Interview | Benjamin McKenzie
The Daily had longer than '88 Minutes' to chat with former 'OC' star Ben McKenzie
Matthew DiGirolamo
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Weekender
The Daily got the chance to catch up with actor Benjamin McKenzie, the star of "88 Minutes," which will be released this Friday. In the film, Al Pacino plays a professor with a double life as a forensic scientist who lands a serial killer in death row. Before the execution can take place, he receives a phone call warning him that he has only 88 minutes to live and begins a frantic race to investigate many of the people involved, including a strange student played by McKenzie.
McKenzie talked about his experience working with Pacino, cross-dressing and his transition from "OC" star to feature films.
Question: Do you have any concerns that it may be difficult for audiences to separate Ryan from other characters that you now will play?
Benjamin McKenzie: Television is a very powerful medium, and to be on a show that had some success and kind of permeated the pop-cultural Zeitgeist to a degree, I think, makes people sort of associate you with that character more than they might if it were just a film or a more short-lived experience.
To be honest with you, the way that I have tried to go about doing projects other than "The OC," since "The OC," I've basically picked things that are in my mind quite different, whether it's "Junebug" (2005) or this movie with Al where I get to act with a legendary actor. I've tried to do things that aren't perhaps the sort of film version of "The OC," whether it's a teen thriller or teen comedy or whatever those sorts of things are. So I've tried to do things that are a little bit outside the norm in terms of picking roles that are different from the role I played on "The OC."
But I think that you only have so much power over it. It basically comes down to how other people view you, so yes, maybe I'll just hole up in a cabin somewhere for a few years and chop some wood, work on my horseback riding or something.
Q: What attracted you to this role?
BM: My agent called me and said, "There's a role in an Al Pacino movie, and your scene is with Al Pacino." And I said, "Great. When can I start?" It was literally that simple. I actually knew Jon Avnet, the director, socially; I'd met him socially maybe a year before, so we knew each other a little bit. But basically the real question was whether it was going to be able to work out schedule-wise because we were still filming "The OC."
McKenzie talked about his experience working with Pacino, cross-dressing and his transition from "OC" star to feature films.
Question: Do you have any concerns that it may be difficult for audiences to separate Ryan from other characters that you now will play?
Benjamin McKenzie: Television is a very powerful medium, and to be on a show that had some success and kind of permeated the pop-cultural Zeitgeist to a degree, I think, makes people sort of associate you with that character more than they might if it were just a film or a more short-lived experience.
To be honest with you, the way that I have tried to go about doing projects other than "The OC," since "The OC," I've basically picked things that are in my mind quite different, whether it's "Junebug" (2005) or this movie with Al where I get to act with a legendary actor. I've tried to do things that aren't perhaps the sort of film version of "The OC," whether it's a teen thriller or teen comedy or whatever those sorts of things are. So I've tried to do things that are a little bit outside the norm in terms of picking roles that are different from the role I played on "The OC."
But I think that you only have so much power over it. It basically comes down to how other people view you, so yes, maybe I'll just hole up in a cabin somewhere for a few years and chop some wood, work on my horseback riding or something.
Q: What attracted you to this role?
BM: My agent called me and said, "There's a role in an Al Pacino movie, and your scene is with Al Pacino." And I said, "Great. When can I start?" It was literally that simple. I actually knew Jon Avnet, the director, socially; I'd met him socially maybe a year before, so we knew each other a little bit. But basically the real question was whether it was going to be able to work out schedule-wise because we were still filming "The OC."
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