Among the famous faces in the X-Men franchise--Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen. Anna Paquin--there is one that has yet to reveal its full potential. Now that James Marsden has more to bite on in the sequel, will his days of anonymity be far behind?
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MOST ACTORS JUST THROW ON A PAIR OF SHADES TO DISAPPEAR INTO THE CROWD. But James Marsden has to keep his sunglasses off if he wants to go unnoticed. After his turn as Cyclops in X-Men, where he wore a pair of wraparound shades and a sexy leather uniform, Marsden's face became more recognizable with the glasses than without.
"It's funny," he says with a laugh. "Whenever people see me with glasses on, they sort of do a double-take and then they nod their heads. So now I just leave them in the car and hope for the best."
The best is certainly happening to 29-year-old Marsden. The Oklahoma native loves making the X-Men movies ("It was soooo cool to be part of this big cast, with those bizarre costumes, the amazing special effects") and in the sequel his role is bigger and better. He's also starring in the indie road movie Interstate 60 opposite Gary Oldman and he just finished shooting The Notebook for director Nick Cassavetes.
Sipping his third cup of coffee (he says it's his one addiction) at a cafe along Sunset Blvd., Marsden seems relaxed and comfortable. He's dressed down in a T-shirt, cords and sneakers, and he looks amused as he takes in all the action along the Strip.
"Have women always been wild for your good looks?" I ask. May as well get right to the point.
He blushes. "I can't say I haven't been told that I'm good looking, but I'm not really a player. I had one girlfriend all through high school, and I've been with Lisa for 7 years."
Marsden is talking about his equally stunning wife, actress Lisa Linde (a "Days of Our Lives" alumna), whom he married three years ago and has since had a baby with.
Turns out looks aren't what pulled Marsden into acting--it was a chance meeting with a fellow actor. On a trip to Hawaii, Marsden befriended Kirk Cameron's sisters, which led to an introduction to the "Growing Pains" star. After the vacation, Marsden wanted to give acting a try. It's difficult for me to picture how Kirk Cameron could inspire anyone to do anything.
"Laugh all you want," Marsden says, and trust me, I do. "But Kirk made me realize that acting was something I might be good at. I went back to my high school and started doing some plays, and I liked it."
In fact, Marsden's theater teacher went a little crazy, sure that he had discovered the next James Dean. Nonetheless, Marsden went to college for a year and a half, but then, like millions before him, quit and came to Hollywood to see if he could make his way. (It helped that his father gave him enough money to live on for one year.) After appearing in a few TV movies (that was him in the miniseries "Bella Mafia"), Marsden got his break on the short-lived TV series "Second Noah." He went on to do small parts on TV and in film, almost got the Ed Norton role in Primal Fear, read for Starship Troopers and starred alongside Kate Hudson in Gossip. Then came X-Men, which Marsden says was "a fantastic adventure, along with a hell of a lot of hard work."
"When you went back to do X2, a lot had changed," I say. "The movie was a huge success, Hugh Jackman's face was everywhere, and Halle Berry had won an Oscar. Were people's attitudes different?"
Marsden thinks for a while. "I want to say that everyone's egos were out of control, that Hugh was impossible, that Halle demanded three trailers, but that wasn't the case at all. X-Men is an ensemble film, and everyone was just happy to be back in Vancouver doing this movie." Just like a Midwestern boy not to gossip, but Marsden's sincerity is endearing.
"If you could go anywhere in the world for a holiday, where would it be?" I ask.
"Hawaii," he says without hesitation, "because everything about it is beautiful and perfect. But wait, should I say the Bahamas or something like that?"
"I ask the questions," I remind Marsden. "Have you ever been to the Bahamas?"
"No, but it seems like it might be a cool place. OK, I'll stick with Hawaii," he says, as if this is a game show.
Now that Marsden has a decade in Hollywood behind him, a franchise under his belt (bet on an X3) and he's tried everything from comedy (the cheerleader heist flick Sugar and Spice and a season as a dreamboat on "Ally McBeal") to horror (he costarred with Katie Holmes in Disturbing Behavior), how does Marsden picture his future? His face lights up. "Having worked with both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, I realized that when you get to be 70 or 80, you want someone to say, 'Who's James Marsden?' and then for someone else to say, 'Oh, James Marsden? He's been in everything.' That's my prayer."
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