eckhart Q&A

9 February 2010

Love Happens

After making his breakthrough as the vicious executive Chad in 1997’s Neil LaBute’s In The Company of Men, Aaron Eckhart has forged a remarkable career in film.

Aside from his other films from LaBute (Your Friends and Neighbours, Nurse Betty, Possession), he’s worked with a series of impressive filmmakers, including Oliver Stone (Any Given Sunday), Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich), Sean Penn (The Pledge), Brian De Palma (The Black Dahlia) and Ron Howard (The Missing). Most recently, he played Harvey ‘Two Face’ Dent in Christopher Nolan’s billion-dollar hit Batman sequel The Dark Knight.

His latest role, in Brandon Camp’s Love Happens, is one of his most emotional to date. He plays Burke, a widower who has channelled his grief into a best-selling book and a career as a successful self-help guru.

When he returns to Seattle, where his late wife hailed from, he falls for a local florist (Jennifer Aniston) but in the process realises he’s yet to truly confront his own demons. Eckhart, 41, talks below about playing a grief counsellor, how he feels about being often cast as a villain and his experiences on upcoming films, The Rum Diary, with Johnny Depp, and Rabbit Hole, with Nicole Kidman.

-What did you like about the script for Love Happens?

There’s a little bit of depth here. The movie revolves around loss and grief, and is therefore not your standard romantic comedy. There’s a bit of everything in there.

- It’s a film about redemption, it seems...

I think that’s the main point of the movie the acceptance of love and forgiveness. Which people love to go see!

- Normally, self-help gurus are usually portrayed as money grabbing. But Burke seems to want to help people...

Well, that’s an interesting point you bring up. I was very interested in not portraying this guy as a car salesman. And that’s how he was originally portrayed. They wanted him to be a little bit more slick, slimy and duplicitous.

I felt like we’d seen that. People get into self-help probably for the right reasons the majority of the time. There’s always going to be ten per cent who don’t.

But I think it’s more interesting if the guy is emotionally conflicted. He’s challenged by his emotions and is not out for the materialism at all. And he hates himself for it. I thought that was more interesting.

- What preparation did you do?

I did research into grief. It’s a heart-wrenching world. You have to gone through intense grief. That’s the only reason to do it. You wouldn’t do it unless you could emphasise with these people. It’s like my character in the film says he didn’t plan on being a grief counsellor. His wife died. That’s how life changes.

- Did you meet any real-life self-help gurus?

Yeah, I did. I did do that. I also went through grief counselling. I heard people talk about loss, and go through that sort of thing, and feel the depth of their emotions and the pain that they feel. It was actually quite hard to listen to.

- In what way?

Not hard in the way of them complaining it’s just gut wrenching.

- So did you meet motivational speakers?

Yeah, yeah and it’s not too far off from characters I’ve played in the past. I’ve been kind of familiar with that kind of person. But the tricky part about those guys is the power. It’s like rock-stars, y’know? They really are influential over people’s lives.

People put their lives in their hands. In America, we have the televangelists. I don’t know any of those, but you have to hope that they genuinely want to help people. But I think we tend to look at the ones who take advantage who are wholly false. That’s where I think the [bad] rap comes from.

- Do you buy self-help books yourself?

I definitely have some. I’m always looking at self-improvement! I have a terrible personality and I’m a total loser, so they help me a lot! Over the years, they’ve got me through some tough times!

- The last scene with Martin Sheen is very emotional. Was it tough to film?

It was. And that’s what attracted me to the movie. That cathartic breakdown. I really, really enjoyed filming those scenes. The crowd was so with me, and the filmmakers really supported that and Martin was there. It was very touching. I was happy that those scenes came out good.

- What was it like working with Jennifer?

It was good. She’s a sweet girl. We got along real well. She’s a total pro.

- Were you follow by the paparazzi?

A little bit, yeah. And there were rumours going around [about the two of us].

- She must get that on every set, right?

Yeah, I think that’s built in! When you know it goes with the territory, the upside of that is that people are more likely to go see her films.

- You haven’t done too many romantic roles like this before...

Look at Erin Brockovich or No Reservationsit’s out there. I don’t have any plans on trying to convince anybody that I’m one way or another.

- Would you like to be a leading man?

I’m interested in doing it. I think it’s well within my range. I think in this movie it qualifies. I’m an actor. I love to act. And I love to get good roles. I’m as interested in doing movies as I was ten or fifteen years ago.

- So you haven’t lost the love of acting?

When I work with less than stellar actors I get that way. But when you’re working with Heath [Ledger] or Gary [Oldman] on something like The Dark Knight, it reinvigorates your love of acting. I was watching tennis the other day.

And I thought, ‘How many times can you hit a tennis ball?’ And it’s not about hitting a tennis ball. It’s about the energy that is created through the technique or the correctness of an art. I think that’s what’s exciting.

- Are you still staggered by the success of The Dark Knight?

