Just two weeks before Paul Walker lost his life in a horrific car crash, I was fortunate enough to sit down with him to talk about his new film HOURS, along with four other members of the press during a roundtable discussion. This would prove to be one of his last interviews.
On a personal note: As a film writer, I have never met an actor as kind and honest as Paul. He was really excited about this project, and talked to us with delight. No pretentious Hollywood bullshit… No hidden agenda… He was excited to be there, and talked as if we’d been old friends. He gave off a friendly, relaxed vibe that was certainly contagious. I think I can speak for WAMG when I say that we are deeply saddened by the loss of Paul Walker. Our hearts go out to his family and friends.
The film centers on Nolan Hayes who arrives at a New Orleans hospital with his pregnant wife Abigail, having gone into early labor. What should be one of the happiest days of Nolan’s life quickly spirals out of control when the birth goes tragically wrong and Hurricane Katrina ravages the hospital, forcing an evacuation.
Told to stay with his child, who is on a ventilator, and await transfer by ambulance, Nolan and his newborn are soon cut off from the world by power outages and rising flood waters. When no one returns to help, Nolan faces one life-and-death decision after another, fighting to keep his daughter alive, as minute-by-agonizing minute passes, becoming unimaginable hours.
You’re dry, not contaminated?
I don’t have any chafing in weird places! No wet pants…
Number one, this is an amazing performance and it isn’t something we’ve seen from you. We’re used to seeing your physicality but not the emotional depth. I know you’re a parent so what did you tap into to almost go into this real time sense of the clock is ticking to save your child’s life?
You know I realized that. We were probably about 2/3 into the movie and it really hit me what the significance of this project was to me. It was weird the way it happened because I read it and just for page value – I was like, “Wow. It’s pretty powerful.” I was upset. I was crying. I was rooting. I was yelling at him inside. I was feeling all these emotions. I didn’t realize I was going, “It’s not about Nolan, and a baby, and this beautiful girl. This is life. And the machine is just this machine that I’ve been running for – I don’t know how long, and I’m just spinning it for what reason? I’m juggling all these balls and I’m just like Ahh.” You’re trying to make sense of it, and this stuff hit me when I was a kid. I started doing this when I was in my early 20’s. I was like, “I’m a Science guy. I’m a geek. Geology, and Botany, and Marine Sciences… and I’m supposed to be outdoors and hiking. Maybe I’m supposed to be a professional guide.” So, I fought this for years, and years, and years – but at the same time, I wasn’t stupid. I was like, “Wait a minute. I just had a child out of wedlock. Good think I’m making another movie.” I was going into Varsity Blues. I found out just before leaving, and I was like, “I could put a roof over my baby’s head, and then I can figure out my stuff.” And, I’m in this movie and I’m like, “It speaks to me” in just like a very pure and truthful level, but I didn’t realize. I was like “This is my freaking life!” This is all of our lives. You know we’re running around doing what, and just cranking this stupid machine, and we get flat backed. Something crazy happens to us, and then you look inside the box and you go, “Holy shit!”… So I was about 2/3 into the movie, and I realized, “Oh my God. This is so therapeutic.”
How physically taxing was this role?
It was a walk in the park. No [Laughs]. It was funny. I had a good balance – the physicality and the emotional component… I remember getting about midday, and I’d be like, “Holy Hell man.” You’ve got like 6 hours left to go, or whatever it was.
Let me back up and say, my father was a contractor, and he made me work a different trade every summer going through high school. All of his buddies were tradesmen, and my dad was like, “Oh, they can never take skill sets away from you. That’s something you’ll always have. So, you’ll always be worth something because you’ll always be able to provide a certain service.” He was smart like that. My grandfather was smart like that too. At the end of the day you can look and go, “Oh look what I did!” Movies you don’t have that. The film goes off in a canister. Now it’s on digital chip. There’s nothing to show from it. You leave and you go [Paul makes gun fight and car chase noises]… “I said some things, and I was trying to be cool” but that’s about it. That’s all you have.
