JOHN CORBETT: Oh, that’s cool.

CHRIS NEUMER: I’ll actually put this to your test, which is if you think the interview is sucking, you just get up and walk away and we’ll just kill it. I’m good with that.

JOHN CORBETT: You know, with a name like Stumped…

CHRIS NEUMER: I can understand your apprehension.

JOHN CORBETT: I have a lot of down time, but I don’t have time for, uh… [pauses] ridiculous questions. Questions that I don’t need to answer. I’d rather just sit on the porch, and watch the birds peck for seeds.

CHRIS NEUMER: Well, I would be right next to you probably doing much the same thing chatting you up down there… But, I was really excited to talk to you and I’ll tell you why—I was looking at some of the stuff you’ve done. I’ve known your work on an ancillary basis throughout, and I realized that you this ability—

JOHN CORBETT: These are glasses, aren’t they? I’m blind, and that’s why I have these on. But, I can take them off so you can see.

CHRIS NEUMER: No, that’s fine, I’ll just pretend you’re Jack Nicholson…

JOHN CORBETT: I’m so blind, look through there [hands the dark-tinted glasses to Neumer]

CHRIS NEUMER: [trying glasses on] Wow.

JOHN CORBETT: Right?

CHRIS NEUMER: That is something else.

JOHN CORBETT: [Laughs]

CHRIS NEUMER: And, they’re tinted as well?

JOHN CORBETT: Well, I have a bunch… But hey, I interrupted you.

CHRIS NEUMER: It’s all-good. I was saying that you have this ability to be overpowering—to have a very strong screen presence, even when you’re in the background. I was just reading this book on Errol Flynn, I don’t know how familiar you are with him, or with Hollywood back in the day, but there was an actor named Patric Knowles, who played Will Scarlet in Robin Hood. Patric was drop-dead good-looking, good with the ladies, everything—he also looked just like Errol Flynn, except he had virtually no on-screen presence. No one would look at him. When he was doing things, you’d be looking elsewhere because he never really stood out, he just sort of faded into the background. With you, you’ll be onscreen with Kate Hudson, and even though she’s doing all the talking, I find myself looking over to you. I thought this was an absolutely phenomenal ability, and I realized that you had done it in almost all of your roles! I had read a number of things about how you hate being the romantic lead, and I thought, “God dammit, he is so good at this!” It is a genuine talent—I’m not saying this to blow smoke up your ass, I’m saying the ability to have that presence on screen, I can tell you why you’re in demand in that [type of] role.

JOHN CORBETT: Thanks, man! It’s not that… I don’t hate being a romantic lead. We all have to pay our bills, right? This is the way I pay my bills, now. If I had to go get a regular job, I don’t know if I could. I didn’t go to college, and I started making a living at this when I was twenty-five, twenty-six. I went to Junior College, I worked in a steel factory.

CHRIS NEUMER: Oh, I know your whole file. You went to community college in LA, studied under Georgia Wells—

JOHN CORBETT: Georgia Wells, that’s right. I went to one year of Junior College, so, it’s not like I could get a job where I could make more than $20,000 now. But, if I had to it would be really weird to be somewhere. I’d be that guy who used to be on Northern Exposure or whatever, or Raising Helen. I have to pay my bills, and a guy in my position—I have to pick the best of what I’m offered. I’m not offered big, meaty roles in movies that I go see and go, fuck, I wish I were in a movie like that! But, Gary Marshall—well respected for Pretty Woman, one of my favorite movies, is making a movie and it’s not necessarily a movie that I would go see. A movie like Raising Helen, it’s okay. [Most of the time], I play a nice-guy boyfriend and this and that. Here’s a role where I’m even nicer. I’m a Lutheran Minister now. How nice does it get? Is that challenging? No. Do I need to do anything besides show up not drunk in the morning? Well, no. But, it puts money in the bank and it’s how I pay my bills now. It’s either saying yes to that, or saying yes to some movie that shoots in South Africa that nobody’s ever going to see because it’s definitely straight-to-video, so I waited it out. I said okay, I’ll do this Raising Helen movie—this might be a good little movie at the end of the day… [laughs] It sounds like I’m complaining.

