By Michael Buckley
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What attracted Liev Schreiber to the role of Vilma? He immediately answers, "The chance to work with, and watch, Ang Lee."
His scenes took "a week-and-a-half/two weeks to complete. We shot in Chatham, NY, in Columbia County, on the New York side of Pittsfield, MA."
"Right out of school [RADA and Yale Drama School]," he tells me, "I played a depressed transvestite in Nora Ephron's 'Mixed Nuts' [his 1994 movie debut]. He calls a suicide hotline and falls in love with the telephone operator, played by Steve Martin."
Were there actors who influenced Schreiber? "I had weird tastes as a kid. I was a very big fan of [Charlie] Chaplin, Basil Rathbone — who was a world-class fencer and lost all those sword fights to Errol Flynn, [Laurence] Olivier and Peter Sellers. Danny Kaye was also a huge influence. His wife, Sylvia Fine, was my mother's second cousin."
Sustaining a fractured ankle playing football, Schreiber's father paid for surgery and also for tuition at the exclusive Friends Seminary, where he developed an interest in acting. Playing Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, he got approval from the audience and decided on his future. He attended Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where he made his first solo appearance in scenes from Eric Bogosian's Drinking in America. He earned a BA.
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), produced at CSC, marked Schreiber's 1992 Off-Broadway debut, in a company that included Cherry Jones and Hope Davis. At the Delacorte in 1995, he played Sebastian in The Tempest. He appeared with Jason Robards and Blythe Danner in Harold Pinter's Moonlight, at the Laura Pels. In 2002, at the Acorn (MCC), he co-starred with Sigourney Weaver and Aaron Eckhart in The Mercy Seat, written and directed by Neil LaBute.
He's twice performed in Macbeth: As Banquo/Seyton in a '98 Public Theatre production, which starred Alec Baldwin and Angela Bassett, and the title role, opposite Jennifer Ehle, at the Delacorte in 2006. Also at the Delacorte, he appeared as Iachimo/Jupiter in Cymbeline (for which he received a 1998-99 Obie Award) and in the title role of 2003's Henry V. Other Shakespeare at the Public were the title role in Hamlet ('99) and, as Iago, in Othello (2001).
"I've been lucky enough to do so much of the Shakespeare canon," admits Schreiber. "Those were my dream roles when I was younger, and I was able to get them out of my system early.
"Stage is infinitely more fun than film, because you're interacting with an audience. Having said that, I couldn't imagine doing one without the other. I've learned so much onstage that informs what I do on film. I've been very fortunate to be able to go back and forth."
According to Schreiber, the role that, thus far, has given him the most satisfaction is "Ricky Roma in [the 2005 revival of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning] Glengarry Glen Ross. I had a tremendous amount of fun playing that character; I think it's the most fun I've ever had onstage. Doing that play with those guys every night reminds me of playing sports on a team. It was a terrific experience."
How was winning the Tony Award? "I felt like I was going to have a stroke. When they said my name, I don't remember being more terrified than going up onstage and getting that award. Ultimately, it was a sublime moment — an award from a community I always dreamt of being a part of. Having my peers award me really meant a lot."
Other Broadway appearances were in In a Summer House (his 1993 debut), a 2000 revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, with Juliette Binoche and John Slattery, and the 2007 revival of Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio, for which he received Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk nominations.
Is Schreiber the type of actor who can joke around backstage right before going on? "Different shows require different things. Sometimes, when you have an ensemble-driven show like Glengarry, part of what gets you in the mood is to mess around with the cast backstage — to get that sense of camaraderie. If you're doing the Scottish Play, it requires you to stay more focused."
Many consider his breakthrough screen role as Cotton Weary, whom he played in the "Scream" trilogy (1996, 1997, 2000). In 1997, he filmed "Sphere," starring Dustin Hoffman, who recommended Schreiber to director Tony Goldwyn for the lead role in his '98 film "A Walk on the Moon." Schreiber played Diane Lane's TV-repairman husband, father of Anna Paquin, and son of Tovah Feldshuh. The movie takes place in 1969, against the background of the Apollo 11 moon walk — and the Woodstock Festival.
HBO's "RKO 281" (1999), the story of the making of "Citizen Kane," starred Schreiber as Orson Welles. "That was very intimidating. They were very big shoes to fill. My family and I are huge fans of his, and I knew I'd be scrutinized by all the other Welles' fans.
