Josh Hartnett

Interview By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Josh Hartnett is as un-Hollywood as they come, yet his new movie The Black Dahlia revolves around Hollywood's seductive lure. At age 28, Hartnett has been wise enough not to get sucked in by the traps of fame. The once teen-heartthrob is building his adult resume by tackling the darkly intriguing world of noir with his latest film. The Black Dahlia is based on the book by James Ellroy about the gruesome murder of young Hollywood starlet Elizabeth Short. Set in the 1940's, Hartnett starts off as a na've L.A. cop determined to solve the mystery surrounding her death, but slowly becomes more obsessed with case and the dark truths that come along with it.

Much like the obsessive nature which drives his character Dwight 'Bucky' Beichert, Hartnett had a similar intensity while embodying this role.

'There's a certain obsessive tendency I think in actors,' he says. 'As anybody who has a job that has a finite amount of time, like you have to complete it and you have to complete it in a certain amount of time, ultimately you think you're going to be relieved of this obsession at a certain point so that justifies you really pouring yourself into it heart and soul, much to chagrin of anyone that you know and love.'

Hartnett had an instant attraction to every one of his co-stars, especially his director Brian De Palma who became like a surrogate father to him. Hartnett refers to Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank and Aaron Eckhart as three of the most talented people he has ever worked with, and his deep respect and admiration of De Palma made the filming experience all the more memorable for him. Hartnett initially became attached to the project even before De Palma was signed on as director, but immediately fell in love with his directing style. Hartnett felt he was the perfect person for the job.

'I feel this is such a director's medium,' says Hartnett. 'There are certain points of negotiation but for the most part it's going to be their movie so you either get in line with them or you end up disappointed. I have seen pretty much everything Brian has done and I felt like his work made him the perfect person to adapt this book for the screen.'

Hartnett also credits De Palma for the hands-off approach he takes with his actors, letting them feel out the characters on their own, and for also giving the movie his own special touches.

'He knows what he wants, he casts well and once he has cast the roles he leaves it,' Hartnett says. 'Unless there's a specific role that needs manipulation, like the character of the Dahlia wasn't even in the script. That was all improv between him and Mia [Kirschner]. So obviously he knows when he wants to work with actors and he does it, but the script was so tight he didn't have to improv with us and he left us to our own devices.'

And Hartnett had his own specific ways of getting inside his character's head. There's a short boxing sequence at the beginning of the film, but Hartnett used the opportunity to vigorously train for it. By doing so, he ended up gaining insight into the Bucky's personality.

'Ellroy makes direct correlation to the way Bucky acts as a fighter and the way that he acts in life,' Hartnett explains. 'He's 'Mr. Ice' in both. The way that he takes apart an opponent is very similar to the way he takes apart the case. So for me when I got into the ring I felt I was really starting to understand the character, so I spent 7 months boxing, 5 days a week, 4 hours a day.'

With all that practice did he ever challenge his well-versed co-star, Hilary Swank, to a boxing match'

'Somebody said somewhere that she challenged me to a fight'but I wouldn't take her up on it,' Hartnett jokes. 'She looked pretty good in Million Dollar Baby!'

Hartnett's next project, oddly enough, also has to do with boxing. He will next star in the drama Resurrecting the Champ, where he plays a sports reporter who rescues a homeless man and then gets the scoop of his career when he discovers the man was actually a former boxing star believed to be dead. Samuel L. Jackson co-stars.

No matter where fame takes him, Hartnett is determined to stay as low-key as possible, He chooses to live in New York and Minneapolis, far away from the glittering lights of Hollywood'and he wouldn't have it any other way.

'What I think takes out a lot of young actors is you live in a place where people focus on your work all the time and it defines you,' he says. 'If things start to not go as well or whatever you start to doubt yourself as a human being. I just saw that it was not going to be easy for me to separate my work from my person if I didn't take a few steps away from Hollywood.'

His character in The Black Dahlia may start out na've, but Josh Hartnett certainly is not.