It’s been quite a year for Australian actor Eric Bana. After two show-stopping performances this summer (the first as Star Trek’s Romulan villain, Nero, the second opposite Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen in the dark stand-up comedy comedy Funny People), the Melbourne-native is playing the leading man (opposite Canadian beauty Rachel McAdams) in the sensational big-screen love story The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Read his chat with Earl Dittman after the jump.
In The Time Traveler’s Wife, Bana portrays Henry, a man genetically predisposed to unexpectedly pop backwards and forwards in time (it may sound hinky, but a few minutes into this science fiction-fueled romance, you’ll completely believe his disorder really exists — fans of Billy Pilgrim will be ahead of the curve), who happens to fall head over heals in love with Clare (Rachel McAdams), a stunning young woman who he meets during one of his many jaunts through time. But while Henry has the ability to jump through time, he’s not immortal. A film for the romantic in us all, The Time Traveler’s Wife is also a heartbreaking love story. I don’t care how macho you think you are — this is one film that will have even the toughest He-Man shedding a few tears.
In an exclusive interview, Bana explains what it was like to do a film in which he spent a lot of screen time in his birthday suit, why he would use his own time-traveling abilities to see the Beatles or U2 in their early days, when he does and doesn’t use his Australian accent, what he calls his cars, and whether or not he plans to continue on as Nero in the Star Trek film franchise.
In The Time Traveler’s Wife you don’t use your native Australian accent, but we hear it in (the recently-released) Funny People. What’s the difference between acting with an American accent and your natural-born accent? “I guess I’ve been doing it long enough now that it’s not really something I think about too much anymore. In Funny People, my character Clarke ended up Australian simply because there was really no reason for him to be American. I read the script and he doesn’t come in, as you know, until an hour-and-a-half into the film, and it’s just like I would be ashamed to do this guy any other way; there’s no real reason for him not to be Australian.”
Did you just say that to [Funny People director] Judd Apatow?
“Yeah, that’s what I did. I said, ‘Look, he’s fantastically crazy but I think I can make him a tiny bit crazier.’ So it was for all the right reasons that I wanted to make him Australian.”
What about Henry in The Time Traveler’s Wife? Did you talk the accent over with (director) Robert Schwentke?
“With this guy, Henry, I had no negotiation. He was American. I didn’t put up a fight for that.”
Since you are constantly disappearing in time and ending up naked on the other end, did this movie have more wardrobe changes than anything else you’d ever done?
“That’s interesting, I didn’t actually notice it. I noticed Rachel’s (McAdams) wardrobe more than mine.”
So, how did it feel being in your birthday suit for most of the film?
“And I was trying to avoid the question. [Laughs] Here’s what happened, the film’s rated PG-13, I never thought you would see any of me in the film. So when I signed on I seriously thought I would never have to drop my drawers, and I did, and that’s fine.”
You made you peace with it?
“I’ve made peace with it. I made sure not to turn around. I made sure to do it as little as possible.”
Do you have it written into your film contracts that you won’t expose a certain side of your butt cheek in the film or anything like that?
“I like the left cheek better than the right cheek. [Laughs] I’ve never read my contract that closely, to be honest.”
Since you had your clothes off a lot of the time, did you do a lot of working out for the movie?
“I can honestly say, I did nothing for this film. You will notice, there are no abs present., whatsoever. I don’t do abs. I believe abs are for people with no friends, and without a life.”
Were you worried about exposing too much?
“I just tried to do exactly what I was told. So I could get it done as quickly as possible! And get on with the rest of the day. And I made sure I didn’t turn around! I also made sure someone had my clothing very close by.”
You have such a great sense of humor, and people don’t know that about you.
“That’s okay. They don’t have to know everything.”
Does The Time Traveler’s Wife examine the nature of true romance? What did you like about it?
“I love the fact that you have a mixture of the thing that usually sends people crazy, which is unrequited love, mixed in with a couple that is actually together and had real and present love. I hadn’t ever seen a story with those two elements combined. And I have no idea exactly why so many people go so crazy over the book in different ways and connect with it so deeply, and it’s different for every person, but I know for me one of the things was that. It’s almost like a mixture of two themes, where you do have a present couple who are living and loving and then on the other side you have two people who can’t be together. I was really intrigued by that.”
What does the time traveling element add to the mix for you? It takes a love story and makes it a fantasy story in a sense.
“It’s also about synchronicity, too. For anyone who’s in a relationship, if you imagine you’re with your partner today, if your partner met another version of you today that was like the ten years previous model that’s not quite as good and not quite as well sorted, would you even be together? I love those moments between Henry and Clare (McAdams) where the tables are turned and Clare has the upper hand because she knows so much about older Henry and here’s a young Henry. There’s a lot of really interesting things there about how much we evolve as people.”
Do you think The Time Traveler’s Wife reflects part of your own marriage since you’re an actor who is always traveling?
