Liev Schreiber
The springtime theatrical awards season in New York is a whirlwind of lunches, cocktails, benefits, and ceremonies culminating in Tony night. Of course, the nominated actors also have to give eight performances a week—and in the case of Liev Schreiber, a Tony nominee for his charismatic performance as real estate hustler Richard Roma in the Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, there's also a movie to finish. In a change of pace from tackling Shakespeare onstage and acting in feature films such as The Manchurian Candidate and The Sum of All Fears, Schreiber is in the final stages of editing Everything Is Illuminated, his debut as a screenwriter and director. Filmed last summer in Prague and starring Elijah Wood, the movie is scheduled to be released this fall. No wonder Schreiber has to do a quick pre-Tony interview via cellphone from a cab, enroute to yet another appointment.
Congratulations on your Tony nomination and Glengarry's wonderful reviews.
We are thrilled. Before we even opened, we'd won the Drama Desk Award for ensemble performance, which was great because it validated everything we'd been going for, to become cohesive as a company.
How does having three Glengarry actors nominated in the featured actor category [Alan Alda, Gordon Clapp, and Schreiber, plus David Harbour of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Michael Stuhlbarg of The Pillowman] affect the race?
I try not to think about it; I'm very superstitious. There's not a person in the category who doesn't belong there. Anybody could win it.
was amazed how much you changed your voice to play Ricky Roma; your rich "Shakespearean" tone is completely gone.
Yeah, there was something abrasive about the character that I felt would be fun to incorporate vocally, a slightly harsher tone.
Oh, I think there's a tremendous amount of vanity going on with Ricky Roma! It's a lot of fun. I had seen the first production of the play 20 years ago with my father and it really stuck with me, but I never imagined in a million years that I would be asked to play the part.
What do you like best about the character?
The irony is that he's actually a relatively ethical guy. I was sort of surprised by that. Even with all the profanity and hostility and aggressiveness and hustler mentality, he has a code that he lives by and he sticks to it.
He's surprisingly warm and respectful to the over-the-hill salesman played by Alan Alda. It's almost sweet to see—if anything about Glengarry can be called sweet!
That's the angle I was most interested in. There's a little window of humanity in this play about desperate men, and I liked that a lot.
It was an incredibly influential play on a whole generation of playwrights and TV drama writers, but it also seems fresh.
It does, actually. I like the fact that [director] Joe [Mantello] was adamant about placing it specifically in its time period, 1984, which I think makes the parallels with 2005 in terms of the world economic picture much clearer. I also like the fact that Joe made the setting specifically Chicago; the film was set in New York, which made it more generic. I love the specificity of both of those things. They make the parallels to 2005 clearer and give the piece context.
The cast comes from many backgrounds, including television. How did the ensemble come together?
Creating a sense of ensemble is about getting everybody on the same page rhythmically; we had to find the tempo. Mamet is not easy stuff, but once you're on it, it sort of runs itself.
Did you get any input from Mamet himself?
No we didn't see him until opening night.
What did he say?
I think he liked it. He came into my dressing room and my mother was there. I got a little nervous because when I said to my mom, "This is David Mamet, he wrote the play," she turned to him and said, "Oh what a wonderful vehicle you've written!" He cracked up. And then he said, "Terrific job."
What are you wearing to the Tonys? I'll bet a bunch of designers trying to outfit you.
Yes, but I haven't made a decision yet. I haven't had time to think about it because I've been so busy cutting the movie during the day and doing the play at night. I haven't had a day off in two and a half months.
What's left to do on Everything Is Illuminated?
We're going through a preview process and tweaking it, working on the score, and getting all the elements together. I am very happy with it.
I love them all for different reasons. Iago was really fun to play, as was Iachimo in Cymbeline. Cymbeline was a stunning production and so was Henry V. It's hard for me to pick because it's like saying, "Who's your favorite kid?"
Was Hamlet a good experience, even though the production got a mixed reception?
I loved it! Hamlet is one of those change-your-life plays. It usually receives mixed reviews, and I think that's because people take it so personally. It's a play that belongs to everyone's subconscious, so the best production is one that taps into that somehow. That's what we went for, but it's difficult to pull off because Hamlet is such a great play.
Do you have your eye on any other Shakespearean roles?
I've been thinking about doing the Scottish play. [Schreiber previously played Banquo to Alec Baldwin's Macbeth.] I like that one a lot. The language has always moved me, and it's a quick play. It's direct and uncomplex, and I haven't seen a production of it done that way.
Did you give Denzel Washington, your Manchurian Candidate co-star, any words of encouragement before he opened as Brutus in Julius Caesar?
He doesn't need any encouragement — he's been doing it longer than me. He did Richard III long before I was ever at the Public Theater. I was just excited to hear that he was coming because he is incredible.
I've been seeing your photo in the celebrity magazines with Naomi Watts. How are you handling this brush with tabloid fame?
I don't take any of that stuff too seriously. It kind of goes with the job, and you have to take it in stride and can't get too bent out of shape over it. When it happens, it happens.
Will she be your date at the Tonys?
No, she won't. [Laughs]
Why not?
You know, there are parts of my life that I don't think it's appropriate to talk about. They're private, and I like to keep them that way. Who I spend my time with when I'm not working is one of those things.
Okay. I'm also curious about your bohemian upbringing with your mom on the Lower East Side. Where did your ambition come from?
I think part of it comes from not having money — from wanting what you don't have.
Were you dreaming of stardom?
I was dreaming of being able to support myself and my mother, and not have her driving a taxicab, not waiting at the welfare office, and not living in houses that didn't have electricity or hot water. I was thinking about all those things.
Did you go to Yale Drama School on a scholarship?
No, when I was about 16, I reconnected with my father [actor Tell Schreiber], who helped me pay for school.
I realized fairly quickly that I had to rob Peter to pay Paul. When you're doing eight shows of Hamlet at the Public Theater making about $300 a week, you've got to find another way to support yourself. For me it worked out well that I was able to get jobs in commercial films to give me periods of time I could spend doing theater.
There was never a question of just giving up theater for a few years, as so many other young actors have?
Not for me. It was always my dream to work here and be part of the New York theater. That was where I wanted to be, and when I got out of school I didn't even feel that I had much of a choice. My background, my interest, and my skill set were essentially in classic theater, and I didn't think I would fare too well anywhere else. I'm kind of surprised that I've done as well as I have in the movie industry.
So, between acting on stage, acting in movies, directing, and writing, what's at the top of the list?
Right now? Sleeping!
See Liev Schreiber in Glengarry Glen Ross at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th Street. Click for tickets and more information.
