Date: September 3, 2004
Source: IESB.NET
Author: Fred Topel
Plot Summary: Action star Bo Laramie (Cole Hauser) is just getting a taste of celebrity when his first big film, Adrenaline Force has its premiere and suddenly the paparazzi follow him everywhere. But when one (Tom Sizemore) starts taking pictures of his son, Bo loses his temper. Sued for assault, now the paparazzi just come after him harder. But when they cause a car crash that puts his son into a coma, even anger management class can’t calm Bo down. One day, one of the paparazzi has a motorcycle accident in front of Bo and finds himself hanging over a cliff. When he continues to threaten Bo during his rescue attempts, Bo decides to let him go. So begins a series of revenge acts against the photographers that endangered his family.
Interview with Cole Hauser on Paparazzi.
Q: Do you believe in a starmaking vehicle?CH: It’s definitely something that happens. I’m not going to sit here and say it doesn’t happen. But Al Pacino said it best. He said, “An overnight success is 10 years in the making.” And I believe that even some of these younger actors who have all of a sudden blown up, or at least in the eyes of the press have blown up, they’ve been working pretty hard to get where they’ve gotten to. I think along with me, this is not overnight success, that’s for sure.
Q: How long have you paid your dues?
CH: I think I’m still paying them. I don't think there’s ever a day where I actually go, “Okay, I made it.” I think that the day that you say you’ve made it is probably the day that you die, as far as your drive. In talking with Mel [Gibson] and being around him and Bruce Willis, and even Robert Duvall and some of these people that I really respect as far as artists are concerned, they are still constantly pushing the envelope and trying to be better than they have in the past.
Q: Do you want fame?
CH: I don't want fame, I want success. Fair enough?
Q: The moment you decide to drop the first paparazzi, was it a conscious reaction?
CH: I tried on the day to make a conscious reaction so the audience saw that. Going from, “I’m helping you, I’m helping you, man. Just shut up and hold my hand” to “What did you just say? Did you just say what I think you said? Man, you’re dead. You're done. I have no remorse about killing you, letting you go. So long.”
Q: Did you have a special workout to play an action hero?
CH: Yeah, I ate next to nothing. I mean, chicken breast and egg whites in the morning. Ran my ass off and lifted weights, got myself in the best shape that I could to play that so that I was believable. I think I got to a place where I definitely looked and felt like an action star. I was stronger than I’ve ever been before.
Q: Have you kept up with any of that?
CH: Yeah, I mean, doing The Cave, it was such a physical film that it was almost impossible not to stay in shape. With swimming, rock climbing, working out and all that stuff, eating right, you're going to get stronger and lose weight. I wanted to look like a professional swimming. So I got my body fat down to next to nothing, got as strong as I could.
Q: Would you continue training without a movie?
CH: Not really. I’m the kind of guy that I get a film and I go, “Okay, this is what the role expects from me physically.” If I was to ply a guy who’s fat and overweight, I’d be more than happy to do that. But on my off days, do I go and run around the track three and a half miles? No. I like to enjoy myself. I like to eat. I like to have a drink, you know, and I like to just relax. It’s something that I think happens more in Hollywood every day. Everybody’s so fit conscious. For me personally, I’ll get fit if the role calls for me to be fit.
Q: Did you have some fun with Sizemore?
CH: Yeah, he’s a riot. He’s locked and loaded 100 percent. He’s got story after story when it comes to the paparazzi and his kind of up and down career with those people. He was a very interesting person to work with and I actually believe it or not enjoyed the hell out of it. he’s not only a really talented actor, but he doesn’t pull any punches. What I mean by that, he gives his 110 % in everything he does as an actor.
Q: After the experience of making this film, do you feel you have a more adversarial relationship with the media now?
CH: No, and I'll tell you why. There's good and bad in every business that you're involved in. Like These are four extreme paparazzi. I've met paparazzi in certain places that have asked me nicely, "Hey, can I take your picture?," and I've said, "No," and they've said, "Okay, fine. Thanks, Cole, see you later." I'm not going to put anything out there that's going to be bad. If this movie succeeds, are they going to come after me? I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Q: Do you think they’ll resent you after this movie?
CH: I have a feeling that it's going to be the opposite of what most people would assume, which is paparazzi wanting a piece of my ass. I think they're going to come up and go, "Man, that was cool. Thanks a lot for making that movie."
Q: Does it help that the film doesn't take itself too seriously?CH: It's definitely not a comedy, but it has fun moments and it has serious moments and moments that you, hopefully, will walk out of the theater and talk about over dinner later.
Q: Will it be important for you to protect your child from those situations?
CH: Yeah, definitely. And, there's ways to do that. I feel like I have an idea of how to do that. Like in this film, I think there should be a line drawn in the sand, as far as being able to take a picture of your son at a soccer game where people would be able to know where he was and, possibly, abduct him. I think there's certain things that they could do that are a little bit more classy, as far as paparazzi. But, if it happens, it happens, and I'll deal with it when I get there. I don't know if this is going to change my life. It might, it might not. Who knows? We'll see.
Q: How involved was producer Mel Gibson on the set?
CH: He was doing The Passion for the first, I'd say, 3/4 of the movie, and then he came back and came down 5, 6, 7 times and hung out. The funny thing about Mel was that he didn't come in and go, "This is what's happening. We need to do this, we need to do that. You're not doing this right." He's not that kind of guy. He came in and sat back on the sidelines and let Paul and myself and Robin [Tunney] and Tom [Sizemore] do their parts, and didn't sit there and critique us or judge us. And then, when the movie was all put together, he was happy. I was really impressed by that. I was impressed by his confidence in the cast and the crew, and I think he got a good movie for that.
Q: Has it become more difficult for you to maintain a sense of normalcy and privacy, the more aware the public has become of each of you, as actors?
CH: I haven't really had any experiences as far as having paparazzi sit outside of my house or following me around on the street. But, I actually don't really go to places where they do that, unless they knew where I lived or what kind of car I drive. It depends on this movie, too. I actually ran into a paparazzi the other day, and he was really excited about the movie. He was excited that they were doing a movie about him. And, I thought that that was fascinating. He was excited that, "Hey, you know what? They're making a movie about me." And, they essentially are, it's just no longer you looking in, it's you looking out.
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