Mastermind Musings
Teen loves Vancouver, prefers work on stage
By TYLER McLEOD
Express Writer
Tuesday, August 19, 1997
BEVERLY HILLS -- Vincent Kartheiser says fighting terrorists in the new family action film Masterminds was much easier than battling the elements in his last family action movie, Alaska.
"It was nowhere near as demanding," the 18-year-old says.
"Masterminds was a lot of fun. It's just going back and remembering when you were young and liked to play guns."
Both Alaska, with Thora Birch and Charlton Heston, and Masterminds, with Patrick Stewart and Brenda Fricker, were filmed in Vancouver.
"I love Vancouver so much - it is the place to be. It has the prettiest girls. I'm seriously going to move there some-day."
And the girls in Vancouver are about the only thing Kartheiser gets excited about.
The Minneapolis actor is like most teens, apathetic - even about his career.
"I don't know if I'd go see this movie if I wasn't in it," Kartheiser admits about his Die Hard-meets-Home Alone movie opening in Edmonton Friday.
"It is aimed at a younger audience. But you know, my friends went to see Alaska. I was 17 then and that is definitely that age of cynicism. They don't tease me, they understand work is work."
Kartheiser adds the similarities between himself and his character - a 16-year-old attempting to foil the kidnappers holding his little sister's school hostage - are few.
"It's not a long stretch. He's 16 and I was 17 at the time. You have your teenage angst going on.
"But I'm not as mischievous as he is. I'm not the type of guy to blow up the science building.
"When I went to school, I was the guy who sat in the corner."
So far, his has been a career of family films: Indian in the Cupboard, Little Big League, Iron Will. The only grown-up movie on his resume is his first, Untamed Heart.
"Right at the beginning, when the credits are still coming up, Christian Slater's lying on the ground and a boy comes up and pokes him with a stick - that's me!"
At seven years old, Kartheiser landed the role of Tiny Tim in a production of A Christmas Carol and went on to tour nationally with the Minnesota Children's Theatre.
He would like to return to the stage when this "movie thing" settles down, yet he insists he never pestered noted thespian Stewart for advice.
"You can learn a lot just sitting down and watching him for a while," Kartheiser says.
"I respect Patrick very much as an actor, but I would never come out and ask him for advice.
"It's not healthy for a working relationship to put that kind of pressure on him."
Kartheiser did not, however, hesitate to give the filmmakers a bit of advice - about portraying an average teen on film.
"Most movies nowadays don't have a grasp of how teenagers talk.
"It was nice to work with people who allow you to give it some credibility."
He didn't have much of a voice in the wardrobe trailer, though.
"The clothing is not '90s clothing. It's where they think clothing will go in 10 years, which, you know, is basically where clothing was 15 years ago."
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