Emile Hirsch has spent the last 12 of his 28 years testing his dramatic limits alongside such acting greats as Gena Rowlands, Laura Linney, Jodie Foster, and Sean Penn\u2014his collaborations with the latter,\u00a0Into the Wilderness\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Milk<\/i>, earning him the most critical acclaim. For his next project,\u00a0The Motel Life<\/i>, out on V.O.D. today, Hirsch veers into a more intimate indie direction with co-star Stephen Dorff, as a pair of drifter brothers whose bleak \u201cmotel life\u201d existence is lifted only by their fantastical fictional adventures, told by Hirsch\u2019s character and illustrated by Dorff\u2019s.<\/p>\n
In anticipation of the film, adapted by brothers Alan and Gabriel Polsky from the novel by Willy Vlautin, Hirsch phoned us last week and told us about his adventures with Dorff in Reno, Nevada, his upcoming\u00a0Bonnie & Clyde\u00a0<\/i>project, and the John Belushi biopic he just signed up for.
\n
\nJulie Miller<\/i>:\u00a0The Motel Life<\/i>\u00a0is such a gritty, intimate project about these two brothers, played by you and Stephen. Where were you in life when you found this project and thought this relationship was something you wanted to explore?<\/b><\/p>\n
Emile Hirsch<\/i>: When I first read\u00a0The Motel Life<\/i>, I was in New Orleans filming\u00a0Killer Joe<\/i>\u00a0with Matthew McConaughey. I read the script and I immediately connected with this story about two brothers who didn\u2019t really have material wealth, but they had tons of wealth in terms of having love for each other. I found that it was a really sad story\u2014and a very powerful sense of drama. These are sometimes my favorite kinds of movies and it doesn\u2019t happen that often that you get to explore something this authentic. It was a drama that did not sell itself short and try to be anything it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
You and Stephen have to summon this complicated, co-dependent brotherly relationship. How did you get to the stage where you could comfortably do that?<\/b><\/p>\n
I feel like it was a really intuitive process. I don\u2019t think that Dorff or I really overanalyzed it. It was more about just being in the moment and intuitively gauging it off of each other. Stephen is a really, really strong actor, so I just followed his lead a lot of the time.<\/p>\n
Did you get to spend a lot of time hanging out beforehand?<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh yeah. We spent a lot of time together just hanging out. We would visit casinos in Reno and restaurants and bars. We went all over that town together and kind of just explored a lot of it.
\n
\nDo you guys have a similar acting process?<\/b><\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how similar our processes are. He might more than I do. It just felt like a very easy kind of thing. I don\u2019t even know if I have a process. I think it\u2019s changed and been altered so many times over the years.<\/p>\n
In what ways?<\/b><\/p>\n
I like to think that I\u2019ve evolved in some ways as an actor. I like to think that there is an ease I have now that I didn\u2019t at the beginning, and that I can be a lot more comfortable in scenes and am willing to try different things. How confident are you in your acting? Is there ever a point where you think to yourself, during a scene, that you have completely figured it out? Yeah! But I\u2019ve also felt that way and maybe been totally wrong. I try to just be instinctive. I try to think through scenes to a degree and think through who a character is, but I really do enjoy spontaneity in acting. I think the improvisational side of a performance is really strong and healthy.<\/p>\n
You also just played Clyde Barrow in a two-part series airing this December.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
I hadn\u2019t seen Warren Beatty\u2019s version. I had never actually seen that movie and purposefully stayed away from it [because] I didn\u2019t want to be influenced by his performance. And then when I actually saw the movie after I wrapped, I was so shocked. Because it was such a different interpretation of the role, and we had both probably seen and studied the same photos and history and accounts and came to utterly different conclusions.
\n
\nWhy do you think that was?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure. My Clyde Barrow was kind of a serious, stoic badass tough guy. And Beatty\u2019s was more of a smiley, goofy, clowner kind of guy. We were like polar opposites in terms of our interpretations. [Laughs.<\/i>]<\/p>\n
And you just signed on to play John Belushi in Steve Conrad\u2019s biopic of the late comedian. Are you studying old Belushi tapes at this point? Where are you in the preparation process?<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s really early right now. I know that the announcement just sort of came out. I am just sort of wading into it, a little bit at a time. But I am really excited. It\u2019s pretty funny because everyone always told me I looked like Jack Black when I was younger and a lot of people always compared Jack Black to John Belushi. So I figure if I add a few pieces, I\u2019ll be right there.<\/p>\n