CHRIS NEUMER: No.

JOHN CORBETT: If I had enough money to not work, I wouldn’t be doing this. I don’t get that big of a thrill from acting. [laughs] That’s not going to come out right when people read that…

CHRIS NEUMER: Oh no, I’m already underlining that [quote] and trying to figure out how I could pull it even more out of context.

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah, it sounds snobbish and ungrateful. I’m so happy to be able to do this and not say you know what, the bills are due and nobody’s offered me a fucking movie. Fuck Gary Marshall, can I get that South Africa movie back? I need some cash.

CHRIS NEUMER: Shark Attack IV…

JOHN CORBETT: I’ll do it! If I need money, you’ll see me in Shark Attack IV! Luckily, it’s never come to that point for me. I’ve never had to go try and get back into the steel factory because I needed money… But, if I did have enough money so that I would never have to work again, whatever that magic number is… I wouldn’t be here!

CHRIS NEUMER: Let me ask you this—George Clooney has got the cash not to work, but he sometimes uses what he’s got to do something like The Good German.

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah.

CHRIS NEUMER: Is there a small, I’d hate to call it a passion project, but is there a small project like that where you’ve got all the cash you want, and don’t have to work. Are you tempted to come back and do something with a certain director?

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I tried to make a movie once. I tried to get it made. I put about three years of my life into this thing, and it exhausted me. It turned me. It made me sort of bitter, in a way.

CHRIS NEUMER: Well, I have to deal with publicists, so I know what you’re saying.

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah. So, when that fell through, and the big guy—the big director I was working with for three years, ending up stealing the project from me and tried to make it with somebody else… It was just a bad experience. I kind of decided then and there that I was just going to be a hired hand in movies, I wasn’t going to try and make movies… about subjects.

CHRIS NEUMER: It’s a really interesting position to be in. I was explaining this to Brian [Herzlinger] who I befriended when he was doing his My Date with Drew thing. We just hit it off. I was explaining, he saying, “You get to come on set, aren’t you excited,” I was like, “Eh.” He was like, “You’re not excited, think about the cast.” I was like, here’s the deal—if it comes off, great, I’ll be excited about it afterwards, but I’m assuming that everything potentially that could go wrong, is going to go wrong, and that it’s never going to come off. Not only that, but somebody’s publicist is going to be there, and insult me and my mother like they always do, and I’m just going to have to smile and take it. So, I know exactly what you’re saying about the whole jaded-thing. Really, it’s tough to keep motivated. I was going to ask about motivation later, but since we’re here now, I’ll ask: how do you keep the motivation-level up like that?

JOHN CORBETT: I’m a hired hand. But I’m lucky that I haven’t had to do Shark Attack IV yet. Everything that I’ve done, I’m really proud of. There’s not one thing I’ve done where I feel like, “God, I really did just do that for the dough.” Or, “Please don’t ever go see that [film], don’t bring that up.” I have never done that yet. Whether it were a T.V. movie, or some straight-to-video film that I did. I felt good about everything, including this thing, here. I [still] say I wouldn’t be here if I had enough money. I wouldn’t.

CHRIS NEUMER: But you feel good about it either way.

JOHN CORBETT: I feel great about it! And when I get on the set, and it’s time to do the scenes, I’ll talk to Brian and do everything I can in that time frame that we’re on the set together to tighten it up or make it better. “What if we don’t do that, and we do this instead?” “I think that will make the scene a little more solid.” So, I don’t just walk on and say, “Okay, where do you want me to stand?” Or, “When the fuck do we get out of here?” I’ll stay for thirty hours straight. I want this project to be good—selfishly—because I’m in it. I don’t want anybody to say, “Dude, why were you in that?”

