Topher Grace is well known as the star of the hit sitcom That 70s Show and he also had a big part in a movie you may have heard of called Traffic. His latest movie is also his first independent film and its called p.s.
Louise Harrington [Laura Linney], a divorced, thirty-something admission's office at Columbia University's School of Fine Arts is intelligent, pretty, successful, and... unfulfilled. That is, until a graduate school application crosses her desk and she arranges to interview the young painter. When F. Scott Feinstadt [Topher Grace] appears, he bears an uncanny resemblance to Louise's high school boyfriend and one true love, an artist who died in a car accident twenty years earlier. Within hours of the interview, Louise and Scott have embarked on a passionately uninhibited older woman/younger man affair. But is Scott just a reminder of Louise's lost love? And is Scott just trying to wheedle his way into the Ivy League?
Check out the official website of p.s.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Do you think of yourself as a comic actor?
Topher Grace: No, but I dont put any labels on myself. Just actor, attractive actor, no Im just kidding. I hope I can do lots of different types of work. I do like any kind of project that has both comedy and drama in it because in life you dont have one day where everything is funny then the next day everything is dramatic. I dont even think you could label this movie as to what it is. You could say p.s. is a drama but when I saw it with an audience people were laughing out loud.
DRE: Your character is very aggressive and self assured, was that an intentional to break away from your previous roles?
TG: I certainly didnt take it because it was different but I realized I would have to be different for it. It was a great opportunity especially in juxtaposition to Lauras character who is so almost dead. It was great to be this characters ray of light.
In fact I didnt read the novel the movie is based on and it was a real debate to me whether or not I should. I just didnt want to be bound by anything and just have as fun much with the character as I could. When [writer/director] Dylan [Kidd] and I talked about the character, he described him as your friends older brother. Hes not your friend whose flaws you can see but a guy you just look at and think hes got it together.
DRE: Did you ever get around to reading the book p.s.?
TG: Yes I did and when I met [author] Helen [Schulman] at Toronto I asked her if she thought I did a good job and she said I did.
DRE: One of the things thats really cool about your friends older brother is that they always seem to be flirting with every girl.
TG: Yeah you look back and you realize that now you are older than he was then and he couldnt have been as cool as he was. There is something about seeing someone through someone elses eyes that brings them up.
I think at the beginning F. Scott is really nervous and hes covering but what that does to the movie is that you are not sure whether he is going to take advantage of her. Maybe hes kind of shifty then it flips on a dime during the mirror scene and you realize how vulnerable he is.
DRE: Your chemistry with Laura was just flawless.
TG: I hope so because your movie lives or dies on whether or not you believe these two people could get together.
DRE: I would imagine that your character on That 70s Show is almost easy to slip into by now.
TG: Yeah, because Ive been really careful on 70s to not have a catchphrase, which they will give to you, and to never be the sarcastic guy or the dumb guy. There is a way people like to compartmentalize you on sitcoms and Ive been very cognizant of not letting that happen. Plus when I did my first film, Traffic, I waited to do something that was opposite of the sitcom to show I could do something different.
DRE: Did you create your character in p.s. the same way you do on That 70s Show?
TG: Oh sure. On a week to week basis I look at a 70s script to see what Erics role because its different every week. Some weeks the role is of the protagonist and other weeks youre just the guy and its the episode thats about Fez. In terms of this film you see your utility and then have fun with it.
DRE: Were you surprised at all between the differences between the book and the movie?
TG: Yeah I thought the book was funnier because we dont have any internal dialogue in the film of course. I think you get some of that humor in the film because Laura is so amazing. Youre sad but yet youre laughing at what she is going through.
DRE: How was it acting with Laura?
TG: I thought it was going to be way harder so I was nervous but its like playing tennis against someone better than you. You up your game to match the other person. You cant get away with a minute of bad acting with her because shes just so in it. At my audition she was crying off camera, most people dont cry off camera even when youre actually shooting.
DRE: Were you the more nervous person during the sex scene?
TG: Oh by far! Shes had experience and it was my screen virginity. I was so nervous. I wanted to be the gentleman and hold her hand through it but she wound up totally guiding me through it.
DRE: Did you have to wear that weird sock that Ive read men have to wear during these sex scenes?
TG: No, I had on a little whatever one piece thing it is.
DRE: Have you ever gone out with someone older?
TG: I dont talk about my personal life with the press.
DRE: Without getting personal could you talk philosophically about the differences of going out with someone older?
TG: Certainly. I think if two people are right for each other then great, go for it.
DRE: What do you think you have in common with F. Scott?
TG: I think Im really passionate with what I do and I think thats what attractive about F. Scott. Hes so passionate about painting. But I dont think I am as brash as he is and I think Im shyer.
DRE: The shoot was 28 days long and you were only there for 14. How did you and Laura develop such chemistry together?
TG: There was one day we were supposed to rehearse and instead Laura, Dylan and I all just hung out together. I thought it was going to be a waste of time but it turned out to be the best thing. We had lunch and just talked. We discovered a comfort level with one another.
DRE: Who do you really want to work with?
TG: Richard Linklater, PJ Hogan, Robert Zemeckis, Peter Sollett, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Ive worked with Steven Soderbergh three times but I would go back for more. My one dream is to work on a movie version of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I love that novel. In terms of actors then definitely Bill Murray.
DRE: I read you are going to move back east.
TG: Yes the sitcom is done for me at the end of this year. Then come April 1st Im living in New York.
DRE: Will you do theater?
