He became a star playing the good-guy charmer in films like I Know What You Did Last Summer and She's All That, and he'll do it again in next month's Boys and Girls. But in real, life, Freddie Prinze Jr. isn't the easygoing boy next door his teen fans imagine. For one, he playacts being a comic book superhero when no one's around. For another, he admits he cries a lot and prays every morning in the shower. Do we really need a third example?
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Here are some things you should know about Freddie Prinze Jr.: He's the most-hit actor on Yahoo. He was named one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People." He's appeared in 10 films: To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday; The House of Yes; I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequel; Sparkler; She's All That; Wing Commander; Down to You and the upcoming Boys and Girls and Head Over Heels. He's reportedly getting $2 million for Summer Catch, a baseball movie in which he plays a pitcher. He hated Wing Commander as much as you did. He grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He wouldn't be able to distinguish Joyce Carol Oates from Susan B. Anthony. He knows the contents of each individual X-Men comic. He knows something about Muhammad Ali that you don't. He prefers Toluca Lake to Beverly Hills, Bel Air, the Pacific Palisades or Malibu. He likes the Knicks over the Lakers. He likes Japanese food and lemon meringue pie. He's got a picture of John Wayne above his bed and a religious picture over the fireplace. His father was a famous comedian who committed suicide at 22 when Prinze Jr. was just 10 months old. He tap dances. He's never seen "Seinfeld." He cries a lot. He's better looking in person than n picture. He's 24, years younger than Ben Affleck, Chris O'Donnell and Cameron Diaz. He's never smoked a joint. He believes in lucky pennies. He's the future of Hollywood.
LAWRENCE GROBEL: What's it like being one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People"?
FREDDIE PRINZE Jr.: I had, like, 50 messages on my answering machine: "What's up, beauty?" All my friends gave me such shit.
Q: What happens in a few years when they name you "Sexiest Man Alive"?
A: I'll leave the country.
Q: What do you think of the recent interest in you in magazines?
A: I don't really read magazines that much. I read comic books.
Q: Do you collect comics?
A: Yeah, I have a ton of them.
Q: What are your most valuable Comics?
A: I have through 10 X-Men number 16 X-Men, 20 through 30 X-Men; I have number 11 Spider-Man; number 4 Silver Surfer; number 4 Fantastic Four. The most valuable is number 2 X-Men, probably worth a few grand.
Q: Have you ever met Stan Lee?
A: Yeah, I just met him. He was the nicest guy in the world. He made life good for me when I was a kid. I was what people now call artistic, but when you're a kid they call it weird and say "You're gay, you're dumb." When I started reading comics, I really related to Stan's characters: that somehow they embraced who they were and they became great heroes. They made me feel that everything could be OK... and now everything is OK. Everything's awesome. I'm really happy, I like where I am, I do cool things. I know this sounds weird but I feel I owe Stan Lee a lot for that.
Q: Why, exactly, did kids make fun of you?
A: I didn't have any brothers or sisters, I grew up on a street with all girls and they wanted to play house and I didn't have a dad to play football with or anything like that, so I made up this superhero world that I lived in. I fought alongside the X-Men and I would really see them. I did this all by myself and kids would see me out there in the field jumping around.
Q: Why did they call you gay?
A: I still did it when I was 12 years old. When kids see someone who's a little too old to do that, they think it's weird. And kids can be mean, so they say things like "you freak, stupid fag." I'll be honest, I still play like that. Because that's what's fun for me, I have all the sound here in my bedroom so [can turn it up loud. I live alone and when] get bored or lonely, I make up scenarios in my head and I play 'em out.
Q: In real life, did you ever become enough of a superhero to fight back?
A: I got in fights, but I don't like fighting. I once hurt a kid really, really bad.
Q: How did it happen?
A: He was drunk. It was at one of the few parties I went to in high school. I don't remember why he was mad--he was a bully--but when I walked out of the place he pushed me and I fell down and everybody started laughing. I got up and tried to walk away and he came at me again, so we got into a fight. When he fell on the ground I just kept hitting him.
Q: As you were hitting him, were you even aware of what you were doing?
A: I knew exactly what I was doing. I kept hitting that kid until his face wasn't hard any more. I didn't want to stop beating him until he cried.
Q: Did he?
A: Yeah. That's when I stopped. I stood up and then I started crying because I was so upset. And then I ran. I've been in very few fights since then. I really don't like hurting people, I like making people feel good.
