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2010 (March) GQ article/interview
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| 17-Nov-10, 5:31 PM |
GQ Magazine March 2010 Simon Baker’s face is pretty much everywhere in Hollywood.
Just as there’s a fast food joint on every corner in Los Angeles, there’s a billboard on every street. Ads for Baker’s hit TV show The Mentalist seem to be emblazoned across most of them. There’s that trademark smile and blonde curls looming above the tagline "Let The Mind Games Begin”. I’ve passed five already during my short drive to the Warner Brothers lot in San Fernando Valley.
Baker, born in Tassie and raised in Lennox Head (just south of Byron Bay), is a world-famous celebrity these days. He’s come a long way since his potential was first recognized with a Most Popular New Talent Logie in ’93 for his work on E Street.
He’s also had a slow but steady ride to the top. With no real actor training, he ”travelled on a dingy following the first fleet” to LA in ’96, bringing up the rear behind Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman. On arrival, he got himself noticed by big-time agents who soon slotted him in pilots.
He worked consistently until gaining notoriety as Nick Fallin, a hardened corporate lawyer, in the TV series The Guardian. It earnt him a Golden Globe nomination in 2002. Then, in 2006, came two leading man roles: one in The Devil Wears Prada, the other in Something New, a romantic comedy about a white man who falls in love with an uptight black woman (a performance that attracted the attention of Oprah). But his most high-profile role to date has been as the nonchalant crime investigator Patrick Jane in The Mentalist.
Within weeks of debuting in 2008, The Mentalist was the most viewed new TV show in the US. Between 16-20 million Americans tune in every week to watch Baker solve crimes. His work in the series got him nominated for an Emmy last year.
When I arrive at the lot, row upon row of trailers are lined up against numbered cement buildings. Building 14 is where The Mentalist is being shot. A publicist shepherds me inside where I spot Baker talking on his mobile phone, having his make-up fixed, and half-listening to his assistant arranging his insanely busy schedule. Co-star Robin Tunney, who plays no-nonsense Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon, is also getting a spruce-up next to him.
Then the camera rolls. Baker is doing his sixth take of a two-line scene with Tunney about a significant clue in the case they’re solving. After the take’s finished, I’m told I’ll be interviewing Baker in his trailer while the rest of the crew knocks off for lunch. Minutes later I’m alone with the man America’s TV Guide magazine anointed the Sexiest Man Alive in 2008. Sipping on a perfectly brewed espresso as Baker changes out of his work clothes, I wonder how many women have fantasized about exactly this kind of scenario.
For the ladies sure do love Baker. Fan sites are sodden with drooling compliments such as: "melts my heart”, "love the accent”, "sooo sexy” and "best smile ever”. The queen bee of US TV, journalist Barbara Walters, has been seen licking her lips before interviewing him. Ellen DeGeneres gushes about him being "ridiculously handsome”.
While setting up my recorder and Baker’s slipping into something more comfortable, I tell him about the time I was at The Footy Show when NRL player Nathan Hindmarsh was asked what Hollywood actor his wife had the hots for. Hindmarsh’s reply? "That Simon Baker guy.” "Yeah, I heard about that,” Baker says, the corners of his mouth wrinkling into a smile. "you know what’s funny? I’m a Parramatta supporter and Hindmarsh is one of my favourite players. A couple of my mates called to tell me they’d seen that on The Footy Show. One of them said, ‘So when are we going to Hindy’s place for a barbecue? You’ve got to get us all an invitation.’ I thought it was all kind of cute because I think he’s the consummate footballer. I watch footy via satellite with the boys and I’ll say, ‘You watch Hindmarsh. He’ll make 50 tackles this game.’”
I’m a little taken aback when the seemingly self-assured Baker kicks off the interview by confessing he’s never been entirely comfortable in the spotlight. "I’m essentially shy but I know how to survive socially. I like to either engage full-on or detach full-on. I’m pretty excessive. I’m either all in or not at all.”
