LOS ANGELES?Liev Schreiber, who plays Victor Creed/Sabretooth in ?X-Men Origins: Wolverine,? is rooting for Manny Pacquiao in the Filipino boxing champ?s showdown with Ricky Hatton on May 2 in Las Vegas.
In a press con with the actor at the William Fox Theater on the 20th Century Fox lot, we asked him about narrating ?Thrilla in Manila,? a documentary on what is considered one of the greatest boxing fights of the 20th century. The documentary recently premiered on HBO.
Before answering our question, Liev ?whose character?s fights with his half-brother and arch enemy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) are among ?Wolverine?s? highlights?said: ?We?re also doing the Pacquiao and Hatton fight right now.? Liev was referring to ?Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7,? a four-episode reality show, also on HBO, that features behind-the-scenes access and interviews with Manny and Ricky as they prepare for their junior welterweight title match.
Frazier fan
On narrating the docu of the 1975 Ali-Frazier fight, which includes an appearance by former First Lady Imelda Marcos, Liev told us: ?I was so thrilled to be a part of ?Thrilla in Manila? because I?m such a big fan of Joe Frazier. He was an incredible fighter who was born at the wrong time. He shared the spotlight with arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Muhammad Ali. Ali?s tactics as a fighter were also psychological and his treatment of Joe Frazier was really unfair.?
Added Liev: ?I was glad that HBO saw fit to do a documentary that reveals what Joe went through during that period of his life. Joe was actually responsible for helping Ali get his boxing license back. He lent Ali money. But Ali was constantly portraying him as an Uncle Tom, a step and fetch (servile). I really think Joe lived with a lot of pain for many years about those fights. He didn?t deserve that. I was very happy to be a part of the film that to some degree vindicated Joe.
?Thrilla? action scenes
After the interview, Liev told us that he likes Manny Pacquiao and that he was rooting for him to win the Saturday bout. He added that he was certain that Manny would prevail over his British opponent.
In ?Wolverine,? Liev sports claws in his own ?thrilla? action scenes. The acclaimed movie and stage actor (he won a Tony Award in 2005 for his performance in ?Glengarry Glen Ross?) quipped, ?The nails helped tremendously but having played a couple of drag queens, that was old hat for me (laughter).? The fourth ?X-Men? movie, directed by Gavin Hood, also stars Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan, Ryan Reynolds, will.i.am and Taylor Kitsch.
Liev reportedly was challenged to have a real buff body, not a muscle suit, to go mano a mano with Hugh, whose physique has earned him People magazine?s 2008 sexiest man alive title. They may duke it out on the big screen but the two men are friends. Liev?whose girlfriend is Naomi Watts, Hugh?s fellow Australian thespian?bulked up by eating a lot of chicken.
?I joke with you that Hugh and I are now the Mussolini and Hitler of the chicken world,? Liev dished. ?Thank God I had Hugh around and that he and I are friends. He was a resource I could go to for this film because he and his friend Michael (Ryan) basically trained me for the film. It felt important to me early on, knowing Hugh?s size and his physique, that in order to play his brother and his rival in this film, I had to get big.?
He admitted, ?I did one of the stupidest things an actor can do which was to go online and read what people think about these characters. One thing that people seemed to feel about the character, and I have to agree, was that my character was big and imposing so we started a very high protein diet which consisted of unfortunately a lot of chicken, and lifting weights and doing martial arts six days a week. It was really brutal but about two or three months in, I got accustomed to it. But initially, it was really hard.?
Healthy competition
Smiling, Liev revealed: ?There was a little bit of a healthy competition between Hugh and me. We?re both competitive about getting tired or getting hurt. We wouldn?t admit it (laughter). He?d be like, ?Are you tired?? I am like, ?No, I?m not tired.? He?d go, ?You want to do another round?? I?d go, ?I?ll do another one? (laughter). We really threw ourselves into it physically. I don?t know if I could have done that with anybody other than Hugh although I did have a similar relationship with Daniel (Craig) on ?Defiance.? ?
Asked if Naomi, the mother of his two sons, appreciated his bulked up body, Liev answered, ?I think she liked it (laughter). I don?t want to be that big. It?s painful. But she did enjoy my bigger body and commented that she liked it, which was partly why I did it.?
Liev?s long sideburns, which he grew for the role during the shoot in Australia and New Zealand, were not a hit with the actress, though. He said, ?She didn?t like them (laughter) but I was hoping that the bigger body made up for it. It would have been fine to have those sideburns in 19th Century England. It wasn?t great walking with sideburns around the streets of Sydney and Queenstown, New Zealand but that?s the job. These are the sacrifices I make in life...?
Animalistic ferocity
Since he and Hugh play mutants with animalistic ferocity, Liev was asked if there?s an animal in him. ?Absolutely ... ?My girlfriend?s mother thinks it?s a meerkat, but I?d say that I look at the movie and I think, a very angry squirrel. Don?t mess with that squirrel.?
And what have his two boys, Alexander, who turns 2 in July, and Samuel, who was born last December, taken after him? ?Slavic fat pads?excessive cheeks ? are what we have,? Liev replied, joking about his Slavic heritage and his trademark big cheeks. ?We have super powered mutant cheeks that we can clear a room instantly. That?s really all we?ve got.?
Turning serious for a brief moment, Liev extolled the virtues of the mutant characters in the film: ?The broad appeal of the ?X-men? comics is that rather than taking these heroic characters with superhuman abilities, what we were getting into were flawed people. It?s a revolutionary idea that the underclass or the underbelly of society would come to power. There?s beauty, power in mutation that?s part of the success of the X-men comics. You didn?t have to be the perfect specimen. The real heroes were the kids who were different, outsiders or pariahs.?
?Dress rehearsal?
On the headline-making news that an ?incomplete? version of ?Wolverine? was leaked and posted on the Internet last month, Live commented, ?Personally, I was disappointed. I wouldn?t invite my friends or my family to a dress rehearsal. You want them to see the work at its best and completed (version). I felt sad for the artists who worked very hard and are largely responsible for the success of the film. Like the visual effects artists whose work in that (incomplete) version is not represented. You should always try to see the work in the way the artists intended you to see it.?
One of Liev?s next films after ?Wolverine? is Ang Lee?s ?Taking Woodstock,? where he plays Vilma, one of the drag roles he mentioned earlier in the interview. He announced, ??Taking Woodstock? was just accepted into competition in Cannes so hopefully, I can be a part of that because I love Ang. I had so much fun doing that movie.?
2009 releases
He discussed his two other 2009 releases: ?There?s also ?Repossession Mambo,? Miguel Sapochnik?s long-awaited feature debut with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker (who shows off his Filipino martial arts skills in the film). I did a small film, ?Every Day,? with a first time feature film writer-director, Richard Levine. It?s a marital drama with Helen Hunt, Carla Gugino and Brian Dennehy.?
?Right now, I?m shooting a film, ?Salt,? with director Phillip Noyce and Angelina Jolie,? he said. ?It?s a CIA thriller. I play Angelina?s good friend and mentor at the CIA.? It?s the movie that Angelina supposedly took a break from so she could start the adoption process of a Filipino baby. This story from a British paper was never confirmed.
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
