Cole Smithey Talks To Aaron Eckhart About "Smoking"

By Cole Smithey   

Since penetrating the public consciousness in 1997 with his fearless performance in "In The Company of Men," Aaron Eckhart has brought his square chin to bear in Hollywood blockbusters ("Erin Brockovich" and "Paycheck") while keeping his hand in ardently independent movies ("The Pledge" and the upcoming "Conversations With Other Women").

In writer/director Jason Reitman’s adaptation of Christopher Buckley’s satirical novel about Big Tobacco the alternately infuriating and charming Aaron Eckhart does contemptible honors as tobacco lobbyist and spin-doctor Nick Naylor. When Nick isn’t teaching his son the ins and outs of winning debates, or comparing death statistics over lunch with fellow "Merchants of Death" lobbyists, Nick is busy battling against an anti-smoking campaign to put a skull-and-crossbones on every cigarette pack.

I sat down with Aaron Eckhart at Manhattan’s Regency hotel recently to find the common ground between the actor and the controversial characters he sometimes plays.

Q: What was director Jason Reitman’s unique spin on Christopher Buckley’s book "Thank You For Smoking"?

AE: He had a great vision of it. Jason executed the script and then he put in all the little markings, all the little icons, and the little sounds. All those little things that make it funny, they're like an exclamation mark or a symbol at the end of the scene. I think he paced the movie well. He'll get a big laugh, then he'll have a small boom-boom-boom. It's almost like a little musical in that way. I think he is pretty
exceptional.

Q: You must have been worried that the movie might be misunderstood or misinterpreted.

AE: Lobbying for tobacco is not against the law. People are
doing it everyday. I mean people are doing it for alcohol and firearms
and other things, probably, you know cheese companies. Everybody's
lobbying, so it's not against the law. And the one thing about
creating a character is that you cannot dislike your character. If you
do, you're doing a disservice for the audience. You have to love your
character and, not only that but your character has to be loved by his
mother and father--they don't have to be-- but in other words
they're good people. And any person who is good people that does bad
things is a good character. Here you have a tobacco lobbyist, and
there is a strong argument, saying look, tobacco is not illegal.
Millions of people use it every single day, and if you try to take
cigarettes away from this country or Europe, they'll kill you. So there is an argument there. That's why debate in school is so
fascinating when people do it. You know, let's say I had to take the
side of something that I didn't think was right. I could still feel it
strongly and then afterwards we'd be euphoric. I mean there's euphoria
in all this, its really just drama.

Q: Your character in Neil LaButte ’s "The Company of Men" solidified Aaron Eckhart as a dangerous brand of actor.

AE: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's just been the strongest one. I think
that was the most visceral character I've ever played. I think it was
so out of the box. Nobody knew who I was; they had no expectations on
the performance or the film. So that was seared into people's minds. I
think the role that people most remember me from is "Erin Brockovich."

Q: The subject of "Thank You For Smoking" is fairly controversial.

AE: Yes. I mean there are other things besides cancer that
are killing us. I mean, in New York City, we ingest about a pack of
cigarettes a day. So, we're all sick here. It's a smart movie, and
that's why it falls into the realm of smart comedy, I think this movie can
live and die in the universities because it challenges people. The great thing about the movie is, in my opinion; it doesn't take sides. It makes fun of everybody, everybody's in there. You have my character Nick Mailer, you have the ex-wife, you have the journalist and they're all kind of protagonist/ antagonist. And so, you kind of walk out of there picking who you like and then going on. I think that's smart of Jason not to have
chosen sides, because I like what the father can teach the son. I like the
mirroring image. I like the problems that arise in family circumstances. I like the conflicts and the tension and also the resolution of family. I also think that audiences like to see that. The scene where we are doing our homework together, I'm doing my homework and he's doing his, I just got choked up. It's a scene that I like because he's mirroring me and I'm mirroring him. We're both affecting each other; we both have something to say. You know he's a little mini me and he's gonna grow up to be a version of me.

Q: The father and son subplot goes a long way toward humanizing your shark-like character.

AE: Jason really grounded this movie with the father-son
relationship. I think this movie has heart, which is, I think, important for a comedy because ultimately you have to laugh, and walk out of this movie feeling good about yourself. I think it achieves that for being so politically incorrect, and having such a difficult subject matter, I think it achieves, you know, hopeful and optimistic feelings.