Interview
February 1998
[Laura Jamison]
We know who we'll be watching this summer
Ryan Phillippe Interview
Our culture's heartthrobs have invariably been lookers, but there was a time when onscreen hunks couldn't be too pretty or they'd risk seeming "unmanly' (read gay), had to temper their looks with what we used to call "character." James Dean got away with having a girlishly pretty face by being intense and tortured, while Rock Hudson became the capable, all-American, cry-on-my-shoulder type who seemed oblivious to the power of his gleaming white smile. But-things have changed. Having a pretty face these days is nothing but an asset, and newcomer Ryan Phillippe is proof of that. His flashing blue eyes, pouty lips, and well-groomed locks have melted the hearts of young people everywhere, and they haven't hurt his career, either. He recently played an ultra-arrogant rich boy in the horror hit I Know What You Did Last Summer, and he'll soon be seen in Homegrown, with Billy Bob Thornton, and, this summer, as a free-loving barman in 54, the story of the celebrated Manhattan disco Studio 54.
LAURA JAMISON: What has the success of I Know What You Did Last Summer done to your life?
RYAN PHILLIPPE: I don't really think it's done anything. The whole time the movie was out, I was in Canada shooting 54 and I was kind of removed from it all. I was surprised that it did as well as it did. It's earned me a little bit more money, and as far as future films and that kind of thing, people know I've been in something.
LJ: Are you getting recognized more?
RP: Yeah, it's bizarre. I've had other movies, and they weren't as successful by any means, but certain people would recognize me from those. Now, instead of the occasional one person a week, it's a couple times a day. People are sheepish when they approach me. I'm not physically intimidating by any means - I'm like five-foot-nine and 150 pounds at the most - but I guess my character in I Know What You Did Last Summer was so vehemently bastardlike they were a bit shy. Even the guys sometimes. Or they say, "You're the guy in the movie with Buffy."
LJ: What about when girls approach you?
RP: They're surprised because I don't say anything nasty to them, and they say, "You're very nice."
LJ: This issue of Interview is the heartthrob issue.
RP: Oh, wonderful. Shouldn't you be talking to someone else?
LJ: How do you feel about being identified as a heartthrob?
RP: You're the first to do it. I don't know...It's nice that people want to compliment you in some superficial way, but I've never considered that that's how I might be categorized. I guess it's better than being called ugly.
LJ: Can you tell me about 54?
RP: It was the most challenging role I've ever played, so it was the most difficult and the most beautiful at the same time. I didn't have a day off. I was in every scene, and that was the first time I had undertaken something like that. There were difficult days. Things get kind of out of hand when you're working fifteen hours a day and you've got 325 disgruntled people dressed in Saran Wrap and Lycra and gold lame. We had gays, straights, midgets, intensely obese people in togas, transvestites, people painted gold, painted checkers; we had goats, we had snakes. It was pretty intense.
I grew up on the East Coast, so I'd heard of Studio 54, but I come from south of Philadelphia, so I was a little removed. Once I got the job, I went into research overload. The film is set in 1979, which isn't that long ago, but it's a complete period piece. Things have changed so drastically socially since then. It was a completely different world, with freedoms and liberties. Hedonism is banished now because of the destruction that's taken its place.
LJ: Do you have your first onscreen sex scene?
RP: I had sex scenes in Homegrown and Nowhere [1997]. But this was by far the most sex I've ever had in a movie, and with the most partners. My character in this movie probably has eight to ten partners, male and female.
LJ: All human?
RP: [laughs] Yeah, all human. But we made jokes when the goat was on the set, because Shane [RP'S character] is so promiscuous. I had my first onscreen kiss with a male: [actor] Breckin Meyer, who has been my best friend for years and is my best friend in the movie, too. His character is married to Salma Hayek, and we have this love triangle thing.
LJ: What was it like kissing a buddy of yours?
RP: It kind of made it easier because there was that comfort factor you might not have with other actors. It was never a big deal.
LJ: What's your dream role?
RP: The next one I'm playing: Valmont, in another remake of Dangerous Liaisons called Cruel Inventions, which is set in the 1990s. You don't get any meaner than Valmont. This screenplay is the most caustic and scathing - I can't wait to get my hands on it.
LJ: Did your mom and aunts pinch your cheeks and coo over you when you were little?
RP: I have three sisters - one older and two younger - so that gives you a certain standing. I had a couple of aunts who did that cheek-pinching thing. My sisters are my favorite people on earth.
LJ: Were they jealous of your eyelashes?
RP: No, but I hear all that stuff when I'm sitting in the makeup chair now.
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