His best known movie is The Fast and the Furious, and Paul Walker’s rise to fame has been just that.
Since his feature film debut in Pleasantville, Walker has appeared in a succession of flicks, including The Skulls, Varsity Blues and She’s All That.
He didn’t initially set out to be an actor, though, instead opting for school.
Walker decided a life change was in order when he realized college wasn’t for him.
“I changed my major like 50 times,” said Walker, in a phone interview yesterday. “It just wasn’t working.”
What was working was his acting career. Within a month of quitting school he landed a role as Reese Witherspoon’s boyfriend in the critically acclaimed film, Pleasantville.
“After that, it was just a domino effect,” he said.
The latest in his line of movies is Joy Ride, which comes out this Friday.
“This is great, this is scary, this is something that I as a moviegoer would like to see,” he said.
Although he doesn’t usually like horror flicks, Walker made an exception.
“I think the script is really tight,” he said. If it wasn’t for those elements I wouldn’t have done it. I don’t typically like scary movies,” he said.
However, Walker said he was pleased with how Joy Ride came out.
“I’m feeling pretty good about it. Hopefully, the response will be positive,” he said.
Walker said fans should relate to certain elements of the film, which finds his character in grave trouble after a prank goes astray.
“I think everybody at one time or another has pulled a practical joke that’s gone terribly wrong,” he said. “I did all that stuff when I was young.”
Walker said the response has been positive, and he hopes his film will earn a good spot at the box office.
“It wasn’t too long ago that I wasn’t in movies, I was just a guy going to see them,” he said. “Hell, movie tickets are expensive. I feel for the guy who wants to take the girl he has a crush on out to dinner and a movie. That could break the bank.”
However, Walker hopes fans won’t regret shelling out for tickets to Joy Ride.
“I hope they’ll come out of it and say, ‘It was worth it.’ The last thing I want is for somebody to say, ‘I should have waited for it to come out on video.’”
Walker said it’s difficult finding good projects.
“It’s a tough circle because studios have to make money or they go out of business, but at the same time they have to make good films and maintain credibility. That’s a tough ball to juggle,” he said.
In the future, he wants to work with the Coen Brothers, and would also like to try his hand at humor.
“I haven’t really done comedy,” he said. “It’s intimidating as hell, but it’s something I want to try.”
He could always go to costar Steve Zahn for advice in that area.
“That was the hardest part of this film — trying not to laugh when you’re around Steve,” he said.
For now, Walker is concentrating on doing press for Joy Ride and, like all Americans, trying to sort through his emotions over the terrorist attacks.
Walker spoke from his New York hotel room, and admitted he’d just gone out to get a look at “Ground Zero” — the site where the Twin Towers fell on September 11.
“I went as close as they let you,” he said.
Walker found the site was upsetting, and said he has been confused over the business of releasing a movie at a time like this.
“You question it, whether it's really appropriate,” said Walker, who called the studio to ask whether Joy Ride should even be released right now.
“You look at the box office last weekend (the first high-grossing weekend since the attacks), and see that people need to get on with their lives,” he said.
However, some of the glitz of promoting a big movie has been tuned down.
“We scaled down the premiere. It's not going to be a red carpet event,” he said.
According to Walker, movie studios have dramatically changed.
“I’m from southern California, and a lot of my friends work at movie studios, and it’s totally different now,” Walker said. “The FBI is out in front of each and every one of them, checking IDs, searching cars. It seems strange now, but with time it will become normal and people won’t even notice it.”
