USA Today

December 2005

A Q&A with ... Eric Stoltz

Of all the actors I've spoken to over the years, Eric Stoltz might be the only one who has called to schedule an interview himself. We spoke on the phone last week about his new miniseries for the Sci Fi Channel, The Triangle. (It starts tonight;... You can watch the first 10 minutes on Yahoo!.)

Eric Stoltz's first film role was in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He appeared in the flick with his former college roommate, Anthony Edwards. Of course, I couldn't resist mentioning Cameron Crowe movies or the news of Jennifer Garner's baby, which had just hit the wires as the phone rang. And, man, I can't wait for that special edition of Some Kind of Wonderful ...

Me: You haven't done much sci-fi. What about Triangle piqued your interest?

Stoltz: You know how during the Great Depression the most popular films were the Fred Astaire romances, the Ziegfeld Follies, the big, blustery fantasies? I think we're at a similar place now. It just seems to me that the world's kind of a mess, and the more messy it gets, the more interested I am in escapist fare. Having a good time is something that isn't about the war in Iraq or the Asian flu or the Kyoto protocol -- things that are horribly depressing to consider in our real lives. I'm eager to get away from them.

Me: Tabloids could also fall into the category of escapist fare. Did you do anything special to research playing a tabloid reporter?

Stoltz: (Laughs) I didn't. It's not unfamiliar territory to me -- I've known some journalists, and I've been around them for awhile, and this world of "find the story, and if you don't find the story make it up" is not that mysterious to me. So I just felt like I knew it.

I know a lot of writers who would much rather be writing the Great American Novel, but they've got bills to pay and alimony, and so they take a job at a less-than-reputable paper. You know, you do what you gotta do. These are tough times. You are working for one of the most popular papers in the world right now. I can't believe it ... when I'm in Europe I see USA TODAY.

Me: Yeah, we're everywhere. And you know, at this very moment, some tabloid journalists are freaking out about Jennifer Garner's baby.

Stoltz: Why -- did she have it?

Me: That's what we hear.

Stoltz: Well, it's either a boy or a girl.

Me: And it's an event nine months in the making, though some act surprised when it happens.

Stoltz: How dare she give birth without covering it! Without selling a deal to Hello! magazine!

Me: You know, I don't ever see your face in the gossip rags. Have you ever been the subject of any weird rumors?

Stoltz: Well, every once in awhile. But I'm lucky enough to not be famous, really. I can still function and have a life.

Me: When people recognize you, what film is it from?

Stoltz: Well, it depends. You know, the sort of dissolute teenagers and the hipper crowd, it's usually Pulp Fiction they peg me from. For little girls it's Little Women. For a certain-aged woman, it's from Some Kind of Wonderful. It's something different each time.

Me: Before Triangle, had you and Lou Diamond Phillips crossed paths at all?

Stoltz: Oddly enough, we never had. We talked about that when we were in South Africa because we've heard about each other for years. We're complete opposites in just about every way: He's very gregarious and outgoing and confident and just ... he's cut from a different cloth than I am. I would much rather sort of shrink behind a curtain and watch. He would rather jump in the pool and splash around. That's not to say we didn't get along -- I like the man a great deal. He's a character. I'd love to work with him again.

Me: Who else would you like to work with? Your resume is pretty long, and it seems you've acted alongside just about everybody. In that sense, I guess you're a bit Kevin Bacon-esque.

Stoltz: Bacon-esque ... oh, dear. But I'll tell you, I was just on the committee with the Spirit Awards, an independent film project. We had to watch 50 or 60 independent films, and I would be very excited to work with the new up-and-coming directors. There are some wonderful films -- Junebug, Me and You and Everyone We Know -- I'm a lot more interested in working with people I haven't heard of.

Me: So what's next for you?

Stoltz: Absolute unemployment.

Me: That sounds kind of nice.

Stoltz: Well, for you it's nice! No, it's not bad. I just finished an independent film written and directed by a young woman named Sarah Kelly called The Lather Effect, and now I'm looking at a calendar that's completely empty.

Me: You're credited as a composer on a short film called The Bulls. I didn't realize you were musical.

Stotlz: It came about I went to get the rights for some recorded music, and it was a fortune. Since I was producing and directing it, I thought, well, hell, I'll just write something myself. I studied piano for many years, and I still play. I'm a complete amateur, and I wouldn't consider myself very good at all, but I enjoy it. So I just rented a studio.

Me: It's been said that director Cameron Crowe has promised you a role, however small, in all of his movies. If that's true, how come you've been missing from the last couple films he's made?

Stoltz: (Laughs) You know, I honestly can't remember whether that's true or not, because we've known each other for so long. But I was in a lot of his stuff, and he called me to be in more of his stuff, but I was busy, or out of the country, or something came up and it just didn't work out. I didn't really take it personally.

Me: I'm 28, so the movies of yours that I'm most familiar with are, you know, Say Anything, Fast Times, Some Kind of Wonderful --

Stoltz: We just did the 20th anniversary DVD of Some Kind of Wonderful. I didn't (do commentary), but I think the director and Lea Thompson did. I did the interviews and everything.

Me: Of all of those teen movies, which had the most debauchery on the set?

Stoltz: I think that question is very telling about you, Whitney. (Laughs) I would say Fast Times at Ridgemont High, because that was the first film for a lot of us. None of us really knew how to behave, quite frankly. Geez, speaking for myself, I was 19 -- I was a complete idiot. I didn't know anything, and I thought I knew everything. But you know, none of the stories were bad ones. It's just, "Oh my God, I can't believe how stupid I was."

Me: Such as ... ?

Stotlz: Oh, like I'm going to repeat a story about how stupid I am so you can print it? Whitney! It's not gonna happen, but I appreciate the effort. I'm a gentleman, if nothing else. It's taken me years to become one, but finally I have a sense of propriety.

Me: OK, fair enough. Thanks for chatting, Eric. Good luck with everything.

Stoltz: Thank you.

- Whitney Matheson