"Finding Another Face"

Aaron Eckhart is that rare breed of actor who truly puts 110% of himself into every film he does, regardless of whatever the movie may be. He began his career wutg roles in films like In The Company Of Men, Any Given Sunday, Erin Brockovich, and Thank You For Smoking, which he won a Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical Actor.

Eckhart then revealed his depth even further when he managed to bring an incredibly three-dimensional portrayal of district attorney Harvey Dent turned brain-damaged lunatic Two-Face in the enormously successful The Dark Knight, while garnering even more success with the romantic drama Love Happens. Now, the 43 year-old actor takes his intensity to quite literally the biggest film of his career, as Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz in the alien invasion action film Battle: Los Angeles.

Aaron talked about how the Marines prepared him for the role.

“Jonathan [Liebesman], the director, and I talked about this movie pretty much almost, I guess, a year before we started,” he recalls, “ So I started right away training with Marines, going through the tactical strategies, psychology, shooting a lot. I started training really early for it and then, we did a three-week boot camp before.”

“We had a sergeant major, a master sergeant and a gunny who took us through three weeks,” Eckhart continues, “We put up the tent, every bunk had to be meticulous in the same order, all that sort of stuff. Obviously training, but [we] showered, slept, did everything in rank, so the PFCs got to do the shit work and I yelled at them a lot and the lieutenant yelled at me.”

Eckhart was asked what the hard part was about it.

“The hardest part is getting 12 actors to line up on a straight line on a daily basis,” Aaron answers, “I almost killed myself. I’m like, ‘Sergeant Major, how do you get people to line up on a straight line? Because…’ I’m joking, obviously, but it’s really getting

"Finding Another Face"

people to do things on a timely basis in the right manner.”

“For example, Marines have to look a certain way, they have to wear the right equipment, they have to say the right words, they have to be ready and no back talk,” he adds, “And so just to watch 12 actors then transform into Marines was an interesting exercise. And who took it on wholeheartedly and who resisted and, you know, like I said to some of you, there were guys crying. It was tough.”

Aaron was then asked if his perceptions of the military had changed.

“It’s only been augmented,” Eckhart says, “I was always in their corner. I’ve had a total respect for those guys. I went on a USO tour and visited them in Afghanistan. And, great guys. I’m too old to be a Marine. They told me I can’t join.”

Eckhart says even if he could join, he wouldn’t be able to.

“I have too much fun being, you know…” Aaron explains, “That’s the great thing about the movie business, is like right now I’m playing, my next movie’s a CIA, so I’ve been hanging out with CIAs for spooks and all that sort of stuff.

“It’s called The Expatriate,” he adds, “It’s about a father and daughter on the run. And so that way is interesting. What I did like hanging out with the Marines is, A, hearing the stories, but, B, is learning how to take of yourself, learning how to assess a situation, how to clear a room, which is interesting. It’s all tactical, so we did a lot of that.”

Aaron talked about how he decided to do an alien invasion film, which has been his most unique choice of role to date.

“I was ambivalent about doing an alien movie because alien movies have a certain stigma, the quality or how real are they or whatever it is, right?” he says, “I talked to Jonathan and I said if we’re going to

"Finding Another Face"

do this movie, I’m going to be 100 percent USDA. It’s as if Denzel [Washington] were going to do a movie, you know what I mean?”

“When I see something he does,” Eckhart adds, “Or… he’s really the guy that I look to in this sort of a movie because you never question whether or not he takes it seriously. We were up against aliens and that in itself is difficult so I wanted it to be very real, and as an actor I wanted to be like, you know… When you see Black Hawk Down, I’m like, ‘Why wasn’t I in that movie?’ or ‘I want to make a real movie.’ And I felt like we did it. It felt like from the second I put on that uniform, or started thinking about it, I was too into it.

Eckhart was asked if he felt like the atmosphere on the Battle: Los Angeles set could still be that of a war film, despite the fact that much of it was shot against green screen.

“Absolutely,” he answers, “I didn’t feel like we’re fighting an alien force. I felt we could be fighting anybody that was coming into Los Angeles. Everything was practical on the set. So it wasn’t like that car wasn’t there or that Helo wasn’t crashed or that smoke wasn’t there or these rounds didn’t have any powder in them. We were shooting 20 thousand rounds a day sometimes. I was at 3:00 in the morning with a 50 cal on a Humvee going through at 3:00 in the morning, blasting hundreds of rounds.”

“So when you’re doing that you can’t help but feel that you’re in a war situation,” Aaron continues, “Obviously we had to look up into the sky, and Jonathan coached us through that, but all you had to do is then look at the people around you too, look at the other Marines, how tired they were, how hot, how uncomfortable they

"Finding Another Face"

were, how hurt they were, and then you had all that experience from the boot camp. I know I sound way too into this movie, but I had a lot of fun making it.”

Aaron was asked if anybody lived near the locations where the film was being shot.

“I said to the people around me, I said if anybody comes to Shreveport on a whim, and didn’t know there was a movie here, they’re probably under their cars right now or they’re calling some people because we were shooting the place up,” Eckhart replies, “They gave us free reign. We had an overpass where every day the world was ending on this thing. And you couldn’t see.”

