[Stella Adler alumni include Benicio Del Toro, nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in] Traffic, ... You Can Count on Me. |
I can't just 'Jim Carrey' something like that, ... I don't have that kind of genius. So I went and hired a clown and we did isolating exercises, where one part of your body does one thing and another part does something else. And then, at 2 in the morning, after working on it for hours, I was lying down, and I thought, 'Oh my God, I've got it now!' |
I just thought that, as much as we could switch gears, the more fun it would be. Really grind into the low, intense love stuff, and death and those kinds of big themes, then just go way out there on physical comedylike stuff. And the way to do that is just be incredibly honest with each scene. |
I knew playwrights and stage directors before I ever knew filmmakers, |
I like doing the action and the romantic comedy stuff, |
I started out in Los Angeles doing plays and bartending. I did at least 30 plays that nobody saw before I got Ride With the Devil. |
I'm the lead inspector in the Zodiac case. It's a great part. |
I've been able to hide behind the character in Eternal Sunshine . People don't recognize me from Collateral . But this feels more exposed. |
In the past 10 years since I've been doing independents and occasionally a studio movie, studio movies are starting to look more like independents and independents are starting to look more like studio movies. Both of them see that they can make money. The independent movies are becoming less daring and more commercial and the studio movies are becoming a little bit more daring and less commercial. So it's kinda a weird times. |
It was a bunch of young girls, |
It was a bunch of young girls, ... They were standing in close proximity. I said, 'Hi. How are you?' One of them asked (he puts on a high girly voice), 'Are you Matt from 13 Going on 30 ?' They were nice and everything. But I usually like to be low-key and private. |
It's not my favorite genre, generally, ... But I want to do it. I wanted to try my hand at it, because I was hearing around town, people saying that I couldn't do it. 'Mark Ruffalo can't do comedy. Mark Ruffalo can't be a romantic lead.' And so I was like, 'Those are fighting words, my friend.' |
She was razzing me on the set, ... 'This movie will bring you up in the world - no more little independents for you.' |
Sometimes I catch her looking at me a bit more amorously than usual. It certainly is the type of thing that doesn't hurt a love life. She keeps me in check when 13-year-old girls come running up to me. |
The differences between us as actors, Reese and I, seem to play out between us in our parts, ... I come from doing a lot of theater and I like rehearsals, while Reese jumps straight in. We're unlikely romantic leads that work well together. |