Diving "Into the Blue" with Paul Walker

Okay, what is it with hot actors and shoes? First Viggo Mortensen gets comfy at our interview in his sox and then hunky, blonde surfer dude Paul Walker kicks his shoes off under the table when we chat with him. Hey, maybe these guys are just comfortable with us. Nice thought. Besides "barefootin'", Paul looks casual in blue shirt with brown stripes, jeans and a dynamite tan.

The star of The Fast and the Furious films admits he loves to drive fast but he's been just as at home in the water since childhood. When he got the chance to play a free-diving treasure hunter in the undersea actioner Into the Blue, he didn't hesitate. Hey, it didn't hurt that hot Jessica Alba was going to play his girlfriend either. The buff actor was fine with talking about his new projects, about the next "Fast" film going on without him, fun with sharks, a nasty injury he got on set, working with Jessica, whom he loves cuz she's feisty, and what kinds of films he thinks are okay for his soon to be 7-year-old daughter to see. We admit it. We are now kicking our shoes off too. Here goes....

TeenHollywood: Are you worried about having that pretty boy look?

Paul: I hate it. I sometimes wish my nose was broken once or twice more. People discount me and call me a pretty boy. I've always had a chip on my shoulder about that.

TeenHollywood: So, feeling that way, how do you react when seeing your abs up on a billboard?

Paul: I don't even see that stuff. [Here in the hotel] I was walking through the hallway and as soon as I got off the elevator the poster was there and I turned it around. (Laughs.) I live in Santa Barbara and there are no billboards up there. City ordinance.

TeenHollywood: So, then you're not impressed by your own abs?

Paul: No. I think it's pretty cool. I asked my girlfriend to take a photo for my grandkids and I might find a time when I think it's pretty cool. But right now it's like, 'Whoa. That's weird.'

TeenHollywood: You got hurt in this film, right? A cut on your head?

Paul: Yeah, you can't really see it anymore. It was funny, because John [the director] is kind of slick. He called it a camera test, but I knew damn well that we were filming. (Laughs.) We were doing this dive in a cave and the tide was pretty low. When I came up to the surface there was plenty of headroom but then the tide came up and I just whacked [my head] and the skin split open. It looked really bad. And I'm the kind of guy where I'm like 'whatever'. I've got scars and cuts all over my head and feet and hands. It just comes with what I do. And everyone wanted to bandage it. And John was like, 'No! No! It's good for the character, it's good for the movie'. I was putting ointment on it, just so it would heal up faster and not be this festering wound throughout the whole movie. But it eventually went away.

TeenHollywood: When you started out, did you think you'd be an action movie star?

Paul: No. Glad I am though. No, I never thought in a million years. I didn't want to be an actor. It just happened.

TeenHollywood: Didn't you try Marine Biology?

Paul: Yeah. I went to school for marine biology so I thought maybe that. But what I excelled at was absolutely nothing and getting into trouble. [Laughs]. My father and my mother still say to this day that I would have been in prison if things didn't break for me with movies because I like doing the bad stuff. I'm glad. Super grateful. Somebody was looking out for me.

TeenHollywood: Well, some of that marine knowledge must have paid off for Into the Blue, right?

Paul: Yeah. It's funny when this whole thing came around...I showed off a bit. I knew the common names for all the fish. And we had the shark wranglers and they are throwing their knowledge at me. They are telling me that the sharks are safe. And the only time they bite people it's always mistaken identity and I'm like, 'Don't even play that card with me. They don't discriminate. They are opportunistic.' And the guy's like, 'Yeah, but we've got to say that, we want people to come by here on our shark dives. That's how we earn a living y'know?' And I'm like, 'Don't even play that card with me man.' [Laughs] If these things decide to bite me they bite me.

TeenHollywood: So, maybe too much shark knowledge is scary. Weren't you scared of acting around the sharks?

Paul: I've got this thing. My father's pretty insane. He's a Vietnam vet and he's kind of scrambled but really solid, a really good father. But, my dad's dad he wasn't afraid of anything – my grandfather. When I look at my dad, I see the same thing. I don't think he's afraid of anything. And my younger brother looks at me and says, 'Dude, you're not afraid of anything.' So, I think we kind of passed it on.

TeenHollywood: Come on, Paul. It's sharks!!

Paul: Okay, I'd swam with sharks before. When I am scared is when the water is so deep you can't see the bottom. You can't see what is coming up from underneath you. I am very comfortable with 20, 30, 40 sharks so long as the bottom is within close proximity so that when they act up I can go to the bottom and I can put my back to it and curl up as small as I can. That's when I feel alright. Another thing that made me uncomfortable is there is a sequence where Jessica is throwing me my mask and fins in the movie and I'm treading water. So, I'm visiting. My lower extremities are visiting. I can't really see the sharks. I can't tell where they are coming from. I can only feel them bumping into me.

