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TeenHollywood.com
May 10, 2005
Michael Vartan: Superspy Pops the Question
By Lynn Barker
Hot Michael Vartan has intrigued us as super agent Vaughn on the hit TV series “Alias”. For a time, he and co-star Jennifer Garner had something going. Before that, we all wondered who was the handsome teacher Drew Barrymore fell for in Never Been Kissed. Vartan’s dad character was the target of a sick Robin Williams in One Hour Photo and the French-born actor looked retro-hot as Lancelot in the TNT Camelot series "The Mists of Avalon".
Michael claims that he grew up in the French countryside where he was a farm kid who was taught that Paris was the big ugly city where all the bad people lived. He changed his opinion when he became a teen and saw all those hot babes in tiny mini-skirts! After starring in two French films, an epic in which he played two characters brought him to the attention of movie critics and Hollywood.
For our interview, Michael had no trace of a French accent and looked very American-casual in jeans, white tee and dark stripe shirt. We kicked back with the friendly, high energy actor at L.A.’s Four Seasons hotel recently where we chatted about his new role as screen icon Jane Fonda’s son and Jennifer Lopez’ boyfriend in the romantic comedy film Monster-In-Law. Read all about the movie and what’s going on in Michael’s life and on the “Alias” series and what he really thinks about movie kisses and his own personal love relationships.
TeenHollywood: What made you want to be in this movie?
Michael: The thing that really attracted me is Jane Fonda and Jennifer. I’m at a place in my career where I’m not being offered the things that I really wanted to do that are a lot darker and demanding and allow me to explore different avenues of my psyche as an actor. But, to get a chance to work with someone that I’ve admired for so long and with Jennifer, two icons, two incredibly powerful women, there were so many reasons. The script was funny. I knew that I was the straight guy but I would have dressed up in a tomato suit to do it.
TeenHollywood: Jane Fonda looks great in this movie and she plays your mom. How weird was that?
Michael: When I first met her, I was really struck by how beautiful she is. I don’t even know how old she is but I thought ‘my God, some people just get better with age’. It’s got to be more than just a cucumber mask. There are a couple of times where I think Kevin [his character] and Viola [Jane’s character] give each other a peck on the mouth as some mothers and sons do. I don’t. I did think, ‘Oh my God. I just kissed Jane Fonda’. That was pretty exciting. Jane is possibly one of the most intelligent women I’ve ever met. Talking to her was the most exciting part. Forget being on camera and getting to act with her, we all know how good she is as an actress. But, oh my God, this woman is just fantastic. All the things she’s been through in her life. She’s a fascinating woman and a great improviser.
TeenHollywood: Well, you get to kiss Jennifer Lopez as well. How was that?
Michael: Unfortunately, the truth about movie kisses is there’s a mic up your rear end, there’s a camera in your face, there’s fifty people on set. There’s nothing romantic about it. The thoughts going through your head, you’d be surprised. Like, literally, it’s ‘what time is lunch?’ and ‘does my ass look big in this kiss’?
TeenHollywood: Ooookay. How was working with J-Lo in general? Sometimes, she gets the rep of being “difficult”.
Michael: I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous when I got the part. I thought, ‘if the two ladies [Jane and Jennifer] don’t get along, holy s***what a long summer it’s going to be. I’ll be spending a lot of time in my trailer. I won’t be hanging around on set’. Luckily, they clicked immediately. Somehow they didn’t hate me and that was great. I was struck at just how down to earth she [Jennifer] is. I’d never met her. I’d read what everyone reads. [She’s] just so incredibly professional, sweet, down to earth. She was always on time. The crew loved her. I thought, isn’t that somehow always the way it is? You hear so much s*** about people that, ultimately, when you get to know them it’s ‘oh my God, what a nice person’.
TeenHollywood: Did you ever meet a girlfriend’s mother or father and have a hard time?
Michael: I’ve been pretty lucky. I think half of it is because I don’t bring that many girls home to mom because I’m much more discerning than that. But, most of my girlfriends’ parents have liked me for some reason. I fooled them. It’s one thing for the son to bring a woman home to meet his parents. I think the toughest thing is for the man to meet the woman’s father because he either likes you or doesn’t like you the minute he sees you. There’s no rhyme or reason for it and, if he doesn’t like you, you’re f***ed. It’s like ‘sorry, man. I know I’m sleeping with your daughter and you’re going to have to deal with it. Sorry, that’s part of life’.
