Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid: Good Company

They're an unlikely duo; nerdish, "That '70's Show" heartthrob Topher Grace and the movie hero with the gorgeous smile, Dennis Quaid, but the two actors became buddies during the shoot of In Good Company, in which the younger Topher becomes Dennis' boss. The guys sat down with us in Beverly Hills before the holidays to chat about their movie relationship, family, advice to young actors and the older/younger brother kind of real life relationship that developed as they worked together.

Both guys looked casual; Topher in blue, long-sleeved dress shirt over a t-shirt and Dennis, in t-shirt with leather jacket and a deep tan when they plopped down across from us. It's hard to believe that Dennis is almost twice Topher's age. Both actors were really friendly "good company".

TeenHollywood: This is a movie based in the workplace. Dennis, were you ever fired from a job when you were a kid?

Dennis: I've been fired when I was waiter. I dropped sour cream on some woman's head. I'm clumsy and I got fired for being clumsy. That was though. I got unemployment insurance when I came out here (to Hollywood). I got $75 a week from Texas.

TeenHollywood: Do you think that this film is saying that often the contributions of older workers are thought of as irrelevant?

Topher: Well, I think that the film is saying that there's a perception that that's true and that that perception is wrong. My dad has a phrase that goes, 'Having more energy doesn't mean that you're smarter.'

TeenHollywood: Topher, your character Carter seems to have everything but he's a loser in his private life. Doesn't this have a lot to do with family? Dennis's character has one and you don't.

Topher: Well, sure. Carter has got everything on paper. His parents were both absent, but he's got the right car, and the right job and the right life and the right house. But I think that once I go home to Dennis' character's house I start to actually see something that I really want, I don't know how to get it. I think that he's dating Dan's daughter (Scarlett Johansson) as a consolation prize instead of actually being in the family. Like, he would trade it all in just be in his family.

Dennis: Here I am, a guy with two daughters and you're rooting for him to have a son in a way. He's certainly surrounded by women and he winds up in the end happily having a daughter, but he's also gained a son in his relationship with Topher's character.

TeenHollywood: At one point, Topher's character is selling cell phones to kids under five. Isn't that kind of weird? Is that a sign of the times?

Dennis: Well, back in the day when I was a young man, no one had a cell phone up to their ear or a laptop that was wireless to carry around or a videogame that you could carry in your pocket. People had to talk to one another in between the three channels that they'd watch on TV and the commercials.

Topher: (looking shocked) I don't know what you're talking about. (laughter) What I hate is that time that you'd have to yourself in the car or something, you could actually be alone with your thoughts. You don't have that time anymore.

Dennis: Yeah. You don't have to be alone with your thoughts anymore. You don't have to process anything. You can call up someone to do something to instantly make you sort of feel better. But they're also great things. They opened up communication and now you can do it any time.

TeenHollywood: Dennis, you've said that you would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to make any changes in your life. Is that still true?

Dennis: I think that's what most of us do in a way. We get settled in our lives and we get comfortable. That's what I meant. We get comfortable in our lives and things work for us and someone comes along and says, 'You know, your jeans are really out of date.' And you don't see it. But whatever it is, I have a resistance to change in things that I feel comfortable with and that I'm used to. So that's what I meant about being dragged kicking and screaming.

TeenHollywood: You play a lot of everyman characters who people can really identify with. What is it that you do to make that happen?

Dennis: I don't think that it's anything conscious. I don't set out and say, 'Well, this guy is an everyman. I'm going to play an everyman.' I play a specific person when I do a part. But each actor brings a big piece of himself to a role. I just feel really grateful to still be here doing this thing. I feel blessed that I'm still able to do it. A lot of people that I started out with, I wonder where they are now. So I just feel like I'm lucky.

TeenHollywood: Topher, we hear that you were a little bit intimidated when you knew you would be co-starring with Dennis. True?

Topher: Yeah, I mean, I knew Dennis a little bit from a kind of post release party for Traffic. But just the idea of acting with someone who's so good for three months (was intimidating). You might be able to get away with it for one day. It was daunting, but you can see that Dennis is the nicest guy. He's the most easy going, nice guy. I think that it's just his talent that's intimidating. (Dennis grins and blushes through his tan).

TeenHollywood: We also heard that he played some jokes on you?

