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With two new movies, a Gap ad, and even an action figure in hand, former TV actor Scott Speedman seems to be taking his rising fame in stride
BY TAMARA WIEDER
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YOU MAY NOT have heard of Scott Speedman. Or you may know him only as the actor whose on-screen popularity as Ben Covington on the now-defunct television series Felicity was second only to the hair of one of his co-stars. And though you have likely heard of one of Speedman’s fall movies, the recently released big-budget vampire flick Underworld — for which Speedman has his own action figure — you may not be familiar with the other, soon-to-be-released, made-for-two-million My Life Without Me. Speedman isn’t worried: the film, he’s convinced, is a winner whether or not people recognize its name, whether or not they flock to theaters to see it, and no matter what critics have to say upon its release. He believes in this movie, the story of a young woman, played by fellow Canadian Sarah Polley, who learns she has terminal cancer and decides to keep the fact of her imminent death from her husband — played by Speedman — and their two daughters. The soft-spoken Speedman seems slightly more concerned, however, with how those around him feel about his current Gap ad campaign, which has his mug plastered on billboards from coast to coast. Q: Did you know you have an action figure? A: Yeah. I heard about that. I think that’s hilarious. Q: Do you feel like you’ve really made it when you have an action figure? A: I guess that would be the thing you would think, but no, not yet. It just seems very removed from me. It feels like nothing to do with me. I mean, there’s also a comic book and a video game. It feels very removed. It’s not about me. They’re not making an action figure because I’m in the movie; they’re making an action figure because it sells well for the movie. So I’m slightly cynical about the whole process. Q: So you don’t have one yet? A: No, I have not got one. Q: Christmas presents for the family. A: That’s right. Hey, that’s good — thank you. See, these interviews get you something. Q: How’d you get involved with this movie? A: Which one? Q: My Life Without Me. That’s the one you’re promoting today, right? A: My Life Without Me: the script came to me late in the game, and Sarah Polley and Mark Ruffalo were attached, so I did everything I could to get it. I put myself on tape and sent it to Isabel [Coixet], the director, and she cast me. I’m not at a point where all these great projects are on my doorstep. Q: I imagine there are a few. A: No. You’d be surprised, I mean, for anybody, it’s hard to find a project like this, and it’s a very competitive world. It’s hard to find good, well-written simple characters. So you have to keep your eyes wide open. Q: So having Sarah Polley and Mark Ruffalo attached — A: It just automatically makes me excited, because I just happened to not only think they’re good actors, but I also admire them, and they’re my kind of actors; it’s not just that they’re good actors, I mean, there’s many great actors out there, but there are certain people who would excite me specifically to work with, and those are some of them. I love Mark’s acting style, I think he’s a great actor, and same with Sarah. Q: Obviously at its core, this is a heartbreaking movie. What was the filming process like? A: The filming process was remarkably warm and open, and not dour. Especially since all my scenes, I don’t know that she’s dying, right? I really felt like it was important to show how much we care for each other and how much of a unit, how much of a partnership they have. So that was my mind frame going into the movie, and then you add good people with good hearts and it makes for a very nice, enjoyable, ego-less environment. It was an easy environment to perform in. Q: How much of you is in this character? A: Well, that’s what’s cool about it, is that it’s not me, but I get to bring something of me and create an imaginary setting that opens me up to certain things, like, I am not a father, nor am I anywhere near ready to be. That’s why I like this movie, and think it’s my best work, is that it’s removed from me, but infused with my sense of the world. So that’s a good thing. Q: This movie was shot in Canada, which is happening a lot. What do you see as the differences between film culture in Canada and the States? A: Obviously film culture in the States is just so much bigger; there are so many different types of levels to the film culture in the States. In Canada, there’s a smaller talent pool of directors and people, and there’s more of an idea to promote the Canadian way in their films, rather than just commerce, selling their movies. But I think we could learn from each other. Q: What are your expectations for this film? A: My expectations are none, really, because it’s a good movie, and no matter what anybody says about it to me, I like the movie. I think it’ll be well-received. It’s weird; with this, I have a quiet confidence. The movie is good. I love it; I’m not confused about the movie, I’m not waiting to see what people think about it before I can understand what I think about it. I understand what I think about it, so that’s what’s important. That’s what I want: I want to be able to be in projects like that, where I’m clear about what it is.
