Hip-gnosis
interview with screen star michael pitt
Text and photography by Max Michaels • "Movie" animation by
Nathanael Thorin
with invaluable assistance from Anzia
From the celluloid gem Hedwig and The Angry Inch, movement
introduces you to Michael Pitt. You may recognize him from a
momentary blip in the party drama "54", or his role in Larry Clark's
"Bully."
Though Hedwig is one of the best films I saw last year and through
his role Pitt has undoubtedly gained a certain notoriety, soon he
may be know best for his role in the upcoming thriller "Murder By
Numbers."
During a trip to New York we met up with Michael at the TIME cafe
and chatted over lunch. Afterward, we continued on to his Brooklyn
apartment for photos. The street kid roots he speaks of in our
interview are reflected in his entire lifestyle. He arrived for
lunch in layered shirts so tattered they were literally held
together by a tread, tattered jeans, and time-worn Doc Martens. His
apartment was strewn with clothes, bits of paper, books, guitars,
staple guns, art supplies and copious ash trays to accommodate his
chain smoking.
The main impression I came away with from meeting Michael is that
he's rare breed of actor. One in it for the art rather than the
game. Ignorant of the arostocracy and more into the craft of
acting. During our photo session the subject of acting was never
really brought up. He insrtead stapled Polaroid pictures to his
wall as well as a decimated VCR he discovered on his rooftop patio.
He played guitar and drums. He sang. He invited me to play drums.
Having never sat behind a set of drums before I have to say it was a
unique experience. I was looking over the drums at Michael playing
guitar and singing, me not having a clue what to do. I completely
went with it. Samples from our jam session may be available online
soon if I'm brave enough to upload them.
The following transcription of our conversation may help you better
know Michael Pitt, not only as an actor but as a talented performer
on many stages.
To begin, you left home when you were fifteen.
"Yeah kinda. Well, I had to...I think I actually made the
official move when I moved my shit when I was sixteen, but that
whole year I was kind of living in the front hall of the house. I
was having problems with my parents and with school. I wanted to be
an actor and no one really understood."
When did you first come to that realization?
"I always kind of wanted to [act]. I know that sounds cheesy,
but I did a play when I was ten and I wanted to act from then on."
So that play was basically the point then.
"Yeah, I mean it was just some bullshit play at a camp. And I
wanted to be an actor. And I knew I couldn't do it in New Jersey. I
was at such a low point in my life. It was kind of lucky in a way
because I had nothing to lose. I didn't feel like I could go any
lower than I where I was at so I said 'Fuck it, might as well try
it.' And so I went to New York, I rented a room from my acting
teacher who knew, sort of, about what was going on in my life and he
wanted to help me out.
He let me rent out a room for three hundred bucks...I got a job
messengering, which I had to go to the lowest level messenger.
Because I was sixteen. Everyone thought I was trying to buy
Nintendo; I was trying to make rent! You know? Get food. So I
had to go to the lowest of the low, which I wasn't even sure how
legit it was. Because I'd get a package every now and then that
would be 'To the corner of 3rd and 9th, uh, to John." You know what
I mean? :: laughter::
I did that for a little bit and that was probably the hardest job I
had in my life. I had my manager, and I was auditioning for stuff a
little on the side. It was mostly just for commercials, shit that I
couldn't book. You know, stuff that's to me not really about acting.
It wasn't really what I was into."
You didn't really want to do the filler stuff?
"Right. I mean I would take whatever I could get, I mean money
is money at the time. But I could never get really excited about it,
so I didn't do a really good job. Then the apartment thing fell
through, and I was on the street for a while. Like um, just kind of
panhandling and stuff, ya know?
Was this in the city?
"Yeah. And I met up with this casting agent who does New York
casting for extras. And I met her doing extra work, I did the job
and then... I had asked her secretary for change on Bleeker Street.
And she recognized me and she asked me like, 'What the hell are you
doing out here?'
I was sleeping behind the NYU recreational building, ya know?
With a bunch of other kids who had no place to go. She really helped
me. She was a good friend of mine from the lower eastside and she
just started getting me extra work so I didn't have to hold a job.
And she helped me get a bank account which was kind of impossible
because I didn't have any I.D. or anything like that. So I just
started putting money in the bank, and I met up with these friends
of mine, and we're still all like great friends. Eight of us lived
in this apartment in Chinatown for I guess like a $1000 a month."
Ha, yeah, I miss those days...
