Nick Stahl now the ‘old’ guy

Posted: June 18th, 2009 | Author: Jamie | Filed under: 2008 | Tags: Article, Canoe.ca, Sleepwalking | No Comments »

March 14, 2008
By KEVIN WILLIAMSON – Canoe – Sun Media

Nick Stahl won’t be back for more Terminators, and at age 28 suspects he’s already yesterday’s model.

“I’m not a studio poster kid, you know. Studios want the popular actor of the moment. That’s all there is to it, regardless of what you’ve done in the past,” says the Texas-born Stahl, who starred in 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines a decade after his breakthrough role in Mel Gibson’s Man Without A Face.

“Maybe in the long run the fact I’ve done it so long is good, but in the day to day, I’d say it’s a hindrance I’ve been around so long. I’m not the newest thing. I’m not the new guy on the block.”

So with the role of futuristic messiah John Connor in next summer’s fourth Terminator out of the question — Christian Bale will star instead — Stahl is focusing on Sleepwalking, an indie drama with a budget that probably couldn’t pay T4’s catering tab.

Shot in Saskatchewan, which convincingly doubles for Utah and California, it stars Stahl as the dysfunctional uncle of a recently abandoned 11-year-old girl played by AnnaSophia Robb. Dennis Hopper turns up as a monstrous figure from Stahl’s past while Charlize Theron portrays Robb’s deadbeat mother.

The Oscar-winning actress, who is one of Sleepwalking’s producers, was the driving force behind the no-frills project and, from all accounts, the talent magnet.

“I just got a call from Charlize and she said, ‘I have a part for you’ and I said, ‘Great, I’ll do it,’ ” Hopper tells Sun Media. “She said, ‘You have to read the script first.’ And I said, ‘No, if you’re doing it, I’ll do it.’ It didn’t matter. She has integrity. Especially after seeing her performance in Monster I knew she was willing to go the distance.”

And going the distance for the cast and crew meant traveling to Regina and surrounding outskirts in the dead of winter for the story’s harrowing farm-based scenes.

“Charlize always made sure we had on extra, extra long underwear,” Hopper says.

“She was a great producer. She was there every day for us. It was extreme conditions. We did our scenes in 25 degrees below zero.”

Adds Stahl, “I don’t think a lot of producers are qualified to put creative input forward. The best kind of producer can deal with schedules and money and time, but also is creatively invested and has something creative to say … Charlize being an actress herself, she had to balance a lot.”

As for filming on a farm, Hopper enjoyed the return to his rural roots.

“I was raised on a wheat farm in Kansas — so it was like going home for me.”

Less so for Stahl.

“I had to learn to ride the tractors. That was hard. I’m not very good, so luckily they only show it for five seconds. But I’ve been around horses on sets before. You know, any extracurricular skill I know is because of a movie.”

Which brings us, full circle, back to Stahl’s already-lengthy career and its placement in the Hollywood food chain.

“I’ve been lucky to get to do good films. That’s all I’ve ever asked for. Acting is the only thing I’ve ever done. A studio film would be great to do. I’m not opposed to any genre or budget. A lot of times the smaller films happen to be the better ones — that’s just the way it is. But I’m not opposed to doing bigger films, as long as they’re not god-awful.”

Then again, he can always look to the enduring example set by his legendary co-star.

Notes the 71-year-old Hopper, “Most of my life I haven’t been bankable.”

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