ONTD

It's Hammer Time
ARMIE HAMMER was all but unknown before gatecrashing the big time with The Social Network. Today, he’s mixing it up with Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio. JOE YOGERST finds meteoric success has not gone to the laid-back actor’s head.

RUBEL CASTLE, IN suburban Glendora in Los Angeles County, is one of those eccentric, one-of-a-kind homes that you find tucked away in this part of California. This is a genuine castle, with thick stone walls, a drawbridge and a towering keep at the centre where actor Armie Hammer wants to meet. The rapidly rising star is doing an afternoon photo shoot there with his gorgeous wife – actress and television reporter Elizabeth Chambers. The location seems appropriate given Hammer’s current circumstances – we could be witnessing a major changing of the guard in Hollywood.

The castle was once a hangout for the likes of Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Alfred Hitchcock and other icons from Tinseltown’s golden era, and parties ran all night in a massive room called the Tin Palace. The photography finished, that’s where I find Hammer, changing back into his street clothes beneath the dim light of an ancient chandelier. As the last rays of a summer afternoon bleed through the windows, we sit at a huge wooden table and discuss his sudden, “please don’t pinch me, I don’t want to wake up” rise to fame.

Born and initially raised on LA’s privileged west side, Hammer, 25, comes from a line of mavericks. His namesake and grandfather Armand Hammer was a celebrated oil tycoon, art collector, philanthropist and freelance diplomat who spent much of his time and energy attempting to improve relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The actor’s father turned his back on all that, becoming a devout Christian and hauling his family off to the Cayman Islands for a low-stress life in the Caribbean. Armie returned to California for high school but soon fell into acting, a profession in which bags of money and a vaunted pedigree will take you only so far.

Hammer started on the ground floor, with small parts in television series such as Arrested Development and Desperate Housewives and a couple of forgettable roles in movies that went nowhere. There was a brief career upswing when he snagged the part of the young Billy Graham in a 2008 biopic about the famed evangelist, before it was back to slogging away in the showbiz trenches. And then came one of those Hollywood miracles that draw thousands of hopeful young people each year to the city beside the sea: director David Fincher chose Hammer to play the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, a movie that would win a slew of awards (including a Golden Globe as the Best Drama of 2010). And the young actor’s career took off for the stratosphere.

Offers came fast and furious, including deals to work with Leonardo DiCapro, Julia Roberts and even Johnny Depp in major roles in films due out in the coming year. At six feet, five inches and 220 pounds (196cm; 100kg), Hammer has the physical stature to be a 21st-century leading man. Given his performance in The Social Network, he also has the talent. What he lacks, however, are airs and graces – and hopefully it will stay that way. Hammer comes across as modest, erudite and genuinely surprised about his success. And it’s the only time I can remember when a celebrity called me after the interview because he wanted to continue our discussion.

What was it like growing up in the Cayman Islands?
It was from when I was seven till I was 13. It wasn’t a huge number of years, but they were formative years; the years that I equate most with being a child and growing up. As a kid, I would hop on my bike when I got home from school – that was my mode of transportation. I would have a machete on my hip. I would chop down coconuts, eat mangos and fresh papaya. It was a terrific way to grow up. The island had zero crime. Cops didn’t even carry guns. It was just a fun, safe place.

How do you think it affected the person you are now?
I honestly think it made me a nicer person. The deal with living on an island is that you can’t really afford to be mean to anybody, or be an asshole to anybody because you will see them again. Invariably you will run into them, probably the same day. So I learned to be nice, just take things slow and relax. My wife will tell you, I’m very Zen. I like to let things happen without worrying or stressing about them. That’s what came from growing up on an island where everything moves on island time. I loved it. But it was too much for my mom and we had to leave.