“Well, I can relate to the travel and being together and apart theme clearly. I think every actor can and I think the same for journalists. Anyone who travels a lot for work, you can relate to it. One of the weird things about the film is that it’s the first film I’ve done where being an actor is the perfect preparation for the part, you know what I mean? Because there’s so much that we can relate to.”
Since most of the movie was filmed in Toronto, did Rachel, a native Canadian, show you and your family around her old stomping grounds?
“She gave us a little list for me and the family to check out a few things. We did see the tower in end. We went to Niagara Falls, Canada’s Wonderland. We crossed a few things off the list.”
Did you and Rachel have a lot of conversations about time travel? Did you ever think about the idea or work anything out about it?
“I don’t remember any time traveling conversations.”
If you could travel back in time, what period of you life would you like to visit?
“I have no interest on going back in parts of my life, I’d rather go before I was born, ’50s, ’60s. Maybe go and see some bands just before they’re about to break.”
Any bands in particular?
“Oh, I mean any great band, even bands I’m not into, but just to see a Beatles or a U2 concert in their hometown before anyone’s discovered them - those moments.”
Would you like to ever get a visit from your former self, and give it a little pep talk or something, like in this movie?
“Yeah, I think my twenty-year-old self could do with a visit from myself now. But I don’t know that I’d want to hear from a future version of me. I like the unknown! And I like mystery, and stuff. So I don’t think I’d want to know too much, actually.”
Is there any other time travel material in your past?
“I used to love The Twilight Zone. It was awesome, especially, the old original black and white. I loved that show when I was a kid.”
Do you name your cars?
“My old Falcon is called Beast. And I do have an old Caddie, which I called Sophia, before my daughter Sophia was born. And my wife tends to disagree. But I do occasionally name them. The ones that I intend keeping, I give names. But some are private. But my day-to-day truck has no name, because it’s just a day-to-day truck. But yeah, I do give them nicknames. But they’ve got to evolve, too. Like one of my cars I call The Widowmaker. Because it’s so scary to drive! And I’ve got The Beast, because it’s like an animal. So I don’t always give them human names.”
Where does your role in the Star Trek blockbuster film fit into your life?
“No idea. Where did it all fit in? That was an unbelievable experience and it’s such a great group of actors on that movie. I didn’t get to work with all of them individually, I got to know them on this massive junket that we were on which was a lot of fun. There’s nothing about that film that wasn’t an amazing amount of fun and a great experience.”
Would you do another Star Trek if they found a way to sneak your character back in?
“It’s just the one time for me.”
Is there anything cut from the finished film that’s going to be on the Star Trek DVD?
“Oh I’m sure, yeah.”
I read the Star Trek comic book and it actually explains, in far more detail, a lot about Nero.
“Yeah, there were a few scenes, it wasn’t a heap. I mean there is some detail, but nothing really that I think leaves you with any less clue of who Nero is. I mean there was a sequence in jail and him escaping from jail. Yeah, you’re kind of bummed when your fight sequences go because you worked on them and stuff, but I could totally see, I mean I understand the editor’s pain. I mean, I can see why they dropped things.”
The Time Traveler’s Wife deals a lot with destiny and fate guiding our live and our passions. Do you believe the same way?
“I do, but I think it’s dangerous to just sort of sit back and just rely on fate. But I think fate as a lot to with how connect with people. It has everything to do with how we connect with people. You can’t choose to meet a person, it just happens. Every person in your life, other than your parents, comes to you out of fate. Then you form friendships and such which is a conscious decision. But fate puts you in the room together. Fate puts you at the same work place or the same school and so it clearly has a very strong influence on personal relationships, I think.”
What do you hope people will zero in on with The Time Traveler’s Wife that is special and memorable to you?
“It’s kind of like a crescendo, this film. And the ending is kind of like the culmination of the whole thing. And it’s an organic whole, of all the things that happen along the way. So I think for me, it’s the ending that feels really special.”
You seem to be working a lot right now. Or is it a coincidence to have several films coming out around the same time?
“A bit of a coincidence. They were all pretty well spaced when I shot them. I haven’t been in that position before where they all came out at once and will probably never happen again. It’s been interesting and fun.”
Where do you see yourself in the movie business and in Hollywood?
“I see myself as someone who likes to move around and likes to do different things। I don’t have a conscious visualization of where I’m at. I’ve never tried to do that. Because I think it’s a waste of energy, because the reality is that it changes every seven days. So there’s no point trying to lock in on what ever it is, it is a moving thing. It’s not a solid thing. I have no idea where I sit or where I stand. I just know that I love doing what I’m doing and I just try and focus on what ever I’m working on. And that’s all I kind of do. It’s hard to get a handle on that.”
http://www.drivenmag.com/2009/08/14/interview-eric-bana-onthe-time-travelers-wife/
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