CHRIS NEUMER: What you are saying makes perfect sense. I’ve been talking about this just in relationship to politics. All the people that I know are on the Democratic side of the fence, so there’s the debate between Hillary [Clinton] and [Barack] Obama. They tell me that they can’t believe Hillary is stooping to this level and that she’s making it personal.. My response is, it’s politics. It’s Washington. What do you expect? This has been going on since before we were actually a country! This is just what it is. It’s always interesting to me when an actor like yourself comes up to me and goes, “Listen, I want to project to be good, but you know what, it’s also a job.” I understand that. That makes perfect sense to me. But then there’s a housewife out in Iowa who’s like, “Oh my God, Aiden, I can’t believe Aiden just said that out loud!” [laughs] I don’t know where to go with that thought. Do you find that when interacting with the public there’s a lot of reconciliation between [thinking] it’s just a job, and the idealized art form?

JOHN CORBETT: No, no. It takes a lot of guts to come up to guy, and say hello. So, I wouldn’t even begin to get into this [debate] with a fan. It’s, “I loved you in Sex and the City, you’re Aiden aren’t you?” Yes. I am. Thank you so much. Is this your family?

JOHN CORBETT: Well, one of my jobs in life was being a doorman at nightclubs for years. I’ve owned nightclubs. I could get out of any situation, you know.

CHRIS NEUMER: Okay, now that you say that I have to ask, how?

JOHN CORBETT: How what?

CHRIS NEUMER: How you get out of these situations—Like you have the forty-five year old, slightly overweight housewife from wherever… She’s in Seattle walking down the street and she sees you, and goes, “Oh my God, you’re Aiden!” How do you get out of what?

JOHN CORBETT: I say, Yeah that’s me. But, I keep moving for one, and they say, “Hey, can I take a picture?” I say, let’s do it really fast because I got to go…

CHRIS NEUMER: And, you’re still walking…

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah, and I’ll do a quick [picture] but it’s leaning in and starting to walk… it depends. If you came up to me in a bar or restaurant, I’m like a cop—I do a quick assessment. I’ll go, well this guy is kind of shy and he’s said some really nice things, so I’ll give him the time. But if the person is like, “Oh, oh, oh, look at him,” I’m not slowing down for that. I’ll give the people the time based on how they’re acting… in the moment, you know? I’ll go sit down with a family if it’s cool, and they’re cool and we’re going to talk, but if they’re just going to be awestruck for five minutes, no I’m not interested in that, so I won’t sit down. I’ll shake all their hands, and I’ll give them the eye contact and sign whatever they want, but it’s only going to last a few moments.

CHRIS NEUMER: Okay, those are good tips.

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah, but fame’s a funny thing. I’m all over the board here, but I’ve been famous since 1990. It’s 2008. There really hasn’t been a day since Northern Exposure was on that I haven’t had to deal with talking to complete strangers, about every personal issue. They’ll ask me where I live before I even say hello. “Where do you live, what are you doing in town, who are you dating, are you still dating her… Where does you mother live?”

CHRIS NEUMER: It is interesting, isn’t it? I get that all the time. People go, “How do you just talk to people?” And… I’ve got nothing. For starters, I’m not trying to blow you—that comes later.

JOHN CORBETT: [Laughs]

CHRIS NEUMER: But I look at your craft, I see what you do. In this particular case, I respect what you can do, but sometimes you really have to stretch things thin to make it work. That’s when you talk about wardrobe and things like that. With you, you’ve got your presence, and we’re going to come back to that… But how do you get in to all that stuff? With Heather [Graham], I was looking at some of the questions that people ask her, like, “Where were you when you lost your virginity?” I’m not even asking that of my friends! I don’t know how you deal with that stuff.

JOHN CORBETT: I don’t. I don’t want to be an asshole, but come on, that’s an inappropriate question. Who needs to know that?