How did you segue from island life into acting?
I actually wanted to start acting when I was living down there. I was 11 years old and I had a dream that I was the kid in Home Alone. I knew I was supposed to be an actor. I was sitting with my parents at breakfast the next morning and I said, “Okay, I think I’m supposed to be an actor.” My mom just started laughing at me and said, “What are you talking about? You don’t want to be an actor.” And I said, “No, I really think I do.” She told me I didn’t know what I was talking about; I was just a child. But she also said that when I got older and we moved back to the States, if I still wanted to do it, pursue it then. She was hoping I would completely forget about it.

We came back when I was 13. As soon as we landed, I was like, “OK, I want to act. What do we do?” And my mom was like, “Oh, no! He didn’t forget.” I went to one audition. It went terribly, but the bug bit me. I couldn’t let it go. My parents stepped in and said, “You’re going to have a normal childhood. You’re not going to grow up on sets because it does damaging things.” In my junior [years] of high school, I realised I still had the compulsion. I still couldn’t let it go. So I dropped out of school and started pursuing acting aggressively. I found what I loved and knew that anything else I was doing was a waste of time. Winston Churchill said if you find a job you love, you never have to work another day in your life. And that’s exactly how it feels when I’m putting in 18-hour days on the set and getting three hours of sleep, and doing it all again the next day. It doesn’t feel like work, it feels like what I’m supposed to be doing.

You had a pretty low-key career until recently. Then The Social Network came along – a big movie in which you play two people. How did you pull that off ?
When we signed on, I didn’t know I would be doing both. I thought, “Oh great, I got hired for one of the twins.” And then, about a week into production, Fincher called and said, “You’re going to do both of them.” But it was difficult. It was much more of a technical shoot then anything else I’ve experienced. You’re always told in acting school that it’s about the emotion and the truth and all that stuff. But with this, it was more like tilt your head a little more to the left or look over here at this tennis ball. I would start as Cameron Winklevoss and we would shoot the scene until Fincher was happy, which would probably be 40 or 50 takes. Then he would say “switch” and I would go and take off the Cameron outfit, take off the make-up, the hair and all that, and get redone as Tyler Winklevoss, remember the character of Tyler and get into that. They would put a tennis ball on a stand or a piece of tape on the wall and say, “Okay, there’s your brother.” I would put an earpiece in my ear and it would have audio of myself playing Cameron the take before, and I would have to say Tyler’s lines in between. There were definitely some nights, when we were working late, when Fincher would say, “You’re letting the brothers bleed together. Remember what we’re doing.” And I’m like, “It’s four in the morning and we’ve been doing this for 18 hours and we’re on take number 1,200. Give me a break, man!”

People are calling The Social Network the first real 21stcentury movie.
I don’t know if it’s the first movie that has done it, but I think it has captured the feeling of being the modern man so well – the alienation, the isolation, all those things that [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg felt. It’s really funny that when I talk to people about the movie, anyone who’s over 28, they’re always like, “Man, I can’t believe that Zuckerberg. What a jerk. He blatantly stole that idea.” And if you talk to younger people, the people of this generation, they’re like, “Those twins – they didn’t come up with shit. Look at them trying to piggyback on him.” It’s really funny. The modern man recognises himself in Mark Zuckerberg.

And you just wrapped J Edgar, another huge film, and potentially very controversial because the two main characters – J Edgar Hoover, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and Clyde Tolson, played by you – allegedly had a homosexual relationship. How would you explain the movie to someone who doesn’t know the background?
The movie is basically about J Edgar Hoover, who founded the FBI, which, when he started it, was a group of young guys trying to find their place in a world of anti-war, anti-communism, all that stuff. They basically took what was a scrappy group of guys and transformed them into the finest law-enforcement and crime-fighting organisation in the world. Few people don’t respect the FBI, and that is directly related to the work that Hoover put in. Clyde became Hoover’s right-hand man and enforcer early on, and stayed by his side until the end. They had lunch and dinner together every single day. They had a very special, close relationship. They are now buried very close to each other. It’s really an amazing story about fighting for what you believe in; fighting to create something.

