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"FacebookPinterest\n\nYou live in Michigan, and are offered indie films all the time. What makes you get out of bed? Why Paper Man? \n\n I didn't know how to do the role. Not knowing how to play it usually means I'm going to stay interested. It was difficult to play a writer who couldn't write the first sentence. And the relationship with Emma Stone\u2014since it wasn't sexual, what was it?\n\nThis character is struggling with marital issues. I was going to ask if you drew on personal experience, but I see you've been married to the same woman since high school.\n\n We weren't high school sweethearts, but we've been married for 31 years.\n\n When you get out of the gate playing flawed people\u2014like in Terms of Endearment\u2014it always seems to be something you can do. I think it's more about the guy who can play the flaws versus the classic American hero who saves the day.\n\nSpeaking of which, Ryan Reynolds plays an imaginary superhero in this film. How'd the costume fit?\n\n I admired his diligence in going to the gymnasium at 4:30 in the morning before every shooting day. He just went for it. And he didn't have to. It was an indie.\n\nEveryone in this movie seemed to be working above their pay grade.\n\n That's for sure. The Squid and the Whale and Paper Man\u2014they were kind of produced by one or two people, which was a nice change. Because if you're gonna work for no money, there's nothing more disconcerting for an actor than to look behind and see 10 producers.\n\nThat's funny.\n\n It's also true.\n\nYou worked with Woody Allen on The Purple Rose of Cairo. How was that audition?\n\n Michael Keaton was doing it originally. And I think it was mutually agreed upon that it wasn't working out. Juliet Taylor was the casting director, and she'd gotten me into Terms of Endearment. When there was this emergency call to replace Keaton, I was one of the half-a-dozen guys who were brought in to meet Woody and screen test\u2014literally within 48 hours. You know, I went out there. With Woody, you're not allowed to read the script. You're given two scenes and you've gotta make some choices. There's Mia Farrow, and Woody Allen and there's Gordy Willis, the cinematographer. You kind of do it, and then Woody comes over. He says, \"What have you done?\" And I said, \"Well, I was a guest criminal on Hawaii Five-0.\" Which is the only thing I could think of.\n\nYou didn't think to mention Terms of Endearment?\n\n I completely blanked on it. I said, \"Guest criminal on Hawaii Five-0.\" He kind of nodded and walked away. I said, \"Woody, thank you.\" Thinking I'd never see him again. Five days later I was shooting.\n\nYou're back on Broadway in God of Carnage\u2014a play about two married couples in Brooklyn\u2014but you've switched roles. Which is more fun: the corporate dick constantly on his cell phone or the put-upon blue-collar wholesaler?\n\n The wholesaler selling toilet parts is a lot more fun. You fall further. You start out as the nicest guy in the world. That kind of descent into hell is a lot more fun, to be honest, than the fifteen cell phone calls the other character has to do. I pity Dylan Baker. He's doing great. But those are phone calls I don't have to make anymore.\n\nWhen Gandolfini played the wholesaler, people seemed to laugh no matter what he said. There's that feeling in the audience, Look! It's Tony Soprano\u2014on stage! But you can't count on that.\n\n There are certainly laughs that I have to bail on. When the character says, \"Because I had my own gang\"\u2014the audience dumps all of their Tony Soprano stuff on Jim, which isn't fair to him. He appreciated it, but there was also the burden of trying to get people to look at a different character. In my case, It's like Dumb and Dumber. People expect things when they walk in the door.\n\nI sometimes forget you were in Dumb and Dumber\u2014and I mean that as a compliment. I think of you now more as the father in The Squid and the Whale. I thought that was the best acting of that entire year. Your commitment to being an asshole was just unbelievable.\n\n The whole trick to it was being oblivious to that.\n\nI was surprised you didn't get nominated for an Oscar. Did you expect to be?\n\n Well, because it was an indie, we had to campaign. As my agent said, \"You're gonna feel like you're running for president.\" And I did. For five months, I talked to everything above a high school paper. I went to fifteen or twenty festivals. I went everywhere. I was in L.A. half a dozen times in five months. And then you get the Golden Globe nomination, and you're closer. You think, Maybe I have a chance. But [the team] was telling me, \"You need to win the Golden Globe for us to keep spending money on you.\" I'm going, \"What money are you spending? I'm the one flying everywhere doing interviews.\" Well, whatever. And then I didn't win the Golden Globe and literally, it was like the people turned to me, \"Thanks for everything, Jeff.\" I was history.\n\nWere you angry?\n\n Part of you felt like trash. Part of you felt like you were dismissed. A week later the nominations came out and it wasn't me. To be honest, It was a long shot because it was an indie. And the category was loaded that year. It was Strathairn for Good Night, and Good Luck. And Hoffman [for Capote]. And Joaquin for Cash. There was a lot of guys doing big work. Also, I think everyone who got nominated played a hero. Bernard was not that.\n\nNo, he was definitely not. What did you learn from the experience, then?\n\n I'll never campaign again. But I learned a lot. There were a lot of great parties. I met a lot of great people on the road running around.\n\nLast question: You're on your way to Capitol Hill today, to argue for increased funding to the National Endowment for the Arts. Are you looking forward to it? \n\n To be asked to testify is an honor. Rocco Landesman [the head of the NEA] came to my theater company, The Purple Rose, in Michigan in March. He called the Purple Rose a model for what the arts can do, culturally and economically, for a community. Which it has certainly done for Chelsea. Anyway, I know one side of the aisle will be listening. We'll see if I can't keep the Republicans off checking their e-mail."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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