The Safe House - Expositions - Exclusively Michael

The scan was kindly provided by Debbie. Transcript courtesy of Lugia.

The 35-year-old Alias star and avid L.A. Kings and Mets fan is featured with the Stanley Cup in the NHL's ad campaign

SI: For a huge hockey fan like you, how big a thrill was it to hang around the Cup?
Vartan: I've worked with some of the hottest women in Hollywood, and it's by far the most nervous I've been on camera. The moment I saw the Cup I got the chills. The first 10 takes I flubbed every line.

SI: You only moved to the U.S. at age 18. How does a guy from Fleury, France, become a Mets fan?
Vartan: I had Mets pajamas as a kid.

SI: You're filming Monster-in-Law with Jennifer Lopez, a Yankees fan, and Jane Fonda, who was married to the owner of the Braves. Have you outlawed baseball talk on the set?
Vartan: The first thing I told Jane was, "I was a huge fan of yours until I saw you sitting in the stands of Turner Field doing the tomahawk chop."

SI: You play pickup hockey several times a week. Do you wear a mask so that pretty face of yours doesn't get smacked?
Vartan: Oh, yeah. Believe me, I'd welcome a couple of pucks and high sticks to the face, but I gotta protect the investment.

SI: In filming the NHL playoff spots, did you get to drink out of the Cup?
Vartan: I didn't, but I have a new puppy and I tried to get her to sit in the top of the Cup for a picture. She wouldn't get near it. She knew unless you've won it, you can't touch it.

SI: You've said you would trade everything to be a pro athlete. Do you expect us to believe you'd trade a role on a hit show and dating one of the world's most beautiful women [Alias co-star Jennifer Garner, right] just to lead Tie Domi's life?
Vartan: The last part is tough. I would not trade dating Jennifer for anything, but if I were Tie Domi, maybe I could still date her. (Laughs.) Of course I'm over the hill now. I throw a baseball for 15 minutes, and the next day I can't move my arm. I sort of realize it's over.

For more from Michael Vartan, go to si.com/siexclusive.

From the website:

Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Richard Deitsch recently interview Michael Vartan, the 35-year-old star of Alias and avid L.A Kings and Mets fan. Here's more of their conversation:

SI: Your list of female co-stars includes Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner. What did you do in a previous life to become so fortunate?
Vartan: I must have been a coal miner in the late 1800s in Pennsylvania somewhere and either the mine collapsed or I died of black lung. But put Jennifer Garner at the top of that list.

SI: You can be one hockey player for one day. Who would you choose?
Vartan: Can I have two? I'd choose Wayne Gretzky, just to be able to play hockey and have everything around me be in slow motion. And anyone on the L.A. Kings. If you cut me, I bleed purple.

SI: What NHL player's game is closest to yours?
Vartan: I'm definitely not the biggest guy; I'm more of a playmaker. I think "pass" before "shoot." I'm certainly not going to say Gretzky because having both our names in the same sentence would be blasphemous. How about Alexei Zhamnov?

SI: Best guy you've played with or against?
Vartan: Without a doubt, [former NHL player] Glenn Anderson. I played with him at the All-Star Game when it was here in L.A in 2002.

SI: Your greatest athletic moment?
Vartan: When I was 14 years old I played soccer in France and tried out for a pro team called Paris St. Germain. I was accepted into the farm system as a goaltender but my father didn't want to drive from our village so I never got a chance to play for the team. So that was my greatest moment, being OK'd by a pro soccer team. I honestly think that had the cards been dealt differently that's what I would be doing right now. I'm not saying I could be [Fabian] Bartez but I believe without a shadow of a doubt I could have played second division or maybe first.

SI: You once said in an interview that you like healthy, corn-fed women who aren't afraid to have a steak, drink a cosmopolitan and enjoy life. Do you look for the same qualities in a hockey player?
Vartan: The corn-fed part, yes.

