[INTERVIEW] Josh Hartnett at PIFF

Undoubtedly, the hottest stars of the 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) were the three heartthrobs of "I Come with the Rain" -- namely South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun, Japanese actor Takuya Kimura and American actor Josh Hartnett. Of them, we met with the youngest, Hartnett, who simply turned out to be a 31-year-old man with deep eyes, rather than an actor who forcefully tries to shake off his teen image or has been involved in a never-before-heard-of love scandal.

He has become an actor who is sought by worldwide directors such as Brian de Palma, Michael Bay and Anh Hung Tran, but continues to enjoy taking on new challenges. Such a disposition led him to take on "Rain" which caused much controversy immediately after its release. His attentive analysis into his new film will reveal to you a new side to this actor whom we had only thought of as a Hollywood superstar.

10: This is your third day in Busan and your first trip to Korea. What have you been doing?
Hartnett: My younger brother lived in Seoul for about eight months because he was a Korean major. And I'd heard all about Korea from Byung-hun and I had a certain expectation but I didn't realize how many people were gonna show up for the film and for Kimura and Byung-hun and I guess myself. It's all been very flattering and very exciting for the film. I was very impressed by the amount of people at the opening night festival as well. This is a huge festival -- I think the largest in Asia and its surprising to me that more people in Hollywood don't come over for it.

10: You had a party last night and did a lot of love shots with Byung-hun. Are you ok, are you not hungover?
Hartnett: We had a big party for the movie last night and Byung-hun has been an excellent host. He wanted to show me a good time here at the festival so he and Kimura and I ended up having a few drinks late last night just talking because we haven't had a chance to talk since we made the film. We had a chance to talk one time in Japan but it's very rare for us to get together so it fun to just sit and reminisce and see how he's doing. We were talking about our lives and what we've been up to. Kimura has two children so I was asking about his kids. Kimura surfs so we talked about surfing. Byung-hun has been working in Hollywood with some people I know so we talked about that.

10: Byung-hun said in an interview that he was surprised to see how different the finished film was from the scenario. What difference do you see?
Hartnett: There were lots of differences. People say a film is created three times -- once when it's written, once when it's filmed and once when it's edited. And this film was very much the case. We had a script we started with, it was rewritten quite a bit before we started filming, and then when we started filming there was a lot of improvisation and then the script got changed again. The differences are too many to even name but the thing that stuck with me is that the themes are still there -- Christianity in asia, fragility of the flesh and mind, the thin line between sanity and insanity. It's a very dark film but it's Hung's vision so we all went with his choices. But the exploration and the chance to improvise like this was a good experience.

10: You've done many genres of movies and this is the third time you're taking on a private detective character you're playing following "Hollywood Homicide" and "The Black Dahlia". How is your role this time different from the previous private detectives you've played and why do you think you get to play those roles?
Hartnett: In my 20s I was really trying to work with the great filmmakers just to be a part of their vision, more so than choosing the films because of my own taste in the subject matter. For some reason, these filmmakers wanted to work with me on films that they cast me as the detective. They've all been rewarding in different ways and they're approach to making films have been different. "Homicide" is a comedy but for that I drove around with Los Angeles police detectives quite a bit just to see what their job was. This film is much more about the thin line between sanity and insanity, the power of the mind to empathize with another person and to become like them. The character I'm playing this time is very much unlike the other two characters I've played. He's obviously traumatized and this film dealt with the aftermath of him being a detective.

10: This movie is a global project. How is it different from the hollywood projects that you've been in, in terms of shooting because most of the staff were Asian. What is your perspective on Asian films?
Hartnett: As more Asian films come to America, I'm becoming more of a fan. On set, we had a French first-assistant director, a French-Vietnamese director, a Spanish director of photography. Also, lot of people from England, a couple of Americans. Obviously the cast was multinational. But sometimes that helped because we had to think about what to say before we said it and we were forced to simplify.

10: Was there any moment or experience you remember that you felt odd because you were an American in Asia during the shooting?
Hartnett: People made me feel incredibly welcome. Off the set, of course there were moments. I had lots of new experiences while filming in Hong Kong and the Philippines especially. We had to stay in a place in the mountains so that was unique. The crew was also fantastic and thought I never felt out of place in any way. And at that time, especially, Mr. George Bush was still president and everybody hated Americans.

10: Can you elaborate on your remark -- about the thin line between sanity and insanity?
Hartnett: My character is on the verge of a breakdown pretty much throughout the entire film and he only needs one little thing to push him to the edge. He's trying to hold it together because he's lost it before. To look at it from each character's perspective, I think they're all riding a fine line. Like Nu Yen-khe's character is a heroin addict. It's a very thought-provoking piece of material. I'm not sure that I understand it completely yet. I think Hung is the only person who could speak on it fully. The edit is different from what we shot, and the structure too but the themes are still intact so obviously he had a very specific idea of what he wanted to say. But he doesn't want to tell me what that is and he will never tell anyone what it was. I think he wants an interpretation from the audience.

Q: You appeared in several romantic or comedy movies such as "40 Days and 40 Nights" or "Blow Dry" in the beginning or your career recently, the themes are more dark and serious like in "Dahlia" and "Sin City". Are you willing to move onto other types of characters in other genres?
Hartnett: Absolutely. After this film, I couldn't get a darker film. So I'd love to do comedies again, more love stories. It's just a matter of the right films at the right moment. Sometimes, great script will go by the wayside because the director won't be attached to it. But through my 20s I was pushing the boundaries of what I couldn't do. And I think one of my character traits is that when someone tells me that I have to go left, it's impossible for me not to go right... I'm kind of a contrarian I suppose. So when I first started this business, people saw me as a certain thing but I wanted to try all sorts of things so I think it's because of that.

10: In an interview after filming "Homicide", you said your life and role were in the same circumstances -- that you don't know where you're going but will when you enter your 30s. So now that you are in your 30s, do you know where you're headed?
Hartnett: Oh, it was a completely naive statement. I don't think anybody ever knows where they're going. One day I think I have it all figured out but the next day I'll think its all stupid. But as I mature, I think my tastes have solidified a bit. What I like, I think I'm more secure of liking. I believe in it more. That's just part of the whole thing -- getting older and having more experience. But I'm still very much an explorer and the experimenter.

Reporter : Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr
Photographer : Chae ki-won ten@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr