The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Jay: Hey mate, good to see you!
Eric: How are you?
Jay: Good to finally meet you. I uh-
Eric: Ah, we got a cup full of ice. [referring to the joke about previous guest Drew Barrymore�s obsession with crushed ice]
Jay: [Australian accent] There�s a cup full of ice right there mate!
Drew: Okay�
Jay: See, you first came to my attention, I know you won an Academy Award in your native Australia for �Chopper�. If you ever see this film, it�s a brilliant, brilliant film.
Eric: Thank you, Jay.
Jay: Just wanted to get that out of the way so people know.
Eric: Very kind.
Jay: Now where�d you just come from? I know you got a bit of jet lag.
Eric: Just a little bit, I�m in Denver, right?
[one audience member claps]
Jay: Yeah Denver!
Eric: Someone from Denver here. No I�ve just come from Malta of all places. Yeah I�m doing a movie in Malta right now so um, I got in at about quarter-past four this morning and I�m feeling pretty perky.
Jay: Perky eh?
Eric: Yeah.
Jay: There ya go, a little cup of ice will do it for ya!
Eric: Yeah�
Jay: Now tell me about your background, are your parents actors? Do you come from theatre?
Eric: No, they�re as far from acting as you can get! My mother was a hairdresser and my father worked for an earth moving machinery company.
Jay: Oh okay.
Eric: And um, my brother�s an accountant y�know so, I�m just like, the black sheep of the family, obviously.
Jay: Well did you want to be an actor?
Eric: No actually, I wanted to be a motor mechanic. I wanted to leave school at fourteen and go work on my car, and my dad said, �Don�t do that son,� no actually my dad says; [suddenly puts on Croatian accent] �Son, don�t do that. Ahh, you should stay at school until your high school is finished, and when you finish, don�t make your hobby your job.�
Jay: Your dad is Victor Borgnine?
Eric: Yeah!
[audience laughter and applause]
Jay: [laughing] What accent is that?!
Eric: Well that�s a, that�s a kind of half-Croatian half-Australian kind of thing going on there.
Jay: Oh!
Eric: You�re very familiar, people would be very familiar with that sound, you hear it everyday.
Jay: Oh okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Jay: But you�re still a car guy right?
Eric: Oh yeah I love my cars Jay, I�m a man of the cloth, absolutely.
Jay: Yeah see this is why �[inaudible] and you race too?
Eric: I do! Yeah I race historic muscle cars back in Australia, and uh, that�s my hobby. And uh I try to race home as soon as I�m finished a movie but don�t tell anyone.
Jay: No no. Now you�ve been to the States before, you came here in what, the early �90�s?
Eric: I was here in about 1990 and I did something a little bit silly. I started out in New York and bought a �79 Mustang and drove across this beautiful country and saw it all, almost, and then I sold the car for about one-hundred-and-fifty bucks more than what I paid for it, then went like that [thumb on nose waving fingers in the air gesture] to all the backpackers and flew home.
Jay: Oh oh.
Eric: �Cause they brag don�t they? The backpackers they just brag. �You know I�m getting by on fifty bucks. Aren�t I cool?� Y�know, I think you�re quite stupid actually. Yeah.
[audience laughter and applause]
Jay: Now you started out as a stand-up comic?
Eric: That�s true, that�s true. My background in Australia was stand up comedy, uh in about 1990 and then I, I branched over into uh, sketch comedy. Television sketch comedy.
Jay: Your show �Full Frontal� that�s, that�s Saturday Night Live in Australia.
Eric: Yeah! Yeah I was on that show for quite a while and then um, I had my own sketch comedy program and then sorta made the move across to drama and um, I haven�t looked back.
Jay: But you did impressions?
Eric: Yeah it was kinda like how I made my living.
Jay: Is there anybody - probably a lot of Australians, but who would you do that our audience would know?
Eric: Well I, I could do my co-star from uh, from �The Hulk�, Nick Nolte.
Jay: You could do Nick Nolte?
Eric: Who plays my father. Is that okay I do Nick?
Jay: Do you need a drink?
