INTERVIEW: James Marsden on "Heights"
Source: CineCon.com
By: Jenny HalperWhen first time director Chris Terrio interviewed James Marsden for a lead role in “Heights,” Marsden surprisingly cited Edward Albee’s “Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” as his favorite film. Which may explain what Marsden (of “X-Men” fame) is doing in a project produced by James Ivory and the late Ismail Merchant, whose films (“The Golden Bowl” “Surviving Picasso”) tend towards period drama, with nary a comic book in sight.
Then again, “Heights” isn’t your typical Merchant Ivory film- at least not on the surface. Set in present day New York, “Heights” follows a seemingly savvy cast of characters through twenty-four hours of romantic woes, and the result is a spot-on depiction of crumbling relationships (one critic called “Heights” the movie “Closer” should have been.)
Marsden stars as Jonathan, a Jewish lawyer engaged to the quintessential shiksa, Isabel (Elisabeth Banks), who happens to be the daughter of legendary stage actress Diana Lee (Glenn Close). His rabbi (played, ironically, by “Woolf” star George Segal) disapproves, but Jonathan’s real dilemma- involving an affair- has nothing to do with intermarriage.
Marsden recently chatted with New York press about his role in “Heights,” the third “X-Men” movie, and his love of music (he plays guitar and sings). He also does a spot-on imitation of his latest director.
Q: Why’s the film called “Heights”?
JAMES: Oh, you should bring Chris in because he’s got the best answer for that. OK, I’ll do Chris. ‘When (screenwriter) Amy Fox first came to me, it was a one act play and I was really excited just to turn it into a screenplay, but it was a one act play that took place like…it was an NYU student and its called ‘Heights’ and the whole thing took place on a rooftop.’ Now I’m turning into “Rain Man,” what am I doing?
Q: That’s OK.
JAMES: But it was a one-act play that all took place on the top of this giant building in New York somewhere. So they were throwing around some different times for a while and nothing really worked.
Q: Did you read the original one act?
JAMES: No. He sent me a few pages from it, it’s funny, just the evolution of the material, from when it’s written to when it turns up on screen. There are so many changes.
Q: How did you get involved in the film?
JAMES: My agent sent me the script, and they said, you should read this one. They’ll do that, they’ll send me some scripts and say prioritize this one, cause this is really good. And I read it, and it was just one of those scripts that sucks you in and is engrossing and exciting to read, and I just went, “I want to be a part of it.” So I met with Chris, and we sat in a room for an hour and half, two hours, and we talked about- it was nice, because normally you go in and you prepare a scene and you read for them and whatever, but he didn’t want to do that, he wanted to talk to you. So I came in and we had a conversation about the script, which I thought was great- very Woody Allen. And I just said, “I want to be a part of this, I don’t know what character but they’re all great, I just want to be a part of this,” and we had a long conversation, and they called and offered it, which was fantastic. And I knew it was a Merchant Ivory production, and I wasn’t expecting to get the role, really, because how do I fit into a Merchant Ivory production? But if you want me to wear a corset, I will. (Laughs).
Q: What interested you about the character of Jonathan?
JAMES: I love the conflict that each character is going through in this movie, the challenges they’re faced with over the course of 24 hours. I thought the duplicity of Jonathan- this life that he’s preparing himself for, trying to juggle the two different personalities that exist within him- I just thought this was a really interesting, complex character. It spoke to me because it challenged me on different levels- do we have soul mates out there? Is it possible to actually love two different people in two different ways? I’m just astonished by sexuality and humanity in general, the gamut of emotions that we’re able to experience. And it’s never that black and white. To me, in reality, my experience has never been…it would be easy, if you’re choosing between two people if one’s just a complete asshole, and the other’s a prince, or princess. But it’s never that way. It’s always more complicated and more difficult than that. And human relationships in modern day, throughout time, are not that Hollywood formula. That just doesn’t really exist, at least in my experience. And I liked how the movie dealt with the subtleties and the nuances of those relationships. And those emotions Jonathan’s experiencing with his sexuality.
Q: Is Jonathan gay?
JAMES: I don’t know that he’d be able to…I try to answer that like he would answer that, and he’d probably say… “no…uh…” But as an artist, I like to think of myself as an artist, I had to believe that there was a part of him that honestly, really honestly wants to be with her. But there’s another part of him that exists- and it is very much real- that enjoys being with another person. If it became about just hiding the truth and making yourself become someone else, just because it’s accepted in society, that became less interesting. To me it was more interesting to explore the idea that maybe he does love this woman, as challenging as their relationship is at times, dealing with premarital stuff and all that. But I do believe that he does love her, and I do believe that he wants to want to be with her. But it doesn’t negate all of the other things. For me, it was more interesting to have it be like, who gave me this conflict? What did I do to deserve this? I have a difficulty saying he’s gay, not because I think it’s bad to be gay- at all. It’s just that it might not be that simple. Even Chris was like, “I think Jonathan and Isabel probably have sex and it’s good when they’re not moody or arguing.” They want to be with each other- it was very important that you see them laughing together when they come out of the rabbi’s office. It just points out how complex humans are when it comes to relationships. It was more interesting to me that he could possibly be in love with him, and still be in love with her. So I think he was conflicted and confused, and just doesn’t know what’s going on. But he also doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and I think we do that- when you have a secret, you keep it to yourself because you don’t want to injure someone else. That was a long-winded answer, I apologize.
Q: Are there similarities between Jonathan and James?
JAMES: I like sweet lips! (Laughs). See how I just went from here (holds up his hand) to crash and burn? No, I relate to Jonathan in a sense that when I was…that thing that happens in your twenties when you discover that death is imminent and you realize it’s all going to come to an end sometime, that thing that happens in your late twenties when you’re getting older, and you’re not going to be young anymore, and all that’s right around the corner, and the identity searching thing we all go through- some earlier than others. I definitely went through that, figuring out who you are, what’s your place in the world, are you capable of committing to someone for the rest of your life? All those things, we all go through that.
Q: You play guitar and sing. Who are your favorite artists?
JAMES: I’m into the folky thing, like a Nick Drake. Jeff Buckley. Rufus Wainright, who’s in “Heights.” That kind of stuff. I went through a whole seventies kind of soul thing, too.
Q: Are there any new developments with the film version of “Preacher”?
JAMES: That was something that was brought to my attention a long time ago, like four years ago. And it was right around when I did the first x men movie, and I think that’s probably why, cause they said, he’s part of this, he can do this other comic book movie. And it’s something I never knew anything about, but once I got my hands on the material I was blown away by it. It was very dark, for a comic book, but it had some of the best writing- Garth Ennis created that comic book, it challenges modern religion and all of the very taboo subjects in the form of a comic book- a western-slash-gory comic book. But I was ready to go, to play the character, but the money fell through, and then it got back together, and then the money fell through, you know? It never really materialized. But hopefully that will still happen.
Q: And Matthew Vaughn leaving “X-Men”?
JAMES: Yeah, that’s still such fresh news, it was just a couple days ago. Right now, you attach high hopes to any director, so it’s not a good sign when the director leaves for personal reasons. But Brett Ratner has just come on to direct it, this is as of yesterday, or overnight, or something, so. I hadn’t seen “Layer Cake,” which Matthew Vaughn directed, so I wouldn’t be able to comment on him as a director, but as a person whose been a part of the first two, you just want to see it go and you want it to be good. You want it to capitalize on the first two, what they’ve set up, and really crescendo into the big climax of the trilogy, so I just want to get going! (Laughs). Because they don’t want to move that release date, May 2006. Those are movies that require a lot of pre-production. You want it to be it good, you want it to be right.