His role in "Towelhead"

[magil]

This question is really meant for Mr Ekhart himself, however, feel free to share if you would like to give your opinion. I have seen Aaron in several movies, Erin Brockovich, No Reservations, Love Happens and then, "Towelhead". I was present at a friends house whose daughter brought home the rented dvd of this movie. None of us had any prior knowledge of what this movie was about. We're watching the film really just trying to feel it out
to see if we want to continue watching it...when we see him start molesting this 13 yr old girl. We were shocked and horrified and wish we'd never witnessed that scene. HOW in Gods name, does an actor, 'pretend' he's a deviant person, with no sense of responsibility as to the affects of his character? From what I've read Aaron contradicts himself by saying, "I didn't want to play a
pedophile" and then he plays a pedophile. You can 'say' you 'don't ' relate to or want to act as this criminal/evil person, yet the very actions you are collaborating with, are images not easily erraced from a viewers mind. I understand that actors very well may 'justify' every scummy role they play, to make their paycheck; I just don't believe they 'have to' take the low road, they can decide to take the high road, and if that means working at Walmart for $8.00 an hr until their next gig, then so be it.
Aaron is a good actor and a likeable person, but now, after seeing that scene, I will always wonder about him personally.

[eliseptl]

I completely understand your views on Mr. Eckharts role in this film. It was quite disturbing and in the back of my mind I wondered who in their right mind would even say yes to a script like this. But I had to sort of take myself out of that mindset (and for a brief minute because I am human) to think of the possibilities why.

It could have been because actors love to act and actors look for challenging roles to play to continue to study and become better at what they do.

It could have very well been to pay the bills. Just because an actor is on TV means that they are doing well financially - although in the world of Hollywood, who wants to hear of an actor doing films that is broke - right?

But in that aspect, in order for an actor to dive into an unfamiliar territory and make it familiar in as much as to make an audience be repulsive by it says that he did an wonderful job and that he was believable. And that Mr. Eckhart did correctly.

Now back to my human side - I really think he is a wonder actor and I would like to see him do more meaningful work that doesn't put him in a negative or a so called corner where most people don't know his name but could recognize his face from some movie they saw at one point in their lives. But I didn't like that he played some molestor of a 13 year old - it angered me. However, in the same sense he MADE me believe that his character was so real that I wanted to have him arrested - And that is doggone good acting.

[IheartEckhart]

I feel the need to step up and defend Mr Eckhart here!!

I've seen Towelhead, and while it's sometimes difficult to watch, not for one second did it make me think that Aaron Eckhart the actor was a pedophile. I thought that Travis Vuoso was! There's a distinction between the two, and that is why the profession is called 'acting'.
While I think it can help an actor to have things in common with the character they are portraying, I don't think that they need to share traits with the character in order to be able to play them effectively. Acting is pretending. Acting like you're someone else; that's why it's called acting, and that fact that Mr Eckhart did it so effectively in Towelhead is a testament to his talent.

I'm not saying that it didn't make me uncomfortable to see my favourite actor molest a young girl. It was as uncomfortable as all hell, but it didn't make me question Mr Eckhart's real life sexual practices.

I've read many interviews with Aaron Eckhart where he talks about playing those scenes in the movie, so if anyone who hasn't read them is curious, it's worth a look. Here are just two of the ones available out there:

movies.about.com/od/towelhead/a/towelheadae0908.htm
www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1594643/story.jhtml

Thanks for reading my opinions!