Meet Aaron

Aaron Eckhart doesn’t like too much attention. It makes him uncomfortable, which oddly enough, isn’t such an odd thing for an actor. Sure, there are artists that live for the limelight, but then there are others that live for the art (not that you can’t live for both, mind you). Eckhart is not a spotlight fiend. That much is clear. He doesn’t look uncomfortable, mind you, but he tells me so; and it’s clear from his quiet, pensive approach that he’s not out for the big headline, that he’s not going to flex his muscles to impress me. If I’m not impressed by his soft-spoken, steadfast approach, by his honesty, by his glorious chin, well, too bad for me.

Now on tour, promoting his latest film, Meet Bill, Eckhart is going through the arduous task of interview upon interview. Somehow, he remains unresentful. Sure, it’s his job (I guess), but I caught the man coming straight out of one interview, into the next, and then on his way to another. How much fun can that be? And when I questioned him, he simply replied, "I never say the same thing twice. Maybe that’s a bad thing."

"A bad thing?" I asked.

Sure. "They always use the same thing anyway, so it really doesn’t matter what I say."

And, yes, we do. Don’t we?

"It’s a vicious circle, but on the other hand if the circle works why make it a square. You know what I mean? See I’ve never said that before. Why make a circle a square?"

Why make a circle a square? Good question. And yet, I know he’s worried that I’ll take it out of context somehow. Why make a circle a square? Somehow, I’ll pose a question about his new film. ‘Your character is clearly confused and dissatisfied. He goes through a number of changes, and yet at the end I didn’t quite get the sense that he has truly arrived somewhere new. Why didn’t he blah, blah, blah?’ (Eckhart likes his blah, blah, blahs.) Why make a circle a square?

I try to reassure him that I won’t do this, that somehow, I’m different from all other journalists (I’m not), but why make a circle a square?

"What I say as a dry joke just comes off flat," Eckhart continues. "In print things don’t translate."

And he’s right. Few know that better than The Rake, I think, recalling our vain attempts at humor and sarcasm, recalling the negative feedback, all the people who just didn’t get the joke.

While Meet Bill is a fun physical comedy — far better than I might have imagined, based on the seemingly cheap Jessica Alba trailers — it’s still a slapstick comedy, and I’m left wondering why Eckhart is listed as executive producer, why a man with such interesting acting experience and only one production credit (a co-production credit, at that) under his belt, would take this on above a more nobel endeavor.

I’m naïve, of course, to ask the question.

"I have to say, my producorial involvement is minimal," answers Eckhart. "I don’t want to pretend that I was instrumental in this movie at all. When I come on or do a movie, I guess, that’s one of the perks that I get. Maybe sometimes it helps in casting. It’s a gift."

—So there was no financial backing?

"None whatsoever. It frankly kind of embarrasses me that it’s on there. But it’s one of the things that people do because it looks good. I don’t want to offend the other producers by taking credit. On small movies like this, because they don’t have a lot of money to give you, this can be another incentive. That’s kind of what it is. I just acted in the movie."

Now it all makes sense to me. Eckhart has no interest in producing.

"I’d rather go clean toilets than produce movies," he jokes. "What producers have to do — probably a lot of your job, too — is call people, follow up on people, try to make people honor their commitments. It’s hell. You know?" (Yes, I know.)

"Filmmaking is tiresome. It’s a long, arduous job, and you have to be a marathon runner to do it. For an actor, you just get in and get out. You don’t have to deal with pre-production. You don’t have to deal with post. You don’t have to deal with the money people, the pressure, the business, selling it. I’m far away from all that sort of stuff.

"I’m an actor. I have a lot to accomplish in acting, things that I want to do as an actor. I admire people like Clooney and these guys who do the whole enchilada. They do everything, and they make a great product. It’s unbelievable. And a lot of actors do that. Maybe another time. Maybe I’ll direct a traffic commercial. Like a PSA or something. On the environment." (He’s joking again, of course, though it may not be a bad idea.)