Interview conducted by Josh Horowitz
November 7, 2003
If acting is lying, maybe Stephen Glass should get a headshot ready. In those oh so innocent times we call the mid 90s, Glass was a hotshot writer for The New Republic, Rolling Stone, and George, among other magazines. Somewhere along the way, truth got put on the backburner by Glass and he began to fictionalize many of his pieces of “journalism.” The primary victim of this abuse of journalistic power was The New Republic where Glass was an associate editor.
In the new drama, SHATTERED GLASS, director Billy Ray mines some of the same territory as ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. But is that a bad thing? At least it’s emulating a classic. At the center of the story are two command performances. Anakin Skywalker himself, Hayden Christensen is Glass and Peter Sarsgaard is his editor, Chuck Lane. Sarsgaard’s Lane is a complex hero, one never entirely likeable. It’s Glass who’s got the charm in spades. But it is, arguably, Sarsgaard who registers most in the film in the end as he struggles to save his magazine and earn the respect of his staff.
Sarsgaard’s stock is definitely on the rise with the reviews he’s receiving in SHATTERED GLASS. He’s probably best known for his role in BOYS DON’T CRY but he’s also dabbled in mainstream fare including THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK and K19: THE WIDOWMAKER. Between an eclectic film career and frequent stints on the stage, the 32-year-old is also dating fellow thespian Maggie Gyllenhaal. These probably won’t be looked back on as the rough years for Sarsgaard.
I caught up with him on the phone last week.
Josh Horowitz: Hey Peter. It’s Josh Horowitz. How are you doing?
Peter Sarsgaard: I’m doing well.
JH: You’ve been probably getting a lot of good feedback on this one from journalists since it’s in that ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN vein.
PS: Yeah. It’s been interesting. It’s like showing a movie about cooking to chefs.
JH: So between Hayden Christensen and Chloe Sevigny in this film, you must be thrilled to have perhaps the least unusual name in the cast for a change.
PS: Yeah. I have been confused with Stellan Scarsgard for as long as I can remember. The names seems pretty different to me but on a film I did in the Spring, some of the crew didn’t know the difference.
JH: So at the end they were just like “say hi to your dad for us…”
PS: I was like, “No. No. No!”
JH: I thought you and Elisabeth Shue were great in BURN THIS on stage here in New York.
PS: Oh you saw that. That was fun.
JH: Edward Norton had gotten such great notices in that role and you to fill those shoes.
PS: They offered that to me when I was in Japan, in the same hotel actually as the one in LOST IN TRANSLATION which is a very good description of what it feels like there I think. So I was in that frame of mind when I got a telephone call. So I really didn’t know much about Edward’s performance.
JH: That seems like a great role to sink your teeth into as an actor.
PS: It is. The most difficult thing about that play is that they have to have the most amazing night of their lives. The play requires an epiphany. And either the actors have chemistry for that epiphany or they don’t. It’s got to be a meaningful one as well as a sexual one. It’s really tough.
JH: So speaking of LOST IN TRANSLATION, your experience at that hotel was a bit akin to Bill Murray’s in the film?
PS: It was. Yeah. It’s a very, very Western perspective obviously. It is very what it felt like to me subjectively as an American there. It’s not so much a depiction of what Japan is. It’s what Japan is through our eyes.
JH: I wonder what the reaction is over there for the film.
PS: It would be a curiosity if nothing else. When we were doing K19, I would say ok, we’re Americans doing movies about Russians in a time of national crisis. What if the Russians played us in Vietnam in Russian with American accents for the My Lai massacre? (LAUGHS) It’s just bizarre to think of it the other way.
JH: Let’s talk about SHATTERED GLASS. Chuck Lane certainly isn’t as showy as the character in BURN THIS or even Hayden’s character in the film. Did he read as a compelling figure on the page?
PS: I really had to meet [director] Billy [Ray] before I knew I wanted to do it.
JH: How did he sell you on it?
PS: I could tell he was going to be interested just by the way he talked. He was saying the right words. He was saying he was going to be interested in what was going on in my head even when I wasn’t speaking.
