Contents Magazine
November 2002
An Interview by Roger Avary
Ian has been in front of the camera since he was a child. At a young age, he was earning a healthy living modeling around the world. Unsatisfied, Ian pursued acting by studying with William Esper, a renowned Misner teacher. At around 19, he was spotted among the background players in James Tobak’s Black and White [those scenes ended up on the cutting room floor] by a manager intrigued by his mesmerizing look. He made his television debut on the CBS sci-fi drama Now and Again in 1999. The following year he landed one of the lead roles in the teen cult hit, Young Americans on the WB. He then costarred in director Tim Hunter’s Anatomy of a Hate Crime and then the role that caught my eye, the teen pimp in Irwin Winkler’s Life As A House. I had gone to the film to consider Hayden Christensen, by my eyes immediately gravitated to the attractive guy with black hair and striking eyes. One audition with Ian and I was sold-the guy is a star. And he proved himself to me by delivering a brave and tortured performance in my film of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel about the death of romance, The Rules of Attraction. So vivid was his performance that I can’t imagine anyone else playing Paul. I have no doubt that some day Ian will migrate behind the camera, and be able to do my job for me.
I only work with really, really, hot actresses.
I hear you. Shannon Sossamon, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth.
Yeah, and Julie Delpy. She still is hot. Smoking hot.
Yeah, Julie Delpy.
Faye Dunaway.
Eric Stolz.
So you’ve worked with Faye Dunaway? Or since I should say.
Yeah.
I remember when I first heard about you.
Totally by accident.
For Rules of Attraction we were looking to fill the part of Paul, and somebody suggested Hayden Christensen because of Star Wars. So they invite us to a screening of Life As A House. Greg Shapiro, our producer, and I sit down and we’re watching and we’re like, ‘Yeah, okay, Hayden’s good but who’s that other guy?’
You probably figured you couldn’t get Hayden, but you could get me.
You were much more appropriate. No slam on Hayden because I think he’s awesome. But you jumped off the screen. Where were you then?
I was fishing in the Keys with Sarah.
Who’s Sarah?
(silence)
You can’t just bring up Sarah and then not elaborate.
That’s true. She’s my ex-girlfriend and a wonderful, wonderful woman.
So you were in the Key’s fishing?
Yes, I got a script the evening before I was going to leave so I almost missed it. I was getting my oil changed, sitting between these two enormously large stinky people and after reading these three pages I thought, ‘Oh my God! Whatever I have to do to get this movie, I will get this movie.’
I didn’t tell you, but I wrote the script out of frustration because I had been doing Hollywood stuff and re-write work. I wrote knowing that I would never get to make it and yet it seems like everyone responded to it.
I read about twenty scripts a week, but the introduction is like nothing you’ve ever seen. You meet a character, then you reverse in time to meet another character to reverse in time to meet the other character. Just reading that made the hair on my neck stand up. I drove across the country very quickly, not sleeping from Houston to LA.
Well, it was a great audition. And may I also say, you were probably the best-dressed actor that I’ve ever met.
Oh, man.
When you first read the script in Florida, had you read the book before?
I actually read the book on the freeway stuck in traffic.
How did you prepare for the audition?
When you’re driving in the desert, you have a lot of time.
Have you read any of Bret Easton Ellis’ other books?
I have the Informers and Glamorama at home.
Start with Glamorama. It’s an amazing book.
I don’t like the way it is written. I know that whole world really well and Bret doesn’t, so it annoys me. That whole ‘baby’ after every sentence, it kills me. It’s bullshit.
That’s funny because when I was in Paris and we ran into some models and they did say ‘baby’ after…
Well, women maybe. I love Bret, I think he is great. The best thing since peanut butter, however, I don’t agree with the way he wrote the book.
I know that you’re also a writer. Most people would be happy just to be acting, but you seemed to be approaching your own material.
Yeah, I want to write. But this is something you don’t say to people, so you don’t even talk about it.
Let me tell you, there’s a lot more money in acting. But that’s how Vin Diesel got his start. He was a struggling actor in New York and he started writing material for himself because he couldn’t get the parts and he made a film. He got noticed by shaping his own material.
To me it’s the best thing to do.
Rules of Attraction is an intense movie. Are you going to invite your mom to the premiere?
Yes, my parents will see the movie. I’ve always been the kid that created the weird things. I was the black sheep; they still expect that of me as well. I come from Louisiana, it’s the South and everyone that hasn’t seen me in a long time is going to go to the theater and see me kissing James Van Der Beek. But it doesn’t bother me. I couldn’t really give a fuck.
You started modeling and working in front of a camera at a young age.
Yeah, I was ten.
And you left home at a relatively young age?
I moved back to New York, alone, at sixteen, and then to Europe.
Your parents just let you go off?
When I turned sixteen, they inherently trusted me, and they were kind of lied to.
By who?
When I was modeling my parents got check-up calls and an itinerary to let them know what I was doing at all times. What parents don’t know is that the people who are telling them their kid is fine are the same people who are inviting you to parties and getting you limos and letting you do whatever the hell you want. We used to fly to Paris every weekend to party. Modeling was a perfect way to travel. To meet beautiful women and sleep with them. So at seventeen you are living between four countries all year long. It’s the perfect form of escapism. I ran way from the winter for years. But at the end of the day, I saw that it was just a bunch of bullshit. So I had to stop and start studying.
One last question, what is reality?
Reality is what you perceive it to be.
You want another bong load?
Yeah, please. (Laughter)
