 |
|
|
|
Big Love's Douglas Smith talks about Nick Drake and Aidan vs. Big |
|
HBO
Tell us a little bit about Ben, your character? How do you see him?
SMITH
Well, he's really, really innocent, and he's got a lot of pent up feelings — sexual feelings — and he's kind of ashamed of them. He's 15, and he thinks there's something tragically wrong with him. He's experiencing the normal adolescent dreams about girls, but he honestly thinks he's self-destructing or something.
He's kind of pathetic in that way and I think it's a very common thing for kids that are in a strict household, whether it be religious or not, when sex is not addressed or talked about. They think there's something really wrong with their body. But Ben's a sweet kid. He's really good-hearted.
HBO
You've managed to go to college while continuing your acting career. How are you doing it, and what are you studying?
SMITH
Yeah, I asked the A.D. on Big Love if he could try and free me up Tuesday nights, and he was able to — so I took one class while we were shooting. Now I'm getting in a full semester. I want to get a degree in English and Journalism. I really like reading and writing. And there's plenty of time on the set when you're just in your trailer waiting, which doesn't bother me because I have my homework and books to read.
HBO
What was life on the set like?
SMITH
For me, life on the set was, I hate to say it, but it was like a dream. We waited a year to get started with shooting, and it was really nerve-racking. You know how when you've waited for something for a while and you finally get it, it's not as good as you were expecting? Well, getting my license and working on the set of Big Love were probably the two things that I could say lived up to expectations.
The actors are all completely different personalities that relate really well. I hang out with Amanda (his onscreen sister Sarah) in between. We ended up having mutual friends, and we both played guitar a lot in our trailers, very broken guitar. She is actually a really good singer. She has an unbelievable voice — she was trained as an opera singer.
And all of the cast would trade music. Bill introduced me to the best music. He gave me all these Nick Drake CDs. And then I gave him Elliott Smith. And Grace Zabriskie, who plays my grandmother, she got me into Leonard Cohen, actually. Ginny gave me some Johnny Cash, because she had all the Johnny Cash from working on "Walk the Line."
HBO
It sounds like fun. You've been on lots of sets before, too. You've been in a lot of different films and a TV series?
SMITH
Yeah, I sort of bounced around here and there. I did one kid show on the Noggin channel called "Out There." I guess you call it a 'tween audience — it's the channel that "Degrassi" plays on. I went to Australia for four months to do that. And I'm always doing different guest spots.
HBO
So do people recognize you and approach you?
SMITH
Yeah, every once in a while you have people that are like, Oh yeah, I saw that. But I mean it's nothing like a lot of people get. For a while, when "Peter Pan" came out, everybody thought I was the guy in "Peter Pan." Then I made a little kid cry because he ran up to me and thought I was Peter Pan, and he wanted me to fly. [Laughs].
HBO
The perils of living in Los Angeles, right?
It's seriously weird.
HBO
What other things have you been working on that we will see you in?
Well, I was actually lucky enough to get a movie that began the day after we finished Big Love. It's called "Citizen Duane," with this really good director who just won best newcomer at Toronto Film Festival. It's a clever comedy about a 12th grader who runs for mayor in his small town. It was kind of funny walking onto some of the sets, 'cause in one set every lawn had a little poster with my face going: "Vote Duane Balfour," with the thumbs up sign.
HBO
What were the shows that you watched when you were growing up?
SMITH
Six Feet Under and Friends were the only two shows I really followed for years. Six Feet Under much more than Friends — I'm a total Peter Krause fan. My girlfriend got me the DVD for Christmas. And Friends just because I grew up with that. It came on when I was nine, and it ran for ten years. It was my entire sort of 'coming of age' thing. I remember getting into Sex and the City when I was, like, sixteen. Me and all my guy friends would sit around and watch it. [Laughs] And even now, my girlfriend has HBO on Demand, so in the mornings sometimes we used to get our cereal and just watch episodes of Sex and the City. Carrie makes another horrible mistake in her relationship with Aidan. God, she totally took advantage of that guy. And he was so good for her. I mean, God. I never liked Mr. Big, and I know I'm in the minority, but I just thought he was kind of smarmy.
HBO
You were, what, 13 or 14 when Sex and the City came out? So that show ran through your formative years too, along with Six Feet Under. And now you're on an HBO show.
SMITH
Yeah, it's kind of surreal, I'm not going to lie. I mean, we got in one season of Big Love, so that's more than I ever thought I'd ever amount to.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Video
Watch the promos and interviews for the show.
|
|
|
|