JH: And so much of this film is in looks as things sort of dawn on you.
PS: And he makes it very easy for me because he just puts the camera in the place where the camera can see it so I don’t have to telegraph it across the room or something.
JH: Are you watching dailies as you’re going to see what you’re doing?
PS: No. I’ve never done that. Actually I did that on my first movie on DEAD MAN WALKING. I had a rape scene in that movie.
JH: Welcome to the movie business!
PS: I know. That was my first part! I was the boy who was raped and murdered. I watched that and I’m glad I did because not a lot of it is in the film and I think it’s great that not a lot of it is in the film. It’s such a smart move but at the time, of course, I wanted all of it in the film. I wanted it to be the most graphic film ever. (LAUGHS)
JH: The un-rated DEAD MAN WALKING?
PS: Yeah. Yeah. Come on, show the violence like it really happened!
JH: A snuff film starring Peter Sarsgaard?
PS: (LAUGHS) Yeah, exactly.
JH: I think they’re trying to keep this a secret because, you know, Darth Vader is starring this film, but you play the hero in SHATTERED GLASS. Is that satisfying for you, at this point, to get to play the sort of moral center of a movie like this?
PS: It’s a tough question to answer because you enjoy it while you’re doing it. You like yourself while you’re doing it. But it actually wasn’t an enjoyable part to play. I always enjoy acting but it’s tough when most of your scenes are at the office. So we all have the “work face” we have on. Even the way I work as an actor. I'm a different person when I'm at work. That was the trick with this movie, to explore more than one thing while always being in the proverbial submarine that you can’t leave.
JH: It is a good depiction I thought of office politics and office culture. Have you ever worked in an office?
PS: I temp-ed when I got out of college. I worked at Estee Lauder. I was the guy who moved the furniture around. They called me down in the basement and I would come bring the furniture up. That was an interesting one. I’ve actually never had a 9-5 job. I’ve had stints at this and that. I put all my eggs in one basket.
JH: Well it’s working out so far, right?
PS: (LAUGHS) I guess so. Yeah.
JH: You also hear often about how actors will take on the traits and role of their characters on the set. Did you find that happened with this?
PS: I think it was already like that before we were doing it. I think the relationship between our two characters in the film directly relates to Hayden and I in some way that we both sincerely identify with.
JH: I was wondering if that was the kind of thing that people like critics reflect on after the fact. I mean there are parallels for Hayden for instance since he is something of a wunderkind in film just as Glass was. Is that something you guys talk about on the set?
PS: Yeah we talked about that. Hollywood is a meat factory that will just churn you up and spit you out at whatever age, it doesn’t matter. There’s a quality that Hayden has that is really true. It’s just a delicate thing that can be screwed up easily.
JH: Have you ever felt spit out by the meat factory?
PS: No, I haven’t but I’ve been very fortunate. The meat factory hasn’t become very interested in me. It’s a blessing too. It’s just the negatives to that stuff is very hard to handle.
JH: You’ve been hearing all the stuff about this role raising your level and all that. Is there any way to prepare for that?
PS: I’ve been acting for eight or nine years. I’ve seen it happen to other people so I feel like at least I have a head start if that kind of thing does happen but I don’t think I’m the right grade of meat that they want. (LAUGHS)
JH: And is that fine with you?
PS: Yeah. Acting is a romantic profession. It draws a certain type of personality. That’s why we’re always drawn to actors that don’t have that quality. It draws the wrong kind of people.
JH: To continue the meat analogy way too far…
PS: (LAUGHS)
JH: Why aren’t you the grade of meat they want?
PS: I think I wasn’t ever handsome enough when I was younger.
JH: (LAUGHS)
PS: No listen, I wasn’t handsome enough to get exploited in that way. I think it’s also where I came from and where my interests were. But there was a certain age where, if I had been offered something that I wouldn’t want to do now because it was purely aesthetic, I would definitely have done it because we all just want to make a living.