Among his other film and TV work are "Hamlet" (as Laertes), "The Manchurian Candidate" remake (Meryl Streep's son), TV's "Lackawanna Blues," "The Painted Veil," opposite Naomi Watts, a four-episode arc filling in for series star William Petersen on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," and "Defiance." In 2005, he wrote and directed "Everything Is Illuminated."
Upcoming, he has three movies. "Repo Men," with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. "I play a guy who runs a company that repossesses artificial organs that were bought on credit and haven't been paid for. It's a fun sci-fi picture."
"Every Day" co-stars Carla Gugino, Helen Hunt, Brian Dennehy, Eddie Izzard, and Ezra Miller (Tucker on TV's "Royal Pains"). "It's an independent, low-budget film by a first-time director, Richard Levine [who also wrote it]. I play a writer who's going through difficulties in his marriage."
"Salt" co-stars Angelina Jolie, "who plays a CIA agent who's accused of being a Russian mole. It's a thriller, directed by Philip Noyce. I play her boss — and friend."
Do constant questions about "Taking Woodstock" make Schreiber fatigued? "It's only been a day and a half. I'm a little jet-lagged. My family's back in London." He and Naomi Watts have two sons, Alexander "Sasha," 2, and Samuel, 7 months.
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Various and Sundry
Welcome back to "Mad Men" (AMC, Sundays, 10 PM ET), which features two-time Tony winner (How to Succeed..., Tru) Robert Morse, who's sterling as Cooper. The third season premiere was the most-watched episode to date.
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"Royal Pains", the USA series (Thursdays, 10 PM ET), has been picked up for a second season. Starring Mark Feuerstein as a concierge medic in the Hamptons, the series features Campbell Scott and two-time Tony winner (42nd Street, Grey Gardens) Christine Ebersole in recurring roles.
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Also renewed for a second series is HBO's "Hung," starring Thomas Jane and Jane Adams (An Inspector Calls) Tony and Drama Desk winner, with Marylouise Burke playing the mother of Anne Heche.
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Broadway's Scott Ellis, a five-time Tony nominee, directed the final two episodes of the first season (it's been renewed) of Showtime's "Nurse Jackie", starring Edie Falco, with two-time Tony nominees Eve Best and Anna Deavere Smith (coming to Second Stage in Let Me Down Easy).
Ellis' episodes featured four-time Tony nominee Victor Garber (returning to Broadway in Present Laughter), Elizabeth Marvel, Eddie Korbich and Tony winner (The Life) Chuck Cooper (who'll be in Finian's Rainbow).
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Jerry Springer is playing Billy Flynn in Chicago. Who's next? Dr. Phil?
(Stage to Screens is Playbill.com's monthly column that connects the dots between theatre, film and television projects and people. Contact Michael Buckley at stagetoscreens@aol.com.)
24 Aug 2009
His mother had three sons from a previous marriage when she married his father. Schreiber also has a half-sister and another half-brother, actor Pablo Schreiber. When he was a year old, Liev moved with his parents to a Canadian commune. They soon divorced, and he relocated with his mother, whose other three sons lived with their father, in Manhattan's East Village.
Liev Schreiber in "Taking Woodstock" photo by Ken Regan/ © Focus Features
"But it was such a great experience to work with the director, Ben Ross, and an incredible cast: John Malkovich [as writer Herman Mankiewicz], Melanie Griffith [Marian Davies], James Cromwell [William Randolph Hearst], Roy Scheider [studio president George Schaefer], Brenda Blethyn [Louella Parsons], and Fiona Shaw [Hedda Hopper]. It was a remarkable opportunity. I have very fond memories of that." He was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Demetri Martin and Liev Schreiber in "Taking Woodstock" photo by Ken Regan/ © Focus Features
STAGE TO SCREENS: Making "Taking Woodstock"; Chats with Groff and Schreiber
Low-key, affable, and intelligent, Isaac Liev Schreiber is a San Francisco native, the son of an actor-director Tell Schreiber, of Austrian-Swiss-Irish-Scottish descent, and the former Heather Milgrim, an artist whose heritage is German-Ukrainian-Polish. "But since childhood, I've been called Liev [pronounced Lee-ev, not Leave, as he's been called]."