On this one, at the end of the day I was like, “Wow. That was heavy.” Like I experienced some stuff today. I felt some things. I was connected with Genesis. I love that girl, working opposite her. I fell in love with her. I don’t know. It was reinvigorating. At the end of the day, I was like, “There might not be anything to show for it but there’s something to feel for it.” So when it came to getting up in the morning to go to work the next day, I was like, “Fuck yeah!” I was ready to go.
You said that this movie is a little bit like your life and you have a teenage daughter. Is it difficult raising a teen?
Well, we’re finding our balance. She started living with me last year, and just when I was leaving to go work on Fast – and I’m doing another one now. It’s really kind of tearing on me, to be honest with you, to try and maintain the balance. And fortunately enough, we’re filming in Atlanta – but I’ve come home every weekend. Two weeks in a row, I came back three times. She just turned 15. It’s critical times. I’m big on analogies, and I look at her like she’s this rocket ship, and I’m this kind of launching pad, and I want to get the trajectory right. You know, she’s going to be my daughter and I’m going to be her dad for the rest of our lives, and I want it to be cool. I sure don’t want to be looking back and go, “Fuck! Because you were gone. Maybe. What if? And you should have been home more!” So, that’s the noise in my head right now – is trying to find the balance… and she’s super supportive and is like, “No. Go. This is what you do.” But I’m like, “Yeah, but how significant is it really? It’s kind of trivial. This is our time together. We’ve got 3 years, and then you’re going to be out of the house.” She’s like, “You’re talking like I’m going to be gone forever.” I’m like, “Yeah, but how much longer is it going to be before you show up at the door with Johnny.” She’s like, “Who is Johnny?”
Is she dating already?
[Jokingly laughs] No. No. No.
So you’ve got that to look forward to… [laughs]
We’ll see. It’s a cool time right now. We’re both just kind of finding our stride. We’re really honest with each other, which is cool. She tells me what her needs are. I think sometimes she tries to be a little tougher than I want her to be. I want her to be more revealing like, “You’re not home enough!” or “Sometimes you don’t pay enough attention to what I’m saying.” I want her to say those things ‘cause I know there’s times that I’m not… but I police it pretty well, I think.
Has she seen you in this?
Yeah, I took her. The first time I saw it I took her. It was cool to watch the reaction because I’m proud of the work that I did – because I told the truth the whole time. There was only a couple of times where there was a take and I didn’t believe it, and I would say to Eric, “I didn’t like that one. I didn’t believe it. I was trying to force something. I was just saying words.” And I remember when I was talking with my agent Teresa, she’s like, “Well how’s it going?” I’m like, “It’s going really well. I’m probably about halfway through it.” She’s like, “What’s the experience like?” And I’m like, “I don’t know. It’s good. I’m telling the truth the whole time.” I realize I told her – and it’s kind of scary too, you know. If people don’t like my performance in this, they just don’t like me, because I’m putting it all on the line in this. It’s who I am. So, at the end of it… for people… the response… I’m like, “Thank God.” I guess it means I’m OK.
How much did it help your performance that this film was shot in chronological?
Huge! Huge! It played a major factor because you’re just able to carry it with you from one bit to the next. There’s no, “OK let’s go back and figure out what’s going on. I need a reminder. Script supervisor! Brenda! What happened just before this again?”. There’s none of that. You’re just running and gunning.
In that same vein, you also shot in United Methodist Hospital, which has been shut down since Katrina…
Right.
So how much does that help inform your performance physically and emotionally?
