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‘I'VE ST RUGGLED FOR YEARS, KNOCKING ON
DOORS, GETTING REJECTED'
ailing to inhale
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Aaron Eckhart is an actor who likes a challenge and in his new film he plays a spin doctor. Ian Winterton finds out whether he’s bitten off more than he can chew.
conversations.’ grins actor Aaron Eckhart. He’s
talking about his role as spin doctor Nick Naylor in brilliant satire. Thank You For Smoking. But the square-jawed. affable. easy-going Californian could just as easily be describing himself.
‘Basically. I know what a guy trying to sell something feels like. I’m an actor. I’ve struggled for years knocking on doors. getting rejected. I know what this guy feels like. I didn’t have to go outside of myself.’
Like estate agents. lawyers and journalists. spin doctors aren’t exactly well respected by society, and Nick Naylor’s job is. as Eckhart admits. ‘despicable’. A lobbyist for Big Tobacco. he spends his time shamelessly attempting to persuade the world that not only are the health risks associated with smoking unproven. but that it’s incredibly cool. What makes the film — based on a cult novel of the same name — so compelling is how this ‘yuppie Mephistopheles’ balances his amoral day-job with coming across as a decent role model for his 10-year old son.
‘That tension was something that wasn’t in the book.’ says Eckhart. ‘In the novel he’s more cantankerous. For filmic purposes Jason [Reitman director. son of veteran producer. writer and director [van] made him more charming. Professionally. Nick is so politically incorrect. so him having a son brings heart to the film.’
It also adds a further element of dark comedy. as Nick’s son. played by Cameron Bright (X-Men: The Last Stand), takes on board his father’s dictum that,
‘I love to talk and I’m very good at winning
‘lf you argue correctly. you’re never wrong’. transforming before our eyes into a smug. teacher- baiting essayist.
When not being a doting father. Nick spends his time bribing cancer-ridden Marlboro Men. making anti-smoking campaigners look foolish on TV and hanging out with Bobby Jay and Polly — firearms and alcohol lobbyists respectively — a gang popularly known as ‘the Merchants Of Death’.
Ironically. while booze is guzzled, and even the occasional gun brandished. no one sparks up in Thank You For Smoking.
‘The film does not advocate smoking whatsoever. But neither is it particularly anti-smoking. In fact,’ he recalls, laughing. ‘l’ve spoken to real-life Nick Naylors who’ve seen the film and they’re delighted the message is getting out there. Joking aside. the movie is really about a guy who can spin.’
Fittingly, Eckhart refuses to be drawn into a debate about smoking.
‘My whole attitude is. if people want to kill themselves. go ahead and let them.’ is as much as he’ll say on the subject. though he will admit to having kicked a 20-a-day habit three years ago. ‘But I never looked at it as a smoking movie. I didn’t look at it as a political movie. I looked at it as a comedy. If you laugh at the movie then we’ve done our job. And.’ he adds with a spin-doctor’s mischievous wink. ‘people do laugh.’
Thank You for Smoking is on general release from Fri 16 Jun.
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if: Thank You For Smoking Very funny satire about the shenanigans of a bunch of US spin doctors who spend their days defending the indefensible. See interview, left. and review. General release from Fri 16 Jun. ill The Ballad of Jack and Rose Daniel Day Lewis keeps it in the family in this powerful drama written and directed by his wife Rebecca Miller (daughter of Arthur). Lewis plays a fundamentalist environmentalist whose daughter loves him so much he begins to worry about his desires for her. Dangerously interesting stuff. See review. GFT, Glasgow from Tue 13-Thu 15 Jun only.
=ll Tony 'l'akltanl Japanese filmmaker Jun lchikawa’s lovely adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story about love, loneliness and consumerism is a singular joy. GFT Glasgow from Mon 12-Thu 15 Jun only.
’0' Pencils. Now Hany Abu- Assad’s excellent black comedy about suicide bombers gets a second short mn at the arthouses. Frlmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 9—Thu 75 Jun only.
If! Bloom Celebrate Bloomsday (Friday 16 June) with this rarely screened 2003 film version of Joyce's Ulysses. it's not perfect but it’s a brave and commendable attempt to capture the essence of a great and difficult book. GFT, Glasgow onFn' 16and8at 17Jun only.
I! Pat Garrett and Bllly the Kid Long overdue DVD restoration of one of Peckinpah’s great films. Out Tue 20 Jun (Warner Home VIdQO).
Ill Funny Games m Idflon Michael Haneke's brilliant and disturbing 1997 horror resurfaces on DVD as he announces a US remake. Out Tue 20 Jun (Tartan VIdGO).
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