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Recently Released In Theaters Reviews
2008 FALL MOVIE PREVIEW Blindness How to Lose Friends & Alienate People Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Flash of Genius Beverly Hills Chihuahua Forever Strong Eagle Eye Miracle at St. Anna Choke Nights in Rodanthe My Best Friends Girl Lakeview Terrace Battle in Seattle Igor Recently Added Spotlights Clark Gregg Sean Faris Charlize Theron Stuart Townsend Justin Hartley Samuel L. Jackson Patrick Wilson Kerry Washington Meg Ryan Jada Pinkett Smith Eva Mendes Debi Mazar Alan Ball Nicolas Cage Anna Faris |
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 Jason Lee
Interview By: Michael Dance For a guy who started out as a professional skateboarder and pretty much stumbled into acting with 1995’s Mallrats, Jason Lee has come a long way. He’s not headlining sci-fi thrillers or demanding $20 million a picture, but even before he became a household name with the successful TV show My Name is Earl in 2005, Lee had been getting steady work for years in a business known for its unreliability. He’s appeared in everything from Almost Famous to Heartbreakers to The Incredibles to this December’s Alvin and the Chipmunks, in which he takes on the much-beloved role of Dave. “It was a complete fluke,” Lee says of his acting career. “I knew that I was very excited to be doing it. I knew that I was lucky and very fortunate to suddenly be on the set of Mallrats in the middle of freezing cold Minnesota. It was a how-did-I-get-here? kind of thing. But I didn't know. I was kind of young, and I didn't know really what acting meant.” He teamed up with Mallrats director Kevin Smith again for his next role, one third of an awkward love triangle in Chasing Amy. As it would happen, the film almost didn’t get made. “The movie was originally meant to be made for a few million, and Harvey Weinstein [the then-president of Miramax] wanted a different cast,” Lee says. “Which would’ve worked, but Kevin had specifically written the roles for myself and Joey [Lauren] Adams and Ben Affleck. And apparently Harvey didn’t want to make the movie with us, because he wanted more bankable names, I suppose. But to Kevin’s credit, he said, well, I want to make it with these people because that’s who I wrote the script for. Give me just $250,000 and I’ll make the movie my way. And he did. And he stuck to his guns. And I think the movie made like $13 million bucks.” The film opened up his career in more ways than one. “I didn't really know what acting was until I did Chasing Amy, and then after it was a success and people started being a little bit interested, I had to go out and try new things, I did that movie Enemy of the State. Small part, but to go from Mallrats to Chasing Amy to this massive Tony Scott movie where I'm surrounded by cameras, totally out of my element – each new thing became a confidence-building experience.” For an actor known for hitting it off with his directors – aside from his collaborations with Smith, he’s done two movies each with Cameron Crowe and Lawrence Kasdan – he’s quick to give credit where credit is due. “Thanks to Kevin I have a career. I don’t know if I would have a career just thanks to Mallrats. Without Chasing Amy I might not ... |
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