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Canoe/Jam
Monday, April 8, 2002
Tortured soul a comedian at heart
By LOUIS B. HOBSON -- Calgary Sun
HOLLYWOOD -- Jim Caviezel knows it's time he lightened up.
He just wishes directors, producers and casting agents would let him.
From his breakout performance in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line to his role as Ashley Judd's mysterious husband in High Crimes, Caviezel has played his share of tortured, haunted, enigmatic loners.
He was the man who blanked out his past in Angel Eyes, drowned it in alcohol in Pay It Forward and had it stolen from him in The Count of Monte Cristo.
In High Crimes, his character's past has the potential to destroy him and those around him in the new life he's created for himself.
Caviezel plays Tom Kubik, a kind, gentle man married to a high-powered, young San Francisco lawyer (Judd). Their idyllic life is shattered when Tom is arrested by the FBI and charged with heinous war crimes committed a decade earlier in El Salvador.
Nothing's funny about that scenario and that's the dilemma facing Caviezel.
"I'm not the first guy anyone in the business thinks of for comedy, but that's what I really want to do. When I was doing stage work, it was mostly in comedies like Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn," says Caviezel.
"I'm getting some great roles, but they're all for these intense, tortured souls. It couldn't be further from who I really am. If I was as intense as the characters I play, I'd have no friends. I certainly wouldn't have a marriage."
Caviezel, 33, was married in 1997 to Kerri, a former teacher. The couple recently moved to L.A. from Mt. Vernon, Washington.
Caviezel's swashbuckling drama The Count of Monte Cristo was a surprise hit earlier this year. Made for $35 million US, it has grossed more than $150 million worldwide.
"I'm still considered a good casting bargain because I'm not overpriced. I'm hoping the box-office success of The Count of Monte Cristo will give me some leverage to get a comedy. I would have loved to be in Notting Hill or Four Weddings and a Funeral, romantic comedies like that."
High Crimes director Carl Franklin says filmmakers look to Caviezel for dramatic roles because "Jim has such accessibility to his emotions. He's not afraid to look inward. So many actors of his generation rarely go beyond the surface. They may be slick and polished, but they're not as insightful, deep and truthful."
Caviezel doesn't have another film on the go and that suits him fine because he is preparing to drive in this year's Indy 500.
"I'm a huge car buff, which is ironic because most of my early cars were real rattletraps.
"I finally had to borrow money from my dad to buy a decent car because none of the girls in my hometown would go out with me. I was driving a '76 Toyota truck when I met my wife."
He now drives a white '93 Honda on which he has spent countless hours and a great deal of money turning it into a dream car.
After he fulfills his goal of driving in the Indy 500, Caviezel hopes to head down to South Africa to act on another dream.
"I want to get in the water with a great white shark. I've read so much about them and how people have learned to interact with them. It's my tiny level of celebrity which allows me to do these kinds of things and for that I'm very grateful."
Thursday, January 24, 2002
No sex, please - he respects his wife
By BRUCE KIRKLAND
Toronto Sun
HOLLYWOOD -- There is the illusion of a nude sex scene between rising star Jim Caviezel and his sultry co-star Dagmara Dominczyk in the latest version of the swashbuckling tale The Count Of Monte Cristo.
Caviezel plays the conflicted title character while Dominczyk, the 25-year-old Polish-American starlet who kissed Jennifer Aniston smack on the lips in Rock Star, is his cherished Mercedes. In the movie, which opens here tomorrow, they make love on a rocky beach before the forces of evil wreak havoc.
But love-making in the movies really is not about love. And Caviezel, a devout, conservative, 33-year-old Roman Catholic, abhors the idea of going too far, even when he's faking it.
"The problem is that I'm a married man and I think Hollywood pushes it too far," Caviezel says. "It's not necessarily embarrassing, but the fact is that I have such respect for my wife. I think that you can still show romance (in movies) without showing ..." He doesn't finish, but you know he means nudity.
So, when Dominczyk was asked by the filmmakers to pull off her top so it would appear as if she was totally nude when the camera was positioned just right, she did so -- and Caviezel went into panic mode. "Jim was very nervous," Dominczyk says. "He said: 'I don't think I'll be very comfortable with someone's breasts up against my chest.' "
So, urged on by the crew, Dominczyk whipped off her panties, pulled her jeans back on, and made pasties out of her flesh-coloured underwear. "It was more complicated than it had to be," Domincyyk says with a smile, "but you have to respect (Caviezel's position)." She found it charming that he sang Elvis songs to her to ease the tension they both felt.
The anecdote is interesting because it shows just how sincere and thoughtful Caviezel is as the humble country boy and former basketball star from Mount Vernon, Wash. Married since 1997 to a high school English teacher named Kerri, Caviezel is charting his career carefully, trying desperately to maintain his dignity and his religion in a business that is more about money than taste.
"I have a hard time," Caviezel says of characters he plays who are not as respectful as he is in life, "because abstinence is important in my faith. To tell kids to be abstinent and to do films where my character is not, I struggle with that."
At another point in the interview, Caviezel explains how he respects directors who treat everyone with equal care. As examples, Caviezel cites Terrence Malik, who made him a star in the anti-war epic The Thin Red Line; Kevin Reynolds, who directed him in The Count Of Monte Cristo, and Carl Franklin, who directed him in the forthcoming thriller High Crimes.
'Bless him'
"That humility I love," he says, "because I know that someone up above is going to bless him and make this a good film."
If Caviezel is beginning to sound just a tad dry, dull and/or oppressively serious, every once in a while he pops up with a droll remark that seems to mock himself and break the spell.
So his eyes twinkle when he's queried about showing different sides of himself in his "different" roles to date: "Are you referring to all my shades of moodiness in all my roles?" he asks with a barely suppressed smile. "You know it's very hard to play moody ... (he savours the moment of his joke) ... So I've been looking for a good comedy for a long time."
Tuesday November 28, 2000
'Forward' actor to co-star with Judd
Fast-rising actor Jim Caviezel has signed on to star alongside Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman and Amanda Peet in the military court drama "High Crimes," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In the adaptation of Joseph Finder's novel, Caviezel, who has received acclaim for his work in "Pay It Forward," "Frequency," and "Ride With the Devil," would play a man accused by military police of 12-year-old war atrocities. He enlists his lawyer wife (Judd) to defend his name, with the help of a retired military attorney (Freeman), the report said.
Peet is to play Judd's younger sister. The project is to be directed by Carl Franklin ("Devil In A Blue Dress," "One True Thing"), The Hollywood Reporter said.
-- JAM! Movies
Tuesday, May 30, 2000
Athletic eyes
By BOB THOMPSON -- Toronto Sun
TORONTO - That tall, dark and athletic guy you might have seen running around the city with Bodi Worx's Harley Pasternak wasn't a pro ball player getting loosened up for a Jays game, as some gawkers have suggested.
The active one is actor Jim Caviezel, who stars with Jennifer Lopez in Angel Eyes, shooting here.
Caviezel, besides being a better-than-average basketball player, is a decent boxer too. But he became hooked on the work-out business when he was shooting G.I. Jane with Demi Moore.
Caviezel went through the rigorous Navy Seal program and liked it so much he kept up the grueling routines. In between shooting the cop drama, Angel Eyes, Caviezel runs for more than an hour a day, does some weight training, stretches and generally tones his 6-foot-1 frame.
"He's fanatical," is how one insider describes his devotion, even more obsessed than when he was here last spring shooting Frequency.
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