The Heath Is On 1 March 2000

The Heath Is On

You watched the Oscars at the NW party in Sydney - did you wish you were in LA, amongst the glitz and glamour?

I've been living there for three years, so I was glad I wasn't there. It's only glitzed and glammed because it's broadcast to billions of people around the world. If it wasn't broadcast to so many countries the actors would turn up in jeans.

Are you a Hollywood kind of guy?

I was when I first got there, because it was novel and fun, and it was like "wow." Then it becomes boring and blatant. I just do my own thing, you know? You have to create a lifestyle for yourself, schedules, plans, things to do with friends. Washing.

Do you have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles?

People just love to bash LA. People say it's so pretentious, so arrogant, so this and that. Buts it's truly a wonderful place. You don't have to go to the places where that stuff goes on. You don't have to go to Beverly Hills, you don't have to go to the parties. You can live up in the Lower Canyon and live such a perfectly healthy, beautiful, fun life with all your friends. You can drive two hours one way and be at the Joshua Tree desert, two hours one way you're skiing at Big Bear. Sure, it can get full-on and that's why it's good to get out. But it's too easy just to say, "Nup, I hate it. I'm not living there anymore."

Where are you living now?

Well, actually I'm in New York now. I love the city, so I thought, why not? I'll live here for a while.

Would you ever come back to Australia, say for a role in the next "Star Wars" movie?

F*ck, no way would I do "Star Wars" in a million years! I don't want to be part of an advertisement scheme for computer games, and that's all it is. The original ones? Sure, they were great, I grew up on them, but that last one was appalling. I hated it. How was that whole racer thing? You can buy that whole scene on a video game. It was such a marketing ploy. It made me sick.

So you're not the next Anakin Skywalker then...

It would be so boring. You'd work eight months in front of a blue screen, talking to a dot. Ewan McGregor hated it. He was bored ****less. I'm sure they all were. It's not really about that at the end of the day. It's about how much fun you have and if it's a good movie.

What are good movies to you?

I love good scripts. "Being John Malkovich," "American Beauty," "Magnolia." Those three have stood out lately. And I liked "The Cider House Rules." I like Tobey Maguire. I think he's an amazing actor.

Do you get a ton of teen movies?

I did after "10 Things I Hate About You." That's why I sat around on my arse for a year saying no to teen stuff. Because I didn't really want to take that avenue.

What are the differences between a big studio film like "The Patriot" and an independent Australian film like "Two Hands?"

Studios in America have more money, more film and more time. That's basically it. There are a lot of physical differences, but it's mainly money.

What was your physical preparation for your role in "The Patriot?"

We did a lot of horse-riding and musket-shooting. I'd done a bit of riding before, so that wasn't too hard. But I'd never shot a musket before.

Mel Gibson said you were "**** scared" prior to filming. Were you?

Yeah, I was **** scared. It was my first big-budget movie and there are a lot of pressures that come along with that. Anyone would be scared in that position. But it took me about a week, and I was pretty relaxed. Mel's always joking, he's very light-humoured all the time and constantly telling jokes. The director and producer were also really nice people, and it was never a tense shoot.

Describe the shoot.

Long, educational, tiring, but a lot of fun.

Tell me about the 17th century love scene you did.

I spend a night at my girlfriend's house and they only have one bed for me to sleep, and that's hers. Things weren't very liberal back then, of course. What happened was they stitched me up in this big wheat bag, right up to my chin, so that just my head was showing. That's it, it's a really cute situation.

How did you relate to the father/son relationship in the movie?

Every kid gets to an age where they feel they have their own opinions and morals. They go out and pursue them, and they get burnt on half of them and the others may be right. I guess I related to it in that respect.

You're doing another period piece, "A Knight's Tale" - what's that about?

Nothing interested me about doing another period piece, but the script was really good. That's what it comes down to for me. I play a young man who wants to become a jousting competitor, but he can't because he's not of royal blood or knight status. So he forges papers and competes. There's a few little twists and turns, of course, and a lot of swordplay. I'm about to go into 77 days of filming with three days off.

How do you feel going into a movie?

Excited, but anxious to get it done. The best part of making a movie is when it's finished. During filming, I feel like the night before and exam - you have to keep fresh and you don't want to study too hard, otherwise it will clog your head for the next morning... When you finally finish, all the knots loosen up from your back.