Posted December, 2008

Verbatim

Liev Schreiber

This highly respected actor appreciates his success — but has made a point of staying out of the limelight that comes with it.

Liev Schreiber is not a movie star. True, he has appeared in more than two dozen films (including Scream, The Daytrippers, RKO 281, The Sum Of All Fears, and The Manchurian Candidate), leavening his imposing stature and booming voice with a vulnerability, humanity, and quiet sadness. But 41-year-old Schreiber, who is expecting a second child with Naomi Watts this month, has steadfastly avoided the pitfalls of celebrity by being grateful for his good fortune even as he questions its value to the rest of the world.

In the World War II drama Defiance (December 12), Schreiber teams up with director Edward Zwick and actor Daniel Craig. The movie tells the true story of three Jewish brothers who flee occupied Poland and hide in a dense forest, where they eventually form a village with other refugees and take up arms against the Nazis.

When did you know that acting was something you needed to do?
I never felt like it was something I needed to do. At a very young age, I knew I wasn’t very good at the things you have to be good at to be successful in the world — composure, mathematics, social stuff. Everything you need for success, I thought, were all the things I was awful at. But I did know I had a feel for other things — music, literature, rhythm. I just had no idea how I would ever fit in, let alone succeed.

When did you first consider acting?
I played bass clarinet in the school band for a while, and we accompanied the junior high school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, doing the Mendelssohn score. I saw the kids up on stage acting in the play, particularly the scene where Bottom and Peter Quince are doing the play within the play, and I was so jealous of them. In high school, I got to play Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream myself, and I remember getting laughs off of people. That was about the best thing that had ever happened in my life. I had made people laugh. Then I didn’t touch it again until college.

What happened in college?
I started studying Brecht and Shakespeare and found it all really fascinating. I started wondering if it was even possible to make a living as an actor. I didn’t think I could. Then I was accepted into Yale, and I thought, “I don’t know, maybe I can make a living at this.” I just kept going — didn’t stop to think about it too much. I have to admit it feels like I never stopped playing. My life has just been a lark, one long series of goofs. But I take goofs very seriously.

You’ve been working on stage and screen for over a dozen years, but people know little about you.
Actors need to retain a bit of mystery. That is important. Audiences should not be looking at the actor when they go to the movies. They should be looking at the character. I believe in the power of transformation, so I’d prefer it if audiences weren’t looking at me and thinking about me or my life. I’d like them to look at the character and see themselves. It’s my job, to a certain degree, to get people thinking about their own lives, not mine.

There’s a certain financial reward to playing the celebrity game, though.
But that cult of celebrity, that’s not acting. That’s endorsing. You’re endorsing yourself. “Here’s a plug for how goodlooking I am. Buy my products. They’re on the racks at your local supermarket.” [Laughs.] For a lot of people, acting is about how beautiful they are. Audiences like that to a certain extent, but the real prize is when you give them back themselves.

Defiance seems like a good choice for you — a compelling premise, a challenging role, an excellent cast.
I usually have a pretty hard time with things that I’m in, and that wasn’t the case at all with this one. I’ve actually seen the film, and I think it’s remarkable. What I am so impressed with is that Ed [Zwick] has told a unique story — I don’t remember ever seeing a film like this in the Holocaust genre. Oddly enough, it kind of reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Battle of Algiers. It has a kind of personal feel, a great sense of intimacy, that’s so difficult to get in war movies. After I saw the movie, I was so grateful for the experience.

That must be a rewarding feeling, especially after spending five months of your life in creative mode with 200 of your “closest friends.”
Acting’s not as difficult as some people make it out to be. When I really think about it, I can’t get over my luck. The travel alone is pretty outstanding. I get to go to places like Eastern Europe, live in these great hotels, visit these countries, all expenses paid. It’s a pretty cushy gig.


Like two of your earlier films, Everything Is Illuminated — which you directed — and Jakob the Liar, Defiance pays honor to your eastern European heritage, your Jewish roots.
Honoring is part of it, but it’s also exploring. Not really knowing that much about the culture or my family or my own history even, I get really excited by the opportunity to explore the cultures and the characters of my heritage.

