Shattered Glass
An Interview with Peter
Sarsgaard
 Peter
Sarsgaard co-stars in the Billy Ray-Directed, and Cruise/Wagner
Produced, Shattered Glass. He plays Chuck Lane, fellow colleague
of Glass, and reluctant editor of The New Republic in the mid
1990’s. When Stephen Glass produces a number of very successful
articles for the magazine, Lane (Peter Sarsgaard) becomes suspicious
and jealous at the same time about their validity, only to later
confront and ultimately aid in the investigation of Glass that
would lead to the films dramatic conclusion.
Peter tells LatinoReview that
he enjoyed the script and was very interested in doing the film.
He says that in fact he spoke with Chuck Lane for two hours on
the telephone just to get the details of what happened right,
and try and convey that to the screen. Although Lane informed
Peter of what is was like for him to deal with Glass and the controversy
surrounding him, Peter said he wanted his portrayal of Lane to
have more of his own personality, and that what you saw on screen
was in fact more Peter Sarsgaard than Chuck Lane.
When asked about the movies’
explosive scenes between He and Hayden Christensen’s portrayal
of Glass, Sarsgaard says the casting of the two of them couldn’t
have been more perfect for this movie. “Every
insecurity that my character had as an editor is associated with
my insecurities as an actor. When you first start at new job or
position, you have this fear of failing or not doing your job
right. As you get more comfortable with your job and do it day
to day, you become more confident, much like I do as an actor.
That is what I tried to show on screen.”
 The
rivalry of Chuck Lane and Stephen Glass wasn’t too far of
a stretch for him either. Peter continues, “The
fact that Hayden (Stephen Glass) is this famous actor after only
two big roles, and the jealousy I feel toward an actor like that
when I’ve been working for a long time and I don’t
have that is absolutely perfect for the movie also.”
When asked if he had ever been
caught in an untruth, Peter tells a story that happened when he
was 10 years old. “I was living in St. Louis
nearby a place called Horse Park. I lived next door to the zoo,
and I went around and collected money for the save the elephants
fund and kept quite a bit of it.” When his
parents caught wind of this, he says that they made him return
the money and confess to all the neighbors that he lied to them.
Peter goes on to describe the event as “traumatic”
for him.
Peter did not express surprise
with the recent New York Times scandal involving Jason Blair and
his fabrication of stories and articles he had written for them.
“It’s not surprising that it happened.
Journalism today is sensationalized. It’s more entertainment,
not journalism.” In the end, Sarsgaard says
he doesn’t think Stephen Glass was sorry for what he did
instead offering he was probably just sorry for getting caught.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t get input
from Glass himself, because it would be interesting to know why
he did what he did.”
Shattered Glass opens in
New York and Los Angeles October 31, 2003.
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