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Barry Pepper's Big Adventure
By Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff


For an actor who has made nine films in five years, Barry Pepper's career choices have certainly run the gamut--from war films to baseball legends to gritty drama. Pepper just sees it as one big adventure after another.

His first major role was playing a soldier in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning Saving Private Ryan and he has gone on to co-star in several high-profile films including The Green Mile, We Were Soldiers and HBO's *61.

He is currently co-starring in Spike Lee's intense New York drama 25th Hour, about how one man (played by Edward Norton) spends his last day of freedom before going to jail for drug dealing. Pepper plays one of Norton's best friends, an investment banker who ends up realizing just how much the city has changed since Sept. 11.

Hollywood.com caught up with Pepper just after he finished his latest project, The Snow Walker, an epic adventure in which he plays a pilot who crashes in the barren Arctic with a beautiful Inuit woman. Adding this film to his list of extraordinary experiences, the talented actor tells us about working with the cast and crew of 25th Hour and how talking to the press is the most challenging part of making a movie.

So, you've just returned from the frozen tundra on your latest project, The Snow Walker. Sounds intense.

Pepper: It was a real adventure for sure. We just wrapped up in the Arctic...about 40 below zero, armed guards around the perimeter of the set keeping the polar bears at bay. Even though it's the biggest budgeted Canadian film ever made at $10 million Canadian (which kind of gives you an idea of the intimacy of our industry in Canada), I knew going into it that it was going to be low budget, independent, guerilla-style filmmaking. So, I insisted on being invited in as a producer so I could be part of the entire artistic process and have my voice be heard on all the levels of putting it together. So many things can slip through the cracks when you are dealing with very little money.

It doesn't sound like it was a very easy film to make as your first producing effort.

Pepper: No, it wasn't. It was a triple-split shoot, spanning summer, fall and winter. In Churchill, Manitoba, way up in the northern arctic regions of Canada, where the polar bears hang out. Hungry polar bears. It was very taxing for the entire cast and crew. There were no comforts at all. No cell phones, very few hot meals. You're way out in the middle of the tundra, exposed to those elements, freezing temperatures. Even in the summertime, it was humid and tons of bugs. The insects were biblical. But then there were huge pods of Beluga whales, herds of new Caribou. It was really beautiful. It was an extraordinary experience. I would match my cast and crew with any in the world. I was impressed with the level of artistry in Canada.

You should know, you've worked with some of the best! The Snow Walker adds to your already impressive list of feature films.

Pepper: Yeah, I've been fortunate. And right in the middle of filming The Snow Walker, I went off to New York to do 25th Hour with Spike Lee and Ed Norton.

A far cry from the frozen arctic regions of Canada.

Pepper: It really was. I took off my furs and my long beard. Washed away the blood, sweat and dirt and went off to shoot a modern-day drama, playing a Wall Street guy in Gucci suits.

Had you agreed to do 25th Hour before making The Snow Walker?

Pepper: Yeah. I was on a press junket for We Were Soldiers in New York and Spike invited me to a basketball game to talk about 25th Hour. We just really clicked and of course I have been in awe of his work for many years. The story was so captivating and unique, set in post 9/11 New York, and dealt with a lot of the thoughts and emotions that people were experiencing then and are still experiencing in the city. Equally mind-blowing as it was disturbing. It's just a hard-hitting film that deals with a lot of topics, doesn't pull any punches, but it is also stunningly beautiful the way [Lee] paints the city.

There's certainly some Oscar buzz around the film; in particular, your performance. What's your feeling about the whole Academy Awards hullabaloo?

Pepper: I would be remiss if I didn't say that I would be extremely honored [to be nominated]. But you never know until the fat lady sings. Certainly that would propagate future work, which is always good. But it's certainly not something I got into the industry for or why I choose the films I'm going to do. No, I have to first and foremost answer to my wife. I mean, she could read Streetcar Named Desire and say, "Do you really have to kiss the girl?" So, I kinda have my own Oscar/Academy I have to get past. Ultimately, it's very flattering to receive those kinds of accolades but I think if you put too much stake in it, it sort of disappoints you in the end.

Still, I hope 25th Hour finally gives Spike Lee his due.

Pepper: So do I. He is a genius and is very deserving. I think this film will be a jaw-dropper.

Did you, Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman bond on set?

Pepper: Yeah, we did. They are two guys I felt I had a lot in common with in terms of our working style. We had great conversations and were able to hang out. In our down time together, we'd play baseball on the weekends. Spike would hook us up and we would play the cast from Analyze That, [Billy] Crystal and [Robert] DeNiro, and the next weekend we'd play the cast from Sex and the City. We had a great time crushing the competition. The thing is, it's such a transient industry. You meet all these wonderful people and have a great working relationship and then you go off and join another family of circus freaks.

It must be fairly intense to work with a group of people 24 hours a day for four months and then have to move on.

Pepper: The whole thing has to be built on a really strong foundation of reality and you need to surround yourself with really grounded people because if not, it could be so fragile. You find yourself in rehab or searching for something to fulfill yourself with in the down time. Those temptations can be pretty dangerous. It's important to keep it real.

Do you have aspirations to direct, having watched some of the masters at work?

Pepper: Maybe. I mean these directors are all very consummate technical directors as well as being very tuned into how to direct the neurotic actor's mind. Although I feel like [as a director] I would be a really good storyteller, I don't have the technical ability yet. Spielberg and Spike could probably build the entire film by themselves because they know everyone's job as good or better than they do. I think I have a taste of each of those departments but I haven't been able to master them. And I think that's really important, especially if you have very little money and very little time. Those are the tricks of the trade I need to learn more about before I get behind the camera.

Or you could hire a really good director of photography.

Pepper: Sure, but if the DP gets sick one day, it would be handy to know what his job is all about. It's integral to know exactly what shots you need for the editing process, so you aren't wasting everyone's time getting 14 different shots you know you won't end up using in the editing room. I've worked with directors who do that and it can be a pretty frustrating process. Twenty or 30 takes later and the director comes up and moves a saltshaker two inches to the left and says, "OK, let's go again." Everyone is looking at each other, "What the hell is going on?" Nothing has changed, the performances are identical but he's obsessed with the saltshaker.

What's been the most challenging film in your career?

Pepper: Definitely The Snow Walker, but they've each had their own intricacies and difficulties. For me, the most difficult aspect of making a film is the business end of it. The premieres, the red carpet and the endless press. I enjoy it but I find it more difficult than being on set and creating a character. That's the real challenge for me in the industry.

You mean you don't like talking to me?

Pepper: [laughing] No, I really do enjoy conversations like this one. It's just I find it's a challenge blowing smoke up my kilt for hours on end about things that seem like…I don't know. It's hard to describe. It's a part I really need to work at, but I've made my peace with it over the years. I know it's integral to your film's life and longevity to hear how you made a film but it's just hard breaking that fourth wall. You spend months and months in that character and you sort of, in your mind's eye, drift back to that time and place. It also seems so narcissistic to blab on about how wonderful you were and how difficult it was when really you just had an extraordinary adventure and now it's on to the next one.