'I'm Like a Catalyst'

Mark Ruffalo is making up for lost time. Four years ago--after more than a decade of bit parts and low-paying theatrical roles--Ruffalo finally had a breakthrough, playing Terry Prescott, a wayward drifter who comes home to stay with his straight-laced sister in "You Can Count on Me." The movie earned two Academy Award nominations and Ruffalo was hailed as a rising star. But just as things seemed to be looking up for him--with scripts piling up on his doorstep and he and his new wife, actress Sunrise Coigney, celebrating the birth of their son--Ruffalo was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The surgery and slow recovery left him out of commission for nearly a year. When he re-embarked on his film career, he did so with a vengeance. In the past two years, Ruffalo, now 36, has been in seven major movies, in roles ranging from a mustachioed, tough-talking homicide detective in "In the Cut" to an endearing boy-next-door type in "13 Going on 30." This weekend, he'll be appearing in two movies simultaneously. In Michael Mann's "Collateral," which shot to number one in the Box Office when it opened last weekend, he stars as a police detective trying to chase down Tom Cruise, who plays a contract killer. In John Curran's "We Don't Live Here Anymore," which opens Friday, he plays an unfaithful husband struggling to determine if his marriage is worth saving. NEWSWEEK's Jennifer Barrett Ozols spoke with Ruffalo at his hotel suite in New York about his unusual career path and where it might take him next. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: I understand you were the first lead to sign on to "We Don't Live Here Anymore." What drew you to the role?

Mark Ruffalo: I read the material and I thought, wow, this is difficult; and I was very impressed by the writing. I hadn't seen such an honest portrayal of marriage. But I was really reticent to take it on actually because it was such difficult material and I thought it needed a really special director to handle it--someone who really knew this sort of world well and respected relationships and had a strong, mature vision. And I couldn't really think of anybody who would be able to do it.

Ooh. That's not saying much for Hollywood directors.

[laughs] Well, I mean, I thought that they're just not making this type of movie--at least, not here [in America]. But then I saw John [Curran's] movie, "Praise," and I thought, this guy is really something else. And we met and I saw how much passion he had about the material and his point of view about it and I just immediately jumped on board.

You said earlier you don't usually see marriage portrayed this honestly. Isn't that a little cynical? Your character cheats on his spouse with his best friend's wife.

It's just that anyone who has been in a long relationship has come up against difficult situations and I just thought you don't see that in cinema, or anywhere in pop culture, where it's quite this honest. It's obviously a marriage in crisis, but these people have been together for 10 years. He'd never cheated on her [before] in that time and they had children happily and were married happily. It's something of a cautionary tale about where marriage can end up if you're not communicating and you're not taking care of your dreams and the other person's aspirations. We are sort of spoon-fed this sort of idyllic--or just totally criminalized--idea of marriage. We rarely get to see something so honestly portrayed in a way that makes us appreciate the marriages we have. Or, even for people who aren't married, to sort of understand the difficulties of it and how important the mantel, the tradition, that you have been passed is. It comes from my deep respect of marriage that I wanted to do this film.

Do you know people who are in this situation? Have you met people like your character, Jack?

Well, in the past few years, I've had friends who have been married for 15 or 20 years, or less--and, three couples in particular have all sort of blown up. And they all have kids and I loved all of them dearly, and they are all right and they are all wrong. When you see the statistics, 50 percent of marriages are ending in divorce. And something like 75 percent of men will cheat--or have cheated--on their wives.

Really? That's comforting to hear as someone who just got married a month ago.

Well, 45 percent of woman will cheat--or have cheated--on their husbands.... [Adultery] is just topical, it's something that's going on around us. Marriage is such a big institution. It's really part of our culture in a big way. It's even connected to the American Dream.

The wife, the kids, the white picket fence.

Yeah, and it isn't really like that. It takes work. There's a lot of beautiful, joyous moments, but the great thing about marriage is that it is a really fertile place for people to grow. The only way to grow is by exposing yourself and your foibles, and it just happens naturally. Unfortunately, the people that you love get to see not always the best version of you. But by sort of exposing some of those things to the light of day, you have some growth. That's what I hope anyway. [laughs]

I think that's what we all hope when we get married.

But it's hard to keep it up. Or they just stop telling the truth or stop communicating. I mean you have to say things to somebody that you never wanted to say to another human being about desires and other things. But once you say it, it's freeing. It's amazing. And you remember why you fell in love. I think that's where Jack ends up towards the end of the movie. He's unconscious and then it all comes out. His whole life unfolds, and he says, this is my life, this is where I belong.

