If he can make it here ... Eric Stoltz knows more about Canadian cinema than most Canadians

J. Kelly Nestruck
National Post

Monday, September 29, 2003

'I'd like to break into Canada," Eric Stoltz declares, uncrossing his legs and standing up from his chair. "I'd like to be the first American actor who actually sets out to achieve success in Canada."

The independent film star, chatting amiably in a Toronto hotel room about his career, walks over to a nearby table, pours himself a glass of Perrier, then dilutes it with Evian water, while I stare agog. He mistakes my surprised expression as a comment on his eccentric choice of libation. "It makes it just slightly less fizzy," he explains. "A dash of fizz."

But the shock is directed toward the 41-year-old actor's admiration of our film industry. I'm much more accustomed to speaking with Canadians who desperately want to break into Hollywood, not vice versa. Stoltz chastises this misplaced ambition.

"Canadians have it all wrong. What are they thinking about going to the States to work?" he says. "Look at your society up here -- it's so great. Who would want to go to the United States when you can live up here?

"You do have Chrétien, it's true. But we've got Bush, so ..."

My first thought is that Stoltz is just being polite or perhaps pulling my leg. But he clearly knows too much about Canadiana for it to be a joke.

"I love Atom Egoyan and Norman Jewison and Denys Arcand," he says, easily listing off more Canuck directors than the average Canadian can. "There's some really fine Canadian filmmakers."

But enough about Canadian cinema. Stoltz is "up here" to promote his latest project, not to spout propaganda for the Ministry of Culture. Out of Order, a six-part miniseries debuting tonight on the Movie Network and Movie Central, follows the trials and tribulations of Mark and Lorna (Stoltz and Felicity Huffman), a screenwriting couple who are experiencing a difficult period in their marriage. It's loosely based on the lives of Donna and Wayne Powers, the real-life screenwriting team who created the show and have written for Cagney & Lacy and The Equalizer, as well as the scripts for movies such as Deep Blue Sea and The Italian Job.

The series is told from the perspective of Stoltz's character, who imagines his life as a movie. His fantasies are acted out ŕ la Ally McBeal, and cameras, boom mics and crew members appear in the frame every so often. True to the cable television formula, sex, drugs and profanity are sprinkled liberally throughout each episode.

"People either love it or hate it, which is understandable," Stoltz says. "It's a story about a struggling marriage more than anything else -- how they try to keep it together in the face of other temptations and Hollywood success and all the land mines in the road."

Out of Order, which aired in June on Showtime in the United States, is full of excellent performances by actors better known for their work on the big screen. William H. Macy, who is married to Huffman in real life, co-stars as a washed-up alcoholic producer, and director Peter Bogdanovich has a recurring part as a Robert Evansesque Hollywood producer.

It was Bogdanovich who launched Stoltz's career, casting him in his breakthrough role as Rocky Dennis in 1985's Mask, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. (Stoltz returned the favour by casting Bogdanovich as a therapist in a film he made in 1997 called Mr. Jealousy; that part helped Bogdanovich get the recurring role of Tony Soprano's shrink's shrink on The Sopranos several years later.)

Since Mask, Stoltz has played minor or major roles in a number of critically acclaimed movies -- The House of Mirth, Pulp Fiction, Some Kind of Wonderful, Jerry Maguire, Singles, Say Anything -- but he has never become a household name. He's known by film critics and by movie buffs, and that's just fine with him.

"I don't care to really climb the Hollywood ladder," he asserts, distinguishing himself from the characters who populate Out of Order. "These [characters] are very Hollywood aware. They go to parties, they read the trades, they crave that success in Hollywood. It's sort of like craving candy. You can't really stop yourself even though you know it's not good for you. It's going to rot all your teeth.

"I myself don't eat candy," Stoltz grins. But he adds: "Well, I'll have the occasional bite, if someone has a plate."

Sometimes Stoltz does wish he was on the A-list, however. "There's just a paucity of material available if you're not Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt," he laments. "Most feature films are comic books now. It's not a real fervent time in the entertainment industry."

Some of the more interesting work being done these days, he says, is on cable television. "Luckily, cable television seems to be doing thoughtful, intelligent pieces that at the very least try to say something."

Or there is one other option. For the second time in the interview the American actor, who splits his time between New York, Los Angeles and his New Mexico ranch, brings up Canadian filmmaking, this time citing his favourite actors. "I like Molly Parker and Don McKellar. I'm a big fan of the film scene up here," he reiterates.

But Stoltz does have one beef with his northern neighbours. "They rarely seem to hire American actors," he complains. "We hire Canadian actors all the time ... probably because Canadian actors are a lot nicer than American actors."

When I tell Stoltz that I was interviewing McKellar the day before (see page AL1), he perks up and perches on the end of his chair. "Were you really? What a coincidence. Gee." He inquires about McKellar's latest projects and so I tell him about the Canadian actor and director's latest project, a movie called Child Star which will begin filming in November.

"Put it in your article: Eric Stoltz would love to be in Don McKellar's new film," Stoltz instructs me.

All right, will do. If McKellar or any other Canadians would like to see an audition tape, they can tune in to the 98-minute premiere of Out of Order tonight.