Monday, February 23, 1998
Former skateboarder chases Hollywood jobs
FILM Lee’s shift from athlete to actor succeeds with wide range
of roles
By Aimee Phan
Daily Bruin Staff
The ups and downs of careening on a skateboard are as
unpredictable and risky as an acting career. So when Jason Lee
decided to leave professional skateboarding to give Hollywood a
try, he didn’t think it would be a hard transition.
"It was seven years of professional skateboarding," Lee says. "I
had been skateboarding since I was five, and I did so much
traveling and competing that I eventually wore out of that, which
is natural. I fulfilled what I needed to fulfill and left on good
terms with myself."
While this risky move may seem nuts to some people, Lee proved
them wrong by winning his first movie role, in Kevin Smith’s
"Mallrats," within a year. And with his critically acclaimed role
in last year’s "Chasing Amy" and the release of his new movie,
"Kissing a Fool," the same success Lee experienced in skateboarding
is happening to him in Hollywood.
Dressed in a brown suit and sporting an uncharacteristic bushy
beard, Lee explains his rather mature appearance for a film role in
Tony Scott’s upcoming "Enemy of the State" with Will Smith and Gene
Hackman.
It’s hard to believe that only three years ago, this mature
young actor once was performing ollies on a half-pipe at skating
competitions.
Lee’s first film role came early for him after meeting with the
casting director of "Mallrats" and impressing director Smith with
his initial readings. Since he had no previous acting experience,
Lee remembers the day of final auditions as nerve-wracking and
agonizingly long but eventually paying off when he left with the
role. Lee recalls the moment in vivid detail.
"I was so delirious that day since I hadn’t eaten because I was
so nervous," Lee says. "I didn’t even think to think I was getting
the role because I was the most amateur one there. Finally, at the
end of the day, I was the last one there, and Kevin brought me into
his office and said, ‘The part is yours.’ And I had someone bring
me Carl’s Jr., and I was mid-bite into my cheeseburger, and I just
stared at him. I was so happy."
And although the movie didn’t do very well critically or
commercially, Lee values his "Mallrats" experience for introducing
him to the daily grind of a working actor with so many
rehearsals.
"For somebody’s first movie, a Kevin Smith movie is a great one
to have because the writing is so important and everything. The
timing and the pacing has to be perfect," Lee says. "To go right
into your first movie and be confronted with that much rehearsal
and attention to detail and to have to get to that point where it
works, was a huge feat for me."
Obviously, Lee’s hard work in "Mallrats" impressed Smith enough
to cast him in his next film, "Chasing Amy." Playing the homophobic
loudmouth friend who tries to get between Ben Affleck and Joey
Lauren Adams, Lee impressed the critics enough to be nominated for
an Independent Spirit Award.
He also caught the attention of "Kissing a Fool" director Doug
Allen, who showed Lee’s work to his longtime friend and "Kissing"
co-star David Schwimmer. They both agreed that Lee would be ideal
in the leading role of Jay and sent the script to his agent. Even
auditioning was a wonderful plus and an incentive to participate in
this project.
"Technically, this was my first offer, which was really
flattering because it was about getting future work because of hard
work that I had put into something else," Lee says. "For a $250,000
movie like ‘Chasing Amy’ to get so much recognition that other
people are wanting me to bring some of that into their scripts was
a really good feeling."
After "Kissing a Fool," Lee will be rejoining Smith in March to
shoot his next film, "Dogma," a religious comedy that also includes
"Chasing Amy" actor Affleck in addition to Matt Damon, Chris Rock
and Linda Fiorentino. Regarding whether he may be limited by only
acting with Smith, Lee says he feels privileged to continue working
with the director.
"No matter what anyone says, Kevin and I are friends, and if he
wants me to work with him, then I want to work with him," Lee says.
"I’ll work on Kevin Smith films and I’ll work on other films.
There’s no problem with that at all."
And since Lee has never had to deal with the struggling-actor
syndrome, he appreciates his good fortune of making the transition
from skateboarding to acting so easily.
"I didn’t have to worry about any downtime and getting a (real)
job," Lee says. "I wonder sometimes what (would have happened) if I
didn’t get ‘Mallrats.’ I don’t know what I would be doing."
FILM: "Kissing A Fool" opens Friday.