I feel like I'm just starting though. It's weird, because I like feeling like I'm just beginning. I hope I feel that when I'm 75 or 80.
I hope I'm not sitting on a bench in a retirement home talking about what was: "Oh, I worked with this guy and that guy." I hope I'm still doing it for a really long time.
Obviously [Can't Hardly Wait] wasn't in American Pie, which was a movie about some teenage boys.
[10 Things I Hate About You] is a smart and grounded film about a real, well-rounded girl. I think the only other teen film that came close to getting that right was Can't Hardly Wait.
[Lauren Ambrose's] character [in Can't Hardly Wait] feels real and unexaggerated and becomes sort of a heroine archetype. I think that was cool. It wasn't in every one of those comedies.
I don't know when we made [10 Things I Hate About You] that we ever thought it would last in popularity as long as it has, but I think that speaks to the strength of the bond of the cast when we were making it. I think you can tell that we adored each other and that we were real friends. To this day, Joe Gordon-Levitt is a good friend, and obviously Heath [Ledger] was a great guy.
Anytime I see any of those people [from 10 Things I Hate About You], it's always lovely.
[10 Things I Hate About You] keeps popping up, and it's become a go-to film specifically for adolescent girls who are trying to find their voice, which is a really important thing, and the characters in the film, the two sisters played by Julia Stiles and Larisa Oleynik, they became archetypes for young teenage girls to look up to and emulate.
I remember at the time, there were all these teen movies being made. It was this resurgence of John Hughes-esque teen comedies. I was sent a lot of them to audition for, and a lot of them at the time didn't really impress me. I remember I was sent one called East Grand Rapids High, which ended up becoming American Pie, and I didn't like it. Although I think I did audition for it.
I was sent this thing called 10 Things I Hate About You, which I thought was really sweet and female-centric and kind of cute and smart, with a really smart script. So I auditioned for it and got it, and I'm really glad I did, because the movie has a life of its own.
[10 Things I Hate About You] was the most fun I ever had making a movie. Everyone got along really, really well from day one. It was like summer camp.
After the writers' strike, I came back with my tail between my legs and apologized to everyone. I had been telling them I was going to leave, and I said, "I'm never going to leave," and that I'd stay with them as long as I can. And I really enjoyed the last two and a half seasons of Numbers more than before.
It was a frying-pan-to-the-face moment for me where I had to get humble and really cherish it. I was really sad when [Numbers] was over. I'll just say that. Really sad.
What happened was that none of that [Emmy nomination] really happened. Numbers flew under the radar, and so around the fourth season, I got really jaded and I wanted to quit.
Halfway through Numbers, I got really jaded, and I had these unrealistic expectations about what Numbers could be. I thought it should be Emmy-nominated. I was in my mid-20s, so I was kind of shortsighted and silly.
I think ever since Numbers ended, I've been trying to find a way to get back in a situation like that. It was lovely to drive in traffic with other people going to their jobs every day.
[Numbers] made me feel like a real person instead of a guy who shows up for two days on a movie, does some funny stuff, and then doesn't see anybody until the premiere.
First of all, it was wonderful to have a home. Consistent work when you're a journeyman actor, when you're a character actor, is really hard to come by. When you can get it, you have to cherish every moment of it - cherish the crew, cherish the cast, cherish the stage, cherish everything. Because when it's over, it's really hard to get back.
The Josh Brolin character in that movie [Hail, Caesar!], he's given a choice to leave, to do something where he wouldn't have to work as hard. And he'd rather work and deal with the madness of what he's doing because it thrills him, because it gives him meaning.
Ultimately, I think the movie's about working as a means of finding meaning in your life. It's about the lesson, the great lesson, of just working, working and being productive.
Someone is spending their life and their passion and their ingenuity on something that's seemingly potentially trite. But it's what they're doing, and it's what's important to them and what's beautiful to them.
I came away from that set [ Hail, Caesar !] super inspired, and like I said, it ruined all future endeavors. I'll never have as good an experience as that.
There's this cornucopia of potential, and it can't be realized until someone works their ass off for it. Even on a Nickelodeon sitcom.
It looks glamorous and wonderful, but it's a job like any other. And I think that's their humility coming through, Joel [Coen] and Ethan's [Coen] humility. I think they really believe they are tradesmen, craftsmen, and they're just pursuing their trade, their craft, and doing the best they can with it.
The rest - all the hoopla, the acclaim - doesn't really matter a lot to Joel and Ethan [Coen]. They just want to get the chance to continue to work. And that blew my mind. To be at that level and to have that humility, it was eye-opening and inspiring.
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