Q: Take me back to the beginning, when you first knew you’d be an actor. There was a swim career? A: Yeah, I was a swimmer, I was an athlete, and I was at a school for gifted athletes, and it had a gifted-artists program, and when I had to retire from swimming, I started to hang out with all the actors, dancers, and the artists, and started getting the bug for that kind of thing. Eventually I saw an opportunity to be involved in acting. I was interested, the opportunity came up, I did well, and I got very lucky, basically. I mean, on the professional side I’ve been very lucky. Q: What’s been the most enjoyable thing about acting, and the most disappointing? A: Enjoyable? There’s so many ups and downs. Even on Felicity there were major ups and downs, and hard times, though I wouldn’t change it for the world. Enjoyable is definitely stuff like Felicity, [My Life Without Me], Underworld was very enjoyable. But [My Life Without Me] to me is a very close kind of project. The downs, I mean, I don’t want to get into the downs too much. A lot of the downs have taught me more than the ups, so they’re downs that are good downs — they’re not bad downs. Q: How much did life change for you with Felicity? A: It changed simply because I moved from Toronto to Los Angeles, it changed because I was getting older, it changed because I had money for the first time, it changed in many ways. But it didn’t change as much as everybody thinks, in terms of reaching some sort of celebrity. I mean, the celebrity always felt fine and natural, it wasn’t an overwhelming sense of celebrity. Q: What’s life been like for you since Felicity? A: Busy. I’ve been lucky enough to work on three projects. It just feels like the natural progression of things after Felicity, I was lucky enough to do these movies. I’m thankful. It’s been the first time I’ve lived in Los Angeles when I haven’t had to live there. Q: Has it felt difficult to outgrow the Ben character? A: No, not at all. Q: So people are letting you do that? A: Yeah, and more importantly, I’m letting myself do that. I don’t feel boxed in by that character. If you feel boxed in, I think that’s a lot of your own problem. Q: You hear actors complain about that all the time. A: Yeah, and probably more successful television actors than me, then maybe it’s a little harder, for sure. There’s people that are going to set limitations on you, but I mean, that’s not up to you to dispel. You just go and do what you want to do, and dispel them yourself by your performances or by the projects you’re doing. Q: Was Keri Russell’s hair like another character on Felicity? A: [laughing] Not to me. She was beautiful . . . Q: It sort of took on a life of its own. A: Yeah, unfortunately it did, and that’s unfair to her, I really feel like, because it had nothing to do with her, why she cut her hair. It was a studio decision, they asked her to, and she cut her hair, and then they kind of fucked her over. But she was beautiful before and she was beautiful afterwards, so the demise of the show really had nothing to do with her hair. I think it’s sad for women in general, people in general, that that was so blown up. Q: Whom do you want to work with whom you haven’t yet? A: I want to work with really great actors, really in-depth work with really great actors. There’s a lot of them out there. But also the artists-slash-directors, the directors who are selling movies, but also they are artists; they’re not just pointing the camera and shooting. Whoever that may be. Q: What’s with the Gap ads? A: The Gap ads, the Gap ad was something I did and . . . there’s a lot of them. Q: Come on. A: You know, it was a thing to do, and I thought it would be in a couple places, but it turns out it was in a lot of places. You do stuff and that’s fine; I mean, I’ll take responsibility for doing that kind of thing and having it all over the place. Q: Well, is it a bad thing? A: No, it’s not been a bad thing at all, it’s just, as somewhat of a, not a shy person, but maybe a shy person, it’s not easy to go into every city and see yourself all over. But it’ll be over soon; it’s not like this ongoing thing — it took me an hour to shoot both those pictures. Q: So you’re not doing Abercrombie next? A: No, no Abercrombie. No J. Crew. Q: What’s next? A: I don’t know. I was just thinking about that. I don’t know. Finish promoting these movies and then hopefully try to find something good to do. But it’s not easy, especially if you do want to do something good. If you want to go do anything, it’s possible, but I don’t want to. I like to work, but I like good acting much more than just feeling validated by being on the set. I don’t need to just get the pick-up and go to work and be in front of a camera. Q: So you don’t feel the desire to do like a big-action Die Hard kind of movie. A: Not right now, no. But if a script arrived tomorrow and I thought it was cool, with good actors and a good director, I’d be like, well, this might be fun to go do. I don’t know. I mean, I really don’t have a set plan, and I think that’s one of my strong points. Q: What do you think you’d be doing if you hadn’t become an actor? A: I don’t know. Something . . . something good. I don’t know. I might get lost for a little while. Maybe a teacher. Even when I say that, it doesn’t sound right. It’s a hard thing, because there’s really not anything I can feel right for; this feels right to me. It feels like what I should be doing. My Life Without Me opens on Friday at area theaters. Tamara Wieder can be reached at twieder[a]phx.com
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