Q: After you beat up the bully, did you become something of a superhero at school?
A: Yeah. High school's like another planet. For two weeks I was the flavor of the month.
Q: You mean you became like your popular She's All That character and you hated it?
A: Well, popular, but not in a good way. I don't know how to explain it, but I skipped school for a week. Then that faded away when somebody else got beat up.
Q: When did you get into the martial arts?
A: When I was younger. Somebody wrote that somewhere...
Q: It's part of your press kit. Your publicists wrote it!
A: Yeah, and I keep telling them it shouldn't be in there, I did karate for eight years and jujitsu for one, but I'm by no means a martial artist. They write that in there hoping I get more jobs, action movies. My god-father, Bob Wall, was in a couple of Bruce Lee movies and he trained Bruce Lee when he came to America.
Q: How did Bob Wall become your godfather?
A: He was my father's friend. He taught my father karate.
Q: Did he tell you things about your dad?
A: Yeah, he told me a bunch of stories. My old man loved boxing and he once went over to Muhammad Ali's house. They would always mess around, and my dad threw a right hook and hit Ali in the nose and knocked him over his couch. His nose was bleeding. My dad ran to the bathroom and got a towel and wiped the blood off Ali's face and then he left. He didn't call him for two weeks because he was afraid Ali was going to kick his ass. But he framed the towel. My mom still has it.
Q: Have you ever done an interview where your father wasn't mentioned?
A: No. I don't think I ever will.
Q: Would it have been easier for you to have changed your name?
A: No, that wasn't an option. That's the name my father gave me.
Q: You used to memorize his record album comedy routines, didn't you?
A: Yeah, I know them by heart.
Q: Were you identifying with your father through this?
A: It was just an attempt. A failed one. When everyone knows your father but you, you get desperate for ways to know him.
Q: What do you think of this statement "Hollywood is one big whore. It breeds decadence."
A: Nah. People do shit to themselves.
Q: Here's another "Hollywood burns you out after a while if you let it. You get placed in a certain box, you get a certain image and then you can never get out"
A: I don't buy that either.
Q: Your father said both of those.
A: I don't believe either one. Both of those sound a little cynical. I'm not burned out.
Q: What made you decide to leave Albuquerque where you grew up and come to LA.?
A: One of my best friends, Berto, died our senior year in a motorcycle accident. He was the sweetest guy. It messed everybody up. At first I denied it--my mom told me and I kept saying, "You're lying, you're lying!" And I ran out of the house and my buddy Conrad chased me down and I fell on the ground and was crying so much. After the funeral I went to his grave and sat there for 30 minutes and just bawled. It was just too early for him. It made me feel old, man. I just wanted to get out of Albuquerque.
Q: Did you have any desire to go to college at all?
A: No. I didn't know what I wanted to do. My friend Conrad would ask what I wanted to do with my life and I said I didn't know. He asked me about my dreams. I said I make shit up, dream about being a superhero. He said, "Go act." So I packed up and drove to LA.
Q: What happened when you got here?
A: I had my Uncle Ron, who was my father's manager and a father figure for me since I was 12. I got with my manager; Rick, and he helped me find an acting class. Ron and Rick made me feel safe.
Q: How did you feel about acting class?
A: I was terrified. The first time I went to the group I started crying. We were doing this thing called repetition, where you repeat everything you say. It teaches you listening. And I just started bawling while I was saying the same thing, but I couldn't quit doing the exercise. I quit one thing--tennis when I was 13--and I promised I'd never quit again. So I was up there, breaking down more and more until I was all cried out. Then the teacher said, "Very good. Listening and answering, you just did it very well." I was wasted. From that day forward I started learning.
Q: Did you meet any girls?
A: No. I spent all of my time by myself just working.
Q: This is usually high-testosterone time for young men. You once said that if you could do high school again you'd take hack your virginity. Why?
A: Yeah. I was 17. It was in the back of my Jeep. The most non-romantic, non-special type place. I only did it because everybody I knew had already done it. Now granted, they were all probably lying, but I felt so inadequate. I went out with this girl with the sole intent of losing my virginity. I would have liked to have lost it in a more special way, because the way I did it was lame.
Q: Was it over so fast you don't quite remember it?
A: It was literally two seconds. Oh my God! There we go. That was it. It was sad.
Q: What actors inspired you when you began to act?
