Lois' Daily Planet
THE PRETENDER PAGES
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Lois' Daily Planet |
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This excerpt, which relates to the movie, NET WORTH, was taken out of context from the interview below ... Reporter: You just started the shootings of Net Worth. Can you tell us more about it?MTW: It's a wonderful screenplay, directed by Ken Griswald, on a subject that has been little used in movies. It's about the friendship between four men in their early thirties who discover each other through their relationship, their relations with women, with life. It's a hearty movie on the value of a person, on a spiritual as well as on a social, professional and even financial level (this is the reason of the title of the movie). This is really a change because as much as Jarod is innocent and pure, my character in the movie is a womanizer, an alcoholic... Some days before the shooting of a movie and of Pretender's third season, MTW came to Paris to enjoy the pleasures of life. Between two goods meals and two bottles of wine he has nevertheless found time to answer our questions. Reporter: How did you get the part of the Pretender ? MTW: Reporter: How did Jarod evolve during season 2? MTW: Reporter: Do you sometimes intervene on PRETENDER screenplays? Do you think you will write or direct an episode? MTW: Reporter: Speak of your partners. MTW: Reporter: How will the relationship between MP and Jarod evolve? MTW: Reporter: What are your criteria when you are choosing a part? MTW: Reporter: And do you like Jarod? MTW: Reporter: What do you think about about this wave of paranoia which started with X-Files and that somehow THE PRETENDER perpetuates?MTW: I love X-Files, I saw the movie which is great. Personally, I don't believe at all in this worldwide conspiracy (he looks around suspiciously then bursts out laughing)... But it's a fantastic dramatic ingredient, it's fun! Reporter: A TV-star who is making a movie, is more and more frequent... Your last movie was Jeffrey. Is it something you will put in first row?MTW: In the US, there is no real frontier between TV and cinema for actors. The big advantage of TV is its international dimension; you are reaching far more people when you are doing a successful series, whereas you can never be sure with cinema, even with a good movie. Reporter: You just started the shootings of Net Worth. Can you tell us more about it?MTW: It's a wonderful screenplay, directed by Ken Griswald, on a subject that has been little used in movies. It's about the friendship between four men in their early thirties who discover each other through their relationship, their relations with women, with life. It's a hearty movie on the value of a person, on a spiritual as well as on a social, professional and even financial level (this is the reason of the title of the movie). This is really a change because as much as Jarod is innocent and pure, my character in the movie is a womanizer, an alcoholic... Reporter: And in your life, how are you?MTW: I am ... a pretender! In life, I think that we are all more or less playing different parts; parent, child, friend, lover... People think that they have a monolithic personality. But, each of us has different aspects that we must learn to respect. It's an inestimable richness that you must develop without lying to yourself. I think that this is what explains the success of THE PRETENDER, because people long to do a lot of things but without necessarly daring; Jarod fascinates them because he is doing what ever he wants. Reporter: Can imagine yourself grow old with Jarod, as Peter Falk did with Columbo?MTW: I signed a five year contract after which I will stop I think. It's a wonderful part but before all, I am an actor and I am looking for diversity. I don't want to be Jarod 'til the age of 60. Maybe they will ask me to do a remake in thirty years! Reporter: Are you receiving a lot of propositions for movies and TV? And for what kind of parts?MTW: This year has been very rich since proposals are flowing. It's difficult to choose because I only have three months to shoot outside the series. In the US, a lot of movies are directly distributed in video; I tend to privilege those which will be showed in theaters. Reporter: The shootings of Net Worth has just started and tP will start in August, how will you do to do both?MTW: I don't know (laughs)... There will be two or three weeks of overlap between both productions, but we will find a solution. Reporter: Jarod can be anything he wants. And you ?MTW: Jarod has far more possibilities than me. I have been lifeguard, I have sold hamburgers, I have worked in a zipper factory... Reporter: With your lifeguard experience, have you never thought to audition for Baywatch?MTW: I look awful in a swimsuit! But may Baywatch be blessed, it is a real gift from heaven! Reporter: What were you watching on TV or in theaters before you became an actor?MTW: Like all Americans I have been brought up with TV. I grew up in Chicago where the weather is not very hot, then we liked to stay home. I liked Bewitched, The Wild Wild West, I Dream of Jeannie... Reporter: Did you always want to be an actor?MTW: Yes, it's a real vocation, a real profession of faith, as for priests! I am from a typical middle class American family. A family with dysfunction, like any other family ... And they never let me out of the basement. This is why I became an actor! (laughs) Now that's what I became, I would like to be a basketball-star or a rock-star! I will start to train as soon as I'll be back. Michael Jordan must beware! Reporter: Let's talk about the play you wrote.MTW: It's called "Streams of Consciousness" but I am too busy to take care of it, so a friend is producing it. I love to write. It's a hard and lonely activity that suits me totally. Reporter: What else are doing outside the 16-17 hours shootings and your writing?MTW: I sleep! Reporter: You are member of an environmental association, are you actively involved in it? In LA are you, for example, driving an electric car ?MTW: I am a member of the ECO committee (Earth Communication Organisation). I think that you must treat our planet with benevolence and justice. I am living in Santa Monica, on the oceanside and I don't even dare to swim in the sea. I think it is horrible! I don't claim to be the perfect ecologist militant but I think that any of us at our level can and must do whatever is possible. Reporter: When you will have children, is this a value you will teach them?MTW: Certainly. If my philosophy is to enjoy each moment, it doesn't mean you must neglect the future... Even if I am conscious that it is more convenient to use disposal diapers than to wash and reuse cloth diapers! Who knows maybe we'll find a way one day to have selfcleaning babies! That day maybe I will have kids! 
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