“If you were on the overpass and you were just seeing down you couldn’t see… you could only see the smoke,” he adds, “And we had helicopters going all over the place and stuff like that. I go, “People must just be…” And then to hear literally twelve marines on automatic all day, Chchch! Aaaaah! Chchch! Like that. I mean, we did it across from a school one day. What the? I go, ‘Did somebody warn this school?’ So it must have been weird for them.”

Even though he was trained to fight for the Marines against an alien invasion in Battle: Los Angeles, don’t expect Eckhart to get involved in such a scenario in real life.

“What could I do?” he replies, “I could teach them how to act. I’d be like, ‘No, you have to believe it more! Listen, come here for a second.’ Um, no, I’m sure that I would be told to sit back and shut up. Obviously, like I said, it’s fun to know how to break down your weapon and shoot your weapon, all that sort of stuff. But you know I did show it to about 2,500 Marines when I went to Pendleton, Quantico, showed it to them and they didn’t laugh me off the

"Finding Another Face"

base. I was quite worried about that, actually, tried to get all the terminology right and that sort of stuff.”

“We trained pretty hard for that,” Aaron continues, “Plus the Marines sanctioned the movie. They gave us all the Ospreys, all the Helos, they gave us the personnel. So when you’re talking… And that’s another thing about green screen, is that when you’re looking at an Osprey, it’s an Osprey, and it’s four deep. When you’re looking at two, three hundred Marines running, those are real Marines. Give that feeling of depth for the film. But I would say this. In defense of actors being wussie, I remember on several occasions Marines coming up to me and going, ‘Damn, you guys work hard.’ I was like [happy] because we’re working 12 hours a day every day, and so that was a compliment.”

Aaron says he did not escape the shoot completely unscathed as he suffered a broken arm.

“When the mother ship was rising, I tried to get fancy,” Eckhart remembers, “There was a beautiful orange-red fireball that I wanted to do an Air Jordan through. And so the cameraman was down here and the fireball was here and I thought I’d just run up this concrete slab that would fall and then jump off. Problem was I landed on my head and I landed on my arm. And I heard it snap, break here and that was that. And yeah, I mean, you know, you can’t give the other guys an excuse to stop so I didn’t feel like I could do that. The shot’s in the movie, I believe. Yeah. It’s when… I don’t know. I need to see the movie again.”

Eckhart talks about how the Marines themselves reacted to the film.

“There’s a lot of stuff in there,” Aaron says, “A lot of families came to see it. A lot of dads, a lot of wives and they’re obviously coming in with so much understanding and

"Finding Another Face"

baggage. I get stories of ‘my husband’s in Iraq,’ ‘my wife’s in Afghanistan.’ Kids come up with posters and say, ‘Will you make this one out for my dad? He’s in Kandahar,’ and my heart bleeds for them, these little kids. But that being said, to them it’s about the camaraderie.”

“And when I was in Afghanistan with the USO, it’s…” he continues, “When they’re going up against IEDs and all that sort of stuff, the politics and all that sort of stuff, they don’t concern themselves with… it’s all about this guy that’s next to me, this girl that’s next to me. And so I felt like when they came out of the film and saw the film that they felt like they were honored in that respect. And they weren’t made fun of. We tried to be accurate as best we could. But I feel like the film is based in reality. I don’t feel like it’s too rah-rah or too jingoistic. But I do feel like it’s about a group of guys trying to survive.”

Aaron talks about a particularly vulnerable scene showing Sgt. Nantz with his corporal Jason Lockett, played by Cory Hardrict, that proved to be quite powerful for the film.

“That scene was a big scene,” he says of it, “Ever since we started boot camp I was on these dudes. I was in character, so anything that they said about Staff Sergeant Nantz they were saying for real and I geared it that way. You know what I’m saying? I pushed them, so when we were doing that scene, Lockett, the way he was feeling about me, he was feeling about me. So that scene was charged. I don’t think Lockett was acting.”

“I felt like he had a lot of issues with me,” Eckhart adds, “And I feel like he’s a good actor and he really took that seriously and he knew what I was doing. You know what I mean?

"Finding Another Face"

Lockett and I went through a lot together during the movie. A lot. In terms of in boot camp and stuff, picking him up, a lot of heart-to-hearts, that kind of stuff. So by the time we got to that scene it was very loaded, very charged, and I thought a pretty good scene. But that was with all the men. I felt like, again, I thought we had to go for realism in this movie so it probably seems weird.”

Eckhart was asked if his feelings about directing changed at all, after having played a leadership role in Battle: Los Angeles.

“I don’t know if I could tell a story, but I know I can talk to actors,” Aaron says, “And I know I can influence actors. I feel like I know what a good performance is. I feel like actors are underused today. I feel like directors don’t demand better performances because directors themselves don’t know how to get better performances and the actors aren’t asked to give better performances.”

