Mark Ruffalo's Version of "Heaven"

He's the cute, talented, dark-haired guy that Jennifer Garner's 13 Going on 30 character was after in that romantic film. Mark Ruffalo is also catching the eye of Reese Witherspoon's character in the new romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. What is it about this guy that makes him the dude you wanna cuddle with? He's nice. Mark is friendly, funny and always has a smile on his face. That's a good thing since, a few years ago, the actor had to overcome a brain tumor!

Ruffalo, although he has played bad guys or "rougher" roles (In the Cut, Collateral, Windtalkers) can easily segue between intense drama and light comedy. We caught up with him in L.A. last month and got the scoop on playing a guy who sees...spirits. After congratulating him on the new baby (his wife was pregnant while he was making "Heaven"), we got down to the important stuff like is he a neat freak or kind of a slob like his character in the film?

Mark: I'm probably in between.

TeenHollywood: So, you wouldn't leave a water mark from a glass on the coffee table?

Mark: Well, I might do that. But this guy is real bad. I sort of have to contain it [my mess] to my own closet. Otherwise, I will be thrown out of the house and I like living in my house.

TeenHollywood: You were great doing the physical comedy in this film. Have you done that before?

Mark: I come from the theater and I've gotten to do some of that certainly early on in my career. Not to that extent. It is something different. I'd just come off of We Don't Live Here Anymore when I did this and I was hearing people say 'Mark Ruffalo can't do comedy' or 'he can't be a leading man'. In the theater, there are no boundaries like that. Whatever you say you can do, you can do if you put your mind to it. I kind of wanted to prove to myself and the rest of the world that I could do this sort of thing. I'd like to have a career that is able to span any genre. I want to treat this like I would treat my theater career.

TeenHollywood: Were you out looking for another romantic comedy?

Mark: Well, I was looking for something more comedic or lighter and this came to me. I liked the story. I didn't really love the script at first and then met with Mark [the director] and Reese and we started working on it a little bit. I liked where he wanted to go. I liked his sensibilities. So, I figured we could do something in this genre that was actually funny and romantic. It's hard to pull off. I hope we succeeded.

TeenHollywood: How was working with Reese?

Mark: I really enjoyed working with her. We have a nice, easy kind of repartee with each other. She's very funny and she laughs at my jokes which goes a long way in any relationship. We enjoy a nice sort of fun, light, slightly ribbing relationship the two of us. She's very cool. I always thought Reese was really well put together but she's human just like the rest of us. She's actually very funny and is struggling with all her humanity as well. I really liked her.

TeenHollywood: When you were looking at the script were you worried that they'd try to make you the typical romantic comedy leading man?

Mark: They brought it to me and my first reaction was 'this isn't really for me'. But, it was Mark Waters [director] and I know Mark Waters from The House of Yes and I know him from the New York independent scene and so I had a feeling that he would add something interesting and I also knew that he would he collaborative. No one really signed on to do the movie until they had another rewrite with everyone's concerns being dealt with. Then we just started rehearsing and rewriting as we were rehearsing and just sort of fine tuning the thing. You can't have a guy who is grieving for his wife and have it be light. You can't play that so light. So, once we got in there I was like 'I'm just going to play this as honestly as possible'.

TeenHollywood: In your life, have you ever had a woman come along and snap you out of depression?

Mark: Yes I have. If I wanted to be in that relationship, I couldn't remain that way.

TeenHollywood: So it changed you?

Mark: Yeah, and slowly. It took years. But, it taught me to enjoy my life a little bit more.

TeenHollywood: How hard was it for you in the effects scenes to act with somebody who isn't really in the room?

Mark: I was doing that as a little kid a lot [laughter]. So, it's kind of like getting back to that, which I think all acting is trying to do. It was hard at first. What was really hard was actually having Reese standing off camera and talking way over there. I'd want to look to her. So we worked out this thing where she'd go in another room with a microphone and then they'd put a little ear line thing and she'd do her lines in another room and I'd play to this imaginary person. At first it was a tennis ball with a little face drawn on it. And, eventually, I didn't need it any more. I can do it now. I know exactly what her height is so after a while I just go into the rhythm of it and it was okay.

