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| Emile Hirsch: he got his start on a police show. Now he won't stop stealing scenes. (Movie News) Interview, June, 2002, by Nicole Vecchiarell In 1999, while most boys his age were fretting about braces and algebra, 14-year-old Emile Hirsch had concerns of a different sort. The young actor, who'd made appearances on such TV shows as NYPD Blue and ER, was looking for, he recalls, "a good movie script I could really sink my teeth into." His search ended when he found this month's The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, a poignant coming-of-age story set in the 1970s produced by Jodie Foster, who also has a supporting role, playing a peg-legged nun. Opposite fellow up-and-comers Kieran Culkin and Jena Malone, Hirsch portrays a soulful troublemaker with both rawness and quiet confidence--and steals the movie. Though he seems as cool and collected off-screen as he is on, Hirsch openly gushes about his experience working with character actor Vincent D'Onofrio, Altar Boys' chain-smoking Father Casey. "Vincent was like the Godfather--we all respected him so much. He'd hang out in our trailers and give us advice on life," says Hirsch, who'll be seen later this year in director Michael Hoffman's The Palace Thief, starring Kevin Kline. And what D'Onofrian pearls of wisdom have stuck with the now 17-year-old? "Oh, you know always wear a condom, things like that," he laughs. Finally-concerns we can all relate to. Nicole Vecchiarelli is a New York-based writer and editor. |
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