Well, what really helped was going into it – a lot of the buildings surrounding the hospital – you could really see the water line because they hadn’t repainted yet. On the inside, if you see a water line, you know darn well they took all the sheetrock off the walls, because they have to make sure there isn’t any mold. Black mold is nasty. A lot of people are sick down there with it – a lot of builders. It’s like asbestos. The asbestos fibers that’s gotten into all of the old AC guys. All these guys I grew up… my dad’s buddies, they are all messed up. That Mesothelioma stuff is very real. So, when I heard about this black mold and how it was affecting people I was like, “Oh no. It’s like that Mesothelioma all over again!”. The base of this hospital, same thing. The water level came up almost 12 feet… so the bottom level. When you go into work everyday, the reminder is the skeleton of the building. It’s reduced to just the aluminum and the steel. That’s the first floor. So, when they do get around to reinvigorating the hospital, they just redo the lower levels and buff up what they want to buff up upstairs. Basically, everything and anything… in a hospital especially. You got sick people in there! The last thing you want is mold. It’s like “Get that out right now! And then we’ll really assess further what’s going on.” I can’t help but think that they’re probably somewhat grateful that we sent in our crew because our standards. We’re going to be working in here immediately. Those guys had to go through and clean it all out… scrubbing it. I wouldn’t want that job. But, every morning getting there, it’s like, “Wow look at this.” It’s really bad. It puts it in perspective. It’s a reminder every day. As you’re going up to the second floor… third floor, which was the working floor.
You’re filming Fast and Furious 7 right now. Do you all feel life family at this point?
Yeah, dysfunctional family! Yeah for sure. I mean, we love each other. It was forced. We would have never hung out in life. Tyrese and I would have. Chris and I would have. Chris is one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet. He comes from a really solid family – Ludacris. You’d be really, really impressed by him. His perspective, and just how he sees things… He’s an old soul. He’s wise beyond his years, but singularly, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who has impressed me more than Ludacris has. And Tyrese is just the sweetest person. He’s like a big kid. I think I’m a Peter Pan, but he’s Peter Pan on crack! Vin and I though, we’re just so East Coast meets West Coast. We have different approaches to life… and all that. We found to really respect one another, but we we’re such opposite ends of the spectrum… unbelievable. That’s why we’ve been successful, and that’s the reason why it’s worked is because we are so different. I don’t know that we necessarily found a stride together because there’s certain days I still want to crack him in the head, but he looks at me and I know there’s days he wants to crack me in the head too!
Who would win in that fight?
Uh. I wouldn’t want to tango! But there’s times where he’ll look at me and he’ll go, “Man I wish I could be more like you.” He’ll say that flat out. And I’ll be like, “Fucker. I wish I could be more like you!” It’s pretty cool. And then Jordana. I legitimately love Jordana. We met when we were little kids, you know, hanging out on the first one. I think she was only 17 years old… 18? I love her so much. And Michelle and I man, we’ve been through it all. Michelle’s like the most original person on the planet. You won’t find anybody else like her and she just calls it like it is. She’s just straight up. Uncensored all the time. “Be ready!” I love her for that.
Yeah, I can see that.
She’s dope though. She’s an original, for sure.
Was it painful for you to watch this movie? It’s pretty intense!
You know what? For me, I just… When I watch myself, I just have bullshit meter on the whole time. And I can tell when I’m telling the truth, and when I’m in the moment, and when I’m not. I can go through it… and the second that I don’t believe myself I hate it. This one, honestly… I sat down, I was like, “I told the truth. Whew!”
Before sunrise on August 29, 2005, Nolan Hayes (PAUL WALKER) arrives at a New Orleans hospital with his pregnant wife, Abigail (GENESIS RODRIGUEZ), who has gone into early labor. What should be one of the happiest days of Nolan’s life quickly spirals out of control when the birth goes tragically wrong and Hurricane Katrina ravages the hospital, forcing an evacuation. Told to stay with his child, who is on a ventilator, and await transfer by ambulance, Nolan and his newborn are soon cut off from the world by power outages and rising floodwaters. When no one returns to help, Nolan faces one life-and-death decision after another, fighting to keep his daughter alive, as minute-by-agonizing minute passes…becoming unimaginable hours.
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HOURS will open theatrically in 15 cities nationwide on December 13 through Pantelion Films
(Los Angeles, New York, San Jose, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego, Sacramento, Miami, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Bakersfield, Tucson)
