“I’m at the perfect level of fame”

JON CRYER
By Eric Gladstone

Lunching with Jon Cryer in a Los Angeles café feels less like interviewing a veteran television actor than like catching up with an old high school friend. After all, Cryer, 35, is still best remembered for his breakout film role, as Molly Ringwald’s underdog suitor Ducky in the 1986 teenage touchstone Pretty In Pink. Not that, for Cryer, there’s anything wrong with that. “I would have to say that is the performance I’m most proud of,” he says, munching on greasy fries and a sandwich. “That guy was so much a part of me.”

But for Cryer, who has worked consistently in films and television since then, there is a lot of news to catch us up with, especially in the last year. For a start, there is Cryer’s new ABC sitcom, The Trouble With Normal, co-starring Paget Brewster. Then there is the recently-released independent film Went To Coney Island On A Mission From God…Be Back From Five, which Cryer co-wrote and financed himself, in addition to his starring role. And on the home front, there is his January marriage to actress Sarah Trigger (“Easy Streets”), their new home in Los Angeles’ Beachwood Canyon, and the birth of their son Charley Austin in June.

“I was planning to do something big, someplace fabulous,” Cryer says, recalling his proposal to Trigger with a cringing chuckle. But last October, one of life’s little surprises got in the way. “And instead, I’m standing there with this little clear blue easy pregnancy stick, in this wormy voice, saying ‘honey, will you marry me?’” Though they are both atheists, Cryer and Trigger (whom he met on the set of Getting Personal in 1998) chose to be married in Manhattan’s historic Riverside Church, where Cryer attended pre-school. Charley Austin—one name inspired by Cryer’s favorite great aunt, the other, by their supermarket checker—arrived on June 22, and has been giving mom and dad comic inspiration ever since. “He’s such a Charley,” the new father says. “I think Walter Matthau died and jumped into this kid.”

The son of Broadway actors Gretchen and David Cryer, Jon and his two older sisters (one biological, one “semi-adopted”) grew up surrounded by the theatre. “For me,” he says, “hanging out backstage with all these bizarre people, and occasionally having really famous people come by my house and say hello, was normal.” Cryer’s parents divorced when he was four, but he notes the split was so amicable that his mother and sisters still spend Christmas with his father and stepfamily every year. “My mom and dad get along better divorced than they ever did together.” Cryer also first appeared in a commercial at four, but the acting bug didn’t really bite until he was 12, with school plays.

In the last decade, Cryer has had a string of bad luck with sitcoms, following 1989’s The Famous Teddy Z. with three more here-and-gone shows, Partners, It’s Good To Be King, and Getting Personal. But he has high hopes The Trouble With Normal, in which he plays a paranoiac obsessed with his therapist, will be different. “I’m dedicated to inflicting myself upon the American public,” he jokes. “I love the work on sitcoms. It’s so much fun to be in front of an audience doing that kind of stuff.”  And he’s learned to take the ups and downs of acting in stride, balancing comedy with independent film projects like 1996’s critically regarded The Pompatus Of Love and the new Went To Coney Island….

The latter film, released in September after a string of award-winning festival screenings, was a three-year labor of love for him and director, co-producer and co-writer Richard Schenkman. “Richard and I have done everything, we put together the soundtrack, the website, every single thing was either me or Richard.” The film is based closely on an event in the actor’s life when he and a friend heard his mother’s boyfriend’s son was mentally ill and homeless, and sought to find him. “It was terrifying for us,” he says. “We were completely devastated.” Cryer fought for the film’s somber conclusion, to the point that he and director Richard Schenkman decided to finance it themselves rather than give it the happy ending that prospective financiers wanted. “And the irony,” he says, “is that the guy who it’s based on did go into rehab and is going back to school now. In reality, it did have a happy ending!”

On his time off, Cryer collects autographed first editions (“I’ve got a Martin Luther King and a James Earl Ray on the shelf next to each other.”). He also describes himself as an obsessive “computer nerd”—he maintains his production company’s website, Evenmore.com—inspiring his own thoughts about where “Ducky” would be today, 14 years later. “Someone approached me about a sequel, and I thought ‘Internet billionaire…really cold and remote.’ Something goofy like that.”