You've said in the past that you dread being compared to the characters you play sometimes. Have you had a hard time trying to keep from being stereotyped as the character you played in "You Can Count on Me"?

Yeah, I keep looking to break it up and keep the balls in the air, so to speak, before someone pegs me, pigeonholes me, boxes me up and puts a nice label on me, sells me to the mass public. [laughs]

You've got the whole industry figured out.

I loathe that though, I loathe it. I loathe the idea of somebody somehow putting boundaries on me as an artist. It just angers me. If I had to play Terry Prescott [from "You Can Count On Me"] in every part that I did, I would become cynical and bored and I'd have a really horrible personal life and do really outrageous things in public.

Because you're trying to show your creativity somewhere else? As in, if you can't do this on screen, might as well do it in public?

I think that's what people end up doing. But for me, I live a really bourgeois life and I live things out on screen.

That's much safer.

Exactly, it's like role playing.

Are there many roles you've turned down because they didn't feel right for you?

Yeah, the roles just have to speak to me in some way. I have to be turned onto it or be intrigued or challenged by the material. Or think it'd be fun to do. I've turned quite a few down--some big stuff, some small stuff.

Have you ever regretted it?

No, never. You can never be hurt by what you didn't do.

But when you were diagnosed with a brain tumor a few years ago, you were just breaking out in the business, and then you were out of commission there for about a year after the surgery. How did that change your perspective on you life and career?

It made me live more fully; though you're always afraid you're going to forget that experience. But it made me want to live more authentically and appreciate what I have-- my very, very good fortune to be doing what I do. And it made me a little less fearless about my acting and what I am capable of.

Did you feel like fear was holding you back in your career before?

Not so much, but it was constant worry about each part. How is this going to add up in my career? Will this movie do all right? And all these career questions. And now I'm just like, screw that. I don't care. I'm going to do some things that aren't very good. I'm going to do some things that are well liked. Some things that are more provocative. And come what may. As long as the work is good and the material I choose means something to me, I don't think I can go wrong.

You said you started living more authentically too. What do you mean by that--what changes did you make?

Just in my personal dealings, my relationships and not being afraid of saying how I feel or what I want, being true to myself. It's being able to look down into myself and know what I want and being able to state that. That's something I didn't really know very much about before.

That's a pretty powerful thing to be able to do. Some people never do that.

I think what happens is you start that way and then you get it knocked out of you. Like I see my kid and there's no doubt about what he's feeling. There's no sugarcoating or doing something for social reasons. He doesn't care about being accepted, or looking cool. And it is really refreshing to see that.

How old is your son?

He's three.

Just wait.

No, I know. I think part of the game is that to survive you have to be conditioned that way. It's sad.

What role has been the most difficult for you?

"In the Cut" was really hard to do. It was so different from me and it was just kind of challenging and scary. Michael Mann's 'Collateral' was difficult. He is so intense and he's the kind of director where you're going to have an experience with it when you're working with him.

In "Collateral," you play a good guy going after Tom Cruise, who--for once--plays a really bad guy. How was that?

Well, my guy--you think he might be a bad guy. Then you realize he is actually the good guy and Tom Cruise is the bad guy. Initially you think Tom Cruise could be a nice guy.

That's a real role reversal.

Yeah, it was cool to be part of something that's sort of historic.

Historic, huh?

It is-- a little. Tom's never done anything like that. And, "In the Cut" had that same kind of thing too [with Meg Ryan]. When an actor is going to do something they've never done before, they bring in Mark Ruffalo to co star. [laughs]

You know, that's not a bad niche to have.

It's a great niche.

You'll never be bored.

I'm like a catalyst.

What are you doing next? I understand you're in a new movie that looks at the young lovers from "The Graduate" after they've grown up.

Actually, it's nothing like "The Graduate," it's just starting off there. I play Jennifer Aniston's fiance--very nice, staid, straight-laced lawyer. As nice as he can be as a lawyer. It's a sweet movie. And I think I'm going to be doing "All the King's Men" with Sean Penn. I'm really excited about that. He's one of my heroes. He's amazing.

Is there anything you really want to do that you haven't had a chance to do yet?

I'm trying to direct a film that I've been putting together since 1999. It's called "Running with Delicious." You know, like "Running with the Devil"?

Right, I get it. It's just an unusual title.

[pause] It's not a porno! [laughs]

What's it about?

It's kind of a satire on pop culture. And it's slowly coming together, it's been lurching into existence. I'd like to do more of that, directing.