"Yeah, but it was...rough. ::laugh:: I mean those of us who had
mattresses, you had to pack them up in a stack because the whole
floor was covered...I sort of just did that for two years. Just
trying to audition, and I got little jobs here and there, but
nothing really incredible. Then I got this play, that sort of just
set me up. I did this play on Broadway. It was called The Trestle at
Pope Lick Creek. It was written by Naomi Wallace, directed by Lisa
Peterson, who is a great friend of mine, a great writer. I did that.
I couldn't get an agent before that. But I remember the first time,
when the play went up, I did it for like six or seven weeks, I would
come out the stage exit and there would be these guys in suits and
when I would walk out they would be like 'Michael Pitt?' And I
thought that I was getting busted, because at the time there were
warrants out for my arrest, you know? I had like little warrants for
bullshit like not having a place to sleep and always being on the
street and at the time I couldn't pay so I was dodging them. I
remember seeing...these guys in really nice suits, and I thought
they were calling out because they realized about my warrants. They
were like 'Michael Pitt!' and I was about to run, but they said,
'That was amazing, we want to represent you.' And I figured out they
were agents. I actually signed with them after that. I got Dawson's
Creek basically off of that show...
Now you have a bunch of new stuff going on.
"Yeah, thank god."
You have two new films going ... what are you doing
currently?
"Well, yeah. I just shot a movie. Which is sort of a big budget
Hollywood film "Murder By Numbers," which I like because it's a
Police song. It's based on these two kids who are...upper class, my
character is a straight-A student who is a dork in school. They
plan this perfect murder. They try to manipulate the system. It's
based on this thing that happened in the twenties, this big case
called Leopold and Loeb (
www.leopoldandloeb.com
) which were these two very smart kids who tried to pull off
the perfect murder. We just shot that in Los Angeles. Ryan Gosling
is the other kid who I play opposite to, he's a fine actor. He did
"Believer". So it's Ryan Gosling, Ben Chaplan, Sandra Bullock, and
me. Murder By Numbers.
Oh, Sandra Bullock?
"Yes, yes. Why! What are you going to say? Come on! Say it!
::Laughter:: I think that all the "Miss Congeniality" people are
going to come and see this movie and be scared. At least, that's how
I rationalize it to myself. "
Tell me about Hedwig [and the Angry Inch].
"Yeah, Hedwig was awesome. It was an off-Broadway play. I had
seen posters and stuff, but I didn't really know what I was looking
at because it was just this picture of this drag queen on this
stage. The last thing I thought was that it was a musical. They call
this a musical but it's not really a musical, you know? I've never
seen a musical like this before in my life. I'm not a fan of
musicals.. maybe you can tell that. This is like a band. When you
go to the show it's like going to a concert. There's a live band on
stage and they incorporate it with the play. It's really, really
cool.
I saw it because they wanted me to audition for it. But I knew
nothing about it. So they got me tickets to go see the play because
I want to check it out before I audition. I went to go see it with a
couple of friends. Then I asked if I could usher just so I could see
it again because it was around the last three performances. I was
blown away.
John Cameron Mitchell is the man. He is the man! He wrote the
script and they created it onstage -- for something like seven years
they were working on this. And it just got a little bigger and a
little bigger and a little bigger. And then it came around to doing
the movie.
When I first saw the play, I said to myself, 'How the hell are
they going to make this into a movie?' Because usually when they
bring a play to cinema they fuck up because they just film the play.
They don't make it into a movie. But it's not a play anymore, it's
a movie.
The one thing that I was so surprised about when I read the
script was that he really understood that they were two different
elements, they are really not to be compared. And he wrote a movie,
and I was blown away by it. And I didn't think I was going to get
it. The auditions process was really long. He was really upfront
with me about there being other people that he was interested in. I
had to audition like four or five times for him to finally make his
decision.
I didn't realize until after shooting the movie. After
everything. When I saw the movie I really realized what they let me
in on. They let me in on something really incredible. It was a
blessing. It's a movie like...you don't see. It's something that's
completely new. It's pure, it's really pure.
I'm not a real good people person. I always feel like I'm going
to offend someone. And when people come up to you it's not like they
know you. They think they know you. They have this idea of you that
has absolutely nothing to do with you and it doesn't necessarily
mean that you can contribute to that idea, do you know what I mean?
