Meet Bill Pullman

"Do you?"

"It hardly matters if I have the attitude, it's all about perception. You get a driver to pick you up and take you home. And that is a big deal, especially when you're working weird hours and you're far from home. And the driver is this guy who's been hired by the union, he's got a great job, and he loves being available to you. They call you Mr. Pullman and they jump out of the car when you walk outside, and I honor that because this is the guy's job. But then I realize that the doorman at the hotel picks up on all this, and the concierge is catching on, and they're all treating Mr. Pullman like he's the boss. And then it just breeds itself, like a little virus. I've seen a lot of actors in a lot of different stages of their careers, and I've seen it come and go. People get a sense of entitlement from it. And that's when it starts getting you in trouble. When it's not there, some people get berserk. The most self-effacing people, I don't think I'm in danger of that. I have a pretty good grip on who I am. I see now that it also keeps some people at a distance, which is OK in a way, because you suddenly realize that there's a lot more people who want to talk to you, and sometimes you don't want to be put in that position. I see both sides of it. If it all flies away in the morning, I won't regret anything."

"Bill, I didn't mean to imply..."

He waves me off, and then goes off to shoot a scene. Which turns into another scene and then another and another. By the time he returns, I'm almost asleep.

"Do women find you attractive?" I ask, barely able to lift my head off the table. Dead silence, when I look up. Pullman is staring at me.

"Well," he points out, "you're a woman."

"I'm not a real woman," I say. Now he's laughing.

"I mean. I'm a journalist."

Pullman shrugs and makes a stab at answering my original question. "When I was in Japan to promote While You Were Sleeping, I went to this screening where they had a thousand Japanese women who'd won tickets in a radio contest. I've been around a lot of very successful actors, sex symbols--Brad Pitt, Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin, some others--and I always had a quiet little profile through all that. I've seen women go berserk over some of these guys. But I'll tell you, I never experienced anything like what happened in that Japanese theater. I felt like I was Elvis. They were screaming, the classic thing that you see on documentaries of the Beatles. And I'm standing there and my body feels so strange and I am so embarrassed. And a girl asks a question and the translator talks to her and then the translator turns to me and says, 'She thinks you're a very sexy man.' It's not even a question! And everyone just starts roaring with laughter. It was not a comfortable situation. I'll tell you that."

"My theory on you is that you're not the kind of guy a girl wants to throw up against a wall and fuck, you're the kind of guy a girl wants her best friend to marry."

Pullman looks thunderstruck. "Martha...that's a theory?"

"Well, I watched all your movies with some of my girlfriends, and that's what we came up with. You're a very nonthreatening guy. People root for you. Now, there are actors that you would not want to sit down and have a chat with, not want to bring home to your mother. They're dangerous. I think people look at you and know you'd be nice to them, treat their mothers kindly. You know what I'm saying?"

"Haven't got a clue," Pullman says, and lays his head down on the table.

"We wanted you to end up with Sandra Bullock. But the character played by Peter Gallagher is the kind of guy who usually does wind up with the girl."

"It's very curious when you're an actor and suddenly you're in the right role, with the right match," Pullman says, perking up. "Truthfully, I almost avoided While You Were Sleeping, because I find those romantic comedies kind of precious, and they're full of lines that leave you feeling a little bewildered when you say them. It's all about first looks and little giggles, and part of me is always thinking, 'Isn't there anything else we could be doing with our time right now? Something a little more important?' But when I was doing it, I really enjoyed it. It was like the air was charged between me and Sandy. From the minute I met her we just clicked. We were totally in tune with each other. Lots of the movie was about us just talking and talking, and I'll tell you the truth, most actors don't listen very well, they don't give it 100 percent. But Sandy and i, we just lived in that rarified air of the movie, and it worked really, really well."

Pages: 1 2 3 4