A: My two favorites are Denzel Washington and Jack Nicholson. You see the fire when you watch those guys act. Nicholson's performance in Batman is one of the most overlooked in the world. It was so beautiful and so psychotic. He's so smooth, it's like Barry White's singing. And Denzel is always the heart of his movies, the heart of the planet earth. He pours every ounce of his soul into every movement. Nicholson is the king of cool, Denzel is the prince of passion.
Q: What's your opinion about someone closer to your age: Leonardo DiCaprio?
A: He's an awesome actor. I love his work. He just vomits energy. I'm just now thinking this so it might come out weird: he, like, vomits all his own energy out so everybody can see it, and then he sucks up everybody else's. He's this intense listener. Yon can just leave the camera on him, it doesn't matter who else is in the scene.
Q: You started in TV appearing in "Family Matters."
A: That was my first show. It was in front of a live audience, so I hated it. I don't like instant gratification.
Q: A lot of actors feel that doing live performances is really the way to learn what acting is all about.
A: I don't believe so. Acting is very simple. If you look at the dictionary it says: to do. You listen, answer, commit and make sure that your shit is honest. That's universal, whether you're in theater, TV or film.
Q: If it's so simple, why are there so few really good actors?
A: It's like anything else; you have to work at it. Thus business is not real hard to break into, but it's hard to sustain a career. You see some kid being hyped as the next Brad Pitt, but once he starts buying into chat hype, the press murders him. People don't say that about me 'cause I don't allow that stuff to be said. I'm me, I work hard. I just want to make sure that at the end of every film I do I'm a better fuckin' actor than I was at the beginning.
Q: Have you liked all the films you've been in?
A: No.
Q: Which ones don't you like?
A: I can't stand Wing Commander. I can't watch one scene of that movie.
Q: How did it become so awful?
A: It's the simplest story in the world. I read the script and loved it. So did my buddy Matthew Lillard. We both got the parts. We went on location and they said, "Here's the new script." It was a piece of shit.
Q: Entertainment Weekly's film critic Owen Gleiberman seems to have it in for you in your last two films. He called Wing Commander "a preposterously dull and labored hack job," and Down to You "the dreckiest of teen puppy courtships." How do you take such criticism?
A: That guy hates me. He'll say things about my physical looks! Forget the acting thing. He'll write about my ugly smile. Like, what did I do, sleep with his mom?
Q: And how do you assess your looks?
A: I'm a pretty good-looking guy.
Q: If you could change any feature, would you?
A: No. This is me. I like me. I'm a good guy. I'm good to my family and my friends; I'm good at what I do. I'm a good me.
Q: I heard that you like to pull pranks on people. Tell me one.
A: The best one I ever did was to Claire Forlani on Boys and Girls. We're in San Francisco; she's all alone in her apartment. I'm a floor below, watching TV and they're talking about serial killers. I'm talking to her about that on the phone and she hates that. She's very British, very prim and proper, doesn't like to get scared. I keep saying, "It's not a big deal, serial killers only go after single white chicks in apartments." And she says, "I hate you so much!" It's midnight, so I said, "I'll let you go to bed." I wait two hours. Then I pull my black T-shirt over my head so only my eyes show, put on a black jump jacket with a hood on it and I get this big-ass butcher knife from the kitchen. I go up the steps, knock on her door and she goes, "Hello?' I say, "It's me,' and she opens the door and I have the knife raised and I scream at her! This girl, who's the whitest girl in the world, her skin changed color in three seconds, eight shades whiter, you could see right to her bones! She fell on the ground, found Jesus Christ, took Him as her savior right there, and screamed, "Please God, nooooo!" I fell on the ground laughing. She called all my friends and said, "I don't know what's wrong with Freddie, but I think you should talk to him immediately." I got her ass so good. Nothing's better than scaring people, man.
Q: Have you ever tried drugs?
A: I don't fool with drugs, never have. I don't drink now, either.
Q: You never did drugs because your dad did, or you just were never interested?
A: I didn't do drugs because I saw people do dumb sniff on drugs. When I started to understand more about my father, that became another huge reason. I would have a father if it wasn't for drugs, bottom line.
Q: You were in the TV movie called Too Soon for Jeff.
A: Yes, I was Jeff, who got a girl pregnant in high school.
Q: Have you ever faced that issue yourself?
A: I had scares when I was in high school. It was like... you know... I probably shouldn't talk about stuff like that. I was 17 and made mistakes. I sleep with that. I'd be more comfortable talking about it except that I gotta protect that girl. I don't want anybody hunting her down.
