Exploring his inner gentleman

By TRISH MAUNDER

Friday 15 June 2001

Eric Stoltz is best known for distinctly modern characters in films such as Pulp Fiction and Killing Zoe, or even his 1982 screen debut, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

One of the true tests of an actor's ability, however, is to bring to life characters far removed from his familiar environment - in period films, for example. Stoltz, who's dedicated to his craft, hasn't shied away from the occasional foray into the past: Rob Roy, Little Women, on stage in The Importance of Being Earnest or the new film adaptation of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth by British writer-director Terence Davies.

"I think a period film is much more interesting to do than a modern story," Stoltz says. "Discovering how these people behaved, how to hold your cigarette and your drink, and how to treat a lady, it's fun stuff. Of course, the costumes help - when women put on those corsets, they simply move differently, and our high, stiff collars helped, too."

As Lawrence Selden, a gentleman of indifferent financial means, he plays opposite The X-Files' Gillian Anderson's Lily Bart, a turn-of-the-century New York socialite in urgent need of a rich husband. Their almost unspoken love is impossible under the strict rules of polite society - codes that will be familiar to readers of Wharton or viewers of an earlier screen adaptation of her work, director Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence.

These rules were the key to what Stoltz tried to convey in the relationship between Lawrence and Lily. "Even though we loved each other, it wasn't enough," he explains. "I'm not sure if it came off in the film at all, but it's very clear in the book - he didn't have enough money to support her in the way a lady should be supported. So even though they loved each other, the right thing to do was not to marry her, to leave her free to find a man who had money."

Stoltz agrees that, on the surface, such attitudes seem positively archaic, but believes one doesn't need to scratch very deep to find the similarities between modern American culture and Wharton's old New York.

"What are our values in this day and age? Fame and wealth and success, our place in society, and that hasn't changed all that much from 100 years ago. What do we need more of to make the world a better place to live? Compassion. The House of Mirth demonstrates this quite well," he says.

With an attitude to his profession that's "constantly changing", Stoltz says "there are times when I think I'm blessed and have the best job in the world, and times I think it's all just awful and a huge waste of time".

He seems to place working on The House of Mirth in the first category. The grand Victorian architecture of Glasgow was deemed perfect for the film, so cast and crew spent a "beautiful summer" in Scotland. "It's a beautiful country, and we were all staying in bed-and-breakfasts, renting bikes on our days off and seeing the country."

Getting to know different parts of the world is, for Stoltz, one of the real pluses of a successful acting career, as are the recent opportunities to move into other areas of the movie business. A few years ago he starred in and produced the romantic comedy Mr Jealousy while appearing in a Broadway production of Chekhov's Three Sisters. More recently, he's just finished directing his first film, My Horrible Year.

"It's a simple story of a teenage girl, but I think it's well told and fairly well done for a first film, if I do say so myself," he says. "I enjoy just about every aspect of film-making, and I want to try everything." High, stiff collars included.