While Cryer may not have quite that level of cash, his family, new home, and work leave him nothing to complain about. “I’m at the perfect level of fame,” he says with satisfaction. “People don’t bug me, but they occasionally give me free stuff. Can’t beat that.”

–FF–

Copyright 2001 ECG

“I just like being around a movie camera.”

Tommy Lee Jones
By E.C. Gladstone

Tommy Lee Jones is not exactly the first Oscar-awarded actor you would expect to “go Indie.” After all, the most recent flick from this soap opera veteran (One Life To Live, 1971-75) was cheerleader comedy Man of the House, and his biggest hits of the last ten years are the ultra-commercial Men In Black(s), Space Cowboys and Batman Forever. Then again, Jones, 59, is one of those Teflon performers who manages to maintain a certain grit in any venue, thanks to unforgettable roles in The Missing, Rules of Engagement, The Fugitive (there’s the Oscar), JFK, Lonesome Dove, the Executioners Song, and Eyes of Laura Mars.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, then, is not just another vanity-project Indie film. As Jones’ feature-directorial debut (he directed the cable movie Good Old Boys for TNT ten years ago), it may not be surprising that it takes place in the actor’s native West Texas. What will surprise, though, is the slow, contemplative tone of the film, and it’s decidedly non-flag-waving tenor. Jones plays a gringo cattle ranch foreman whose Mexican friend is mysteriously shot along the border region. Fed up with the inept and racist local law enforcement (represented in an ambitious performance by a nearly unrecognizable Dwight Yoakam), the foreman takes matters into his own hands, forcing a suspect border patrolman (Barry Pepper) to help him find an appropriate resting place for his friend’s remains.

Jones is clearly a deliberate filmmaker, choosing everyone he works with carefully, from screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) to the aforementioned actors, and score composer Marco Beltrami. And it can’t be an accident that director Luc Besson is one of the film’s executive producers. It won Best Screenplay (Arriaga) and Best Actor (Jones) at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Phoning from his San Antonio home, Jones is admittedly tired from traveling and on his way to a Spurs game, both elements further exaggerating his generally established reticence as an interview subject. Nevertheless, we managed to get a few chuckles out of him…

EG: You’ve been in the business for about 35 years, and only directed a film once before ten years ago. What made you want to do this project, and why now?

TLJ:“I had a simple desire to satisfy my lust for creative control. I’m interested in making movies about my country, and Guiermo’s interested in making movies about his country, and it doesn’t take much time to realize the countries are the same.

EG: How did you find the script?

TLJ: “Guillermo and I pretty much developed it together. I asked him to make himself aware of a kid killed at the hands of the United States Marine Corps a few years ago in the town of Redford, but I didn’t want to make a movie about that kid. The incident revealed social tensions that were of concern

EG: You’ve done an awful lot of roles. This might not be the kind of role people would expect to see you do, or the type of film. Was that part of what was of interest to you?

TLJ: “I’d have to double check on the assumptions in the question. I’d have to ask you what kind of role it is and what kind of movie it is. If this is not what I do, what kind is this?

Continued at Pt. 2

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-FF-

copyright 2007, ECG

“Doors kept opening and I just kept walking through them”

Heath Ledger Interview
By EC Gladstone

Heath Ledger is the picture of calm. Strolling into a suite at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel, the 21-year-old actor, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, jeans and sandals, looks tanned, rested, and ready. You would have no idea looking at him that he is at the center of a whirlwind. Having just flown in from the Prague set of Brian Helgeland’s A Knight’s Tale, Ledger will scale a mountain of publicity for his new film The Patriot (he costars with Mel Gibson) in LA and in New York, before returning to the four-month long film shoot, which has shut down production just so he can be here.

Ledger is being called a new Mel Gibson, and meeting him in person, it’s not hard to see why. The tall, curly blond haired Australian actor shares a steel gaze and a strong jaw with the box office star, and measures up in poise, sense of humor, and healthy attitude. Ledger is also instantly philosophic about the attention.

