Author: Amy Kaufman / Source: latimes.com
Jason Clarke isn’t the kind of actor whose name alone can get a film made. And he recognizes that. Ever since he arrived in Hollywood — already in his mid-30s, a veteran Australian television star with a handful of cop procedurals under his belt — he’s been cast by directors rather than producers.
“It’s not producers saying ‘This guy can bankroll our film,'” said Clarke, now 48. “It’s always been directors saying ‘He’s right for the part.’ That’s who I am, and I accept that. Do I get hurt when I hear, ‘Oh, they’re out to get such and such actor and you’re way down the list?’ Yes. Does it upset? Yes. But I’m pretty happy with my lot.”
In fact, that’s what Clarke first heard after he read the Black Listed-script for “Chappaquiddick,” a political drama detailing the cover-up that followed after Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge in 1969 — an accident that left his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dead. In-demand directors like Reed Morano were interested in making the movie, and Clarke wasn’t anyone’s pick for the lead role.
“Everyone always wants the same five guys who trigger automatic financing — the list is very, very short — and that’s a shame,” said Curran, whose most recent film was the Australian outback drama “Tracks.”
“One of the big reasons I was really attracted to working with Jason was that I knew he could disappear into playing Teddy. … The reason people don’t recognize him is because he’s a chameleon who very easily slips into playing other people, and he hasn’t been oversaturated as a marquee face where you think, ‘There’s Jason Clarke playing Teddy Kennedy.
I don’t see Teddy, I just see Jason.’ “
Judging by his résumé alone, it’s kind of surprising that Clarke isn’t more famous. Since his breakout role in 2012’s “Zero Dark Thirty” — he played a CIA operative with a penchant for waterboarding — he’s gone on to lead action franchises (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “Terminator Genisys”) and work with award-winning directors like Terrence Malick (“Knight of Cups”), Baz Luhrmann (“The Great Gatsby”) and Dee Rees (“Mudbound”).
“It’s odd — people do get surprised, like, ‘Geez, you did this, you did that?'” Clarke said. “Well, yeah. I did.”
He was picking some blueberries off a fruit plate at the Sunset Tower, a hotel just down the street from the home he shares with his wife, French actress Cecile Breccia, who was due with the couple’s second child any day. He comes to the hotel a lot, so comfortable with the staff that he just leaves his Porsche in the front driveway. In fact, after a 90-minute interview there failed to record on a recent morning, he offered up his cellphone number and volunteered to meet up at the same place 24 hours later for a fresh…
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