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The next Brad Pitt?
Or the next, Steve Buscemi?
In his movies, Sean Patrick Flanery walks a fine line between golden boy and very cool weirdo. He's definitely going for it - now will it go for him?
No doubt he'll cringe when he reads this, but Sean Patrick Flanery just might be Hollywood's next golden boy. Yes, It's a pretty risky statement, but take a look at the facts: Within a year of graduating college and moving from Houston to Hollywood, he'd risen from walter to working actor; before long he'd snagged the role of TV's young Indiana Jones, turning him into something of an icon for overseas schoolgirls, who still gaze at his reruns. He has the talent to be unrecognizable, as he was in Powder (1995), and the coolness to tease, as he does in this month's Suicide Kings - in which he plays an ultra-impassive rich boy attempting to intimidate, of all people, Christopher Walken. On top of all that, he's entirely lacking in the angst the outwardly fortunate often bathe in. He has the gifts to make it, and he knows it, in a cerebral rather than insolent way. He's confident enough to refuse to answer personal questions, yet thoughtful enough to offer a pensive, three-hundred-word explanation why. He also knows better than to place his whole world in one box: In addition to acting, he's a professional race-car driver. (Did you expect him to be a world-class philatelist?) You'll have plenty of opportunities to see what he can do: Flanery has six movies in the can (including turns with Joanna Going, in Eden, and Drew Barrymore, In Best Men). But If all these facts still haven't swayed you, take a look at the pictures.
ELIZABETH WEITZMAN: Hey, Sean, thanks for calling.
SEAN PATRICK FLANERY: Yes, ma'am.
EW: Are you at home, or on a set?
SPF: I'm at home. I have a house right above the Hollywood Bowl, which is up in the hills, so it's a decent rock's throw from the slime.
EW: Do you like L.A.?
SPF: In some respects yeah, and in some respects no. You feel so disposable at times. Everybody comes here with an agenda. They don't know how long it's going to take to achieve their goals, and they don't know if they're going to be here long enough to invest in a real friendship.
EW: Do you yourself actually feel disposable when you're there?
SPF: think you have to, because you constantly think, Great, somebody else could just take my place without skipping a beat. And it's true. I'm working in the most expendable industry known to man.
EW: We hear a lot about how women are marketed in that culture, that they're hired for the way they look as much as for their talents. But it seems like there's a similar market for men, too, which certain actors fall into easily and others fight against. Is this something that you've noticed?
SPF: Absolutely. There are physical, aesthetic requirements for each and every job you go up for. End of conversation. And it's not like you can change things about yourself. I mean, certain things you can, but other things you just gotta live with.
EW: You're someone who could easily be stuck in pretty-boy roles, but right off the bat you did Powder, in which you played the ultimate anti-pretty-boy character. So it seems like you were fighting that categorization from the start.
SPF: But it wasn't on purpose. You just pick the roles that penetrate your consciousness, regardless of what they make you look like. It certainly wasn't my personal protest against pretty-boy-ism. It just so happened that the character was not a young, handsome leading man.
EW: Are you at all concerned that you'll be stereotyped?
SPF: I'm well aware of the whole flavor thing, and who's hot now and who's not. I know there are certain names that mean more at any given time. Does that frustrate me? Yeah, I'm not gonna tell you it doesn't. Have I missed out on films I wanted to do? Absolutely. I can't say that everything's been perfect and there's never any pressure. Of course there is. But I'd imagine it's a lot less than if you're working the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It's not like actors are kicking off with executive high-pressure heart attacks or sitting in the garage with the car running. In the grand scheme of things, maybe we have it kind of easy. My God, what kind of pressure is it when you're doing a movie but it's not the one you want? "Oh, poor baby," You're still making a feature film, and I don't know how bad that can be.
I think if you do good work and you're comfortable with it, you'll get a lot of different jobs. But if the only thing you have to fall back on is your looks, then maybe you should worry. I'm not saying I don't have to worry about it, but I would sincerely hope I could get jobs on merit, outside of the fact that I look a certain way. I'm not gonna stand up here and say I'm ugly. But I certainly don't put myself in the category of Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. Everybody says, "Oh, Johnny Depp's trying to rebel against the pretty-boy thing." But he's not an idiot. He has mirrors in his house, I'm sure. He knows what he looks like. Hats off to the guy for not exploiting it, because he doesn't need to. He's talented.