Q: So I guess it's safe to say you're pro-choice?
A: I don't want kids to read this and say, "Oh, well he says this, we should believe that." You should form your own opinion. My opinion is that it's a woman's choice.
Q: On your first movie, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, were you at all intimidated acting with Claire Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer?
A: It's not a secret; I had a crush on Claire. But she had a boyfriend and I didn't want to be the homewrecker. I never told her that I had a crush on her. Michelle Pfeiffer's like the most beautiful woman on the planet. I didn't talk to her too much. I'm not very good with girls.
Q: But you are quite the heartthrob. Are you shy, basically?
A: I just don't know how to hang on to them. You know that saying, "Nice guys always finish last"? Sometimes I feel that's true. Right now I'm seeing this girl--she's the first woman I've dated who is self-reliant and independent. That alone is: oh my God, this chick rocks. But I've never been with somebody who appreciated mo being a nice guy, which I guess means I never dated a woman, I was always dating girls. This is the first relationship where I've been 100 percent happy. It's still in the early phases.
Q: Is she an actress?
A: Yeah. Before that I was with Kim [McCullough]. I learned a lot in that relationship. It started off really good, we both made a few mistakes along the way, and it got really bad at the end. A lot of this business is really tough, especially when you're both actors. If you compare yourself to others you always find someone better than you, and in a relationship if you start comparing yourself to the other person and you're not feeling good about yourself, you're going to feel even worse. I think maybe that was a piece of what happened. She's still my friend. We should not have been together and when it was over it was a huge weight off our shoulders. All of a sudden I felt like a man. I felt like I physically grew up in an hour.
Q: Freud said that mental health is basically sexual health. Think he was right?
A: That's why Carl Jung left, because Freud said everything was related to sex. I gotta go with Carl; I don't think it's all based on sex.
Q: Who knows more about affairs of the heart, men or women?
A: On the whole, probably women.
Q: Is there anything you envy in women?
A: God no! Women have periods, they have to have babies, they bloat, they get moody, they get eyeballed all day by guys. Oh lord.
Q: Does the idea of marriage appeal to you?
A: Yeah. That's the only goal I have, to be a good father.
Q: Back to your career. You've said you were so intimidated on To Gillian that you almost threw up. Was that because of having to kiss Claire?
A: Yeah. I hadn't kissed that many girls, let alone on-screen. I said to Claire, "I want you to know that I would never do anything to disrespect you. It would help me out a lot if you told me what you're comfortable with." And she said. "Oh, we'll just do whatever." I didn't know what to do. So I literally got on my knees and prayed. My stomach was just wrecked. I was saying, "Oh God, I don't need to be the Mac of the week, I don't need to be the coolest guy in the world, just don't let me vomit all over this girl." I was trembling when we did that scene and she was so cool.
Q: Is prayer pan of your daily routine?
A: I pray a lot, three or four times a day.
Q: Did you pray before we started this interview?
A: I prayed in the shower this morning. I always pray in the shower.
Q: Were you raised Catholic?
A: Originally Baptist, but I was raised non-denominational. I don't go to church because my views on' church have changed since I've grown up, but I believe in God and Jesus.
Q: Do a lot of your peers find solace in religion?
A: A lot of my peers are looking for something and in a state of confusion they find what they think is religion and they end up weaker. You lose the ability to depend on yourself, which is part of being an adult. But it's hard to be an adult and be a young actor in this business because everybody kisses your ass and caters to every single thing you need.
Q: What attracted you to your second film, The House of Yes?
A: The script was phenomenal. It was a dark comedy, which is my favorite. Working with Parker Posey made me fall in love with acting. I didn't know what I wanted to do until that movie was over and I saw how passionate she was and I learned that it was OK to get that excited.
Q: I Know What You Did Last Summer is the one that made you into a teen idol.
A: Getting this movie was one of the hardest experiences of my life. I read like a thousand times. I was about to walk away from it before I even had it because I was sick of dealing with the crap.
Q: Did you sense that She's All That would be a breakthrough film for you?
A: Yeah, everyone knew that movie would be dope.
Q: Is it true that a makeup artist helped give your chest definition?
A: Yeah, it is. Dude, I'm not buff. This lady shades underneath your pecs, so it's like a shadow, so the shits hanging over. I was like, yo! I have muscles!
