By Christopher Wallenberg
06 Mar 2010

Geraghty certainly seems like he's on the right path these days. His career is beginning to lift off thanks to such memorable roles as the acid-tripping campaign worker in "Bobby" opposite buddy Shia LeBeouf, a hot-headed Gulf War Marine in "Jarhead," in which he has a volatile face-off with Jake Gyllenhaal's character, and a recent turn as a womanizing Wall Street banker in "Law & Order: SVU."

Still, it's the critically acclaimed awards darling "The Hurt Locker" that's been garnering Geraghty the most attention and praise. The film, which is up for nine Academy Awards March 7, is perhaps his most high-profile role to date. In the jolting, adrenaline-soaked film, Geraghty plays one of three members of a bomb-defusing squad in Iraq a year after the American invasion. Directed by the beloved action helmer Kathryn Bigelow, who's a frontrunner to take home the Best Director Oscar, the film depicts the brutal realities, moral dilemmas and psychological damage that soldiers grapple with every day on the front lines of an intractable war. Geraghty plays Specialist Owen Eldridge with a mix of white-knuckle fear, shame, vulnerability — and even wry humor. The random violence and utter unpredictability of his daily life has brought him to the verge of a mental breakdown.

While Geraghty admits that the shoot was a challenge, he always kept everything in perspective. "It was grueling. It was hot. And it was tough," he says. "But as far as film goes, I mean, I was still making a movie and still acting. I mean, I wasn't in the war. It would be hard if I was in the war. I know I couldn't do that. I don't have the courage to do what those men do. So it was tough, but it was great, too. I got to see a new part of the world. I got to grow in ways as a person and as an actor and have that experience."

Despite all the accolades that have been showered on "The Hurt Locker," Geraghty's probably most excited about his latest film, "Easier With Practice." In the film by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, based on a non-fiction article in GQ, Geraghty plays an awkward introverted writer, Davy Mitchell, who's driving around the southwestern U.S. with his younger brother on an ill-advised tour to promote his book of short stories. One night in his hotel room, he receives a random phone call from a woman named Nicole, who seductively asks him what he's wearing, and before long, Davy is having steamy phone sex with her. This becomes a regular thing, and what commences is a relationship of sorts — one in which dirty talk leads to phone sex, which leads to intimate, post-coital conversations — all over the phone. The film, which played to acclaim at festivals and is nominated for two Spirit Awards, paints the not-uncommon portrait of an immature, emotionally stunted young misfit who finds it easier to connect with a woman through the gauzy membrane of a phone line than live and in person.

The part was a challenge for Geraghty because he really had to step outside his own personality and find a way to identify with a character that he didn't have a lot in common with. "I've played sensitive and vulnerable guys before and I've shed tears in film, but it's something that I never thought I'd be doing. It's so different from me personally. In high school, I was like a party animal, a surfer, hanging out with lots of chicks. Some actors with big egos might be like, 'I could never play that guy.' But I'm like, 'That's sad, dude. That's what acting is, man. You've gotta go in there and just find a way in.' This guy is the unexpected hero of the film. You root for him the whole time."

The part forced Geraghty to tap into his vulnerable side and risk more than a little embarrassment. After all, he had to sustain ten-minute-long scenes of just him in an empty hotel room — loquacious solo phone sex sessions that required him to get all hot-and-bothered and then simulate pleasuring himself on screen.

"When we saw the film, I almost had a heart attack, because I masturbate in it for like ten minutes," he says, with a hearty laugh. "I have this one scene. I was like, 'Oh my God, I cannot believe I did this.' And then we saw the film with an audience, and I saw how much people were digging it and seemed to really like the story and the character."

Geraghty has already earned early rave reviews for his turn in "Easier With Practice" ("Terrific, understated, honest, and uncontrived" and "Brave isn't too strong a word to describe Geraghty's performance"). So it's hard to believe his previous agent recommended that he pass on the part. However, Geraghty insisted on doing it, because he "just had a strong feeling about it."

Geraghty hopes those instincts continue to pay dividends in a career that seems poised to skyrocket in the coming years (The Los Angeles Times recently named him one of its Faces to Watch for 2010). While leading man roles in bigger budget films may be just around the corner, Geraghty says that he's often humbled by the work and still feels he has a lot to learn. But that doesn't mean he isn't relishing the challenges that await.

"People are like, 'You should be doing leading-man roles.' And I'm like, 'Give me a well-written one, and I'll do it.' …I still need good writing to hide behind," he says. "So the long and the short of it is: There's a lot of pressure to perform in this business, and I can get sucked into that, too. But at the same time, I have things that I feel. So I just kind of go on instinct. People help guide me, and I have good friends who I trust. Those interesting character roles still appeal to me. But once you do something a certain way for a while, you're like, OK, I did that. That feels comfortable. Now let's push myself ... I've already checked off everything on the list [of goals] that I made. The last thing was to do a really great play. So I guess now I have to start a new list."

(Christopher Wallenberg is a Brooklyn-based freelance theatre and film journalist and frequent contributor to The Boston Globe, Playbill, American Theatre magazine and the Christian Science Monitor.)