Considering that the interview began on a hotel room balcony (with construction workers jackhammering nearby) then continued in the midst of The Patriot’s premiere party—where we were joined by Ledger’s dad Kim—it’s amazing that we were able to manage as in-depth a conversation as we did.

Eric Gladstone: OK Heath, let’s rock and roll.  So I realized after we first spoke that I’ve seen Blackrock.

Heath Ledger: Oh did you, how did you get, how did you see it?

E: Sundance. A couple of years ago, three years ago maybe. Never came out here did it, it’s a shame… So–what’s your wrist band say?

HL: Oh it’s, uh… Guilty. Someone just gave it to me, I don’t know where they got it from.

E: You’re 21?

HL: Yeah.

E: When’s your birthday, is it coming up?

HL: No its just been, April. 12th of April.

E: Happy Birthday, belated.

HL: Thanks.

E: You told me that you’re from Perth? Born and raised there?

HL: Yeah, till about sixteen.

E: And then where?

HL: I drove from Perth to Sydney, with my best mate, Trevor.

E:  Was there anything specific that prompted you to move to Sydney?

HL: No I just wanted to experience life. It was really about exploring life. And my job was a medium for me doing that, it was an excuse to get out and just do that.  And that’s all, I just wanted to get on that train that was flying past at ninety miles an hour.

E:  Did you finish school?

HL: Well I did my final year mark at a year early and then left.

E:  How long was it in Sydney before you got a gig?

HL: Like four months.  No it was only like two months.

E:  Was it hard, were you worried, were you nervous?

HL: No because… I didn’t even worry about it.  I didn’t think that I was going to be ending up here.  I didn’t have any expectations to end up here, so nothing was really hard about it, it was just living.  I just need to eat, so I needed to work, and that was my work.

Continued in part  2

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copyright 2000, ECG

Heath Ledger Interview
By EC Gladstone

EG: What’s the last movie you saw?

HL; Uh, Man on the Moon, actually, on the plane. It was alright.  You know, Jim Carrey was good.  I don’t know much about um, Andy Kaufman, because we didn’t really get a lot of him in Australia.  So I don’t really have anything to run him off.

EG: Listen to any music?

HL: Oh loads I mean, my favorite kind of stuff, I guess, is like Pixies, and Beck, and uh, like Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, and The Doors. Led Zeppelin.

EG: What’s the last CD you got.  Anything new?

HL: Um, I can’t remember the last one I bought. I haven’t bought any CD’s in Prague – did I?  Actually I bought the David Holmes CD.  He’s awesome. He went around New York with a DAT machine and recorded all those people in the streets, and mixed it. It’s really good.

EG: Any words of wisdom about keeping your head on straight?

HL: Work as if you don’t need the money, love as if you’ve never been hurt, and dance as if no one’s watching.

EG: Who said that?

HL: “I don’t know, its uh… I did. I just said it…[Laughs]

We continue at The Patriot premiere Party. Heath’s just been congratulated by Cher, and is holding a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

EG:  When you first got the Patriot role, were you nervous about working with Mel?

HL: Yes I was, funnily enough.  Funny you ask me that question again, that’s funny.  No yeah, you’re right, I was, I was very nervous, only because it was Mel Gibson, a guy that I always looked up to I guess you could say, it was Mad Max.  And, you know, he puts you at ease straight away, he cuts through the ice, he makes you smile, makes you laugh, and you’re comfortable all of a sudden.

EG:  How did you get that bond with him that really seems like a father and son thing?

HL: We didn’t you know, go fishing or anything to like create a father and son thing, it just kind of happened, it was like a mutual thing that we both understood. It just formed.

EG:  What’s your relationship with your own dad by comparison?

HL: Oh, its wonderful, and he’s here, he’s here somewhere.

EG: Yeah, I want to meet him.

HL: No, you won’t. [laughs]

EG:  [as fireworks are starting] How does it feel to be surrounded by all this American-ness.

HL: Pretty boring.  No I’m just joking.  Its fun, man, it’s festive.  You really do feel it. You can’t help it. Right now, it’s like the perfect moment, to ask me that question.  As the fireworks are spitting up.

EG:  You’re learning guitar now, is that right?

HL: Yeah!