TeenHollywood: But would you want to break up if you had a Monster-in-Law problem?
Michael: If we’re talking marriage and engagement, if I’m going to marry someone, then she becomes the most important person and it wouldn’t matter what her parents were like. But, just a simple relationship; boyfriend, girlfriend, yeah. Especially, if she's anything close to what Jane is like in this movie. I’d run for the hills!
TeenHollywood: What input does your own mom have in your relationships?
Michael: I try to keep it at nil. No, I’m an only child. I’m her pride and joy and I can do no wrong. It’s great. She calls me ten times a day and there’s nothing sweeter. But the flip side is, I get a lot of questions, ‘have you met anyone? How’s it going?’ She’s a mom and she wants to have grandchildren.
I have this beautiful puppy dog but it’s not cutting it. Nice try. But she’s one of those mothers, that, as long as I’m happy, she’s happy. She makes an effort to stay out of it as much as she can but she can’t help it. She’s my mom.
TeenHollywood: Wanda Sykes and Jane are pretty good at improv. Any time you were thrown by what they were doing?
Michael: I’m terrible at it for one. Also, my character, it’s not his job. I was intimidated at times at how quick and how fast Jane and Wanda were together. A lot of the dialogue that ended up in the movie wasn’t necessarily in any of the drafts. That’s what they do. They’re very good.
TeenHollywood: Are there any hilarious outtakes that didn’t make it into the film?
Michael: None of me, unfortunately. My character’s hilarious in this movie A comedic genius. [He’s joking. Michael’s character is the straight man]. But yeah, there were a lot of takes. We all realized that we were not curing cancer. We’re making a movie and we’re lucky to be here. It’s a fun movie. Let’s all have a good time. Let’s not make this some sort of crazy, bull****, Hollywood nightmare. That’s why there were so many outtakes. There are a lot of movies where people don’t have fun. The director’s a yeller and for some reason, it’s a horrible experience for everyone involved. It doesn’t have to be that way.
TeenHollywood: How long will you do “Alias” or do you want to cut loose and do movies?
Michael: I’m married to “Alias”. That’s my true love and I think, when I retire, I’ll look back as that was the greatest job I ever had. It’s truly been the most fantastic experience on a personal level, on a work level; the people I’ve met. Also, I think, by virtue of spending so much time with people over a period of four years now, you develop friendships and relationships that last a lifetime as opposed to a movie where you’re shooting God knows where for two months and then you never see these people again.
TeenHollywood: It’s a very popular series. What is the big infatuation with “Alias”?
Michael: I don’t know. I think it’s fun. It doesn’t take itself too seriously. You look at the cast, you’ve got Ron Rifkin who is a Tony winner, Victor Garber. And there are a lot of elements. There’s romance, there’s a sleek, sexy spy feel to it, there’s gadgets and there’s those scenes with actors that are character-driven and fun to watch. I don’t know. I’m just glad I’m part of it.
TeenHollywood: Do you get any input into your character on the show?
Michael: Yeah. Especially now since we’ve earned our stripes after four years. But, I let them do what they do. Victor and I joke around all the time that we’re the kind of actors, we wear what they tell us to wear and say what they want us to say. Let’s just get through the day. Thank you very much for having us. But, if they said, ‘in the next episode Vaughn is going to be gay’, I’d be like ‘maybe not’. Maybe then I’d need to put in some input but it’s a very hard show for the writers, every week, to keep an ounce of believability because we do take a lot of artistic license. There are a lot of things that happen in the show that obviously aren’t real and that’s kind of their job to find a way to do it so the audience goes along for the ride. If you lose an audience in the first ten minutes, there go your ratings.
TeenHollywood: Is there an aspect of your “Alias” character that you would like to explore before the show ends?
Michael: Yeah. I think this year they tried to make him darker but they haven’t. He’s just in a lot more trouble and has tougher things to deal with. I get that question a lot, ‘so, how is it playing Vaughn’s dark side’? What, what dark side? I read a scene and, at the end, it says ‘Vaughn looks off with a smoldering brooding, kind of tormented….’ ‘oh, is that the dark side? Okay, great’. I know he’s a good guy on the show but, as an actor, the bad guy is always much more fun to play. There’s more there. It would be great if he got injected by some weirdo on a mission and he lost his mind and got to go off on a killing spree and he’s hallucinating, yeah, that would be fun.