So how the hell is this blue-collar Aussie guy – he’s done every menial job from bartending to brick laying to pool cleaning – dealing with being a global heartthrob, the focal point of a top-rating TV show ?
"I’m fine. I work here and then go home,” he explains. "I live in LA, so people understand celebrity. I notice that whole fame side of it a lot more when I’m away. I just did a film in Oklahoma and that’s when you realize how many people are watching it.”
But what about the pressure that goes with fronting a TV blockbuster –does it get to him? "If I was younger and hadn’t jumped through so many hoops and been around the block as much, it would probably have taken more of a toll on me. There are days where you just go, ‘Fuck! How am I going to get through this day?’ but you realize it’s beyond your control and you take it moment by moment. I don’t think there’s anything extraordinary about it other than the fact that a bunch of people who watch those shows think that what I do is extraordinary.”
Baker’s been around long enough not to fall into the common showbiz trap of judging himself by how well his career is going. Make no mistake, he’s enjoying the success that’s come his way, but he’s under no illusions about the fickle business of celebrity.
"This is pop culture,” he says. "There have been many people before me who’ve been the guy on a TV show that’s doing well and there will be many who come after me. My way of coping with it is, ‘Yep, it’s all great and fantastic but it could go away tomorrow.’ So I don’t hang all my self-worth on it. It’s like a surfer taking off on a wave. Once you’re on it, you go with it – you don’t have time to think about it. You just keep going forward and enjoy what it is.”
This Zen mindset gets him through the grunt work of stardom: endless red carpet events, awards presentations and media interviews. When it comes to talk shows, he’s acquitted himself well on all the big ones: Ellen, Oprah, Letterman and Regis and Kelly.
"The first talk show I ever did in America I sat there going, "Beam me up Scotty, get me out of here!’ I hated it. My trick now is to try to not care. Don’t get caught up in it because if you do, you’re fucked. It is just another avenue for the public to be exposed to this whole façade of Hollywood – it’s called the entertainment industry for a reason.”
Baker knows he has to play the game, and he plays it well. But he doesn’t get consumed by it, and the years he’s spent doing the rounds in Tinseltown haven’t dulled his bullshit detector.
"The basic principle of Hollywood is success has many parents and failure is an orphan. No-one wants to be the father of failure. I’ve done movies that were failures and I refuse to orphan them. In fact, they’re the ones I loved the most because no-one else loved them. To me the only real part is the experience of making it – the rest of it is someone else’s experience. Often in Hollywood it’s the cart that’s influencing the horse. I’d rather concentrate on being the horse. I’m already filled with enough self-doubt.”
Come again? Simon Baker has self-doubt? One of the most desired men on the planet? A multi-millionaire with a rock-solid 11-year marriage, a loving family, a hit TV series and his pick of film roles ? Surely he must be feeling just a little pleased with himself ?
"I always feel a little bit like an impostor,” he says. "I feel out of place, like I shouldn’t be there, and get those feelings that I’m not worthy. But who doesn’t? Put the guy who says they don’t have any self-doubt in front of me and I’ll make him cry in two minutes because they’re the ones who are more stuffed up than anyone.”
"By the way,” he adds, "We’re Australian. It’s not like we go: ‘You’re awesome!’ Aussies go: ‘you’ve done OK, but don’t get a big head.’ Here in the US, you learn how to get a big head. You have to balance that.”
Baker’s Australian friends and family have done a sterling job of ensuring his ego doesn’t get out of whack, but they’ve had less success getting him to strike a healthy work-life balance. Baker works 17-hour days shooting 23 episodes of The Mentalist a year, and during his breaks from TV he’s usually off working on a film.
"I just keep trying to work it out and do the best I can. It’s like when to get from A to B you have to walk across a whole lawn of bindis with no thongs. If you want to get to B you’re going to have to walk across the bindis, mate. If you don’t want to get to B then stop your whingeing because you’re annoying me – and I do want to get to B.”
