Popstar! Magazine
February 2001
Josh Hartnett
How do you love him? Let us count the ways...
(WAIT--THAT'S NOT FROM OTHELLO!)
Josh Hartnett 'fesses up on his educational
regrets, his feelings about fame and his classy
new flick based on Othello
Interview by special correspondent Sean Daly
He was the brooding lead from last year's ultra-romantic Here On Earth, a spooked teen in The Faculty and is one of his generation's hottest actors. Josh Hartnett has been called a "rising star" since his role on the short-lived but critically acclaimed TV show Cracker, and we managed to get him to stop on his way up to spill for ya in this fascinating Q&A!
Popstar!: Are you looking for more movies to do like O instead of standard teen movies?
Josh: Yeah, I'm sure you guys have heard of this, but I'm gonna do Pearl Habor which is a much different realm. O was kind of a younger version, too. I play lago, but on a teenage level and it's a new adaptation so I wouldn't even call it Othello--but it's a good movie.
What do you think of the renewed interest in Shakespeare by the younger generation?
I think it's great. I think what people don't realize is that Shakespeare took his plays from the other stories. From stories that had been around. Othello was from, I think, a story called "The Moor." It was a story written about someone else way back when. And he reshaped them.
There is a constant reshaping of art around us as we speak.
What did you study in school?
Theater. When I was 16, I was in my first play
and I did 12 to 15 plays right after that just like
bam, bam, bam, bam. Moved out to New York, went to school. They weren't long-running plays; they were two-week runs in the Minnesota local theater. Then I went out to New York and did that thing and came out to Los Angeles.
Would you like to further your education?
I think I'm continuing my education right now. I
read a lot. And I talk to my friends and I talk to
people who are older than me. I'm learning a lot
about something that not many people get to learn about.
But I would like to go back to school for history and literature and writing...I want to go to an actual college.
What kind of student were you?
I was definitely not a good student. I don't particulary like all the busywork, so I just didn't do it. I didn't "give in," is the way I thought about it.
Looking back, do you regret that decision?
Yeah, in a way. 'Cause I probably can't get into Harvard, and I don't like to not be able to do something. I say if you don't want anybody to ever tell you no in your life, you should just get good grades in high school.
What do you love about being an actor?
I just kind of fell into it...like many things in my life. I didn't know why I wanted to do it then--it just kind of happened and I liked it. From that experience I found out why I liked it, and it was because I love searching people, creating a full human being. For some reason that makes sense to me.
You see so many paper-thin characters and you think, "They could have done so much more with that," and that kind of irks me. And I get to do something about that, hopefully.
Are you in Los Angeles?
I despise LA--it's not my place. It's not anywhere near the same atmosphere as Minnesota. You can't walk down the street and see anybody that you know. You're in your little bubble in your car, and you're like two ships passing in the night.
Last night I was out at The Sky Bar and it reaffirmed my dislike for the LA scene. It's like "the bar" on the Sunset Boulevard--twelve-dollar valet parking! That's how cool it is. I met a girl from Chicago who said she hadn't met any famous people and she had been in LA for a week. I guess I was it...I felt really bad for her.
I moved to Hollywood for two years and I just didn't enjoy it to tell you the truth. It's just not anything that I understand.
Are you planning on staying in Minnesota and raising a family?
Not yet. [Laughs]
How do you handle being recognized?
I don't particularly like fame, to tell you the truth.
Being able to live your life in any way you feel fit is something that very few people understand unless they lose it. And you can't lose that.
Like on the internet I believe it says I'm an alcoholic. It's ridiculous. I'm 21. You don't want your grandmother reading that. Thank god my grandmother doesn't have a computer!
When you go back home, do you hang out with your buddies from the streets?
From 'the streets?" [Laughs] Yeah, I'm the kid from South Central Minnesota!
thanks to Vicky for that article!
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