Q: Do you have a goal of making $10 or $20 million a picture like the best-paid actors?
A: Man, I make my mortgage, I make my mother's mortgage, I have food on my table, I'm as happy as can be. I'm dating the most amazing woman in the world, I have two English bulldogs coming in a couple of days. I have the greatest friends in the world. If I never worked again I could live here for the rest of my life and never worry. I invested my money wisely. I'm straight. I'm cool. All I want to do is make cool movies and be cool characters that in real life I wouldn't have a chance to be. I want to he able to fly.
Q: How competitive are you?
A: I refuse to buy into that, man.
Q: Let's say Spider-Man is being cast...
A: I want that role very, very badly. Right now they're talking to Leonardo DiCaprio. It's a competition, but I can't look at it that way. There are other parts. You can't live or die on that sword, man, because you're gonna die more times than you live.
Q: What about being a teen idol at the age of 24? Is that a compliment or is it baggage?
A: It's a compliment. Look at what I have because of my fans. They put food in my mouth, they give me love, they're the reason I get paid so well. They believed in me and they showed up when other people wouldn't. That's my audience, those are my people. I made three movies for them. For them! Now I want to make one for me. I want to be a pitcher, because I never got to be that. So I'll make a baseball movie, Summer Catch. Then if it's time to make one for them, I will.
Q: What kind of films do you see yourself making in the next 5 or 10 years?
A: Hopefully I'll make something that really messes with people's heads, the way The Silence of the Lambs Did. Or play a superhero. I want to do things that mere mortals can't.
Q: You've said that people would laugh at you being a bad guy.
A: They have. I go into meetings and the response that comes back is that the moment I smile no one believes I can he a bad guy.
Q: I've read you like cartoon shows--would you like to do a voice-over for some cartoon?
A: That's my dream. If I could make a living doing that I would stop acting. To be a cartoon character, that's like being immortalized.
Q: Who's the most influential person in your past?
A: My father,
Q: More than your mother?
A: Yeah. I didn't want to make the same mistakes he did, so I've guided my entire life to make sure that I don't end up like that.
Q: How would you describe your mother?
A: Hardheaded, passionate, beats up on herself too much.
Q: How different are you from your mother?
A: My mom and I are a lot alike.
Q: Do you think you're in touch with your emotions?
A: I'm still learning about them. I'm getting to feel things that I never felt before. As an actor you want to hold on to those and remember them; as a person you're like, "Shit, let it go, man." I'm still a baby. I'm still a kid.
Q: What's your favorite sport?
A: Boxing. Marvin Hagler's my favorite. He's left-handed, like me.
Q: Bill Bradley played for the Knicks, your favorite team. Did you vote for him in the presidential primary?
A: I don't vote. I'm gonna catch hell for this. I try to get into it but they all look like liars to me. I just don't buy a word they're saying, I'm an actor, I know moments, I can see they don't believe what they say. They don't even deliver their lines right.
Q: What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you?
A: I was out to dinner with this girl, and this always happens to me: you know the fabric softener sheets you put in the dryer? I check my clothes because this happens to me so many times. Almost every time I go on a date I'll be talking and I'll have my hand on my head and I look down and there'll be a fucking fabric softener sheet sticking out of my sleeve or out of my neck.
Q: When you watch "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," how far do you usually get?
A: Not very far. I need my lifelines. I made it to $125,000 a few times. I've never gotten any of the higher ones. I love that show.
Q: What's your favorite music?
A: Rap. My favorite rapper is Guru, after that it's a three-way tie between Tupac Shakur, DMX and Biggie Smalls.
Q: If you could live inside a painting, what one would you choose?
A: I don't know the name of it, but I was in Luxembourg and there was this painting, very textury, it's got this fountain and a bird on the edge and a naked little girl with her hands on the edge of the fountain looking up kissing the bird. I sat and stared at this painting for so long, I didn't see any other thing in the museum.
Q: Are you still tap dancing?
A: I've been dancing for a couple of years now. Me and my buddy Dule [Hill] built a dance floor downstairs. He's one of the best tap dancers in the world. He was in Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, I dug what he was doing one day and asked him to show me. He didn't know if I was serious, but I kept practicing. We dance all the time, it's more fun than acting.
Q: What are the five most important things in life?
A: Love. Family. Food. Home. Religion. Not necessarily in that order.
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Lawrence Grobel interviewed David Duchovny for the April issue of Movieline.