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| THE BEACON JOURNAL Obsession with movies Young actor's interest put him on the road to `The Emperor's Club' By Philip Wuntch Dallas Morning News DALLAS - In The Emperor's Club, Emile Hirsch plays Sedgewick Bell, a charming but devious prep school student who manipulates his high-minded colleagues. So how did the 17-year-old actor research such an unscrupulous character? ``I watched politicians,'' he said. ``Sedgewick had to have charisma, or he wouldn't be able to win the other guys over. Politicians have to have charisma, too. So every chance I got, I watched them on news shows and got clips of debates they'd done. I noticed when they raised their voice and when they smiled. They knew how to schmooze. They all had technique.'' Did any particular politico serve as inspiration? He grinned as he answered, ``One thing I learned from watching those guys was to be as vague as possible and not to come right out and name names. ``One thing I did think about was that Sedgewick always had to have an audience. His father (a powerful senator) had never paid him enough attention, and so he wanted it from others. And he found the perfect audience at this school because the other students were the kind who always did as they were told and followed all the rules.... And then Sedgewick swaggers into class with an attitude that they wish they could get away with.'' He paused and then added, ``I guess politicians need an audience, and so do actors.'' Emile started his professional career when he was 10 and living in the Topanga Canyon suburb of Los Angeles. ``I was obsessed with movies, and acting just seemed like a natural extension of loving movies. It started as a hobby, and now it's something more. My older sister, Jenny, is living in Manhattan and acting. We were both so goofy growing up. I was very energetic.'' When he was 4, he invented a character named Funny Cowboy, and his sister would sell tickets to his cowboy act in the back yard. When he was 10, he started going on auditions for commercials. Emile is proud of his upcoming role in The Girl Next Door, co-starring 24's Elisha Cuthbert. ``I play the kind of good guy that the other students in The Emperor's Club are. I've always done the right thing and played it safe. I fall in love with the girl next door, and it turns out that she's a porn star who's trying to go straight. I have to stand up to her porn producer, who's a really bad guy.'' Source: The Beacon Journal |
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