TeenHollywood: This movie is shot in San Francisco. If you had one last night in that city, how would you spend that night?

Mark: Robbing a bank. No, that would be useless. I don't know. I guess you would spend it with someone that you would like to spend your last moments with. It all comes down to being around people, maybe. If I knew I had to do that I'd probably end up with some of my family.

TeenHollywood: Is there a moment in the film where your character knows he's in love with Reese's character?

Mark: There's those little moments when he looks at her. She's kinda cute. She's a ghost, what am I thinking? Building that in, I was always afraid that we wouldn't have earned that for the audience but it seems to play. Also, when you share something private, when he finally shares about his wife, I think that's a real trusting moment for him and he's on the way to love.

TeenHollywood: What's your take on the afterlife, or spirits or spirituality?

Mark: I have never had any experience like that but there are a lot of people who have; people that I trust and believe. I haven't had that experience so I can't really say that I know for sure that it exists but plenty of people have so I'm not discounting it either. It's more interesting thinking that possibly that the mystery does exist.

TeenHollywood: Didn't you once have a brain tumor?

Mark: I had a brain tumor, yeah. I was set to do the movie Signs and I had a brain tumor and I wasn't ready to do the movie by the time they were ready. [Note: Joaquin Phoenix played his part].

TeenHollywood: So, you've had that experience of maybe facing death?

Mark: Yeah. I had to look at that for a little bit. Yeah, it makes you appreciate things different. Just made me appreciate my life a lot more. You appreciate the time that you have. It changes you certainly.

TeenHollywood: If you weren't in acting, what would interest you?

Mark: Writing maybe. Directing I think. I thought teaching for a long time would be interesting to do. I'd like to teach actors. That would be fun I think.

TeenHollywood: You are getting more attention at this point in your career. Were you frustrated at the beginning? 'Hey, I'm not doing anything different now than I did then. Why didn't you notice me'?

Mark: In the beginning I felt that way. Now I just think you're ready for things when they happen. I was really bitter for a long time but I wasn't ready and I keep growing. I just had a bad attitude. To protect myself I'd have a little bit of an attitude that would make even me not want to work with me. For a long time they were saying 'where did you come from?'. I did the play 'This is Our Youth' in New York and came to L.A. and what pissed me off was all the L.A. casting directors were saying 'where did you come from?' I'd been here for seven years. I'd sent them the fliers to my plays. I'd had auditions and they're like 'where did you come from?'

TeenHollywood: So it was from a New York play that the Hollywood casting people finally noticed you?

Mark: Yeah. I had to go to New York to make it in L.A. As a young actor, that's a little frustrating. I wasn't sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. I was doing plays. We did 30 plays here in Los Angeles but I never got that recognition here. I had to go to New York where theater is taken seriously and get recognition there and then come back here and that's frustrating. That's their job. They should go see young actors in plays. I do my job. I learn my lines and come to work.

TeenHollywood: In Collateral were you surprised how they just snuffed you out suddenly?

Mark: Well I tried to talk to Michael [Mann] about that. Michael had his mind made up. I said 'Well, maybe I'm wearing a bulletproof vest under there, Michael'. He's like 'No, you're dead. Get outta my face'. It was surprising but kind of exciting. That character is a shill. He pulls the carpet out from under the feet of the audience.

TeenHollywood: Are you filming Zodiac now? Are you the killer?

Mark: No. I'm playing [the guy] who was the head inspector on that case for SFPD and it's a great, fun character part.

TeenHollywood: Did you talk to the real guy?

Mark: Yeah. I was up in San Francisco with him for a couple of days and really got to know him and, hopefully I can bring him to the screen.

TeenHollywood: Do you look like him?

Mark: He's Italian and he has curly hair but other than that we don't have anything in common. This guy is a character. I could never come up with this guy.

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