CHRIS NEUMER: Yeah. That was some really crappy Chicago/Hollywood something-or-another and they wrote about Jerry [O’Connell] when you guys were shooting at this fish market, and was like, “Heather Graham went back to her trailer every time after each take.” And it’s like, “Oh that bitch, how dare she!”

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah!

CHRIS NEUMER: I mean, come on! I don’t know how you guys deal with that. I envy you, on some levels, but on other levels, you can take it—that’s fine.

JOHN CORBETT: Not to pat my own back, but it’s rare to see an actor who’s not in the scene, hanging out on the set, because you get so used [to them] saying, “Let me know how long you need me.” I was down there watching those guys rehearse—if I have any kind of input, I’m going to fucking say it! If I’m in a scene, and the guy who’s job it is to sweep the fucking house up after we’ve all left says, “Oh, I’ve got a good idea, why don’t you put your fucking hat on sideways?” And I go, that’s a fucking great idea. I don’t care where the great ideas come from, I just want a great idea—give me one. So, I watch the scenes, to see if I can throw anything in there that might be funny. All they have to say is, “No, it’s okay, we’ve got that covered.” Okay.

CHRIS NEUMER: Have you had any good ideas in this one that you’ve thrown around?

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve always got a million great ideas.

CHRIS NEUMER: Okay, give me one.

JOHN CORBETT: Nope!

CHRIS NEUMER: Anything, looking backwards that you’ve weighed in on? Something that stuck, like choosing a zip-up sweatshirt as opposed to a pullover or anything like that? Josh Lucas mentioned that he really wanted a zip-up sweatshirt for this project he was doing and they wouldn’t give it to him. He’s still pissed to this day that he didn’t get it.

JOHN CORBETT: No! You can’t be married to the thing [idea]! You’ve got to put it out there, and it either hits them like a pie in the face, or it doesn’t! If it doesn’t, come up with another one! You can’t have Tourette's about it. You can’t throw every fucking idea out… you either come up with something, or you don’t. I don’t care if they do it, or not!

CHRIS NEUMER: I hear you. It may seem like I’m name dropping, and maybe there’s a little bit of that just to reassure you that’s your in good hands—most of it is because people sway things, I hate taking credit for what other people say, but I think it was Hilary Duff who said the best thing to ever happen to her was getting rejected for a role. It really taught her how to deal with rejection. She thought, “Am I ever going to be able to audition for a part,” or, “If I don’t get it, well, I gave it my best…” How do you get into that mindset? That is so bizarre. It’s like when you’re talking about throwing ideas out, and if they’re not taken, you just got to move on…

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah.

CHRIS NEUMER: Again, I don’t know how you do it.

JOHN CORBETT: I did one [a film] with Hilary a few years back, when she was just a little girl. She was about sixteen, and the thing I took away from that was how mature she was.

CHRIS NEUMER: Because she learned at age eleven how to deal with rejection!

JOHN CORBETT: Yeah, she was very mature. Look, I’m almost forty-seven, and there I was hanging out with a sixteen year old and we were on the same fucking level. Kids are funny, they grow up quick. She’s a special little girl. She’s very talented. I think she’s very talented, and she’s got a good little family. She dates some of these crazies… these tattooed singers from bands that I’m too old to fucking know but, you don’t see her in the press much. I don’t think she’s a drinker, or a drug [user]…

CHRIS NEUMER: Yet.

JOHN CORBETT: [laughs] Yeah, I worked with her for three weeks… I don’t claim to know the girl, but I thought she was pretty grounded for sixteen. Fuck, I think she’s about nineteen, now?

CHRIS NEUMER: I still marvel about the concept she was describing. Just deal with rejection by, essentially, moving passed it. I’m thirty-two and there’s not a chance in hell where I’ll be able to think, “Okay, this girl dumped me, I’m moving on.” There’s a little bit more to it than that! It’s always awkward, when you’re talking to a sixteen-year-old, who seems more mature in social situations that you… and here we are.

JOHN CORBETT: [nods] Yeah

Continue reading the interview with John Corbett

Chris Neumer