Aaron Eckhart talks 'Paycheck'
By Stephanie Snipes
CNN
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Eckhart, left, plays a billionaire in "Paycheck."
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(CNN) -- Many actors struggle their entire careers to land the lead role in a big budget blockbuster movie, but not Aaron Eckhart.
An actor's actor, Eckhart says he chooses parts based on their dramatic appeal in an attempt to avoid cliche roles that dominate today's Hollywood movie scene.
Perhaps best known for performances in "Erin Brokovich" and "In the Company of Men," Eckhart currently stars in "Paycheck" opposite Ben Affleck.
CNN sat down with Eckhart to discuss the film.
CNN: Tell us about your character
ECKHART: I play a guy named Jimmy Rethrick who is an entrepreneurial billionaire, who has the wherewithal to commission Ben Affleck to build me a machine that sees into the future. He does that for me and a condition of that employment is that I get to erase his memory, which I do. So, basically the premise of the movie is Ben Affleck's character is trying to get this paycheck that is worth a significant amount of money and I'm trying to stop him.
CNN: Do you like playing the bad guy?
ECKHART: I do, it's not my favorite thing. I like to play characters that are multidimensional, complicated. I like drama. I also like to play the good guy who gets the girl.
CNN: What was it like to do the fight scenes?
ECKHART: Ben and I had a good time. You know fighting has to be carefully done. You don't want to hit Ben in the face, and I don't want Ben hitting me in the face, 'cause he's a big dude.
CNN: What was it like working with [director] John Woo?
ECKHART: John's great, John's the captain of his own little ship. Everybody respects him. He keeps a calm cool set. [John] really knows how to use the camera, really likes watching his actors.
CNN: What drew you to this movie?
ECKHART: Well, John, working with John. And I have a relationship with Paramount. I like Ben and Uma [Thurman].
Eckhart, left, and Affleck appear in a scene from "Paycheck."
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CNN: Is picking your roles a fun process?
ECKHART: When I read a script I get excited, my heart starts beating and before I've even gotten 10 or 20 pages into the movie I'm calling my agent saying "OK, when is this movie? ... Have I been offered the role?" Then I can get really excited about it. And that happens a lot, I get excited about scripts a lot 'cause I like to play characters. The part that is not so fun is then going and putting all the elements together ... the preproduction part, they call it development hell.
CNN: It seems you really enjoy taking a wide variety of roles.
ECKHART: It's true, I think that when you go back, if anyone ever does this in my lifetime, and looks at my movies they will see, if nothing else, that I try and do different things. I don't know why I do it, it's probably held me back in a lot of ways, but that's the only way I can be interested in my characters. I can't do the same thing every time. I'm just not capable of it. It holds no interest. I don't get enthusiastic about watching actors who do that. It's boring. That's why my favorite actors are actors who challenge me. That's not always the best way to get to the top.
CNN: You must hold a lot of pride in those decisions.
ECKHART: I am proud. I've only just begun. I really feel like my career is an embryo right now and that I have a long way to go.
CNN: You've done a lot of work with Neil LaBute ["In the Company of Men," "Nurse Betty"]. What is it like working with him?
ECKHART: Neil is great ... we might do something this year, an original Neil, and not an adaptation or somebody else's work. I love working with Neil, he and I have a good relationship, an easiness about us.
CNN: Would you ever consider directing?
ECKHART: Yes, I really feel like the more I look at directors the more I want to direct. I see where the directors are deficient, especially in working with actors and really getting good performances. Most directors don't know what they are doing in terms of actors, and that's why if directors knew what actors wanted to hear, or how they could push actors, we'd be seeing better performances consistently in the movies today.
CNN: So, character-driven films?
ECKHART: Yeah, I think so. You know, those are the movies I like to make.
CNN: There don't seem to be many films like that nowadays
ECKHART: No, and when you do see them people say, "Why don't you make more of those?" The problem is they don't make a lot of money. And this, as in any business, is driven by money. That's just the way it is. Ron Howard has been very successful with this, telling a good dramatic story and being able to make money. Steven Soderbergh does it [too].
CNN: If you couldn't act what would you do?
ECKHART: I would love to be a songwriter. That was my main thing in high school. I wrote a lot of songs in high school, I played guitar. I really wanted that. I fell in love with songwriting and found a lot of romance in that. People say it takes a lot of guts to be an actor, for me it was harder for me to say listen to my songs. Listen to my words. Because, I really wanted to be a lyricist. And, I still do write songs, but I was afraid, I was too afraid.