EG:  What kind of stuff are you playing?

HL: Well, now right now I can play a little bit of Doors and…. I’m just getting there, you know, I mean I can jam right now with my basic chords,and I am slowly learning songs.  It will be a while.

—————

Continued in part  8

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-FF-
copyright 2000, ECG

Heath Ledger Interview
By EC Gladstone

E:  I read somewhere else that you got tap shoes?

HL; Yeah for fun. Just for fun.

E:  So you don’t have aspirations to do a musical or something like that.

HL: No.

E:  You seem like an awfully confident guy for somebody who is 21.  Where does that come from?

HL: Um, just not giving a shit, I guess. I just see the humor in everything and I don’t take a lot that serious, and that’s it.  And if it’s confidence, then it’s confidence.

E:  So you are still in the middle of making A Knight’s Tale…

HL: Yeah, I’m going back tomorrow morning.

E:  Do you feel more pressure having a film on your shoulders, so to speak?

HL: No. No. No.  You know, it’s like you’re doing the same thing when they call action and cut, it’s the same thing.  You just don’t think about that stuff. I don’t.  Well, now I am.

E:  Because of me, you mean.

HL: Yeah.

E:  Sorry about that. What’s the weirdest thing anyone’s asked you in one of these things?

HL: I don’t know… Do you have a pet kangaroo?  Would you ride a kangaroo to school?  Yes, No.

E:  Are you feeling any pressure in terms of all this attention?

HL: No, no, I just come back and I am like one day here, this is all very weird, and then I just fuck off and I go do my thing, and I hang out with my mates, and I go back to normal.  I become the donkey -fucking mate of my friends and that’s it.

E: You’re doing Four Feathers next, right?

HL: Yup.

Eric:  That’s going to be in Morocco? It’s kind of like a mystical tale, or something?

HL: It’s a long story. Do I have to explain it?  My head’s fucking absent right now, and its like, ugh, jet lag has just kicked in now.

E:  Who’s the coolest person you’ve met so far?

HL: Jack Nicholson.  I met him a couple of times, just at parties and stuff like that.  He’s a cool cat.  Yeah, he doesn’t give a shit.

E:  Any aspirations in terms of something you’d like to do, someone you’d like to work with, anything like that?

HL: I don’t know.  There’s so many of them, you know, it’s just fuckin’ so hard to say who’s your favorite actor, who’s your favorite director… I can’t, it’s impossible. I respect so many different
actors and filmmakers for different reasons that its hard to just put a finger on one thing.

Continued in part  9

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-FF-
copyright 2000, ECG

Heath Ledger Interview
By EC Gladstone

EG: Would you like to go back and do more work in Australia?

HL: Yes, Yes– This is my dad.  Hey, dad, come say hi to the interviewer.

Kim Ledger: Hi, guys.

HL: You should say my son’s a good boy.

Kim: My son’s an excellent boy. [laughs] Always had been.

EG:  Did he give you any trouble when he was a lad?

Kim:  Always, always, always gave me trouble.

EG:  What’s the most embarrassing thing he ever did?

Kim: Wow, there’s so many of them, we don’t really know, we just couldn’t start, we’ve had such fun, haven’t we?

EG:  Was he always this confident?

Kim: Always, no matter what he does.

EG:  Does he get that from you?

Kim: Nah, no he’s taught me a lot.

EG:  What did you think when he decided to pack up and move to Sydney?

Kim:  Am I allowed to swear on that thing?  I shit myself.

EG:  Were you worried for him?

Kim:  Yeah! of course.  I was worried for me as well–I was missing him like hell.

EG:  What did you think of him and Mel in the film?

Kim:  Great chemistry.  Great chemistry.  Great Chemistry.  I thought it was very good.  I’m going to have to have a talk to Mel later, because I would’ve preferred that he brought him back for me, I didn’t like the dying scene.

HL: Yeah he should have done that CPR course.  He should have.

EG:  So are you having fun tonight?

Kim:  Yeah, it’s excellent.  I mean this is the first big thing we’ve been it, like this, it’s just amazing.

Heath gets drawn into another conversation, and I finish with Kim and give both my good wishes.