Baker is becoming animated, and a little difficult to follow.
"I know I speak in cryptic ways,” he apologises before continuing in the same vein. "Marriage and family is the same thing. I was like, ‘I found a great chick, I’m marrying her, everything’s gonna be sweet and that’s it.’ But life doesn’t work like that and you can either give up or you can figure it out. But I tell you, when you figure it out you feel really good and you feel closer to the other person.
He then relates a drunken conversation he had with a close mate 10 years ago in the hope of illustrating his philosophy more clearly.
"My friend, who’s an actor, said there are winners and losers in life. He said I was a winner and he was a loser. I translated that not as there are ’winners’ and ‘losers’ but that there are people who are survivors and those that aren’t. Certain people are resilient. There are people who if they take a knock, it totally throws out their compass. But I’m a survivor. I’m tenacious. I don’t give up on things.”
But what does Baker have to say to people such as his mate who haven’t reached the heights, even when they’ve busted their gut?
"Here’s what I say: do you like doing it? Then what’s the problem? Enjoy it or do something else. It’s not easy; everyone struggles. I’ve done many movies that have been turkeys but I found good things in the process of making them – it was an experience and I met interesting people and I made some money. I admit I’m blessed but it’s very much about the way you approach things in your head.”
Before assuming it’s easy for someone who appears to have led a charmed life to sound off like this, keep in mind Baker has his fair share of knock-backs. He missed out on a major role in LA Confidential he desperately wanted, then had to deal with his mate Guy Pearce scoring it, while he was relegated to a bit part.
"I swore a little bit, called him a cunt a few times and then got over it. It’s not his fault. It has nothing to do with him. How do you get over anything? Have a little tanty and then moveon.org.com.au”
Right now, Baker is at peace with where he’s at. He’s currently working on The Killer Inside Me, an independent film, but the role of Patrick Jane remains his top priority. Ever the level-headed boy from Tassie, he’s not going to walk away from a great gig on TV to chase after movie glory.
"I have a solid day job in a fiscally-driven business which is all about bums on seats. With doing films, it’s about whether or not it’s something that interests me. Most of my success has come through commercially viable things from TV shows. If this is as good as it gets, and I’m known as that guy from The Mentalist for the rest of my career, that’s not bad. That’s fine.”
SIMON SAYS The business of being Baker
1 HIS PICK-UP TECHNIQUE
I’ve never been a one-liner guy. Spontaneity is always key. Something that’s happening in the moment is better and more candid than something that’s rehearsed.
2 CRACKING FUNNY
I’ve always loved short jokes. A horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, ‘Why the long face?’
3 ON HOW YOU CAN PITCH HIM THAT FILM SCRIPT YOU’VE WRITTEN
There’s an organization over here called Australians in Film (australiansinfilm.org), which is a great, supportive network. I’m always meeting new people through it.
4 ON ATTENDING AWARDS NIGHTS
I dress the part for a red-carpet event by wearing a well-made suit. I also wear multi-purpose glasses because I can’t see well and I don’t like contacts. A trained seal can read a teleprompter but I ask them to make the front really big because of my eyesight.
5 CHANGING HIS SURNAME
A name is just a superficial thing. But I dropped Denny for personal reasons: It was my stepfather’s name and I changed back to my birth-father’s name.
6 GETTING THROUGH STRESSFUL SITUATIONS
It’s a piece of cake. Treat it like a game of golf –don’t think about it, just hit that little white ball into the hole.
7 THE IMPORTANCE OF COURTESY
I’m always polite. That’s just the way I was raised. Don’t ever ignore people. If someone smiles at you, smile back.
8 THE SECRET OF HIS SUCCESS
I’ll have a go at anything and when I commit, I commit. That’s when the opportunities come along.
9 HOW TO SETTLE THE NEVES BEFORE A BIG SPEECH
Drink vodka instead of beer. Beer makes you fart.
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| Category: Interviews 2008-2011 | Added by: Fran
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