TeenHollywood: They try to knock you over?

Paul: Sometimes when they bump you, they bump you really hard. A bigger one bumped me and almost knocked the wind out of me it hit me so hard. But, the big ones they behave. They'll bump you, but they decide that maybe your density may be a little too thick and they'd rather not take a bite out of you. They would rather take out a fish. It's easier prey. But, the little ones? Those are the ones that keep coming back and they bump into you more and more. The ones in the three to six foot range. Those are the ones that make me nervous. Because they haven't learned. They don't know the ropes and they are the ones that more frequently bite.

TeenHollywood: Weren't you in the Bahamas shooting this in winter? Wasn't the water cold?

Paul: The water is 72 degrees. It's all subjective. It's all really about what you're used to. When I first got there and learned I was going to be diving in 70 to 72 degree water I was like, 'Right on. This isn't a problem.' They were trying to figure out if we were going to wear suits, because they knew a good eight to nine hours in the water you eventually go hypothermic. In 85 degree water, if you're in it for five hours straight, you'll loose a degree or two of body temperature. You go into a deep bone chill. The shivers are pretty intense. This movie's supposed to be tropical, warm and pretty and we're just in bathing suits and we're like brrrr [he makes a freezing shaking noise]. They'd say 'okay get out!' They had a hot tub to get that bone chill out of us as fast as they could. Then they threw us right back in again.

TeenHollywood: You and Jessica Alba make a nice couple in the film. What was it about Jessica and you that really jelled?

Paul: Well, she's beautiful and I also wanted somebody who had attitude and a bit of an edge to her. We had met once before when we were considering doing a movie together that ultimately fell apart. But we had a few drinks and Jessica and I were arguing. The first time we met one another and I had to bow out a couple of times. It was touché. And I liked that about her.

TeenHollywood: What were you bickering about?

Paul: It was just petty, stupid stuff. And the director was sitting at the table and he was so uncomfortable. 'I'm trying to put these two together. This obviously isn't working out'. We're arguing and bickering about this and that. But, I got that about her. It's just her personality and I'm the same way. Immediately I found that I could push her buttons. I knew what was going on and she started doing the same thing right back. So, when they told me they were considering her and that she was considering playing the role I was like, 'Oh, yes. I know her. I think she's got it.' She's tough, she's beautiful and from the very first moment I felt this very capable sense about her. She's not this feeble woman. She's like the, 'Oh girls can't do it?' personality. Call it girl power, call it what you want. And while we were there she really turned it up. Scotty [Caan] and I were free diving and she wanted to follow us and do everything. I thought that was really important especially for her character.

TeenHollywood: Are you good at free-diving?

Paul: I can hold my breath for close to three minutes now and I can dive down to over 100 feet.

TeenHollywood: Whoa! What did you do to physically train for that?

Paul: When I first got there my breath holds were weak. I could maybe hold my breath for a minute. I got down to say 30 or 40 feet. I was using up a lot of my air. I had sinus problems, so it's hard for me to equalize. After a while I don't know what happened. I think my sinus cavity just opened up. I loved it so much I just stuck with it and I dive all the time when I'm home. And when I was in the Bahamas I think the deepest I got was the 70 foot range. But, like I said now I dive well over 100 feet and I stay down for close two minutes. Two minutes and 46 seconds the last time I went out which was two and a half weeks ago.

TeenHollywood: So, for a guy who loves the water, was shooting this film just like a paid vacation?

Paul: Yeah, I think so. There were times when I was there where I was like, 'Man this is hell.' John [Stockwell, the director] has got a real tough personality. He runs a pretty tight ship and yells and screams and gets mad. So, I pulled him aside, downstairs and was like, 'Hey, man half my job and half your job is to try and keep things cool.' We just have a different outlook on things. We've gone on surf trips together. We've been to El Salvador. We've been out to Hawaii several times since.

TeenHollywood: Did you know anything about modern salvaging and treasure hunting?

Paul: Nah, I learned what I learned from James Cameron in Ghosts of the Abyss and from Indiana Jones and all that. I grew up on Jacques Cousteau. That's why I wanted to be a marine biologist. I've seen so much programming on the likes of Discovery channel and Travel channel. How many excavations have we seen of the Titanic over the last ten years? Every other month there is a different crew of guys going down there and filming it. There are a lot of people fascinated by that and I'm one of those.

TeenHollywood: Are you a treasure hunter at heart?

Paul: Finding treasure under the water, I don't know why it seems that much better. I dunno, maybe the association of The Goonies maybe? [Laughs]. One eyed Willie? The bullion, the coins and the rubies. The sabers, y'know? I want all that stuff.

TeenHollywood: Is this movie too scary for your little girl to see [she'll be seven in November]?