Clyde Tolson was a pretty tough guy, right?
He actually had a reputation in the FBI. They called him “Killer Tolson.” On one raid, he went in and apparently shot the front door of a place so many times that it just disintegrated, it fell apart. Also, he was very dapper. He was respectful. He understood how to dress. He understood the chivalry, the manners of the day. He was also incredibly intelligent. He balanced the budget of the FBI. He was a sharp tack.

Does the film sugar-coat the relationship or does it tell the real story of Hoover and Tolson?
Because none of us were there through their relationship, we don’t know that it’s necessarily the true story. It was written by a writer, it’s not from an autobiographical book. I would say there’s definitely nothing sugarcoated about it. It proposes some questions and it answers some questions, and I think that it’s bold in doing so.

What was it like working with Leonardo DiCaprio and [director] Clint Eastwood?
Amazing. Seeing the confidence that Clint had in himself and in his crew, and what he knew and what he was doing. And also seeing Leo, who’s just like a force. Watching that guy do scenes…He’s so good that sometimes you find yourself sitting across a desk from him, doing a scene and thinking, “Man, he’s so good.” It was an honour, and hopefully working with him upped my performance as well. If you had told me a year ago that I would work with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clint Eastwood, I would never have believed you.

Is Eastwood intimidating as a director?
He’s intimidating because of who he is. He’s Clint Eastwood, for crying out loud. But he’s not at all like Dirty Harry. That’s just a character he played. He really is the nicest, sweetest guy. But I can see that maybe he has mellowed out a bit with age. He walks around with a little smile on his face, like he’s thinking of a joke but not telling you. When he walks into a room, he carries such authority. He runs a really tight ship. He knows what he’s doing. He’s extremely fair, but suffers no fools.

I’ve got to ask: is Leo a good kisser?
[Laughs] I don’t have anyone else to compare it to in terms of people with penises, but I have to say that, for my first time kissing a guy, it could have been worse. I mean, is he a good kisser? I’ve been dreaming about that since I saw Titanic [laughs].

Was it one of the more challenging things you have done as an actor?
I like to spend a lot of time thinking about something before I do it. Even if it looks like I’m just sitting on my couch, just staring out the window, in reality I’m running through scenes and emotions, analysing the psychology of characters. I spend a lot of time just stewing in it. And that was one thing I spent a lot of time stewing on. Just worrying. “Is it going to be easy? Is it going to be over the top? How are we going to do this? I’ve never kissed a guy before. What’s that going to feel like? How’s my breath?” As a heterosexual man, it’s an interesting thing to kiss a guy. It has such a stigma in our culture. I walked away thinking, “Oh, now I understand why my wife likes it when I shave.”

Do you think it will kick up a lot of controversy?
I don’t know. If you really look at any of the movies [that show] two men in a relationship, and their struggle to live in that relationship and live that lifestyle, they are not accepted in a lot of places. It is a controversial topic. We are also a society undergoing huge changes with that right now, which I think is very positive, and I think that maybe a movie like this can help.

Next up is The Brothers Grimm: Snow White. You play the prince, but I hear the character is very different from Prince Charming of the classic fairy tale.
The story has been re-envisioned by [director] Tarsem Singh. He has a new take that I think is going to be so fresh and terrific. It’s darker, it’s for adults, but kids will be able to appreciate it. It’s going to be really interesting to see what he does in taking a story that we already know and putting his visual spin on it.

Are there still dwarfs?
Yes, there are seven dwarfs, and there is humour involved. It will scare you but also make you laugh, probably at the same time. Julia Roberts plays the evil queen. That’s going to be amazing. Who’s not aware of Julia Roberts and how amazingly talented she is? I get to do the majority of my scenes with her. That’s going to be really fun.

So you sweep Snow White off her feet and ride off on a white stallion at the end?
It doesn’t go quite like that. I can’t give anything away but I can tell you it definitely does not end like that.

After that, Johnny Depp will be making The Lone Ranger with you in the title role.
I’m basically just piggybacking on other people’s talent at this point.

