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In August, Elijah Wood ("The Lord of the Rings")
came to Seattle to talk to the press about his new film.
Along with four other writers, I met with the actor to
discuss "Everything is Illuminated." Based on the
acclaimed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer ("Extremely
Loud and Incredibly Close"), the funny-sad road movie
marks the directorial debut of Liev Schreiber ("The
Manchurian Candidate") who, like Safran Foer, is of
Ukranian descent (Schreiber also wrote the screenplay). The
story concerns a young Jewish man based closely on the
author--also called Jonathan Safran Foer--who travels to the
Ukraine to track down the woman who saved his grandfather
from the Nazis. Aiding him in his "very rigid
search" are gold chain and tracksuit-sporting
translator Alex (Eugene Hutz from the gypsy-punk band Gogol
Bordello), whose command of English is amusingly shaky, his
"blind" grandfather Alex (Boris Leskin), their
driver, and grandfather's demented "seeing-eye
bitch," Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. (Mickey and Mouse).
In person, Wood looks and sounds pretty much as you might
expect, although he's better looking than he appears on
screen. Yes, his eyes are big and blue, but not as prominent
as his films would lead you to believe--especially those in
which he sports spectacles like "The Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind, "Sin City" and now
"Everything is Illuminated." As for his
personality, I found him to be relaxed, charming and
forthcoming. Despite having worked in Hollywood from a very
young age ("Avalon," "Radio Flyer,"
etc.), there was nothing phony or calculated about his
responses or about his attitude in general. He listened
carefully to the questions that were asked of him and
provided thoughtful, articulate answers. In short, I was
impressed.
Naturally, we wanted to know what it was like to work
with the inexperienced, but charismatic--and Ukraine-born--Hutz,
who practically runs away with the film. According to Wood,
he was "a blast to have around." Schreiber
originally "met with Eugene in reference to
music," but "realized very quickly that Eugene
embodied quite a lot of what Alex is in the script."
That said, his band's material is well represented in the
movie (including the group themselves in a funny scene at
the beginning). I read that Wood and Hutz bonded over their
love of music, so I was curious as to the bands or
recordings that united them. "We traded music a
lot," Wood confirmed. In fact, they still do. (He then
pulled Gogol's "Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike"
CD from his bag, exclaiming, "You guys all need to own
this.") During filming, Hutz turned Wood onto Sweden's
garage-rockin' Mando Diao and Franco-Latin sensation Manu
Chao, while Wood turned Hutz on to bluesmen like Skip James.
Some of the groups they listened to during filming included
the Stooges, James Chance & the Contortions and the
Birthday Party. In fact, Hutz appears in a no-wave
documentary called "Kill Your Idols," that
features Chance. When I asked, Wood said that he's seen the
film and found it worthwhile for the interviews.
But back to "Illuminated." When Wood was asked
whether he based his version of Jonathan on the book or the
real-life author, who visited the set during filming, he
said his characterization came straight from the script
(which is what convinced him to do the movie in the first
place). He explained that Schreiber "took relative
liberty to a certain degree" with his adaptation and
that "my choice was to just go with what Liev had
written." He also mentioned that Schreiber drew
inspiration from the Chauncy Gardner character in
"Being There," in that the film's Jonathan is a
more quiet observer than garrulous participant (like Alex).
"He has this whole other world going on that is very
different than the outside world...and yet there's this
beautiful stillness to him, as well." Wood
acknowledged, "He's weird...very neurotic and
practical." In the film, Jonathan is seen constantly
placing every kind of object--dirt, a prized necklace, even
a potato--into plastic baggies, which then go into his very
dorky-looking fanny pack (to later be tacked up on his
wall). When asked if he could relate to Jonathan's
obsessive-compulsive packrat instincts, Wood said yes:
"I can definitely relate to that," adding, "I
find value in the tiniest pieces of paper...I'm a bit of a
hoarder in that sense. The main difference is that I'm
completely disorganized."
When it was suggested that he might have a master plan in
terms of his career, Wood begged to differ: "It's
always the material." If patterns emerge, they're
largely coincidental, like the fact that he's been in a lot
of literary adaptations...or played three characters in a
row with bizarro eyewear. (Regarding "Eternal
Sunshine," Wood said, "I would have done anything
to be a part of that movie, because I'm such a huge, huge
fan of Michel Gondry and think he's such a visionary, and
[Charlie] Kaufman as well.") As for all those
adaptations, "I've never really consulted the source
material," he confessed, adding that he reads some
books, like "Huckleberry Finn," but not others,
like "Everything is Illuminated" (he's a
particularly big fan of Frank Moore's "Sin City"
graphic novels). His approach is, instead, "relatively
organic." Also, he likes to "challenge myself as
an actor," so he tends to gravitate towards "films
that are very different than the last." Consequently,
he's currently looking into a bio-pic about a particular
musician. He wouldn't say who, but admitted he was both
scared and excited about the prospect. He also emphasized
that the worst thing he could imagine would be "to
compromise any kind of integrity; I can't really see myself
doing that." When asked if he had any interest in
directing, he said yes--producing, too. He also confirmed
that he has started a record label and is looking at a few
different bands to sign. When I asked if he would ever do TV
again, he said, "I'm not opposed to it." "You
should be on 'Lost'," I suggested (featuring his old
pal, Dominic "Merry" Monaghan, from "The Lord
of the Rings"). He laughed. "To do a cameo on
'Lost'--I would love to do that!" he admitted.
Aside from "Illuminated," which opens September
16th, Wood has another film coming out this fall called
"Green Street Hooligans," co-starring Charlie
Hunnam ("Nicholas Nickleby") and Claire Forlani
("Meet Joe Black") and directed by newcomer Lexi
Alexander. The story concerns a young American (Wood) who
travels to London to flee a bad scene in the States (he's
just been expelled from college for a crime he didn't
commit) and ends up falling in with a gang of football
hooligans. From what I've read, the movie is more like Bill
Buford's "Among the Thugs" than Chuck
Palahniuk's--or David Fincher's--"Fight Club."
"Hooligans" opens on September 9th (in limited
release). After that, it looks like he'll be working on
"Bobby" (alongside Anthony Hopkins) about the
goings-on in the Ambassador Hotel during the hours leading
up to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. The movie is the
dream project of actor/director Emilio Estevez, who also
wrote the script. The more Wood talked about the film, the
more passionate he became, particularly in regards to the
speech Kennedy gives that day. If it turns out even half as
well as he described it, "Bobby" should be very
good indeed.
After our conversation came to a close, it occurred to me
Wood used the following words the most: "organic,"
"beautiful" and "blast" (as in "it
was a"). They seem to sum him up quite well. He came
across as a guy who knows just how lucky he is to get to do
the thing he loves and can't wait to see what lies around
the next corner. That said, his tone became slightly
elevated whenever he talked about music. For all the passion
he has for his craft, it's clear that music holds a place in
his life that film will never be able to touch.
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