TG: No Im really cautious about my private life and its getting harder to handle it in LA. I will have a private life here and work out there.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Louise Harrington [Laura Linney], a divorced, thirty-something admission's office at Columbia University's School of Fine Arts is intelligent, pretty, successful, and... unfulfilled. That is, until a graduate school application crosses her desk and she arranges to interview the young painter. When F. Scott Feinstadt [Topher Grace] appears, he bears an uncanny resemblance to Louise's high school boyfriend and one true love, an artist who died in a car accident twenty years earlier. Within hours of the interview, Louise and Scott have embarked on a passionately uninhibited older woman/younger man affair. But is Scott just a reminder of Louise's lost love? And is Scott just trying to wheedle his way into the Ivy League?
Check out the official website of p.s.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Do you think of yourself as a comic actor?
Topher Grace: No, but I dont put any labels on myself. Just actor, attractive actor, no Im just kidding. I hope I can do lots of different types of work. I do like any kind of project that has both comedy and drama in it because in life you dont have one day where everything is funny then the next day everything is dramatic. I dont even think you could label this movie as to what it is. You could say p.s. is a drama but when I saw it with an audience people were laughing out loud.
DRE: Your character is very aggressive and self assured, was that an intentional to break away from your previous roles?
TG: I certainly didnt take it because it was different but I realized I would have to be different for it. It was a great opportunity especially in juxtaposition to Lauras character who is so almost dead. It was great to be this characters ray of light.
In fact I didnt read the novel the movie is based on and it was a real debate to me whether or not I should. I just didnt want to be bound by anything and just have as fun much with the character as I could. When [writer/director] Dylan [Kidd] and I talked about the character, he described him as your friends older brother. Hes not your friend whose flaws you can see but a guy you just look at and think hes got it together.
DRE: Did you ever get around to reading the book p.s.?
TG: Yes I did and when I met [author] Helen [Schulman] at Toronto I asked her if she thought I did a good job and she said I did.
DRE: One of the things thats really cool about your friends older brother is that they always seem to be flirting with every girl.
TG: Yeah you look back and you realize that now you are older than he was then and he couldnt have been as cool as he was. There is something about seeing someone through someone elses eyes that brings them up.
I think at the beginning F. Scott is really nervous and hes covering but what that does to the movie is that you are not sure whether he is going to take advantage of her. Maybe hes kind of shifty then it flips on a dime during the mirror scene and you realize how vulnerable he is.
DRE: Your chemistry with Laura was just flawless.
TG: I hope so because your movie lives or dies on whether or not you believe these two people could get together.
DRE: I would imagine that your character on That 70s Show is almost easy to slip into by now.
TG: Yeah, because Ive been really careful on 70s to not have a catchphrase, which they will give to you, and to never be the sarcastic guy or the dumb guy. There is a way people like to compartmentalize you on sitcoms and Ive been very cognizant of not letting that happen. Plus when I did my first film, Traffic, I waited to do something that was opposite of the sitcom to show I could do something different.
DRE: Did you create your character in p.s. the same way you do on That 70s Show?
TG: Oh sure. On a week to week basis I look at a 70s script to see what Erics role because its different every week. Some weeks the role is of the protagonist and other weeks youre just the guy and its the episode thats about Fez. In terms of this film you see your utility and then have fun with it.
DRE: Were you surprised at all between the differences between the book and the movie?
TG: Yeah I thought the book was funnier because we dont have any internal dialogue in the film of course. I think you get some of that humor in the film because Laura is so amazing. Youre sad but yet youre laughing at what she is going through.
DRE: How was it acting with Laura?
TG: I thought it was going to be way harder so I was nervous but its like playing tennis against someone better than you. You up your game to match the other person. You cant get away with a minute of bad acting with her because shes just so in it. At my audition she was crying off camera, most people dont cry off camera even when youre actually shooting.
DRE: Were you the more nervous person during the sex scene?
TG: Oh by far! Shes had experience and it was my screen virginity. I was so nervous. I wanted to be the gentleman and hold her hand through it but she wound up totally guiding me through it.
DRE: Did you have to wear that weird sock that Ive read men have to wear during these sex scenes?
TG: No, I had on a little whatever one piece thing it is.
DRE: Have you ever gone out with someone older?
TG: I dont talk about my personal life with the press.
DRE: Without getting personal could you talk philosophically about the differences of going out with someone older?
TG: Certainly. I think if two people are right for each other then great, go for it.
DRE: What do you think you have in common with F. Scott?
TG: I think Im really passionate with what I do and I think thats what attractive about F. Scott. Hes so passionate about painting. But I dont think I am as brash as he is and I think Im shyer.
DRE: The shoot was 28 days long and you were only there for 14. How did you and Laura develop such chemistry together?
TG: There was one day we were supposed to rehearse and instead Laura, Dylan and I all just hung out together. I thought it was going to be a waste of time but it turned out to be the best thing. We had lunch and just talked. We discovered a comfort level with one another.
DRE: Who do you really want to work with?
TG: Richard Linklater, PJ Hogan, Robert Zemeckis, Peter Sollett, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Ive worked with Steven Soderbergh three times but I would go back for more. My one dream is to work on a movie version of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I love that novel. In terms of actors then definitely Bill Murray.
DRE: I read you are going to move back east.
TG: Yes the sitcom is done for me at the end of this year. Then come April 1st Im living in New York.
DRE: Will you do theater?
TG: No Im really cautious about my private life and its getting harder to handle it in LA. I will have a private life here and work out there.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
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Tophers of the world, reprazent!