Eric Bana: Trojan Man

Q: You've said in the past that you approach your work with "literal obsession," so how did you prepare for this role?

A: I knew the key to this character was stuff I felt within. I'm a younger brother of two and I identified a lot with that bond between Paris [Orlando Bloom] and Hector. But I was getting to be the older one and I knew exactly what it was like to have a younger brother who was a bit troublesome.

Q: Did you ever marvel at the success of Jim Carrey or other comedians and contemplate taking that route?

A: Yes and no, because even when I was doing comedy, I never saw myself as a comedian. I had this burning desire to do drama ever since I was a kid. And comedy helped me be brave. I was able to be a flaming idiot for a long time and learn in front of large groups of drunk people [Laughs].

Q: Before The Hulk, articles made it sound like you came out of nowhere. But you'd been working a long time. Does that kind of stuff piss you off?

A: Yeah, especially when someone assumes that you've just been plucked from an underwear commercial. I took the exact opposite route. So, yeah, I'm old enough now not to get caught up in that--he says, frothing at the mouth.

Q: While Troy was filming, we got paparazzi shots of Brad's muscles every week. Are you prepared for that attention?

A: No. I can safely say that will never be me. I just know I'm not that guy and I'm really happy to not be that guy.

Q: But how do you avoid the spotlight when you're starring in such enormous films?

A: You just make sure you have people like Brad and Orlando opposite you [Laughs]. I don't know. I feel like I've gotten away with something really sort of lucky.

Q: You've said you've never been that enamored of fame. Does living in Australia keep you grounded?

A: No, I'm just one of the lucky ones who has enough outside interests. I'm very active in motor racing. It's one of the reasons I take time off--if I can't indulge in it, I go a little insane. At the end of the day, I'm not going from party to party. I'm just sitting underneath a racecar fixing things.

Q: Your wife is not in the industry, right?

A: She was a publicist at a TV station I worked at and since then we've been making babies and traveling together.

Q: Do your kids understand what you do?

A: Not completely. My son's 4 1/2 and I've tried to explain that when people ask me for autographs it's like when he met the Wiggles. He thought he knew them, but he actually didn't. And I said, when people come up to dad, they kind of think I'm a Wiggle. So that made sense to him.

Q: What would people be surprised to know about you?

A: They're usually disappointed with how normal my life is.

Q: Awww. No scandals, happily married. So, what would you want someone to write about you that hasn't been said?

A: Um, he wears nice after-shave.

_____________________________________

Pages: 1 2