Aaron Eckhart Q&A

09 February 2010

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After making his breakthrough as the vicious executive Chad in 1997’s Neil LaBute’s In The Company of Men, Aaron Eckhart has forged a remarkable career in film.

Aside from his other films from LaBute (Your Friends and Neighbours, Nurse Betty, Possession), he’s worked with a series of impressive filmmakers, including Oliver Stone (Any Given Sunday), Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich), Sean Penn (The Pledge), Brian De Palma (The Black Dahlia) and Ron Howard (The Missing). Most recently, he played Harvey ‘Two Face’ Dent in Christopher Nolan’s billion-dollar hit Batman sequel The Dark Knight.

His latest role, in Brandon Camp’s Love Happens, is one of his most emotional to date. He plays Burke, a widower who has channelled his grief into a best-selling book and a career as a successful self-help guru.

When he returns to Seattle, where his late wife hailed from, he falls for a local florist (Jennifer Aniston) but in the process realises he’s yet to truly confront his own demons. Eckhart, 41, talks below about playing a grief counsellor, how he feels about being often cast as a villain and his experiences on upcoming films, The Rum Diary, with Johnny Depp, and Rabbit Hole, with Nicole Kidman.

-What did you like about the script for Love Happens?

There’s a little bit of depth here. The movie revolves around loss and grief, and is therefore not your standard romantic comedy. There’s a bit of everything in there.

- It’s a film about redemption, it seems...

I think that’s the main point of the movie the acceptance of love and forgiveness. Which people love to go see!

- Normally, self-help gurus are usually portrayed as money grabbing. But Burke seems to want to help people...

Well, that’s an interesting point you bring up. I was very interested in not portraying this guy as a car salesman. And that’s how he was originally portrayed. They wanted him to be a little bit more slick, slimy and duplicitous.

I felt like we’d seen that. People get into self-help probably for the right reasons the majority of the time. There’s always going to be ten per cent who don’t.

But I think it’s more interesting if the guy is emotionally conflicted. He’s challenged by his emotions and is not out for the materialism at all. And he hates himself for it. I thought that was more interesting.

- What preparation did you do?

I did research into grief. It’s a heart-wrenching world. You have to gone through intense grief. That’s the only reason to do it. You wouldn’t do it unless you could emphasise with these people. It’s like my character in the film says he didn’t plan on being a grief counsellor. His wife died. That’s how life changes.
          
- Did you meet any real-life self-help gurus?

Yeah, I did. I did do that. I also went through grief counselling. I heard people talk about loss, and go through that sort of thing, and feel the depth of their emotions and the pain that they feel. It was actually quite hard to listen to.

- In what way?

Not hard in the way of them complaining it’s just gut wrenching.

- So did you meet motivational speakers?

Yeah, yeah and it’s not too far off from characters I’ve played in the past. I’ve been kind of familiar with that kind of person. But the tricky part about those guys is the power. It’s like rock-stars, y’know? They really are influential over people’s lives.

People put their lives in their hands. In America, we have the televangelists. I don’t know any of those, but you have to hope that they genuinely want to help people. But I think we tend to look at the ones who take advantage who are wholly false. That’s where I think the [bad] rap comes from.

- Do you buy self-help books yourself?

I definitely have some. I’m always looking at self-improvement! I have a terrible personality and I’m a total loser, so they help me a lot! Over the years, they’ve got me through some tough times!

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