“I feel like after you make a hard movie, actors usually feel better about themselves,” he adds, “I saw Lockett the other day, and all the other guys, and I feel like we’re proud of this movie. And I’ve wished that a lot of my directors had asked more of me on a daily basis. Like, ‘That’s not good enough,’ or ‘You can do better,’ or ‘How about this?’ or ‘Prepare better tonight. I want this, I want to see that.’”

Aaron’s previous film involved another emotionally intense role, playing a grieving parent in the drama Rabbit Hole. He talked about playing that role while comparing it to playing this one.

“I had an interesting year. I did The Rum Diary before both of those,” Eckhart says, I went from Rum Diary, got to New York, next day started Rabbit Hole, drove across the country after Rabbit Hole, because I needed to, and started this movie.

"Finding Another Face"

I’m an actor, so that’s just what I do. I like it. I like it and once the juices are flowing… But it’s funny because people say, ‘Well, were you more serious about Rabbit Hole?’ And, no, I wasn’t. A death in Battle: L.A. is like a death in Rabbit Hole. And people think it’s nuts and it’s a popcorn movie. It’s my job.”

“They are equally important to me, so I don’t see that I need to try harder in one movie or another,” he continues, “I think Heath [Ledger]was, forget all the other performances that came before us in cinematic history, but Heath is the epitome of that mentality. He was brilliant, he was brilliant to watch, he was brilliant to see on a daily basis, on set in the makeup trailer, when we were putting on our makeup together. I was doing Harvey’s and he was doing the Joker’s and trying to figure it out. If you would have said to Heath, ‘Hey dude, this is a superhero movie, why don’t you chill?’ You just wouldn’t say that to him. And I don’t think that the movie would be as special if he did, so I think we all have to strive to those standards.”

Unlike most big-budget special effects films, Battle: Los Angeles has a loose feel to it. We asked Eckhart if any, at all, improvisation was done with certain scenes.

“The story itself, the bones of the story, did not,” he replies, “That’s not to say that there weren’t rewrites, but in terms of an actor improvisational level, the script didn’t change. But the little things changed. For example, I told an example to somebody about the tying of the shoe. Who’d I tell that to? I told that to you. I’ll tell you another example. For example, you know when Doc runs into the hall, we’re dragging the alien down, he runs in the hall, he says something in Afrikaans or

"Finding Another Face"

something, right? You remember that scene? Well, originally he didn’t say that in another language. It was ‘Holy shit!’ I went up to Jonathan and I said, ‘Have him say it in his native language.’ It gets a big laugh. So things like that, in terms of the little things, what you’re going to say. I always wanted when we were in these scenes together, I was saying to people, “You’re talking about a 20-yard radius, sometimes longer. Everything’s working within that radius.’

“So even though you’re in a little scene here, you’ve got shit going on over here with three cameras roving, so everybody’s on,” Aaron adds, “And so I always asked the other guys, “If you have to say something, give it to me, baby. Say something. Go ask the sergeant major for something to say. What would you say in this instance? Or, you know, keep it real at all times,” so that we could all feed off each other. And when that happens, it was just like…I mean, literally Jonathan would say “Cut!” and everybody’s eyes would just being going… they were like, ‘Huh! That was awesome! My God, you see what just, did you hear that?’ Every day for four months it was like that. I’m talking way too heartily about this movie, aren’t I?”

The most eyebrow-raising aspect of Aaron’s performance in the film was that he Method acted throughout the entire film. He was asked how that affected the camaraderie off set between himself and the other actors, particularly during the wrap party.

“I don’t go to wrap parties,” he answers, “The reason why is for that reason. For those guys, they were best friends. Those guys hung out. They knew each other intimately. Michelle [Rodriguez], everybody. Even Bridget [Moynahan], everybody. I didn’t. It’s not my job. I was staff sergeant; I’m not their best friend. You know what I mean? So I have my experiences with them.”

“I had more fatherly

"Finding Another Face"

experiences with them, heart-to-hearts, that kind of thin,” Eckhart continues, “So it would be interesting to hear. But those guys really, like Ne-Yo? Totally into it. But also, like Ne-Yo, the sweetest guy in the world. Always had good stories, never ever an attitude. Was always, he impressed the hell out of me, that guy. His humility and his willingness, I was very impressed. But then, with everybody.”

Eckhart was asked how the experience has been acting since he came out of the film and whether or not there would be a sequel to Battle: Los Angeles.

“I haven’t worked,” Aaron says, “It took me a long time to get over the movie. I knew it sounds weird, because it’s too much, but it took me a long time to get over the movie. I took a long break after that. I’m ready for the sequel. I wear khakis, keep my hair short, stay by the phone. It all depends on how the movie performs, if people like it or not.”

“I know Sony hasn’t said anything to me about it,” he continues, “But I think just in the poster, for me hopefully, just as an actor, it says, what’s the poster title like? Something like, ‘This isn’t the only place.’ I don’t know what it is, but I would very much look forward to doing another one.”

Finally, Aaron was asked if he had seen a lot of alien invasion films.

“The ones that I like are like…When I saw Star Wars, that impressed me,” Eckhart answers, “Close Encounters.”