[audience laughter]
[Eric waves his finger at Jay]
Eric: So this is, so one day I come to the set and um, Nick has got a bottle of oxygen next to his chair, and I said, Nick, what are you doing with a, a bottle of oxygen? and he said, [dead-on Nolte impersonation] �Well Eric uhhh, to uhhh, tell you the truth uhhh, I don�t really need it, but uhhh, it makes me think you�re a little crazy.� [mimes inhaling deeply from bottle of oxygen]
[audience laughter and applause]
Jay: So tell me about this film, The Hulk. It�s pretty amazing, it�s not uh, Ang Lee is the director - he does like really serious - The Ice Storm was his.
Eric: Yeah he�s got the most amazing pedigree.
Jay: Yeah it�s, it�s, it�s serious, it�s not cartoony. I mean it�s a cartoon it�s based on but -
Eric: Yeah.
Jay: I heard, did he take you to some fights or something? He took you to, what was that about??
Eric: He�s a little weird, Ang. Y�know he um, for research he said we�re gonna go and look at some ultimate fighting out in the desert. Y�know, and I said -
Jay: That�s like bare knuckle fighting.
Eric: Yeah, just bare-knuckle stuff. And it, it was pretty ugly and after about three fights I clearly had enough �cause y�know [turns to Drew Barrymore] I�m not really into that y�know, I�m not a fighter, Drew. [Drew giggles] I could never be in one of your movies. [giggles more] And um-
Drew: You�d have fun!
Eric: Oh I�m sure I would.
[audience laughs]
Jay: What was the reason he wanted you to um-
Eric: Jay I have no idea. I have no idea what the reason. He�s a, he�s a really interesting director I, I um, I had some amazing moments with him. I had this love scene with Jennifer Connelly, uh, and, uh, y�know, as you do, and well as a love scene goes in this movie she was taking some of my blood, and-
[audience laughs]
Eric: And this was, this was like meant to be like quite an intimate moment y�know, �cause you�ve seen the film, there�s not that many kinda, really intimate moments. She�s taking my blood and Ang, he said [perfect Ang Lee-speak] �Okaaaayy, Eric, Jennifer, this is like, a love scene but you not in bed, but it�s like a love scene.� So I said Okay, okay I can convey that. I can convey that pure love and lust. And we get, we do the scene and y'kno I�m kinda giving her that look, y�know, that you can do�
Jay: Yeah.
Eric: And at the end of the scene, y�know, cut and he said (Ang-voice) "Eric, can you look at her a little more, lovingly?" [audience laughs] And I said, Yeah why? (Ang-voice) "Looks like you want to kill her." [big audience laughter] So either I�m a bad actor or my wife is really kinky, one of the two.
[audience laughs]
Jay: Now set up this clip. We're gonna see, now this is uh, now this is the scene you wait for, this is where you wanna see him beat up --
Eric: Am I gonna turn?
Jay: �Cause I think you turn in this.
Eric: Right right...Well you know this is Josh Lucas, who quite frankly (turns to Drew) if you ever do another �Charlie's Angels�, don�t, don�t get Josh �cause he'll beat the crap outta you, quite frankly.
Drew: Really?
Eric: Yeah yeah .
Drew: Well bring it on!
[audience laughs and cheers]
Eric: He doesn�t know how to pull back! And this is a scene where, where Josh is basically beating the crap outta me on and off camera, and I�ve had enough, as as Bruce, and as Eric!
Jay: You don�t even know what�s happening to you in this part here.
Eric: No, no not really.
Jay: Okay take a look here we go, from �The Hulk�.
[film clip plays from �The Hulk� - the "You're making me angry�" scene with Josh Lucas]
[end of clip]
[audience cheers - applause]
Jay: Ooh there ya go! Great great job! I got a pair of those one-size-fits-all pants!
Eric: Very handy! Y'kno that�s the same look I was giving Jennifer! Now I see why it didn�t work!
Drew: I just want to say that is so me first thing in the morning.
Jay: Eric, great job, come back as soon as you can.
Eric: Thank you, Jay.
Jay: Great job. Eric Bana!
[end of interview]