EW: But we are living in the age of the insta - It Boy, which might lead to certain pressures for young actors to conform, to be a certain way - or to be different, even.
SPF: It really hasn't been an issue for me - not to say it couldn't happen, but until now it's just been about the work. And I've learned that talking to magazines, which may or may not categorize you, is just part of the business. Whether you like it or not, you have to let people into your life to publicize a film you've done.
EW: Do you like doing press?
SPF: No. It's uncomfortable. It's one thing to go and be a character apart from yourself and let people dissect that, but when they start dissecting you, it hits nerves you never knew were exposed. Most of the time, it makes me feel like I'm strapped down on a high school biology table with some pimply-faced sixteen-year-old comin' at me with a scalpel.
EW: So how do you deal with It? Do you add a layer of protection?
SPF: Well, I think that's why I'm cold so often, because I didn't come with an extra layer of fat. But I do have this mercurial alien power, which comes from my tuna fish consumption.
EW: What extraordinary things does It allow you to do?
SPF: I get bigger when it's hot, and I shrink in the winter. I think it's 'cause I like tuna that tastes good and not tuna with good taste.
EW: Very clever, You've done a lot of these, haven't you?
SPF: No, actually I haven't. But I think it's possible to get inside somebody just by conversing with them and seeing what moves them, what makes them tick. It's so antiseptic to me when somebody comes right out and starts reading off their questions numerically, subdivided by alphabetical category. You're like, "Yes, no. When I was eighteen. Yes, yes, no."
EW: What's the worst question you've ever gotten?
SPF: There have been ludicrous questions like, "Tell me about your first sexual experience." I'm like, "Oh, OK, I've got an oil painting of that for you. I'll get right on that one." What kind of a moron asks that? So. [laughs] What's your next question?
EW: Well, looking over my numbered, alphabetized list, I think we're pretty much done here. [SPF laughs] What do you wish people would ask you that they don't?
SPF: I can honestly say that there's not one minutia of information I'm willing to share with the entire population. That's why you develop little defense mechanisms. A great analogy would be the trailer for The Truman Show. Imagine if, unbeknownst to me, this conversation were broadcast over a PA system to the entire world. I mean, how naked would I feel? I would feel like people were inspecting my genitalia with a microscope. So I guess the only way I can do it and have some truth to my statements is to pretend for the next hour that it's just you I'm talking to. And it's in your hands to make me look like a complete imbecile or a fairly respectable human being. It's like with the Clinton thing: It depends whether you read a right-wing paper or a left-wing paper. It depends whether I'm talking to a me-fan or a me-enemy, what kind of light they'll cast me in. You just have to shut your eyes and hope for the best, I guess. And the minute I hang up the phone today, I'm going to feel like I was standing on Hollywood Boulevard with not a thread of clothing on. But it has to be done.
EW: Do you read your own press once It's out?
SPF: Yeah, I do. But it's weird to read about yourself, and I think it's a bit arrogant to act like it's not. Maybe I don't get it, but I have some friends who go, "Oh yeah, whatever," as if it's an everyday thing. Man, you're in a national publication talking about what you had for breakfast! That's creepy, you know?
EW: But do you think in ten years, after you've discussed your favorite cereal a million times, you'll still feel that way?
SPF: I hope so. I don't want to become anaesthetized to things like that. I got into this business because I love movies. I want to wake up when the credits roll, like I did when I was a kid. After eight years in Hollywood, I still feel like I'm here on a day pass.
EW: Wait, I've got to call you on one thing.
SPF: What?
EW: I read that you got into the business because you saw a pretty girl coming out of the drama department at college.
SPF: That is true, yes. I'd never thought about acting until I saw this gorgeous specimen of femininity leaving the drama department every Monday. So I dumped an English class and took up theater. And I really dug it.
EW: And from then on, you knew what you wanted to do?
SPF: I told myself that when I finished school, I'd pack up my car and head out to L.A. I just wanted to act. I really came out here as a completely uneducated moron, as far as the entertainment business goes, but I knew at best maybe I would get some film roles, and at worst I could wait tables, save some money, produce my own play, and still be happy.
EW: Did you give yourself a time limit, or did you decide to just go with the flow?
