If Josh Hartnett wasn’t a big-time movie star, it’s likely that he’d be one of those guys who would get “profiled” by security personnel at the Four Seasons Hotel.
His casual garb–faded denim baseball cap with a small tear on the bill, gray T-shirt, jeans and sneakers–is perhaps more suitable attire for Motel 6 than a five-star hotel on the border of L.A. and Beverly Hills.
Ditto his easy-going attitude.
But Hartnett, whose new film “Wicker Park” hits theaters Friday, could really care less about appearances. He’s a guy from Minneapolis who digs painting, playing his guitar and getting “blasted drunk” with his friends–especially after he beats them in a game of one-on-one on the basketball court.
“I’m really comfortable with who I am and where I come from,” Hartnett said. “I’m not really interested in being a ‘Hollywood’ guy. I don’t even really know what that means. Being the biggest movie star in the world has never been even remotely appealing to me. As an actor I’m just continuing to grow and find myself. As time goes on I think I’m only going to get better,” he said.
Working on “Wicker Park,” a romantic thriller set in Chicago but filmed mostly in Montreal, is a step in that direction. Hartnett plays Matthew, a man who becomes obsessed with meeting a girl he sees walking down the street one day. They eventually meet and fall in love, but his obsession grows even deeper and darker when she suddenly disappears. The film is a remake of the 1996 French film “L’Appartement.”
“I liked the original movie a lot,” Hartnett said. “It’s a good film. It has a cool energy. It has a different type of film. I haven’t seen a movie like that made in the U.S. for a long time. That’s kind of why I wanted to do this one–to bring a new flavor back into movie theaters.”
Director Paul McGuigan said that he was surprised by how good Hartnett was in the role.
“He was very clever,” McGuigan said. “He’s very direct and he gets it. A lot of actors don’t understand where you’re trying to lead them. He knew what he was doing.”
Maybe so, but he initially intimidated his leading lady.
“I’d never met a Hollywood star/heartthrob,” said Diane Kruger, who plays Lisa, the object of Matthew’s obsession. “I was surprised because he’s very humble and a very serious guy actually. He’s really kind of reserved and even shy at times. I thought that was really nice because he could be so cocky in a way because he’s so handsome.”
Hartnett, who made People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful” list in 2002, downplays his sex appeal. Deep down he knows that movie stars, no matter how badly they dress, gain automatic admission into the beautiful people club. He became a member after “The Virgin Suicides” and was granted a lifetime pass after “Pearl Harbor” and “Black Hawk Down.”
He also knows that fame is fleeting. Today’s heartthrob can quickly become yesterday’s Ricky Martin.
“For me, I don’t really take it that personally, I guess,” Hartnett said. “If I resented it, I’d be stupid. At first it was just kind of frightening, but you have to find a way to come to terms with it and deal with it. It’s reality. It’s a part of our business.”
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My kind of town
Although most of “Wicker Park” was filmed in Montreal, some of the exteriors were shot in Chicago in February.
Josh Hartnett has nothing but love for the Windy City .
“My buddies and I used to go down [from Minneapolis] and watch baseball games at Wrigley Field,” Hartnett said. “We’d watch the Twins go down and beat up on the White Sox. I went down there when I auditioned for this school that I went to when I was barely 17. It was one of the first times that I got to travel on my own. That was awesome.”
And he liked the hood that gets top billing in the movie’s title.
“Wicker Park is kind of like this unchanging villagesque area.
I like it a lot. It’s got a cool vibe.”
–MIKI TURNER, REDEYE SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
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