Paul: Yeah, I don't think I'd want her to see it. We've been working on this surfing thing. She's really excited about surfing so I went out and bought a tandem long board. A 13 footer. It was actually a pretty sizeable day. Surf was a little big, but I felt confident and comfortable in my abilities and I thought, 'We'll go for it.' We're having a good time. I'm catching the shoulder of the wave which is where it is tapering off. It's a little bit smaller. We're hooting and hollering and having a blast.

TeenHollywood: So nothing dangerous?

Paul: Well, on one ride out we're talking and she froze up. I'm looking at her and talking and 'Oh, no.' It was big. It was a solid 12-15 foot wave. Typically, in a long board you'd roll under and you'd hold on, you let the wave blast over you. Basically the longboard becomes a shield. She can't do that. She doesn't have the strength to hold on. So, the debate was what do I do? So, I paddle at the waves and I kind of press myself up and the force of the wave kind of blew her back at me and I grabbed her and then I came up [holding her] like Raifiki did with Simba in The Lion King. (Laughs.) She was like, 'Daddy, I don't want to go in!' Just streaming in tears. So, she's spooked on big waves, the shark thing is still there. So, she doesn't need to see this movie.

TeenHollywood: Is there anyone in your life always getting you in trouble?

Paul: Scott Caan. We're like brothers. We love and hate each other. We go rounds. We wrestle and all that stuff all the time just like in the movie.

TeenHollywood: Let's talk about your other projects. Is Flags of Our Fathers your most serious work yet?

Paul: No, Running Scared which is coming out in January. I was born and raised on the west coast and I play an Italian mobster. Who would have thought? I never would have thought that I could even do it. I kill a lot of people. I swear a lot.

TeenHollywood: But, what was working with a tough guy like Clint Eastwood on "Flags" like?

Paul: Well I introduced myself at the kickoff party which apparently went over really well, because several people came up to me and said, 'Man, Clint thought that was pretty cool that at a party you came up and introduced yourself.' That's just how I do it. Just how I came up. He's a lot like my old man. The way he carries himself in his demeanor. I wasn't too intimidated by him. I'm more intimidated by a Jessica Alba than I am working with a guy like Clint Eastwood. I think I'm just more comfortable around guys. I always have been. Like real guys, like my old man and my grandfather and my uncle.

TeenHollywood: What was shooting that film like?

Paul: At any given time working out there in Iceland we had 300 extras. A countless number of effects guys planting mortars and they have to set up all the trailing machine gun fire in the sand. It would be really stressful and super, super tedious for just about anybody, but what blew me away was just how calm and collected Eastwood was every day. I was like, 'What the hell?' It felt like we were making a small movie, but the effects around us were huge. He's the man and he doesn't even try. It's just who he is.

TeenHollywood: Do you think that movie will change your image?

Paul: I don't know. I like being 'The Fast and the Furious' guy just fine. I don't want to be categorized really. That's somewhat inevitable I think. It's the way I look and the way people see me. I was glad for the opportunity to work with [Eastwood]. I didn't think it was going to happen. I cried, 'Give it to me.' (Laughs.) I had to go in and read and the whole bit. I can't remember the last time I had to read for anything. I was like, 'I just want to be in your movie. I'll wash your floors man. I'll get down on my hands and knees and scrub them.'

TeenHollywood: Was Eastwood a 'Fast and the Furious' fan?

Paul: He knew who I was which I was surprised at. The reason being – For Space Cowboys, there is a sequence in the beginning of the movie with a young Clint Eastwood. His wife, Deena, told me they watched Pleasantville and initially he wanted me to play the part when the role was bigger and then he decided against it when they scaled it down. And I was like, 'Oh, Clint Eastwood knew who I was.'

TeenHollywood: And who are you in the film Antarctica?

Paul: I'm a guide. I have a team of dogs. I like dogs more than people. I haven't seen that yet. But, apparently they had their first screening last week and it scored in the 90's which is good from what I understand. That's a family movie. That's one I'll be taking my daughter to. My mother was like 'Just promise me you're going to make a movie for the kids. For your nieces and nephews.'

TeenHollywood: What do you think of Fast and the Furious 3 going on with Bow Wow and Lucas Black and not you?

Paul: Oh, I think that's good. But, I was bummed. I wanted to make another one. My dream scenario was that it was going to be Vin, Tyrese and I. I spoke it over with the powers that be and they were like, 'We can't afford that.' And I said, 'Look, I just want to finish it.' It's been my life for so long and everywhere I go people are always asking me when are you going to make another one. El Salvador for instance. I mean, places you'd never suspect. Red carpets roll out for me. It breaks a lot of barriers for me. I was really disappointed when it didn't work out, but I really like Lucas Black. I thought he was awesome in Friday Night Lights. And I really think this third one could be the best one.

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