SPF: I figured I'd see what happened. I was having a ball. It was like, Wow, I'm out in L.A. and I'm pursuing acting and I'm doing the waiter thing!
EW: Let's back up a little. Did you have a happy childhood?
SPF: Oh yeah.
EW: I heard you were dyslexic when you were a kid. Did that affect you very strongly?
SPF: You know, people underestimate how much kids understand. There are adults around you strategically selecting multisyllabic words, thinking that you know nothing of what they're talking about. And you're comprehending 100 percent of what they're saying, but you can't disclose that information or the game's up. Of course I had plenty of unhappy moments, but I'm not going to claim to be the tortured artist or any crap like that. My family was great.
And dyslexia is something you kind of understand. Even if people are telling you you're dumb, you know in your head that you have the ability to rationalize things the people they're calling smart can't fathom. So I was never convinced that I was an idiot. Besides, that's why we have doctors - to tell us it's just a matter of wiring.
EW: What did you think you'd be when you grew up?
SPF: Lazy.
EW: That's another tuna fish answer.
SPF: Yeah, I know. OK. I never really knew. There was nothing in my head that I felt would retain my interest for a lifetime. And I can still say that. The only thing I know is that I enjoy what I'm doing right now.
EW: Do you get nervous every time you go to a new set?
SPF: I've never been nervous on camera, because it's such a controlled environment. You know you don't have to deliver in one reading.
EW: How do you feel about seeing the finished project?
SPF: I haven't seen one frame of Suicide Kings.
EW: Is that because you don't like watching yourself?
SPF: Well, you have an image of something in your mind, and you want to retain that. It's difficult for somebody outside to understand, but you were there, you shot it, you know every angle of it. But without sounding too "Oh, I can't watch myself," there are times when I just want to leave that feeling alone.
EW: Do you think you'll ever see it?
SPF: Yeah. I think I will.
EW: Was it fun to make?
SPF: It was the first time I'd ever worked with just guys, pretty much, for two months straight. It was a great group. But we all had these characters who related to each other in completely different ways, and that dictates where a friendship is gonna go. I was kind of the isolationist.
EW: Have you seen Powder?
SPF: No. Not in its entirety.
EW: Do you think you ever will?
SPF: I don't know.
EW: I was thinking while watching Powder that you must have been treated very differently than ever before when you were off the set. You looked like an entirely different person.
SPF: I thought I looked like an androgynous mosquito larva, but I don't really know how other people thought of me. Your personal life evaporates when you throw yourself into a film. You don't worry about other people; what you're thinking about is, I'm this character and I live in this world.
EW: Do you feel that you actually become a character?
SPF: Different roles require different energies. Some are closer to you than others, and some require you to step miles away from who you are. And you can't make the trip every night back to yourself. It's just too far to walk.
EW: Is your character in Powder still part of you, or is that all over now?
SPF: That's stuff I'd rather not talk about.
EW: What do you do when you're not working?
SPF: Me and my buddies started racing cars about four years ago, and now we pursue it professionally.
EW: Who would you say has been the biggest influence in your life?
SPF: Oh, my mom. In every way. She was the one who encouraged me to follow my dreams.
EW: What are they?
SPF: I want to do something that I lose sleep over the night before because I'm so excited to do it. And right now, the thing that I lose sleep over is acting.
EW: Have you ever had to compromise?
SPF: Sure, yeah. I think everybody has to.
EW: IS there a compromise you've made that still nags you?
SPF: No, every time you compromise, you arrive at it through reasoning.
EW: But a lot of times people compromise out of desperation.
SPF: Yes. I would agree. So no, there's nothing I regret to that extreme.
EW: Have you never had a moment of true desperation?
SPF: No. Because in my dictionary, desperation is when rationale goes out the window and you're pissed at yourself for clipping your fingernails the night before because you can no longer get enough friction on the top ladder-rung and you're about to slip off. I hope I never feel that way.
EW: Not one crisis of confidence?
SPF: No. I've never thought, if given the opportunity, I couldn't make good on my goals. I've never seen anybody try and break into the major leagues who couldn't throw a baseball.
EW: So you think If people Just have the drive and the ability, they'll achieve their dreams?
SPF: I really believe that. And if you find out differently, don't tell me, OK? [laughs] It's a perfectly good fantasy.
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