I am. I’m so happy for Chris and for everybody involved with the movie. Who could have thought that it could’ve gone so big, so fast? I’m as anxious as everybody else to see what happens, if Chris will direct the next one, if he’ll write it I can hardly believe he wouldn’t.

But I’m anxious to see what direction they’ll go in. I’m sure he feels enormous pressure, because of the success of this one both critically and financially. He’ll probably look long and hard at this. But if anybody can do it, Chris is proven that he’s the man for it.

- You’ve just made the Hunter S. Thompson novel, The Rum Diary, with Withnail and I director Bruce Robinson. Was it a glorious experience?

Yeah, it really was. He himself is as interesting as his movies. By far. He’s a cross between Richard E. Grant and Mick Jagger! Bruce has this worldly rock’n’roll quality. And he’s totally invested in his movies.

He’s a great writer. He’s a really beautiful writer, actually. And I think he did a great job on The Rum Diary. And I think he and Johnny are really on the same page. I could see that Johnny really admires Bruce. I’m hoping for great things with the movie.

- Who do you play in the movie?

I play Sanderson, the wealthy up-and-coming industrialist who is trying to make Puerto Rico into a parking lot and a hotel! I recruit Johnny’s character to help me do that, to write the prose, to sell the concept to the public. And Johnny’s character doesn’t know if that’s really a great thing.

- Was it a suitably wild shoot?

Yes, in ways that I will let Johnny elaborate on, as I don’t talk out of school. But there’s some interesting goings-on. And things that I wasn’t privy to probably too that put Johnny into character.

I can’t wait for Bruce to talk about the movie, because I think a lot went into writing this movie for Bruce. Both in his personal life and his professional life he really made sacrifices for this movie.

- With the likes of Robinson and The Dark Knight’s Chris Nolan, you’re finding some remarkable directors to work with

You know what? I have to say that I have a really good agent. I’m not smart enough to work with these people! I couldn’t come up with it. I just worked with John Cameron-Mitchell on Rabbit Hole, which was a Broadway play, which stars Nicole Kidman. That was an amazing experience. She’s a hell of an actor and I think is going to be terrific in this movie.

- Like Love Happens, it deals with loss again right?

Our four year-old child was hit by a car eight months ago, and died. And we’re trying to come to grips with that and repair our marriage. So I think it’ll be another gut-wrenching thing from the beginning to the end.

The thing about Rabbit Hole is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything but what it is. It’s an out-and-out drama, with some touching moments and maybe some poignant, funny moments but it’s basically just a gut-wrenching movie.

- You’ve really been pluming emotional depths then, of late

Well not now! Now I’m playing a Marine who saves the world from alien invasion [in Battle: Los Angeles].

- Has it been light relief after the likes of Love Happens?

Let me tell you something. It’s exactly the opposite. It’s the hardest movie I’ve ever made. It’s documentary style house-to-house combat, in full-on Marine style. It’s not like Starship Troopers or something like that. It’s the actual Marines. And it’s going to be the most kick ass movie you’ve ever seen in your life. I’m telling you.

- You’re best known for working with Neil LaBute. Do you like provocative material?

I think so. I like characters and I’ve just come to this realisation that move forward in the movie. That’s where I’m at my best. Characters that are like a shark. They’re not looking behind them. They have to move to live.

- Have you had any negative feedback from audiences playing these characters?

I think most people have an impression of me as always playing the villain, or playing a dubious character. I don’t really see it that way. I think those are probably been the most critically-successful movies.

Even Thank You For Smoking, I didn’t at all feel like I was a villain. But people inherently think tobacco lobbyists are bad people. It’s much more interesting to play just a person, than a good guy or a bad guy. I think it’s more interesting there. Who can say that they’re categorically good or bad, depending on the day and the situation?

- Are you and Neil planning anything new?

Neil, absolutely we just had breakfast the other day. I’ve got to do a play for Neil before he disowns me! I think he’s bringing another play to London right now. He’s going to be going there, doing that.

Both Neil’s children are going to school in London. So he is absolutely an Anglophile and wants me to go over there and do a play. I was over there three years ago and I’d like to be over there again. And if I do do that, it has to be a Neil LaBute play.

- You are something of an Anglophile yourself, right?

I came here in ’81 and was here for four years. I lived in Walton-on-Thames, in Burwood Park. I went to school in Surrey. Oh my God I thought I was going to Mars, if Mars was a prison! That’s a 13 year-old’s view of going anywhere but California.

I was being raised in the surf culture and in girls and the beach, and then to be taken away from that. I surfed a lot in Cornwall, though. I came to love England and Europe. I travelled a lot through Europe.

- What impact did that have on you?

In the beginning it was torturous, because I thought I was being taken away from the centre of the universe. We were ski-ing in the Alps twice a year. We were going to North Africa on trips and going to Moscow. I was playing rugby.

I was seeing concerts at the Hammersmith Odeon and going to London we figured out pretty quickly that we had a pretty good life. I have an intense love for America, my country, but I also have an intense love for Europe. I feel that in some ways, because they were my formative years, I do have that in me.

Love Happens is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 8 February, 2010