Actor Nick Stahl likes to do things differently.
While many stars his age — Freddie Prinze, Jr., for instance — go for teen comedies and big budget fare, actor Stahl has chosen to avoid popcorn flicks, sticking with smaller, more critically praised films.
“I guess I have a different idea of success,” Stahl said in a phone interview. “I mean, I just haven’t really been that into a lot of these commercial scripts that come along because they seem to be really repetitive. It’s just nothing new or interesting. It’s a story that doesn’t really need to be told.”
Luckily for him, that hasn’t been a problem.
“I’ve been really fortunate in the past couple of years to get some good quality film work. I’ve been pretty lucky in the roles that I’ve been getting I just hope to continue that. I don’t really have a set pattern for myself,” Stahl said. “I really like variety and just doing something completely different than the last thing I’ve done. That’s really one of the biggest things that I look for.”
A native Texan, Stahl jump-started his film career at the age of 12 with a starring role in the Mel Gibson film The Man Without a Face. He followed that up with roles in The Thin Red Line and Disturbing Behavior. Though both films were ill-received, they gave Stahl some much needed publicity, and helped him land future gigs like his lead part in the dark drama Bully.
Stahl can be seen next romancing Marisa Tomei in the acclaimed drama, In the Bedroom, which opens Friday.
“It was a lot of good people coming together for a good script,” Stahl said of In the Bedroom, which is already drawing Oscar buzz. “I guess it might have given me some kind of hope that really good films can be made. “
Sometimes they have trouble getting made, if the studio doesn’t think it’s going to make a ton of money — that stuff. The relationships with the cast and crew were really great. I keep up with all of them.”
In the Bedroom gave Stahl the chance to work with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, including Academy Award-winners Sissy Spacek and Tomei.
The film centers around a doomed love story between Stahl’s character, Frank, and an older woman, Natalie (Tomei). In the beginning, Stahl found his love scenes with Tomei to be a bit daunting.
“It was a little intimidating at first,” he admitted. “She’s not only older but she’s an extremely beautiful woman and quite talented. My voice might have dropped a couple of octaves.”
But in the end, Tomei — as well as the rest of the cast — put him at ease.
“It was intimidating until you actually meet these people, like Sissy who’s the coolest, most normal person you’ll ever meet,” he said. “They were all really great people. It was a great working atmosphere. With that type of cast it really puts you at ease.”
Stahl said the strength of the script attracted him to the project.
“I felt like there was a real transformation to the character, which I really liked. It seemed like it could be somewhat challenging for me, something different,” he said. “I’ve never done a role like that before. It was more of an adult role than I’ve done before. I think really the biggest thing for me was just that the script was so good, the story as a whole. I think it kind of took precedence over the character itself.”
Stahl took full advantage of working with such skilled actors, and tried to soak up as much advice from them as possible.
“I really just spent as much time with them as I could,” he said. “I just listened to these people’s stories. I don’t think you could go in and not learn from people who have been doing this for so long. They’re just real professionals.”
A native of Texas, Stahl said he really hasn’t been influenced by his origins.
“I grew up in the suburbs of Dallas. You’ll find in Texas this real pride for the state, which I for some reason seem to lack a little bit,” he said. “Perhaps because the suburbs I grew up in were just generic really. I didn’t grow up out on the plains or anything. I love the State and I love stories that take place in the state, but I don’t think it really dominates my pursuits.”
While Stahl didn’t have a laundry list of whom he’d like to work with, he summed it up: “I’d like to work with people who are serious about film and want to do something interesting.”
What he isn’t as keen on doing is television.
“I definitely like film more than television. I haven’t done that much TV, just a couple of guest-spot things when I was younger,” he said. “Acting in film is a great job; you’re able to travel. It’s a real sort of creative outlet for me. I love theater as well. Sometimes it’s kind of tough to pay the bills when you do theater. Film pays quite a bit more,” he said with a laugh. “I guess that would be another plus as well.”