TeenHollywood: Do you do your own dubbing for the French version of the show?
Michael: No. We have far too much dubbing to do for the English version as it is. You’d be surprised how much of this show every week is looped. We shoot in alleys when there are generators going and we shoot at airports and there’s jets taking off in the background. So, a lot of the show is looped. That’s the one part I really hate. I’m good at matching and syncing the words but it’s impossible to recreate that exact tone and the emotion of a scene when you are on a dark stage with earphones on. It’s a shame but that’s the way it is.
TeenHollywood: You have an interesting background. You were born in France?
Michael: Yes. I lived there till five and then came here and when back when I was eleven for junior high and high school and then I came back here when I was eighteen.
TeenHollywood: How did you get rid of your accent?
Michael: I never really had one. I didn’t speak anything until I was three because my dad spoke to me in French and my mom spoke to me in English and I didn’t understand what they were talking about. But it worked because I never really had an accent in either language but it took a while to understand it. ‘Oh, I get it. You’re speaking different languages, thanks’.
TeenHollywood: Was it your mother who encouraged you to become an actor?
Michael: Yeah. I never thought of show biz. I lived on a farm in France. I was working in the turnip fields in the summer. Show biz to me was reruns of ‘Starsky and Hutch’. I had no idea what it was.
TeenHollywood: Wasn’t one of your aunts a singer?
Michael: Well, she was part of the Paris side of the family and I was literally, the country mouse. Being a true farmer, we hated Paris. We were the true disgruntled, horrible country people. But, then I moved to L.A. and saw my first mini-skirt and thought ‘well, maybe Paris wasn’t so bad after all’. When I moved here I really didn’t have a job. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I never thought of acting. My mom’s friend said ‘your kid has an interesting look. He should try acting. Would you like to do that?’ I said ‘no’. ‘There are pretty girls’. I said ‘no’. ‘I’ll pay for it’. I said ‘okay’.
TeenHollywood: So it wasn’t a big passion for you?
Michael: No. Even when I decided to start acting class, I didn’t really want to be an actor. I was just doing it so I’d have something to do on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and I could see pretty girls do scenes. I just stood in the back for a year and did nothing. But, the first time I actually did a scene it was the most terrifying thing I’d ever done and nothing about it was fun or exciting. It was terrifying and I think that’s why I liked it in a weird, bizarre, masochistic way. I just thought, ‘well, come on. You’ve got to find a way to conquer this beast’. And I never have. I feel very uncomfortable around the camera. It’s not something that comes natural to me to say other people’s words pretending to be someone else while someone is filming it. It’s a weird way to make a living. But, I love it because it’s hard and I’m going to keep trying.
TeenHollywood: What will you do on your summer break and how many more seasons do you think there will be of “Alias”?
Michael: Summer break I will hopefully make a movie that I’m still looking for as we speak. Hello. Time is a tickin’ away. I would do ‘Alias’ for ten years if they wanted us to. My feeling is that the fifth year might be the last only because at some point, bad guys around the world are going to know that Sydney Bristow is who she is. I mean, come on, this girl, for four years, has been traveling the planet and fooling all these bad guys just by wearing a wig? No one can figure out that this girl who is beautiful and wears wigs is [an agent]? At some point there are only so many hallways you can run down and so many wigs you can wear.
TeenHollywood: What would you do to kick back if you didn’t have to work?
Michael: There would be a lot of ice hockey involved. A lot of fake ice hockey in my backyard with my dog. She thinks she’s a good goalie. Her name is Millie. Millicent when she’s in trouble. I’m not a big traveler. I don’t like flying that much, just hanging out and playing hockey.
TeenHollywood: You have a French background, so you must be romantic. Talk about the most romantic experience you have had.
Michael: Whew, wow. It might have been with Millie (laughter). I’m not really French. I’m Polish Bulgarian but I grew up there so I do have a sense of romance. I think, ultimately, romance really is about the person you meet. I’m the same person but, with some people, I’ve been more romantic than with others. I think, sometimes, romance just sort of blossoms and those two people live in that and sometimes the relationship is less romantic and that’s okay too. I think I’d have to keep the most romantic thing private but I dated a woman for a very long time and for her birthday she had to go a lot of different places. It was like a treasure hunt and, at the end of the night… [is he blushing?] thank you very much.
Yeah, we know. He was the treasure!
© TeenHollywood.com, Inc. 2005
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