SI: What's your Stanley Cup prediction?
Vartan: I like Calgary. The Flames have a blue-collar team and they're fast. I think Jerome Iginla is the best player in hockey.
Everything changed when he dropped the gloves with Derian Hatcher in the Detroit series. Being a Kings fan I've always hated the Flames, especially back in the late 1980s when Joel Otto and Doug Gilmour and Mike Vernon were stoning us. I think Calgary in six against Tampa Bay.

SI: What kind of athlete would do well on Alias?
Vartan: I think any hockey, football or basketball player because of all the running and physicality of the show. Golfers and bowlers would have a harder time.

SI: Why are all the women in our office much more interested in my interview with you than they were in my conversation with Tim Russert?
Vartan: I guess it's amazing how much more handsome you get when you're on TV.

SI: The "HOCKEY . . . GET IT? GET IT!" campaign began airing in October 2003, and has starred Jim Belushi, Denis Leary, Kiefer Sutherland, Shania Twain and now you. How would that group do against a bunch of beer-league players?
Vartan: Well, I'll say Denis is not a bad hockey player at all. He's played in our game once or twice and he's pretty good. Belushi, I don't if he's good. I doubt Shania plays at all. But if they fed me the puck, I think we'd do all right.

SI: Who is the best Hollywood type you've played hockey with?
Vartan: David E. Kelly.

SI: How does a tough guy like you own a dog named Millie?
Vartan: She's a chocolate lab. I was going to get a male dog and call it Metro -- short for the New York Metropolitans and a wink to the French subway system -- and Astro is my favorite dog character in cartoons. But then one of my friends said, "Dude, is your dog a metrosexual" so that ruined it for me. Then I was going to call it Stanley in honor of Lord Stanley's Cup, but I ended up with a girl and called it Millie.

SI: Men's Fitness Magazine named you one of Hollywood's Top 10 Toughest Guys. Where does honor rank with, say, an Oscar or a Golden Globe?
Vartan: I think it actually will be below the Golden Toilet. I'm certainly not a tough guy. I'm a lover not a fighter.

SI: When we interviewed Kiefer Sutherland, Denis Leary and Cuba Gooding Jr. in this same space and asked who the best celebrity player is, how come none of them mentioned Michael Vartan?
Vartan: Because they hadn't played with me at the time.

SI: How often do you play?
Vartan: I haven't playing much lately because of the movie I'm making. But when I'm not working I play Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
Priorities, man.

SI: How much are you lobbying the writers to be able to show off your hockey skills on Alias?
Vartan: I do it all the time. We've shot three on-ice scenes and it's one of the few times I feel like a professional hockey player because I'm getting paid to skate around the ice.

SI: You are frequently the source of tabloid fodder. Ever have a ridiculous rumor about you that involves sports?
Vartan: Unfortunately, no. I would welcome any ridiculous rumor involving sports. Apparently, I've been married two times and pregnant once.

SI: What's more difficult: Taking a bodycheck in a celebrity hockey game or getting naked in front of Robin Williams as you did in One Hour Photo?
Vartan: Well, definitely getting naked in front of Robin Williams because there is no checking in celebrity hockey.

SI: You briefly made a career as a pool hustler. How good were you?
Vartan: That was sort of a product of not being able to get arrested as an actor and I thought what better way to give my money to strange people with strange names like Baltimore John and Filipino Phil. I was pretty good. I think if I really stuck to it I could have maybe made a small living at it. But I really didn't have the killer instinct. My game was good but my hustling was terrible. My handle -- and this is embarrassing -- was The Poodle. There was a guy named Hollywood Jack who said: "You play nine ball like a bulldog but play one pocket like a poodle.'" The next day I walked into the pool hall and some guy said, "Hey, Poodle, you want to play?'"

SI: True or False: You were playing hockey during this year's Golden Globes ceremony?
Vartan: I was indeed. Then I had a quick shower, stepped into a phone booth and put on my rent a tux, and met my girlfriend [Alias co-star Jennifer Garner] for a couple of drinks. What a Sunday night, huh?

© Sports Illustrated 2004

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