Paul Walker: Action-Packed Time Traveler

Hottie Paul Walker of Fast and Furious fame, is stuck in medieval France and can't wait to get "Back to the Future" in his new time travel actioner Timeline based upon the Michael Crichton novel. No hot cars in this film. The actor has exchanged his wheels for archeologist tools and chain mail. He was interested in playing the more swashbuckling character in the film; a role given to studmuffin Gerard Butler, but was happy in a reluctant hero role as actress Frances O'Connor's main knightly dude. Besides, he got to choreograph the fight scenes!

Paul, of the ice-blue eyes, was casual, wearing a t-shirt from a fave Austin, Texas restaurant, for our chat in L.A. about his film, blue collar family beginnings, upcoming projects, love of action, and worries about our environment and the future.

TeenHollywood: What time period would you like to go back to?

Paul: It's this one for me. I really like the medieval period. It seems the easy way out. But from the time I was a little kid, it always seemed one of the most fascinating periods to me. As I got older, and going to college, I took a poli/sci class. It was on the history of the Far East and focused on Japan and China and I loved feudal Japan, the last Samurai, like Kurosawa stuff. That's what I like-Shogun and Samurai. That's my favorite. [Humm, bet he'd love to play the Tom Cruise role in The Last Samurai!]

TeenHollywood: Did you have to do a lot of physical training for this role?

Paul: No. My physical training is every day when I'm not working. I wasn't really involved with that. I didn't get to do any of the sword fighting. Gerry [Butler] got to do some of that but not as much as he originally anticipated either because originally the script was written where the Merrick character was really badass, like he was in the novel. So when he went back in time, he was besting all these guys. But Richard Donner [the director] said that's not real. You're an archeologist first and foremost. You weren't born with a sword in your hands. It didn't make sense to Richard that the Merrick character would go back and whoop ass. I think that was the better way to do it. My character even at one point had a few scenes where I busted a few guys with a weapon, and I said I know that's not going to stay. That's out.

TeenHollywood: You would have liked to have played the role of Merrick?

Paul: Yeah. I wanted to. Bad. To me that was the real hero, especially in the first draft I read. I didn't read the novel till after we finished production because Richard urged me not to. When I heard that Lauren [Shuler-Donner, the producer] was considering me for a role in the film, I thought for certain it was Merrick. Then Richard said, Nah. Sorry. You're Chris.

TeenHollywood: Merrick is on horseback a lot. Would you have been good at riding horses?

Paul: I've been riding a lot lately. I've actually been team roping. That's something I've always wanted to do. I used to ride quite a bit when I was a kid. I go on trail rides and stuff quite a bit. The last several months, that's what I've been focusing on, because I want to make a western. Desperately. So if the opportunity comes up, I'll be ready. I'm trying to create that right now.

TeenHollywood: But you do have a lot of action scenes in Timeline. Did you do your own stunts in this film?

Paul: Yeah. I choreographed the fight sequences, which really weren't that involved. I don't want to bad-mouth anybody, but I don't like movies when they have the big exchanges and punches and everything wide and outside. Even the little scrape I had with Tyrese in 2 Fast 2 Furious, I did the choreography.

TeenHollywood: So then do you want to be more of an action hero?

Paul: I just think those are my strengths. That's the way I was raised. My father was a prizefighter. My grandfather ended up a contractor but he fought amateur. My dad was four times Golden Gloves [champion]. My grandfather fought for the middleweight championship of the world twice at Madison Square Garden so I grew up boxing. My family's blue collar. I grew up roofing and framing and doing electrical and that sort of thing. For my dad, the whole martial arts thing was important because it's something he wishes he'd gotten into, but his parents didn't have any money. From the time I was in third grade I started training in karate and then I went on to train in kung fu, tae kwon do and did some judo. As of late I've been doing mixed martial arts. I have some training in Brazilian jujitsu. I love that stuff.

TeenHollywood: Did you win any belts?

Paul: I jumped around from style to style quite a bit. That was my father's whole thing: he said, you don't ever want to be black belt because then if you ever get in a fight, it's assault with a deadly weapon. That's the way he thinks. He bounced me around from style to style. Lately, it's been a lot of groundwork. Because I'm a better striker. My grappling skills and submissions aren't very good, but the thing that's nice about those is if you're out with a friend and someone gets carried away, you don't have to smash anybody. You just put them in a good choke. [he demonstrates].

TeenHollywood: You do that well. Have you ever been in that situation?

Paul: I've choked out my friends several times. Guys are going to get rowdy and my friends are crazier than I am by a long shot. It's good to be able to do that stuff when you need to.

TeenHollywood: How did your parents react when you said you were going to be an actor?

Paul: They were over the moon. I look at it now and can see that my parents were disappointed when I decided I didn't want to do it anymore. I worked all the time as a child, but I wanted to be normal and play sports and I had a girlfriend. My parents didn't have any money. Everything [college] was going to be grants and loans for me. I stepped back and started working construction. I worked for UPS for a while. I worked for a couple surf shops. I was living out of a garage at a friend's house in Pasadena and I started auditioning again. My agent from when I was a child tracked me down. He was casting for this episode of "Touched By An Angel". I went in and read for it and got the job. He said you should consider auditioning again because I think you'd be working all the time. And within one month I got Pleasantville. I've been working ever since.

TeenHollywood: Do you still surf?

Paul: Not as much as I used to. I've been surfing my whole life and I'll continue to do it, but lately my focus has just been cowboy.

TeenHollywood: Were you preparing for a surf movie a year ago?

There were talks that I was going to do one but I was never attached to anything. Matthew McConaughey had a project that he wanted to produce and act in and there's a chance that we may still do it together someday.

TeenHollywood: Were you ticked off that you weren't in Blue Crush?

