ajc.com
May 18, 2005
One Jen not enough for movie-TV actor Vartan
By Steve Murray, Staff
He handles a gun like a pro on ABC's "Alias." But how did Michael Vartan handle two above-the-title divas in "Monster-in-Law," last weekend's No. 1 movie?
By playing well with others, that's how.
Director Robert Luketic was ready to cast him, but the final decision was in the leading lady's hands. "I had to have a meeting with Jennifer to make sure our chemistry was not horrible," Vartan says by phone from New York.
That's Jennifer Lopez, not Jennifer Garner --- his co-star on "Alias," whom Vartan used to date but who's now involved with Ben Affleck, previously the fiance of . . . Lopez.
But more on that later.
Vartan clicked with Lopez, got the gig as her onscreen groom-to-be, then steeled himself to meet the other big name: Jane Fonda, returning to movies after 15 years, playing his control-freak mom.
"I quickly understood why she has two Oscars and I don't," Vartan says about working with the legend. "I hate to use actor words like 'craft' and 'emotional availability,' but everything she does on camera, you feel it so much more than with other people. I very quickly thought, 'OK, you are an amazing actress . . . and I'll be in my trailer.' "
To that self-deprecating note, he adds: "I always used to say 'I'm no De Niro' --- but, uh, my agents and managers don't like when I say that anymore."
Still, Vartan speaks his mind in a down-to-earth fashion you don't often find in Hollywood's starry heights.
For example, after briefly losing his train of thought, he admits, "I'm a little hung over." No, he's not a saucer: "As I get older, my tolerance gets lower, and it only takes a couple of glasses of wine at dinner to do it."
OK, so give the dish already. What was it like on set with the Lopez-Fonda combo? "I was mainly concerned that these two ladies would not get along," he says. "Luckily, they got along so well and made an effort to make me comfortable."
Boo . . .
As for Lopez's rumored rep as a demanding diva offscreen, he adds, "You know, I only go by what I hear people say. But she was so sweet to me. And the crew loved her. That's always the important thing."
Born in France as the only child of a French father and American mother, Vartan grew up shuttling between the two countries after his parents divorced when he was 5. He only decided to give acting a chance when friends repeatedly told him he should. He loves sports more.
"I hate you," he says during the conversation, while trying to find a Mets game on TV, "because if there's one team in baseball we can't beat, it's the Atlanta Braves."
If you don't want to pay to see Vartan in "Monster-in-Law," you can see him for free Wednesday nights on "Alias" as CIA agent Michael Vaughn, the handler and lover of Garner's Sydney Bristow. Tonight's episode is a two-hour edition, winding up to the season finale May 25.
"It's a big cliffhanger, as always," he says.
Speaking of cliffhangers, is he coming back for Season 5 --- or will Agent Vaughn be a casualty of the May 25 cliffhanger?
Don't worry, he's not going anywhere. "Having a show to fall back on in the fall is very comforting," he says. "I'm married to 'Alias.' "
As for his occasional movie jobs, "they're just girlfriends on the side."
He pauses. "That's gonna make me sound like a real gentleman."
So, speaking of things gentlemanly, did he and Lopez ever talk about the weird fact that their exes, Garner and Affleck, are now a couple --- apparently with a baby on the way?
"No, we never talked about it," Vartan says. "I never thought of it until the media brought it up.
"It's such a coincidence and so silly. It's Hollywood. I'm sure stranger things have happened."
© The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2005
 Back To Exclusively Michael 2005
|
