Aaron Eckhart on Becoming 'I, Frankenstein'

Hi, I'm Aaron Eckhart, and you're watching Young Hollywood.

Aaron Eckhart, how are you?

I'm doing well.

So what is a pleasure. Thank you very much. I get excited when I find out you're coming in here. I do, and Georgie does look excited.

Well, that's very sweet. She doesn't know how to show it like I do. No, but she just, I want the audience to know that she just came over and rubbed up against me.

Yeah, she can't talk right. She rubbed up against Aaron. Yes, a beautiful dog. Yes. And it's good to see you looking so well.

Yes, I'm feeling well. I uh this morning I actually did 40 miles on my bike before I got here.

Okay. So I instantly feel inferior and out of shape. You're an Englishman, so you like sky cycling, is that true? Sky cycling. Yeah. No, you don't need that. Is that anything? Is that a drinking game? If it is, yes, you're right. But you do look better than what I've seen you recently in the in the ads for I, Frankenstein where you um,

It's true.

You've, you look, you look amazing, but in a scary

Yeah, I mean, it's interesting when you're taking on Frankenstein because uh, or the monster of Frankenstein, Adam, as he's his name is in the movie, is because you say, well, what do you want him to look like? Right. You know, you have the cinematic incarnation of Frankenstein with the bolts, the square head, he's, you know, he's sort of um, slow, one could say. And um, you know, we sort of made an action movie. We did make an action movie, so the guy's got to move, you know. So we took out the bolts, you know, it was the first question when I got the part was like, you know, am I gonna, we doing the bolts or not? Frankenstein is an amalgamation where he's made up of um, eight different corpses, right? So this would be a different corpse and this and the arms and the body scars. So we had to somehow illustrate that, and how would you do that, you know, with scars obviously and stitching and then, how do those evolve over time? Do they get, you know, they diminished over time? So we had a lot of those questions, which were interesting questions, and I think it'll be interesting for not only the faithful Frankenstein, you know, aficionados as well as people who are being introduced to Frankenstein.

And away from the physical appearance, how would you say this modern Frankenstein has a fresh take on the original?

Well, it's interesting. I mean, if you, without looking at uh, movie Frankenstein, you go back to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Um, uh, which I did. I reread it, you know, I hadn't read it in several years, obviously. And um, I was shocked by how, who this creature is, you know. He's rejected by his father. He's created, rejected right off the bat by his father. He's cast out. He um, has to fend for himself. All he wants to do is find his purpose in life and he wants to find love. He, you know, because he feels love inside of him. He wants to find out if he's a real human, if he has a soul. But um, he's ostracized by society. Uh, he's, he's frightening to children. He actually, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, kills somebody. And so I'm thinking, wait a second, man. This is exactly how I felt as a teenager. You know what I'm saying? I go, uh, wait, the guy thinks he's a monster, he's ugly, he's unworthy, nobody wants him.

I feel hungry now.

No, come on. Yeah. No, but all of us in this room have felt that. What would you do with life like that? Yeah. Yeah. Think of this, you know, you're have acne and the prom or it's just come up. You know, I'm not saying you are a monster or one, but you, you perceive yourself that way, you know, and then people, you know, we all have times in our lives where people were unkind to us. And then you could go further, what if you were, you know, born with outer scars or whatever, you know, how would you, how would that make you feel? And that's really where I based where I came from in this movie. I mean, yes, he does uh, Kali stick fighting as a survival technique. There's gargoyles and demons in this movie. There's huge theatrics. There's, we're in a uh, sort of a gothic European um, underworld. But I think for people to really go and understand this movie and to be true to Mary Shelley's book, it's all about uh, a monster or a creation or a man trying to find his soul. And I thought, who doesn't, you know, who can't relate to that?

There's a deep message in there that you wouldn't have expected.

Yeah. If you're drunk, you. It's a great action film.

Yeah. Yes. And um, you mentioned obviously the fight scenes. Some amazing fight scenes, which you always seem to do well. Because you, you, you're trained, you're, you're good at this.

Yeah, and this is on a different level. I mean, it's a Filipino art of stick fighting where they get two, two and a half um, foot rattan sticks, and you basically can dismember, you know, your opponent with them. So this guy shows up at my house, this, he's a world class knife fighter. This guy's amazing. And they trained me for six months, hardcore, every single day, from not knowing anything about sticks to really feeling very comfortable with sticks. Like if you put one stick in my hand or two sticks, I could do some damage.

Thank you for arriving without any sticks. Yeah. Um, but it's funny because you mentioned last time you're on the sofa that you, you try and learn something new with every movie you do, and it's obviously the fighting techniques and that, you must have a lot in your locker now.

Well, yeah, I mean, the great thing about fighting and the great thing about these movies is basically all fighting skills come from the same base and the same foundation, so it's basically how you move your feet and how to stabilize and balance yourself. So I had a good beginning with boxing and MMA and and that. I say to actors, you know, young actors, I like to talk to young actors. And they often ask me for advice, and um, you know, this is not the advice I give them first, but I say to them, you should always learn three things, you know, riding a horse, shooting a gun, and playing poker.

Okay. It's a great night out.

That's right. It's a great night out. And I'm going to add a fourth one to that, and that's um, learning how to throw a punch and fighting. Every actor because movies are so action oriented these days that you really need that base. Actors know how to throw a punch. Um, and so that's really helped me throughout my, my training, it makes things so much easier.

Is there one scene that sticks out as being the most difficult?

Oh, yeah, I mean, the main fight in the movie is, uh, Stuart, Beatty, the director wanted, he didn't want to cut. He wanted my face and the sticks in all the scenes at all times. It means I'm doing all the fighting. So, and it is so dangerous. And it we shot at night and you're tired, it's a 12, 15 hour day. The ground's wet. You make you miss by a centimeter, I'm going to hit your cheek. I'm going to hit your elbow, I'm going to hit your knee, whatever it is, right? And you're going fast, you know, when they say action. And you've choreographed it for those, I was in Australia for like two months before it, every single day, all day, you know, getting it down, the dance. Um, but one time, you know, I think I dropped it, I dropped my thing or he swung too high or whatever, and hit me right in the back of the neck. I thought I broke my neck, dropped like a sack of potatoes, out cold. They're like, take two.

Did they stop and say, okay, no, we're bringing a stunt man, let's go.

No, they didn't actually, I didn't have a uh, uh, stunt man on this movie in terms of like stick fighting stunt man. You know. Um, which is good because I think the audience will appreciate when they see it that

Yeah. Well, it looks amazing.

Yeah, because there's no no cutaways in the fighting and stuff. So that was, that was the most difficult, I was happy when that was over.

I'm always admiring how much you put into, you know, the work and the fight scenes and the

Yeah. I have this masochistic um, need, desire to feel like I'm actually doing whatever it is. If I'm in a war, or whatever it is, I want to look around and think that I'm at war. I want to look around and feel like I have to kill my. Right. Uh my acting partner. Do you know what I mean? I mean, their eyes go, I can see why. You know what I mean? But it's the fun. I mean, when I get on set, I want to be that person all the time.

Which is great because it comes across on screen. Yeah. Makes it very enjoyable to watch. Very scary as well. Yeah. And I hope you make it through the next movie so you can come and sit down again. I worry about you, Aaron. I'm worried about you. I really do. Um, absolute pleasure, Aaron Eckhart, I, Frankenstein. Watch it. Money well spent.