- When a real fan of Lee’s and of this site interviews Jason Lee on the phone, you get all the right questions asked. Check it out for yourself:
BY: ADAM PERRY
FRESNO STATE COLLEGIAN
You probably know Jason Lee as Brodie in Kevin Smith’s “Mallrats” and Banky in Smith’s “Chasing Amy”. This month, Lee appears in the new Cameron Crowe movie “Almost Famous”. Lee recently gave me the opportunity to talk with him.
In “Almost Famous”, Lee’s character, lead singer Jeff Bebe of the band Stillwater, is complex; a role much different from his previous roles. Lee strips away the layers of a rock star to show a conflicted character. It was a character Lee related to because Jeff Bebe “cared so much about his music and craft”.
“[Almost Famous] is not strictly a comedy, even though I love those types of movies,” Lee said. Looking for the strong communication vibe in his films, Lee states that he decided to do the film after talking extensively with director Crowe.
From the movies I’ve seen Lee in, I always get the impression he is an approachable guy. Talking to him on the phone for almost an hour, I realized he is a really cool guy who is in the acting buisness because he loves it. I also learned that he is a versatile guy. He was once a professional skateboarder. I asked him if he missed it. “Every once in a while, but I got burnt out on the scene,” he said. It was nice to play a character that skateboarded but that “had no ties to a skater scene” in “Mumford”.
The coolest thing about Lee is his down-to-earth attitude. When asked if he gets disappointed if a film he’s in doesn’t do well at the box office, his response was: “No, though there is an intital shock. Look at ‘Raging Bull’. It’s one of the best films and a favorite of mine. I don’t know how much it made opening weekend. Those things don’t determine if a film is good or bad,” he said.
Lee’s theory is that if you keep doing good film work, you’ll be rewarded with future roles. He also believes it’s about the acting and not the notoriety or fame. “It’s more satisfying to be immediately identified with work than to have people responding to your name,” Lee said. “It’s validating”.
When asked if he thought his stock as an actor was rising, he said “A little bit, but I think it is because of the work. I stick to my guns and hold my position and then I get work out of the work I do. I’m not getting work because I’m an A-list actor, because I’m not. And I’m not getting work because of publicity. I’m getting i because of the work I do. I never wanted to be on the cover of every magazine because I would burn out. It is much more rewarding to be offered work or an audition from a director because they like your work”.
We talked about his upcoming projects, which includes the new Gene Hackman and Sigourney Weaver movie “Breakers”. He is also reprising earlier Kevin Smith characters in the new Smith film tentatively titled, “View Askew 5”, which Lee said “will be really cool”. He is currently working on a Barry Sonnefield movie, “Big Trouble”.
On the new Sonnefield movie: “It’s your typical chaotic comedy with 15 lead actors. Its similar to ‘Get Shorty’ with wide angle shots. I play a simple vagrant.”
On MTV: “It’s an entity that is capitalizing on what is more and more popular with kids. [MTV] is making it cool to manufacture music and letting people think certain music is cool because MTV thinks so. I feel that there are bands out there that are not getting their due respect”.
On rumors of a Fletch role: “I would love to do it. It would be really cool because Kevin [Smith] would adapt it from the novel, and I would be working with him”.
When asked if there was anything in his life he wanted to change: “Nothing. I’m absolutely having fun; I think I’m setting an example in that I like to think I’m a decent person who has a conscious and I care about what I’m doing. I have a degree of integrity and I hope that I’m showing some people that all young actors aren’t fuck ups”.
I’m a movie enthusiast. I have loved movies my whole life and I look up to many actors like Jason Lee. Being able to talk with Lee made me realize that anything is possible with hard work and the right attitude. He could have been too busy for a college kid and could have just blown me off. But as he said in closing the interview: “You can’t fuck with your fans’ trust because if you do, they’ll turn their backs on you”.
