INTERVIEW: Mark Ruffalo
By John Esther, Film Editor on December 13, 2008
With two Satellite Awards for best actor, plus a film coming out this Friday, this could and should have been a good week for 41-year-old Mark Ruffalo, whose acting career was threatened six years ago when he underwent surgery for a brain tumor that was found to be benign.
Instead this week will go down as one of the worst in the life of the actor in front of You Can Count on Me, In the Cut, Zodiac and this year’s underappreciated Blindness, when his younger brother, Scott Ruffalo, died Monday night after living on life support for a week since he was found shot in the head outside of his Beverly Hills condominium, Dec. 1. Scott was 39.
One of the two Satellite awards was for Mark’s performance as Stephen, a conman, in Brothers Bloom. The other was for his performance in the upcoming and ill fated-titled film, What Doesn’t Kill You.
Based on the life and screenplay of Mark’s buddy — the film’s writer-director and actor, Brian Goodman — Mark plays Brian, a drug addicted hoodlum, husband and father who almost went over the edge living and working with his partner in crime, Paulie (Ethan Hawke), on the streets of working class Boston.
As more and more details come out Scott’s death – the narrative has moved from random robbery to a drug-induced Russian roulette mistake – What Doesn’t Kill You, Mark’s performance in the film, and what he said below in a pre-Thanksgiving interview takes on an extra layer of meaning.
Why did you want to make this film?
Mark Ruffalo: The true story aspect of it makes it completely different. In my memory I can’t remember a lot of films that are quite like this, that deal with drug addiction and crime and just rising out of it in a really, kind-of-honest way. It gets glorified or it gets so sappy with 12-step stuff it becomes like a preachy kind of thing. I knew if I could play Brian that would be a pretty great and interesting role.
Amanda Peet, who plays your wife in the film, said she didn’t want to think too much about the relationship and how they got together. Did you take that same approach in keeping in the moment or did you want to think about what brought them together in the first place?
MR: I would probably tend to want to know, get a deeper cut on it. But in those seven years Brian and I became very good friends. I was going to do the movie in the beginning, but we couldn’t get it made with me. We remained friends and so during that time I just got to know his stories intimately so I knew about that young couple who starts off. A lot of it is hormones. A lot of it is sexual attraction. Her caring for him, setting up his bed (in her family’s basement) and all those things; but then they’re throwing themselves together because their family’s lives are so bad and it becomes messy. Ten years later they’re two totally different people. They’re not those kids who fell in love at first love.
How did you approach the accent? 
MR: I kept saying to Brian, “I need a Boston accent and accent coach.” He said, “Nah, no you don’t need that shit. If you hear a Boston accent in a movie it’s too much.” He just hated it. But what I did was tape about a 30-second clip of him speaking and then memorized that. Then he would come up and say, “Dude, that word’s not like that at all.” [Laughs].
As an actor how important is the technical stuff?
MR: As you can see, I like to hide. For me it’s just a way to hide behind a character more. And it’s fun.
What kind of research did you do for the junkie and addiction?
MR: I went out and got like an eight ball [Laughs]. I’ll never forget when I showed up and some guy said, “Hey, Mark, let’s go hit a couple of crack houses. I know a couple.” I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s do that.” And he was like, “Seriously.” As far as addiction, I have a saying: “Either you are one or you love one.” I’m not. I don’t have that gene, but I have a lot of people in my life that do, unfortunately. I know people that I’m very close to who are in the clutches of that. Part of why this movie meant so much to me was to be able to tell that story in a way that were some like rising above it.
What do you think you have in common with the character of Brian?
MR: Probably my love for my kids. Not his relationship to his wife or his mom or his family. His love for his boys is what really pulled him through in the end. When his son, Markie (Nathaniel Smyth), says to him, “Just stay sober,” that’s what made Brian stop doing what he was doing. As a father you become acutely aware of your shortcomings. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re not around for them. Also, I come from a blue collar family, Kenosha, Wisconsin. My family were immigrants. Not as deep as Brian, but I know that world very well – just the Italian version of it. It’s a world where you’re either like a plumber or you’re a tradesman or you’re like a criminal and all of them are equally respected. Being a smalltime criminal is like a trade, and there’s a certain code of ethics that go around that thing. That’s probably as close as I got to him. Fortunately I am not an addict. I didn’t get into a life of crime. Brian always said, “I can see your pain. That’s why I know you can play the part” after I repeatedly said, “Dude, I can’t play this part. You got the wrong guy. I don’t think I can pull it off.”
Do you bring your work home with you? Can you turn it off at the end of the day?
MR: I’m getting better at just letting it go. My wife thinks I’ve changed. “The way you walk, the way you talk – your rhythms.” I don’t think I have. When you go into that world it sticks with you a little.
Did you bring Detective David Toschi from Zodiac? You were so immersed in that character.
MR: A little bit. I don’t feel it, but my wife says I do. Your focus becomes that world so you start to think about it. You’re thinking about it. You’re in it all the time. It’s probably no different than some guy building some mid-century modern place. If you’re working a piece of literature or reportage you sort of carry around with you.
Why do you think Zodiac did not take off?
MR: It’s fucking with the genre. It’s a serial killer movie where you don’t catch the serial killer. A lot of people don’t know what to make of that. They only get frustrated by that [Laughs]. “That movie’s frustrating. They don’t even catch the guy. I can’t recommend that.” It’s also the time. We’re in the middle of a seven-year war. It’s a time when people just don’t want to be faced with that kind of stuff. There are a lot of cultural things in that movie, too, that says a lot about our culture…Raging Bull was a flop, but that movie endures. Maybe when I’m older I’ll just do a bunch of comedies that rip on characters I did. It will be the Dave Toschi Comedy and I’ll make a bunch of money and I’ll open up a hotel. [Laughs].
So what role are you bringing home to your wife next?
MR: I’m directing a movie now so she gets to see all my crazy neurosis. The film’s called Sympathy for Delicious. It’s really a quirky social satire about a guy in a wheelchair who gets the gift to heal, but he can’t heal himself. So he starts Heal-lapallozza. It’s a big “fuck you” to God and religion and all this stuff, but then it comes around to an interesting, nice ending. I’m going to be in it, too. I play a Jesuit Priest who’s a homeless activist.
Since Thanksgiving is approaching, what are you thankful for?
MR: A lot. My family, my god, my career, just the fortune I’ve had.
What kind of brain tumor did he have?