Paul: No. They came at me for that. The thing of that is: I would have been the quarterback. (non-surfing guy). I need to be a surfer.

TeenHollywood: You'll be deep sea diving in your next movie Into the Blue. Tell us about it: ever dived before?

Paul: A lot of free diving. I don't like having all the equipment on me. I grew up spear fishing. I've lived here in California my whole life. I can hold my breath for a real long time. I didn't see any advantage of having a tank and plus, the bubbles scare the fish away. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to be in the element. I'm working with Jessica Alba, who in my opinion, is one of the most unbelievable women alive to look at.

TeenHollywood: What would you give her on a scale of 1-10?

Paul: [grinning] She's a 10. She's really sweet and we're getting along real well. I'm looking forward to going down and working with her. A good friend of mine, who I did Varsity Blues with, Scotty Caan, James Caan's son, we had such a blast. We got a place together when we were in Austin, which is where I got this shirt [points to his t-shirt] five or six years ago. We rented a condo together and had such a blast. We've been talking about it for the past 5 or 6 years. Our dream has been to find another project together. We love to surf and all that too.

TeenHollywood: If you traveled into the future, what do you see?

Paul: I think the future's scary so I try not to think about the future too much to be honest with you. I only know in 40 years we're going to double the world's current population if we continue the course we're on. That's a scary thought.

TeenHollywood: As a dad [to 5-year-old Meadow], do things that are going on in the world now scare you?

Paul: I have this horrible recurring dream about the future. A lot of it is my background. I studied marine biology. When it comes to the status of mother nature and pollutants and hacking down rainforests, I'm really sensitive to that stuff.

TeenHollywood: What do you do to try to help?

Paul: Just simple things. I'm a walking contradiction because I like to race cars and racecars pollute like nothing else. I'm aware of that. But, for instance, the lights are always off in my house. I never run electricity that I don't need to. Little things like that. How many people in the world are educated enough to know that when you do this (gets up and flips the light switch), it's not magic. It's coming from something. We're burning fossil fuels right now. This stuff is going up, that's the way I think all the time. When I see a light on, I think, Oh shit. There's smoke going out in the world now because of me. I don't like that. On the way out of your house, you should pull your key out and all the lights shut off. There are systems that recirculate the water so opposed to having to turn on the tap and wait for it to heat up, it's instantly hot. (snaps fingers) It's little things like that.

TeenHollywood: So, do you turn off the water when you brush your teeth?

Paul: Yeah. And my showers are like two minutes. I'm in and out. That's my biggest pet peeve. I can't stand people that take 20-30 minute showers. That started with my dad. My father has a military background-it's like in and out. What are you doing in there? I do it for different reasons.

TeenHollywood: Did studying science help with your role in Timeline?

Paul: No. This is mainly archeology. The science-fiction aspect of it; wormholes and that sort of thing, my mind doesn't really work that way. That doesn't fascinate me so much. When it comes to science fiction, I like Star Wars. I love The Matrix.

TeenHollywood: Would you want to go back to school and study science?

Paul: I think about it all the time. I'm going to do this thing for "Discovery Channel" in December where they just recently found this Japanese submarine from World War II near Midway. We're going to bring it up to the surface. I'm excited. That's the kind of opportunity that this is granting me that I really like. I've been in talks with Jacques Cousteau's son. He has a society and foundation in Santa Barbara and I'll be doing some work with them in the not too distant future.

TeenHollywood: Have you read other Michael Crichton novels?

Paul: I read Jurassic Park and I read Congo because I saw Congo with my father and he said the book is so much better. You gotta read the book.

TeenHollywood: There were changes from the Timeline book to the movie. What are some of the good changes?

Paul: We had to speed things up. The movie sings once we get back to the medieval period. The professor and Chris originally didn't have the father-son relationship. It makes a lot more sense now. I'm going. 'He's my dad'. I understand that. To me, that made all the sense in the world. We gotta expedite this. We gotta get you back to the past. That's when the movie starts going. Why would Chris put his life on the line to get on that platform? Well, if it's his dad, we understand.

TeenHollywood: Are there any movies your daughter has seen?

Paul: She finally saw a movie I was in-she saw 2 Fast 2 Furious. They have movie night on Oahu on a big screen outside on Waikiki beach. You can go and set up your barbecues. She went to see Princess Diaries one Friday night and they announced the next week's film, 2 Fast 2 Furious. And she said, that's my daddy's movie, I want to see that. So they went back and saw it.

TeenHollywood: How did she react?

Paul: Her mother (Rebecca) said she was laughing the whole time. She couldn't believe it. Because she was watching her dad, not the movie.

TeenHollywood: So she knows what you do?

Paul: She knows now. She just turned five, and her friends are aware [of Paul being an actor]. It comes from her friends' parents.

TeenHollywood: Being an actor you have to be away from your family for a long time?

Paul: Yeah. It sucks. That's the tradeoff. It's a bummer sometimes. I'm in international business. That's what I feel like. Fifty percent I'm acting; fifty percent I'm an international businessman. I sympathize with those guys. I can only imagine what it's like for the wives and the kids.

TeenHollywood: You just turned 30. Any special celebration?

Paul: I was thinking of doing something extravagant-renting a jet and flying everyone someplace. A friend was going to charter a boat and cruise around the coast. I knew what everyone wanted to do so we went to Vegas. It was fun. Didn't sleep for almost three days. I probably lost a couple of thousand dollars. When you go to Vegas you know you're going to lose. I can deal with it.

TeenHollywood: What's the biggest thing you bought since becoming successful?

Paul: I bought a Porsche. I haven't made any big purchases. I still don't have a house. I'm not around enough to justify it. And I love to travel so much that I get coopy real quick. If I had a house, I'd be there for two weeks and be gone.

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