It sounds like you’re on some sort of an odyssey.
I think we’re all on that journey. It sounds cliche, but I really believe the truth about our lives is that we are on an exploration of self. One of the hugest clues we’re given is our family and our close relationships. For me, exploring those things and exploring my intuitive memories, my fantasized memories, and my imagination about who my family is and where I come from and who I am anyway is just as compelling as the real story.

You once said that “all actors are trying to repair damaged relationships.” What did you mean by that?
I don’t know if the relationships have to be exclusively damaged ones. I think that actors — speaking very generally — are sensitive people, people who feel things a little stronger sometimes than the average person. A lot of times, actors are trying to re-create feelings they’ve experienced because the event of feeling them was so profound. So they re-create things all the time. That’s not necessarily only damaged or painful experiences, but extraordinary ones too.

Apply that to your body of work.
Everything Is Illuminated was, on some level, an attempt to rekindle and reexperience an intimacy with my grandfather, who was a huge part of my life. I haven’t had a chance to feel that since he died. Defiance is about brothers, and my relationships in that movie gave me a chance to rekindle the intimacy with my own brothers, the facts and the imagination. That’s honestly the joy of acting: Not only do you get to use these experiences, but you also get to feel them all over again.

You’ve said that you never lost the joy of being a child, of playing good guys versus bad guys.
How could you not love playing soldiers out in the woods? I did.It’s something that’s in the DNA of most boys — and most men, really. I’m not sure it ever goes away. As much as I hate guns, if you put one in my hand, I couldn’t help but want to do a somersault and hide behind a tree.

I understand you had a fairly unconventional childhood.
I can’t really tell, because I had it. I’m not really sure I know what a conventional childhood is.

You’ve referred to your mother as a “highly cultured eccentric.” You were named for Leo Tolstoy. Your last name means “writer” in German. No baggage there, right?
Well, yeah. I mean, maybe I should have become a writer. [Laughs.] I firmly believe that everyone’s got a great story, whether or not they acknowledge it or a journalist acknowledges it. It’s impossible to survive in this life and not have a good story. Just being alive is such a remarkable thing. I have a son now and I watch him walk and I go, “Holy cow! How did he do that?” I think it’s remarkable that we make it to fifteen. I mean, I made it to fifteen. That’s amazing. They should make a movie out of that: I Made It to Fifteen. You get some perspective on that when you become a parent.

Parenthood’s a special thing.
Watch children — their innocence, their lack of judgment. And they’re so elegant. It’s incredibly cute and funny, but it’s also so elegant. They’re not making any judgment. That’s what I find so amazing about it all. We could learn a lot from them. And finding the beauty in that is how it’s OK for me that I don’t sleep anymore. I’ve got this perfect, non-judgmental creature who really experiences things in a pure way, and I can learn a lot from this. So it’s OK that I get up at four every morning. I don’t know how long I’m going to get by with that, but it’s carried me through to today.

How does it feel to be considered one of the top actors of your generation?
As I get older, I realize how fortunate I’ve been. I see other actors trying to make it, doing the dance, and I think, “Man, I was really lucky.” I look at people who aren’t actors, who live their lives and do their jobs, who save people’s lives and jobs, and I have a certain level of selfconsciousness about what I do. In my own estimation, I honestly don’t believe I’ve amounted to as much as a doctor or a fireman have.

The thing about acting is that you’re really just trying to have fun, and maybe that has an impact on people too. Maybe people are moved by what actors do, and that makes me feel a little more right with the world. But it’s hard to imagine that what I do is important because it’s so much fun. Important things are usually painful and difficult. Acting has never been like that for me.

Amid all the self-deprecating, we can agree that art, and the people who create it, can change lives, right?
I think it’s part of coming into my 40s. Enough of the Sturm und Drang. It’s time to recognize how much fun it’s been. Maybe this is just a phase too. Maybe none of us think what we do is important.

It’s remarkable how you continue to reinvent yourself role after role.
It’s about embracing character. It’s about allowing yourself to make mistakes. It’s about taking risks. It’s about being ready to make a fool of yourself. You have to be ready to fail. You have to work with people who are tolerant of your risks and failures. And for me, it’s important to stay close to theater and to New York. That’s exposed me to a lot of wonderful actors, and it’s also kept my profile just enough below the radar so that audiences allow me to be different characters.

 

J. Rentilly writes about literature film, and music for a variety of national publications.
Photo: Steve Granitz/Wireimage/Getty