Aaron Eckhart: Aaron from Erin

These were the years when young actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Norton were walking into auditions and walking out with feature film jobs. Not Eckhart. "I'm not good at auditioning. I'm not a good salesman. Nobody took me seriously." He made money bartending, waiting tables and acting in commercial. "I'd always be close to getting on a soap or testing for a pilot, but, the truth is, my heart was never in those things." Even in the worst of times, when he'd get a call after reading for a soap, and someone would say, "Aaron, it's between you and another guy," he'd be thinking, "Oh shit. I hope I don't get this. I never saw myself on TV." (Today he doesn't even own a TV.)

"So you turn 28, and one of your biggest credits is playing Samson in Ancient Secrets of the Bible, Part II. What gave you the courage to keep going?"

"I felt that I was working hard enough and that I was talented enough that something would break for me."

And then came the fateful phone call from LaBute, who was, by now, raising a family and reaching in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He said to Eckhart, "I got $25,000. Let's make In the Company of Men."

"When you get that break," says Eckhart, "you have to be ready for it. That's what makes a career. Fortunately, I was able to rise to the occasion." In the Company of Men was shot in 11 days, made a huge impression at Sundance and launched the careers of both men. In the last scene, Eckhatt is in bed with a woman. That woman, Emily Cline, was the kind of woman he'd been searching for since leaving Utah. In 1997, they got engaged. At the time, Eckhart said, "The biggest mistake people make is not staying with a good woman, not relishing what you have. Emily's good for me. It's gonna work." But, alas, it didn't. They never made it to the altar.

Eckhart says, after taking a deep breath, "My life went one direction and hers went another. It's something, maybe, I'll regret my entire life. I don't know if I'll ever find a woman more suited to me. I haven't found anyone who comes close."

"Is Emily still single?"

"Yeah, but some things are irreparable." He takes a drag on his cigarette.

"So are you dating?"

He nods.

"Do people fix you up?"

"No. Maybe because I'm too demanding."

"Where do you meet people?"

"On movie sets, which are intense places to fall in love. It hasn't happened to me, though, because everyone I've done movies with had boyfriends." Before leaving this theme, Eckhart mentions one caveat about dating someone who shares his profession. "If you date an actress you have to be concerned about her integrity, because she's an actress. You have to weed through that game and ask, 'What does she really want?' It's a tough business in which to have a relationship. I don't think I'll find a wife in Los Angeles."

"Who are you spending your free time with?"

"I have a dog I'm intensely passionate about."

"Well, you'll be in London for several months filming Possession. Who knows?"

He considers this and lightens up. ''I'd love to have a place in Europe." Eckhart spent some of his teen years in London at the prestigious American Community School. "Maybe John Malkovich, who lives in France, has the right idea."

"Do you think while on the set of Possession you might look at LaBute and say, 'Shit, how did all this happen so fast?'''

"Hey, we say that every time we talk. It's amazing that I'm sitting here [being interviewed] and Neil is in London scouting locations and talking to Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson. I don't know how it's happened, but we're very grateful that it has. Of course, I may never get another movie and he could have a flop, and then well be doing infomercials together."

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Jeffrey Lantos interviewed Traylor Howard for the July issue of Movieline.

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