JH: Back to SHATTERED GLASS, journalism is not exactly the most revered profession anymore. Do you think this film which in the end is out of step with the times? I mean the story is I think just as much a story of heroism in journalism as it is the pitfalls but…
PS: I’m glad you say that because everyone keeps concentrating on the other thing. The real why of what Stephen Glass did is a story to tell and it is strangely the more politically correct story to tell these days. But I absolutely don’t think we do that with Chuck Lane in this movie. The movie has a “movie” quality to it.
JH: You’ve done a bunch of small films from ranging from BOYS DON’T CRY, THE SALTON SEA to ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE. Some resonate with audiences and some don’t for whatever reason. Have you gotten philosophical at all about the fate of your films?
PS: My job to me for a long time stopped after I did my acting and then I would go look at the movie with great interest because you want it to do well because that helps you do more movies that you want to do. I would always look at them as things that I did a very small part in. There’s a quality of ownership that you have to have in order to have that feeling.
JH: What about if you’re more of the lead as you are in this? Is there more ownership felt then?
PS: A little bit more but I ultimately feel like editors and directors make movies. We provide the raw materials and we try to give them good ones.
JH: One of those silly actor bios said, “your looks allow you to either play soft-skinned pretty boys or greasy-haired white trash refuse.” Which do you prefer?
PS: (LAUGHS) Ivy league goes in there too, I feel. Which do I prefer? Neither! What you look like is such a tragic thing when you’re an actor.
JH: I know you’ve done a lot of studying your craft and all that but I want to make sure that no matter what happens in your career you won’t go on James Lipton’s show.
PS: (SHUDDERS LOUDLY) Oh no. Absolutely not! I will guarantee that. It’s just…no! Absolutely not. I can’t handle that. The problem I have that with those kinds of shows is what I was saying before about acting drawing the wrong kinds of people. I think those shows and awards things can turn great actors into a celebrity actor. Celebrity is a part of acting. It just is. Maybe it just doesn’t have to be such an intrinsic part.
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JH: I know you did THE SALTON SEA with Val Kilmer. Scale of 1-10, Val Kilmer: how crazy is he?
PS: I’m going to be diplomatic but I’m also going to be honest. There are a lot of things that happen to actors on a set that can make you feel crazy and one of the reasons is that when a film fails, it’s really your face that is attached to the failure. A lot of times you get dis-empowered as an actor and one of the ways to keep power is to act eccentric and one of the ways is to act intimidating. The diva always gets the better trailer. The diva also gets a better working environment to be an actor. The person that says sure, I’ll stay late and fine, I’ll give you two extra hours…they’ll never get anything. So you’re encouraged to be an ass.
JH: So are you the nice guy finishing last or are you trying to be more of a diva?
PS: I think there are more passive aggressive ways to do it because you do have to protect yourself.
JH: What’s the best part of your job? What do you get off on most?
PS: I really get off on the relationships. If you can develop some relationship with another actor and have some subliminal things seep into the film, that’s the best. It’s something between two people like Shirley Maclaine and Debra Winger. It’s like, oh right, these two people have a relationship I’m getting to watch.
JH: I know you just did another film with Liam Neeson.
PS: Yeah KINSEY. I play Clyde Martin who was Kinsey’s assistant and gardener. He became his lover and his wife’s lover also. I’ve very excited about that movie. I love the way [director] Bill Condon dealt with all of the tough issues in that movie.
JH: And you’re doing a comedy with Natalie Portman. Are you just trying to work with all of the STAR WARS actors?
PS: I am. So I’ve got Liam, Natalie, Hayden, Harrison…
JH: Any Ewan McGregor movies coming up for you?
PS: (LAUGHS) No. I’d love to act with him. He’s great.
JH: Anything else coming up?
PS: I’m about to start a movie that Craig Lucas is directing with Campbell Scott and Patty Clarkson. And a lot of great theater actors are in it that are acting with my girlfriend[Maggie Gyllenhaal] in this play HOMEBODY/KABUL.
JH: Do you and Maggie ever pop SECRETARY into the VCR and just laugh and laugh and laugh?
PS: (LAUGHS) Could you imagine? No, you never watch any of your own movies. There’s just no point.
SHATTERED GLASS is open in New York and Los Angeles. It opens in more select cities November 7th.
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