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Volume CXXXIII, Number 11 |
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Alumni actor hits Hollywood
LESLIE BRIDGERS
STAFF WRITER
Paul Adelstein of the Class of 1991 is a respected theater, film, and television actor who splits his time between L.A. and his native Chicago. An English major and Music minor at Bowdoin, he cites Marilyn Reizbaum, Jim McCalla, and Celeste Goodridge as his favorite professors.
Adelstein played law associate Wrigley to George Clooney's Miles Massey in the Coen brothers' latest film Intolerable Cruelty, released in October. He is currently working on Michael Mann's Collateral, starring Tom Cruise. Between grueling hours on the set, the funny and friendly alum generously agreed to be interviewed for the Orient.
O: Alright, the people want to know: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, the Coen brothers-what are they like?
PA: Joel and Ethan [Coen] were really fun and funny and down to earth-ratty t-shirts and jeans everyday, and, on a movie set, the tone really trickles down from the top. They are relaxed and having fun, and therefore everyone else is.
As for Clooney, most people in his position can be 500 lb. gorillas, but George is really there to act and have fun. He is very bright, and has a great appreciation for his life and career. He is really a guy's guy, kind of a jock, and really funny. He was open to make a fool out of himself, which is also rare with big stars.
Catherine was a surprise as there was no sense of being around royalty, which in a weird Hollywood way, she is. She's kind of bawdy in a way. People (George) gave her a lot of shit about her persona, which she took really well.
If you want shorter answers, really, just say so. I'm gabby.
O: Gab all you want; it's more material to slice, dice, and make you sound bad.
PA: Awesome. Make me sound like I'm on drugs and hanging out with Hollywood hookers.
O: You're not?
PA: Wait, what? I was just snorting a line off of Paris Hilton's ass.
O: There's a good interview question-what'd you think of the video?
PA: I haven't seen it. I hear it looks like it was shot in night vision, like the tanks rolling into Iraq. I prefer Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee. The ridiculous factor (on a number of levels) is off the charts.
O: Your character, Wrigley, was kind of ridiculous, but in a good way.
PA: As an actor you try to imbue everything you do with honesty, even if it's over the top. Being sincere earns you the right to be ridiculous. Otherwise, it will fall flat, or be two-dimensional.
O: How do you feel about what you're working on now?
PA: They say [Michael Mann] is one of the most demanding directors working today, which I'm now seeing up close, but that's one of the reasons his films are so good. He cares so much about every detail and everything being "real" that it's really rewarding and educational.
O: Let's go back. How did you get into the business?
PA: Between sophomore and junior year at Bowdoin, I volunteered at a theater company in Chicago called New Crime that John Cusack had started. They cast a play with 10 of the 25 people workshopping, and I made the cut. So I spent my junior year in Chicago living at my parents' and doing theater.
I came back to Bowdoin for senior year to get my degree and then went back to Chicago and was very fortunate to already belong to a really good theater company. Eventually, that led me to working at Steppenwolf Theatre. While doing work there, I started going to L.A. for short amounts of time to look for T.V. and film work. As I found more work, I started spending more and more time in L.A. I would go back to Chicago for a few months at a time, which was really beneficial because L.A. can be a toxic place in a lot of ways.
O: Did you participate in theater at Bowdoin?
PA: I only did one play in the big theater, but I acted in quite a few and directed one in the black box. I took [Bowdoin] pretty seriously academically, and I feel like I got a lot out of that. I love Maine and wish I took advantage of being in Maine a little more, but that's hard to do when you chain yourself to a desk. I had my share of fun, too, and made some close friends. I didn't have a good experience with [the fraternities], but nothing that 25 years of therapy won't fix. God, I sound weird. Don't print that shit. That either. Or that. Ok, f*** it, I got my degree.
O: Would you consider coming back to give a talk about your work?
PA: Oh yeah, I'd love that. I try to get to Maine every year, and, of course, I stare at Mass. Hall and cry. I guess I'm just waiting for the invite.
O: Well, I've run out of questions, unless you have any good drunk stories. Did you ever play two-cup beer pong?
PA: Are you kidding? I rule at that. Seriously. I made Cruise puke last night on the set. Him and Penelope.
O: Did you ever jump in the bushes outside of Baxter and get a nasty scar on your back?
PA: Did you ever play tackle football on a homemade ice rink without skates at 3 a.m. and separate your shoulder and keep playing and not be able to raise your arm above your head for six months and then keep re-injuring it on the set of a Michael Mann movie? Did you ever sneak two cases of beer into the newly constructed science building as a senior and drink it all with your friends until 2 a.m. and then go and knock on all the doors of the first years to wake them up and say, "I used to live here!!"? Did you ever rip the stop sign out of the ground across from the hockey rink and drag it to Harpswell Apartments, put it in your friend's bed, and then call the dean to tell him it was there? God, college was boring. Now, I have to go play cops with Mark Ruffalo. Go Polar Bears or whatever the f***.
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