Gallagher goes ‘Underneath’ to taste truth in acting
Actor compares experiences of film, stage performance
By Colburn Tseng
Peter Gallagher sits down at a table at the Four Seasons Hotel
in Beverly Hills, and the first thing one notices is his smile.
Gallagher’s smile exudes confident charm with such disarming
effortlessness it makes one wonder why he has portrayed so many
slimeballs on film.
"I would love to do a romantic leading role," says Gallagher,
who appears this month in the noir thriller The Underneath and
While You Were Sleeping, a romantic comedy. "But I’ve never had the
opportunity to do one that I found very romantic, or very funny, or
very truthful, or  you know I obviously don’t get offered the
pick of the litter, up until now, anyway."
Gallagher spends most of While you Were Sleeping in a coma. As
the unwitting object of Sandra Bullock’s affections, Gallagher is
the man the audience hopes will not get the girl at film’s end.
In The Underneath, Gallagher’s Michael Chambers is a former
compulsive gambler who returns to his home town, where years before
he had abandoned his ex-wife to escape loan sharks.
Gallagher, perhaps best known for playing a yuppie sleeping with
his wife’s sister in sex, lies, and videotape, doesn’t mind
portraying unsympathetic characters. What’s important is the story
those characters reside in.
"I just realized that if I’m not excited about the story I’m
telling, I’m just gonna do a lousy job, so it’s not gonna do
anybody any good. It’s not specific to genre, it’s not specific to
budget, it’s just specific to the script."
The Underneath marks the third collaboration between Gallagher
and director Steven Soderbergh, who also directed sex, lies and an
installment of Showtime’s "Fallen Angel" series. Soderbergh
recently voiced a desire to move away from the serious nature of
his previous projects. When asked if he shared such desires,
Gallagher’s reply was enthusiastic.
"Well I’ve always said that I just hope when Leslie Nielson
retires, I can inherit the mantle," Gallagher grins. "Honestly.
There’s nothing funnier to me in the entire world."
Would Gallagher and Soderbergh do a Naked Gun type film?
"Oh my God, yes!" he says, eyes wide with excitement. "Something
just really funny. But still truthful. It’s not enough just to sort
of hold up a laugh sign. When you’re laughing before you’re even
aware of it, when it’s that kind of surprise  that’s what I
adore."
When Gallagher talks about acting and the roles he’s had over
the years the word "truth" is used repeatedly. He talks about
finding the truth in characters and giving honest performances. He
expresses concerns about the craft of acting, thus it is not
surprising to learn Gallagher began his career in theater.
Between his junior and senior years in college, Gallagher took
time off from the Boston Shakespeare Company and attended summer
classes at Berkeley.
"I was studying non-Western economic thought and statistics, and
I realized I just had no future there," Gallagher recalls with a
small laugh. "They were showing a Shakespeare series on film, these
marvelous things, and I realized at that point that I had no choice
but to pursue acting. I knew I’d be a failure at business."
Gallagher, uncertain of his chances for success, moved to New
York. He planned to give himself seven years to land a paying
theater job. In one month he was rehearsing for the Broadway
production of Hair.
Though he is now a successful film actor, Gallagher has
continued to perform in the theater because of the unique
opportunities a live audience provides.
"You have the opportunity to be there when it happens,"
Gallagher explains, "to be the facilitator or agent of that moment.
There is a moment that’s just beautifully constructed, and with any
luck it’s played well. All the pieces just work and there’s just a
release from the audience.
"It’s almost like saying ‘God it’s okay to be human. It’s really
okay. It’s fun’ … When those kinds of things occur, whether it’s
a laugh or a silence you could just fall into  there’s
nothing like it."
For Gallagher, this reward is worth the trade-off in size
between theater and movie audiences.
"I think it all just makes the whole journey richer," says the
actor. "I mean it is what it is. If you wanted to reach a big
audience, and that was your real interest, then theater is not the
way to go. But if you want to have an opportunity to be alive in
the room with a bunch of other people …
"It gives you something that no one could ever take away. It may
not be huge, it may not be celebrated, but it’s further down that
road of encountering what is truly great about acting. And once you
taste that, once you’ve had the opportunity to taste a really
truthful thing, you can’t get enough of it."