"Paul Walker Flies Flag" - Herald Sun Article

November 09, 2006 12:00am
Hollywood hottie Paul Walker tells Neala Johnson Clint Eastwood is a blue-collar guy.

Earlier in the year you came to Australia to promote Eight Below. How was life in the Disney world?

I thought it was going to be terrible. I assumed they were going to have me go out and do things I just couldn't bear doing, but they were really cool about it. I was never doing anything begrudgingly. I thought I was going to be doing Tennis Shoe Weekly, Lollipop Magazine and God knows whatever else. It makes it easier, too, when you're talking about a movie, (1) that you like, and, (2) that also did well.

You would have run the gamut, in terms of the success and quality of the films you've made so far.

It's funny because the movie that you don't necessarily think is all that good a lot of the time is the one that people like the most. And when people like something you've been in, it's amazing how fast it'll change your mind or your opinion (laughs).

Was competition fierce for roles in your new film, the Clint Eastwood-directed Flags of Our Fathers?

Everyone wanted it. One of the things important to Clint was that the people he cast should look a lot like the real people -- for instance, Ryan Philippe looks a lot like John Bradley. So I'm looking at it and right off I don't look like most of the guys. So I'm trying to figure out who the hell I can play (laughs).

So how did you distract Clint from that fact?

I read for three different characters, which they say don't do. It's a no-no, 'cos you look like you're too hungry and you're gonna whore out just to do anything. But it's a Clint Eastwood movie, and the novel's great -- who the hell wouldn't want to be in it? So the bigger roles got swallowed up real quick, and I'm calling in favours from everyone, seeing if they would put a phone call in. But Clint Eastwood doesn't listen to anybody, he just disappears. The only person he would listen to is Phyllis Huffman -- she just recently passed away. She was his casting director for 25 years. I finally told her, "Look Phyllis, I don't care what roles are left, I'll take the smallest role in it. What is it gonna take? Am I gonna have to come in and scrub your floors?" She started laughing. Within a week I got a phone call.

Do you spend some auditions just battling preconceptions?

For sure. Everyone deals with that in one way or another, right? I don't have to be handed everything. I've been pretty fortunate and things have come relatively easily. But I don't think you appreciate things as much when they come easy. You know that when you have to go and work for something and earn it, the reward is much greater.

What kind of career are you after?

The guys I like the most are the good guys, so that's what I hope people say about me, just, "Oh, he's a nice guy". That's the most important thing.

You've talked about taking a break from acting. What would you do?

I went to school for marine biology, and my plan was ultimately to specialise in marine mammals as a vet. I still think about doing that. But at the same time I love architecture, and I design homes in my spare time just for fun. I'll see what happens.

Did you have a fanboy moment with Clint when you were making Flags?

I played it super-cool. A lot of guys worked on that movie, and they kicked ass. We were so lucky. There were a couple of guys who had the potential to be meanies, but they would have been so overwhelmed by the good-guy numbers that they would have stood out like major jackasses, so those guys really did their best to contain it. I saw everyone's true colours, I made a lot of friends on that one. Typically, I don't really care too much for actors (laughs) but these guys hadn't been around long enough to be affected.

How does Clint operate?

The best way to gauge somebody is how they treat people in general, right? And their level of consistency with it. It doesn't matter where you are on the totem pole, he treats everybody the same. From the valet to Stephen Spielberg, it doesn't matter, he's gonna talk to you the same way. That's how I knew that guy was cool. He's a great director and he's been around forever, but if he's not a decent person, then to hell with him, I'm sorry. But he's got it all together.

How do you know when you've impressed director Clint?

I just tried to sit back as much as I could, 'cos a lot of people had their noses attached to his butt (laughs). So I felt him coming to me because I wasn't going to him. So I felt maybe there's a little bit of a respect factor there, or he got that I got it, maybe. I had the very first line. And all the guys are like, "Oh dude! You've got the first line. Don't screw up!" You know how guys are. So I'm going, "Shut up, shut up", playing into it. The first line was "God, this place stinks". That's all the line was. And the way it was written, it called for, like, a Robert Duvall delivery in Apocalypse Now: "Charlie don't surf!" Just bellowing it out real loud. But the guy I was playing, Hank Hansen, everything I knew about this guy, he would never do that. He was a pretty humble guy, all the guys liked him. So I said it under my breath. Meanwhile there's enemy fire. And Clint goes, "Paul, did you say your line?" "Yeah I said my line." "How come I didn't hear it?" "Because I said it under my breath." "Why is that?" And I told him what I told you and he's like "OK, good." That was it. We moved on.

You have a bigger monologue later in the film. Did Clint question the way you delivered that?

He came up to me and said, "So, how do you like to do this? Do you wanna rehearse a couple of times and then go for it?" I said, "Nah, I'll just go for it." He gave me a smile/wink combo and we did it and he didn't say anything. I said "How was that one?" He said, "That was good." Then we did it one more time and that was it. If you come in and you know what you wanna do and you stick it, and you don't throw any attitude, if you have a blue-collar approach, he loves ya. But if you come in with this actor pretence crap, he'll smack ya, and I've seen that. He's a blue-collar guy.