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Aaron Eckhart
By Daniel Robert Epstein
Mar 15, 2006
Aaron Eckhart scared a generation of filmgoers with his misogynistic character in the
seminal independent film In the Company of Men. Since then he’s played such roles as the
sympathetic biker in Erin Brockovich to a fast talking shyster in Paycheck. Now he’s playing
the be all end all of shysters; a tobacco lobbyist in Thank You For Smoking.
Nick Naylor is the chief spokesman for Big Tobacco. Confronted by health zealots out to ban
tobacco and an opportunistic senator who wants to put poison labels on cigarette packs, Nick
goes on a PR offensive, spinning away the dangers of cigarettes on TV talk shows and
enlisting a Hollywood super-agent to promote smoking in movies.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Did you ever smoke?
Aaron Eckhart: Yeah I did smoke for a few years but I gave it up like three and a half years
ago. I was never in peril making this movie where I was freaking out in my trailer trying to
find a cigarette.
DRE: How did you get involved with this movie?
AE: I was actually shooting in Canada and [director] Jason [Reitman] flew up and talked to me
about doing the movie. I was already committed to something else but I read it and I said,
“Wow! Nobody else wants to do this? How come?” I knew that I wanted to do this movie and
that he was going to do a fantastic job. He did the screenplay adaptation and he just had a
command of what he was going to do.
DRE: Your character could be a Neil Labute character except this time he’s screwing over the
whole country.
AE: [laughs] I think what this movie did as opposed to what Neil would do, is that Jason
really grounded this movie with the father-son relationship. I’m not sure that Neil would
have done that or if he would have manipulated that relationship in another way. But this
movie has heart which is important for a comedy because ultimately you have to laugh and
walk out of this movie feeling good about yourself. Even though it is so politically
incorrect I think it achieves that.
DRE: You must have been worried at one point that it might be misunderstood or
misinterpreted.
AE: There were some things that were a little difficult to say and I had to double check with
Jason. I’d be like, “Are you sure you want this in the movie?” That’s where somebody like
Neil or Jason is so special because if it doesn’t carry over into the next scene, if it
doesn’t make you laugh and titillate you, you’re dead. You’re just being all those things
that they think a tobacco lobbyist is.
DRE: As an actor you have a forum to say whatever you want and know that it can go out there
and it can be misinterpreted. Just a couple weeks ago we did an interview with Bruce Willis,
where he came in and said some very harsh things about certain people and it seemed like he
wanted everyone to go out there and print what he said. That seems to relate to this movie a
lot.
AE: Yes and you have to be careful. With this movie, what I think it is and what the director
thinks it is can be two different things. I personally think this movie is a comedy and I
look at it only as a comedy. It was never a political movie for me. This was never about
tobacco. It was about this character who really gets himself in these crazy situations and
gets himself out. That’s fun to play as an actor. Now I hope that there is political talk
about this movie because that means people are going to go see it.
DRE: How was working with JK Simmons?
AE: The guy’s solid as a rock. He was so funny and every line he says is perfect. JK walked
in and boom, nailed it every time.
Sam Elliott was also fantastic. Who could be a better Marlboro man than Sam Elliott? We all
couldn’t believe it though when he said “I smoke Kools.”
DRE: The whole movie had a great cast.
AE: We got lucky and I’m very happy about that. For example David Koechner who played the gun
lobbyist was so great. I wasn’t familiar with his work but he was unbelievable every single
time. He added so much.
DRE: How did Jason tell you what he wanted?
AE: First of all on the set of Thank You For Smoking Jason was very calm, I think because he
has been on sets all of his life because of his father [Ivan Reitman]. I fully expect Jason
to become a major American director. We had to trust each other. I usually tell a director,
“I like it to be whispered in my ear or I like for you to come up to me and have our own
private conversation.” So he would do that.
DRE: What was it like working with Katie Holmes?
AE: Terrific. We were concerned about our sex scene and how it was going to fit into a
comedy. We had serious discussions with Jason because neither Katie nor I wanted to get
unclothed and have this huge sex scene. I don’t think the script called for it and it didn’t
need it. That was probably my main concern about the script and Katie had the same concern.
Jason said he was going to shoot us from across the room and we were going to be fully
clothed. I think we laughed a lot while doing it. Katie and I became pretty good friends. It
ended up being funny as opposed to scary.
DRE: In Thank You For Smoking your characters meets with a power broker [played by Rob Lowe]
in Hollywood to get more cigarettes into movies. I know after Erin Brockovich you had a lot
of “heat” on you. Did you ever meet with a Hollywood power broker like that?
AE: [laughs] Well I don’t know if they go as far as wearing a kimono like Rob’s character
did. But there are people out there that can make that happen. I feel like I am with an
agency that can make that happen.
DRE: It seems like today with actors going back and forth from Hollywood movies to indies to
theatre many of them don’t want to be big giant stars.
AE: The X in that variable is the actor. I could have my next ten movies lined up and they
could all be a certain sort, I would be made, and they would make more money off me. But
actors have more power these days. The people around you can only advise. But the thing is,
if you have a dip in your career or if you make a mistake, then they psychologically gain
more power and they say, “Look, this is what you have to go do.” There are a lot of times
you will listen to them and do what they say.
DRE: [laughs] Do you have ambitions to direct?
AE: I would like to sometime. I would really like to get great performances out of actors.
DRE: How was working with Brian De Palma on The Black Dahlia?
AE: I loved working with him. Brian is a real pro. Brian knew what he wanted. He was working
with professionals so he showed up and expected us to be ready and we were. That’s the way I
like to make movies.
by Daniel Robert Epstein.
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