Topher: That was the first day of shooting. That really set the tone. It was this scene in the restaurant where he thinks that he's getting fired and then he's not. So we shot his side of it and then they turned the cameras around on me and I came back and his stand in was there, and he said, 'I'll be reading Dennis' lines during this scene.' I went, 'Uh, okay.'

TeenHollywood: Oh, so you thought he was just bailing out on you. Did you try to get him back for that?

Topher: I hope that our relationship is the opposite of our characters, and it is. I'm really open in talking about how green that I am and how much I just want to learn. I want to be the least good person in any project that I do. It was certainly true of this.

TeenHollywood: Dennis, when did you realize, 'hey, this kid can act'?

Topher: That moment never happened [Laughs].

Dennis: Look, I want to work with great people. Great people really make you better. Topher and I, we read together before we even started the movie and it was just really obvious how talented he was.

Topher: I'll also say that there were a lot more famous people who wanted to play my role. This was before the film. Dennis was kind enough to put in his three cents and I don't think that I would've gotten the role if Dennis hadn't had stepped in and said that I could do it. So I'm grateful for that.

TeenHollywood: You are very generous to younger actors. Is this because you had mentors that treated you well?

Dennis: [Deep Voice] Well, I've been around so long that I've had it all. Okay? I've been from the bottom to the top, treated like a dish rag and yesterday's news. [His voice now] I don't know. I think that it's the way that you grow up. It's the way that you're taught to treat people. I think that it makes for a good work environment to support everyone. You're all there on the same team or whatever. The idea that there's some sort of competition going on between the new hot guy and the old or whatever, that might make a good story someplace, but it's not the way that it actually is on the set.

TeenHollywood: Topher, what did you learn on the set of this film?

Topher: A big part of it for me was just trying to shut up and observe because you can ask tons of questions to people who are as accomplished as Dennis, but the best thing to do I think is just to watch how he talks to the director, how he relates to the crew and how he comes prepared every day. So for me it's like that. I never went to acting school.

TeenHollywood: Is this the last season of "That '70's Show"?

Topher: No. Well, I don't know. This may or may not be our last season. This is my last season. I have ten episodes left as of Friday night.

TeenHollywood: What's going to happen for you after the show ends?

Topher: Well, I did three movies this year and the show. I bought an apartment in New York and I'm going to try and relax. Although, the reality of what's going to happen is that this will come out and I'm going to do two other movies in a row.

Dennis: That's good. I think that it's good timing for him actually because I think that he's really getting ready to take off.

Topher: [grinning] See, look at this guy, how great is he?

TeenHollywood: So, Dennis, what advice or warnings would you give Topher?

Dennis: He doesn't really need my advice. He's a smart guy and he handles himself really well. So certainly I don't think that he really needs my advice about anything.

TeenHollywood: Dennis, would you advise young people who want to act to either love it or forget it?

Dennis: Absolutely. I mean, if you don't really love this, I don't see how you're going to last at it because it's just too frustrating of a career to get into number one. It's almost impossible. Some people do fall into it. But if you don't love it, it's not going to sustain you. There's just too much there against it.

TeenHollywood: Topher, do you feel the same. Do you love it?

Topher: I did fall into it as Dennis was alluding to. At the beginning, I was excited to be on a sitcom. Like, I liked sitcoms. But once I did Traffic, once I was in a situation that was that good, all of a sudden I started to realize, 'Uh oh, I'm really starting to fall in love with this new job. I've got to find a way to replicate this experience.'

Dennis: It's a lucky thing in the world to do this. You were nineteen when you got that show and I was eighteen or nineteen back in drama class at the University of Houston. There's a moment that comes and I think that it comes for anyone who loves their job. It's such a gift to realize at an early age what you want to do with your life.

TeenHollywood: This film has great family values. Do you think Hollywood movies ever really reflect real family life?

Dennis: Hollywood makes a lot of films that have family values. It's not necessarily all of them, but you can go back to It's A Wonderful Life or Forrest Gump. I've been in one, The Rookie. Especially around Christmas time there's quite a large amount of films that come out and express family values.

TeenHollywood: Okay, fave movies. Do you have a favorite film of all time and one this year?

Dennis: Lawrence of Arabia because it's well crafted and a good time. I can't stop watching it when it comes on. For this year it was Napoleon Dynamite. I don't know. It was made for two cents and it's quirky. My tastes are a little quirky. I just thought that it was so original and so well done.

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