I've been staying away from 14th St., which really sucks. I can't
walk around there anymore. But I'm not getting it bad. Like when I
went to Los Angeles -- that place is whack, that place is just
whack. And it's all just actors and everybody knows you're an actor.
Here I can walk around, but there you can't."
Where the fuck did you walk [in Los Angeles], I couldn't get
anywhere.
"Well I don't have a license either. I ride the A train."
So what's it like working with Larry Clark?
"Oh he's great, he's great. I never met a director before that
puts so much trust into an actor. 'Bully' is this true story about
these five kids in Hollywood, FL. They're just these sort of
middle-income, like everyone else suburban kids, and there's this
vicious bully. Sort of the bully of all bullies. He rapes these
girls, he beats up on retarded kids, he just basically evil. They
kill him. They all basically went away for life. Well, most of them
anyway, I think one girl and the one that ratted on all of them got
out. The main kid, his best friend, who is played by Brad Renfro was
electrocuted.
It's a true story. I think that's what attracted me to it the most.
But Larry would let me just go with it ... my part was smaller and
less developed than I think a lot of the characters and he let me
create the part. Which I've never really encountered.
He just sort of has this humility that a lot of other directors
don't have. If it's a good idea he's gonna shoot it. If it's a bad
idea then fuck you. A lot of directors aren't open to it, you're
supposed to trust them. Whereas His brilliance is that he knows when
to click the camera. I think it has a lot to do with photography.
He knows what looks good; he shoots what looks good. But he's not
going to tell you how to make it look good. Which, in a lot of ways,
I think he comes up with a lot better footage. A lot of more
realistic footage.
He casts incredibly well. He makes a team of actors that are
good and he lets them play. Then he turns on the camera when it's
good."
How were the reviews?
"Well it's a bit controversial. The reviews from the critics
weren't very good, but everybody I talk to on the street has flipped
out over it."
Have you seen the movie "Pi"?
"Yeah, I like that guy [Darren Aronofsky] a lot. I'd love to
work with him. And I think he's going to just get better and better.
Some people say shit about "Pi", but he did that in school. You
know, he handed that one in for a grade. You know, he's like, 'Can
you grade this?' and the movie made like 3 million dollars. People
can say what they want, but it's good."
So you're into a lot more than acting. Music, writing,
pretty much everything? You play guitar?
"Well, I never took lessons. If you said, 'Play a C' I'd be
like, 'What?' But that's sort of the kind of music that I listen to,
I like making it that way. You lose something. You know, I see
people who are really good at the guitar, they're really good at
their instruments but they've learned from other people and it's
kind of tainted. It's not as pure anymore."
Yeah, self-taught rather than schooled.
"Right. I mean if you're good - you're good. The one thing that
I realized is that most people who don't learn it themselves, the
ones that learn it from other people, they don't have a true
understanding of it. And with music they're not going by what they
hear...they're going by how they're putting it together. They're
more worried about what people don't know anything about or give a
crap about which is just what is going to tickle their ear. But I'm
still new at it, I basically just record. I record digitally. I put
down the baseline, then the drums, then the guitar, and then I just
sing over it. I think I want to put out an album just like that.
Because it's different. I don't want to go into the studio.
Do you know John Frusciante? He's the guitarist for the Red
Hot Chili Peppers. He put out an album called "To Claire" on an
8-track. I think he's the best out there right now. He's doing the
most brilliant, creative shit. You should pick it up."
Are you doing any writing? Poetry, short stories?
"Well I'm trying to write a book right now. I usually would just
do stuff like that just for fun or write down thoughts. But right
now I'm trying to focus it into one thing, so I can present it, you
know? It's just like a story, a simple story. I want to do it
'journal' style."
Have you ever thought of a dream role or a particular
character you would like to play?
"Well not really, but I have some scripts that I'd like to write
and direct. After I did Hedwig I actually shot a quick short just
because I was so inspired. I mean, John [Cameron Mitchell] was
acting, directing himself, directing me, and shooting the movie all
at the same time. I mean he's directing me in a scene in a limo,
we're at the front seat and we're improving, and he's got a little
monitor in his lap where he can see what the scene looks like. You
know what I mean? In the movie you can see him looking down, and you
don't think anything about it. He's directing the fucking film. So I
was pretty inspired by that. I came back and shoot just like a quick
short on DV. And I'm in the process of cutting it, and my friend's
going to do the music for it."
- fin. ©2002 MOVEMENT
MAGAZINE