They are the biggest box-office stars of our time, and you’re knocking them off one after the other.
Like I said, if you had told me I’d be working with Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, all these people, I never would have believed you. I struggled for a long time in this business. I really put in the grunt work. But now it’s paying off in such away that I just look around and laugh. It’s bizarre.

I never expected anyone to turn The Lone Ranger into a feature film. What’s going to be the different take on this?
Gore [Verbinski] is a director who has a very specific view and a specific sense of humour. It’s going to be…I can’t say anything, but I can tell you you’re going to love it.

And Johnny Depp is Tonto. I can’t believe he’s playing it straight.
Tonto’s got quirks, that’s all I’ll say. And it’s definitely a new imagining of the Lone Ranger character. It’s going to be so fresh, such a good surprise. The character is much more rounded. It’s a real character now instead of the cardboard cut-out that was earnest and right and just believed in goodness. It’s a different character than that, but I would say still informed by that.

This is the Pirates of the Caribbean crew. If you guys pull it off, there could be three, four or five of these.
I’ve heard franchise talk, so let’s just make sure I don’t mess it up [laughs]. Do not pinch me. If I’m dreaming, I want to stay asleep.

As far as the paparazzi go, you really float beneath the radar. You’re never in the tabloids. You must get into some kind of trouble when you’re not acting. What are your vices?
Didn’t Abraham Lincoln say, “Never trust a man who doesn’t have any vices”?

You keep laughing.
That’s because I’m trying to dodge the question. I’m married and I have a life that is going well for me, even more so in my private life than in my public life. I have a wife who I am madly in love with and would do anything for – including quit this business for. I don’t need to get into trouble. I’m just happy. We have a nest, a home we’ve created together. I have my core group of friends that I’ve known since before I had any success. I have my guys. We really just run around together, we cause trouble here in LA. I’ve got a buddy who lives in Colorado, where my in-laws are. We go out to Texas now and then.

When you have down time, what do you do?
It depends. One trait that unifies all of our friends is a sense of adventure, like loading gear on a Vespa and going on a camping trip. There’s a huge mountain in California, I’m not going to say the name of it because we snuck up to the very top of it – it’s chained off, with radio towers on top. We got on our Vespas and ended up putting in almost 200 miles in one day. Most of the ride involved dirt roads. My dream is getting my buddies together and doing a cross-country trip on our Vespas, sort of what like Ewan McGregor does on motorcycles in Long Way Round.

And you play the guitar.
I thought that was going to be my job before I became an actor. I used to teach guitar, and did a couple of studio sessions, but I soon realised it wasn’t my thing. I loved it, but it just wasn’t right. It wasn’t a perfect fit.

So are you one of those actors who crave to make a transition into music?
No, but I would definitely be open to playing a musician or singer [in a movie]. Who knows, man? The more I succeed in acting, the more it provides me with opportunities to have fun and experiment in other realms. If I want to do an album, I’ll probably find someone who’ll say, “Oh, you’re that actor. Great! Let’s do an album together.” I would be totally open for it. I play a lot of instruments.

You still have time to just sit and pick?
Yeah, I do. I play the guitar a lot. My wife is very productive, a very type-A personality. I would say a borderline feminist. If I pick up my guitar in the morning, sit on the couch and I’m just picking or singing, she’s like, “How can you pick up a guitar in the middle of the morning? We have so many things to do. We have to do this, we have to do that.” So I end up playing the guitar a lot more when she’s not there.

Sounds like she needs some of your Zen.
[Laughs] She does. She’s extremely highly strung, and I’m the opposite. I’m almost completely unwound. We balance each other out really well. She motivates me to wake up earlier and attack the day. I can motivate her to understand that sometimes things happen that are out of your control.

What are you not good at as an actor? What do you need to work on?
I’m sure there are a plethora of answers to that. The only way for me to find out is to continue to seek out jobs that push me. Something that pushes me further than my comfort zone. You know, a wise man knows he knows nothing. I’ve only been in this business for a couple of years. There are people who have been doing this for 60 years and still consider themselves students.
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Two Armies tyfyt.