By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 12, 1995
Eric Stoltz has it made. He’s a movie star (“Pulp Fiction,” “Mask,” “Rob Roy”) who has no problems making TV guest appearances (“Mad About You,” “Partners”). He’s an actor with leading-man looks who hasn’t been hampered with pretty-boy roles (OK, he did do “Some Kind of Wonderful,” but he was really young then). And his girlfriend is Bridget Fonda.
Not bad for a guy who made his film debut as Sean Penn’s monosyllabic surfing buddy in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
The 34-year-old actor can be seen in the new comedy “Kicking and Screaming” (now playing at Pipers Alley). Stoltz plays Chet, a lifetime college student who has no intention of ever graduating.
Q. Your character, Chet, is a perennial student. Did you graduate from college in time?
A. Yes. I wasn’t on the 10-year program. I went to USC and lived in Trojan Hall, where, oddly enough, I never had sex. I studied literature and drama, but I didn’t like my college experience at all. I just wanted to roam around the world, and I felt very bound in. I was sick of having to go to school, but I felt obligated to go to college because that’s what my parents had done.
Q. What was it about Chet that attracted you to the film?
A. There was no Chet in the beginning. The first time I read it, it was called “Fifth Year,” and I thought I shouldn’t do it. A friend of mine (actress Mary-Louise Parker) saw the script and said, “You’ve got to do this movie.” So I called up (producer) Joel Castleberg, who’s a friend, and he said, “You’re too old for it.” And I said, “I’ll be the judge of that. How dare you?” (Stoltz says this in a mock huffy voice.) So I read it and realized that I was way too old since it was about 22-year-olds.
Q. So they wrote the part of Chet specifically for you?
A. Uh-huh. I was in Scotland shooting “Rob Roy,” and I got about 40 faxes in a span of 24 hours saying that the lead actor had pulled out of the production and that unless Trimark Pictures signed an actor with some visibility, they were going to pull the picture. So I signed with them, they went back and came up with the idea of Chet, and we pretty much made it up as we went along during shooting. It was wonderful and scary.
Q. What are you working on now?
A. I just finished a film in South Africa called “Inside,” starring Nigel Hawthorne and Louis Gossett ; Jr.,; where I play a tortured man. It’s an apartheid prison drama. And I’m shooting an appearance on (the Fox sitcom) “Partners” that’s set to air around Thanksgiving. I play the brother of one of the partners who comes to stir up their lives.
Q. Prior to Chet, you’ve had a string of roles playing major sleazoids, like the druggie in “Pulp Fiction.” What’s up with that?
A. (Laughs.) My friends have known that I’ve been sleazy for years. You can’t keep the truth hidden for very long.
