Ryan Phillippe: Uber-Preppie

Handsome Ryan Phillippe has been on our radar since the coming of age films White Squall and Little Boy Blue but the actor firmly registered with teens in I Know What You Did Last Summer and when co-starring with his wife Reese Witherspoon in Cruel Intentions. He was in Gosford Park and likes going the indie film route. Ryan is also a writer and producer in his own company. Now he plays Oliver, an ultra-preppie big bro to Kieran Culkin's Igby in the dark comedy Igby Goes Down. [WARNING: Igby is rated "R" for language, sexuality and drug content]. We spoke with Ryan in the a.m. recently and found out that he'd been up early fixing breakfast and watching cartoons with young daughter Eva.

TeenHollywood: What's Eva's favorite cartoon?

Ryan: That changes. She's really into Powerpuff Girls right now. I took her to the movie the other week. I liked it. It was a little too epileptic, frenetic, Pokemon for me. All the flashing was a little seizure-inducing.

TeenHollywood: Have you now reconnected with Sesame Street and all the shows you grew up with?

Ryan: My mother had a daycare center in my house, so that stuff was on all the time. Sesame Street and PBS is all that was ever on. I grew up in that house for 15 years... But those are the ones I like best.

TeenHollywood: What do you enjoy most about being a dad?

Ryan: Every day it is different and every day it is exciting. That's what I enjoy most. Just seeing her mind develop.

TeenHollywood: How do you and Reese structure your schedules?

Ryan: It's just balance like any other family. We have certain rules that we adhere to that are for our own family construct. We take turns and go on location together. It's essential. No one movie would ever be as important as my family. You know it's not easy but we work hard and we sacrifice and we focus on each other. And you know, I don't think we've figured it all out but I think we have done as good a job as anybody else. I think we've done alright.

TeenHollywood: How did growing up with three sisters and no brothers shape who you are?

Ryan: A great deal. I am such a supporter of women. I am so happy for my wife. I am ecstatic that she makes more than most men in Hollywood. [laugh] The first writer I hired for a movie I am producing is a black woman. She did a wonderful job. I think seeing women get passed over and being so intimately involved with so many women in my life – my sisters, my mother —I think it has given me a sensitivity and an understanding that I don't think a lot of men necessarily have.

TeenHollywood: You were really discovered in a barber shop?

Ryan: Yeah I was, I was fourteen and this woman came over and said she had a friend in Philadelphia that had a modeling agency and that's how I started. I've been supporting myself since I was 17. I was doing odd jobs first. I worked at a video store, I worked at a restaurant called Rascals that sold crabs and seafood and I used to stink, and I've worked at grocery store as a janitor, I've cleaned up the aisles, and then put the carts back where they belong. That was when I was like 15 or 16. I moved to New York when I was 17, and started modeling.

TeenHollywood: Why is Igby Goes Down so special to you?

Ryan: I've been in this business for 10 years and I've done 16 movies and it's getting to the point now where I can recognize a script that is original and has a voice, and is grounded in some sort of honesty or some kind of interesting world. When it is something I haven't seen before, I get excited. It is a character I have sort of played before, but I knew I could do a fine job with it and I wanted to help get the movie made. I was too old [at 27] to play Igby but Kieran did a wonderful job.

TeenHollywood: Your character Oliver in the movie is quite the snob but sad too. How did you approach playing him?

Ryan: I don't like this guy but I do believe guys like him exist and I know that has to come from a true place. His environment shaped who he was and so there is a reason. That environment would include a great education and a really eye opening life experience. The kid's dad had a nervous breakdown and that is probably where he's going. He is always drinking. I like the duality of Man. It is just so human, we all have that dark side and that good side.

TeenHollywood: Did you make a conscious effort to avoid doing more "teen" movies?

Ryan: I take responsibility for all of the good and bad in my career because I make my own decisions and I have since I was 18, 19. It's like you learn what traps to avoid and you learn through experience. The major transitions in my career came when I realized that my involvement in a film to help it get made. I am a natural producer but that is what is most fulfilling to me. I am proud of these [recent] films. I am not proud of the films I made earlier. I feel like I'm doing things that are relevant and make sense.

TeenHollywood: What are you listening to now?

Ryan: In my car I've got Peter Tosh and I've got the Beach Boys in there, Cameron is a rapper, I've got Johnny Cash, I'm really all over the place. I've got the new Springsteen. It's okay, you know, I like it, I'm not crazy about it but he's kept it real. I've got every new album, I evaluate everything. I need to know how to play an instrument. The guitar, to take on locations and things, would be a good choice.

TeenHollywood: If acting didn't work out, what would you have been?

Ryan: If I had never become an actor I think I certainly would have gotten into teaching somehow. I still may at some point. What really excites me is the idea of teaching literature and history, but literature primarily.

TeenHollywood: What is the last thing that you read that you liked?

Ryan: Theodore Rex, you know that book about Teddy Roosevelt, and right now I'm reading The Lovely Bones. It's written through the perspective of a dead 14-year-old girl, who talks about how she died and her family, and she was brutally murdered. It's really amazing.

TeenHollywood: What was your favorite movie last year, barring Legally Blonde?

Ryan: I guess Lord of The Rings. But I can't remember much of what I saw last year. It's depressing.

TeenHollywood: What's your favorite really bad movie?

Ryan: That one about the ballerinas in New York, Center Stage. I think Dude, Where's My Car? is pretty great.

TeenHollywood: What's something you do really well besides acting?

Ryan: Martial Arts. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I used to compete in tournaments. I was 8 years old when I started and I used to get beat up all the time because I was small for my age. And I like snowboarding. I didn't start that until I was 20. If I had started when I was 16, I probably would have gone pro. I love it that much. It's very Zen to me. My mind clears completely when I do it. There are very few things that do that. My daughter is like that for me, too.

TeenHollywood: Would you like to direct?

Ryan: I have written something that I would very much like to direct in the next two to three years. It's a true crime story about a con artist from Europe who comes to America pretending to be a missing child from Texas and he lives with a family. It happened in the mid '90s. This kid turns himself into a local celebrity, claiming he can help find all these other kids. It's outlandish.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.