Welcome to Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the roles that defined their careers. The catch: They don't know beforehand what roles we'll ask them to talk about.
The actor: Since emerging from the theater world, Steve Zahn has made a career out of playing stoners, zany comic-relief roles, and wacky sidekicks. In his latest, Werner Herzog's rousing POW drama Rescue Dawn, he again plays the loyal best friend of the male lead (Christian Bale), but the result is arguably Zahn's most poignant and substantive performance to date.
Rescue Dawn (2007) — "Duane"
Steve Zahn: Oh my God, I saw Little Dieter Needs To Fly (the Werner Herzog documentary that inspired Rescue Dawn) in '97, at 5 in the morning. I got up to go hunting, and I was on my farm. I just remember this image of a German guy standing there going, "There's a P-51 Mustang." I'm a big history buff. All I read is non-fiction, so I'm drawn to that stuff to begin with. I didn't move. I drank coffee and watched this thing. I was so moved and inspired by it. I woke up my wife—we're big documentary buffs. I just thought it was an incredible documentary, and Werner Herzog is awesome. So the Little Dieter DVD is something I've given people so many times. I had copies, and I'm like, "Just take it. It's great."
So when my agent was giving me a list of things that were out there, things that were looking for financing or attachments, he brought up Rescue Dawn. And I was like, "I have to meet Werner. I have to meet him. I love Werner, and I have to be in this. I don't know what I'm going to do, I'm so nervous." I met him, went to his house, he cooked me steak. I was just fully prepared to give him the speech about being in comedies and how my other experience was in theater, and he didn't care. Which was great. He wanted me to play Duane. This was in 2003, I was doing Daddy Day Care at the time, and Rescue Dawn got its financing, which is a miracle. Even with Christian Bale and Werner… It's like, "We can't get somebody to give us whatever?" We got it. And then we just started the preparation.
I am the first person to make fun of the whole, "This film was so hard to make. It was so hot." You know, being a coal miner is tough too. That said, I've never done anything that was as unconventional. Werner is great, because there's no distractions on the set. There's no chairs, there's no trailers. There's no M&Ms, which creates a certain atmosphere. Because you don't have those comfortable places to hang out and chill, you don't have this passive high-school grab-ass happening. And then you have directors going, "Remember, you're starving, you don't have shoes." And you're like, "Right. I was just playing golf in my trailer." You know what I mean? It wasn't that. So you had friction, you had people that were like, "I'm not used to this." Which is good. He loves that.
The A.V. Club: It seems like making this movie wasn't terribly dissimilar from actually being in a POW camp.
SZ: We were barefoot, and the only time there was a green screen was in that plane in the beginning, in the crash. That was it. You know, Christian and I have the will to live. We have kids. We weren't going to do anything really crazy, but at the same time, we were so passionate about it, and the story was so amazing. Being there with Werner was so amazing. There were so many aspects of it that we were really prepared for anything, because of the stories of Werner and not knowing him. I've never seen a guy like him. He demonstrated everything first, going down the river, or waterfall, he would do it. He's not a young guy, you know. So we really trusted him, and we really had a lot of respect. More so than just the obvious respect that it's Werner Herzog.
Reality Bites (1994) — "Sammy Gray"
SZ: I was scared. I was so frightened with that one. I had acted a lot, I had worked with Ethan [Hawke] when I got that part, and then Ethan and I did like four jobs in a row after that. We went back to theater, and it was crazy. That fear went away when I realized how different film was from theater. You had to have a different way of thinking. And I remember thinking, "Wow, I actually have that head that remembers all those things. I think I can be good at this." Because I'm able to keep track of my mark, and that's what you need for film.
AVC: At the time, it was being posited as the definitive film of Generation X. Were you cognizant of all the hype on the set, or did that come up afterward?
SZ: Those things always happen later, at least from what I can remember. I still have people come up to me now, "I love that movie." Young people. And I'm like, "It's so dated. Wow."
- Comments