Jackie Earle Haley Checks in From Vancouver

He may be building a career playing guys you wouldn’t wanna be locked in a room with, but Jackie Earle Haley, a.k.a. Kelly Leak in the original Bad News Bears films, a.k.a. Rorschach in The Watchmen, a.k.a. the new Freddy Kruger in the upcoming remake of Nightmare on Elm Street, a.k.a. a criminally insane inmate in Shutter Island, is a very likable dude, at least on the phone. I did a quick interview with him this past Friday, for which he called from Vancouver to explain just how friggin’ cool it is to be in Martin Scorsese’s latest movie, the aforementioned Shutter Island.

For starters, what are you doing in Vancouver? Checking out the games?

“I’m out here working on a TV show called Human Target. I’m having a blast out here; I really thought I was going to avoid the Olympics at all costs because I’m living downtown, but I’ve really been sucked into the entire mood. It’s really infectious, it’s really fun. I’ve been walking downtown in the throngs of people from all over the place. I went and looked at the Olympic flame and I’ve been taking a bunch of pictures.”

What the best part of it all?

“What’s really exciting is watching this stuff on TV in the city where it’s going on at. The view from my window looks just like the view from behind all the TV anchors. It’s fun when you can see a plane land on TV and I can hear it through my window. This is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and I’ve been all over.”

Well, the Olympics are great ‘n’ all, but holy crap, man, you got to make a movie with Martin Scorsese! Do tell.

“I can’t even get my head around it, and I just went to the premiere! Dude, it was so incredibly exciting and… wow! It was just unreal. I got to go out there and spend a couple weeks working with Marty and Leo [DiCaprio] and Michelle [Williams]. It was this unreal experience, working with the master.”

And you even get to call to him “Marty.”

“Isn’t that cool?!?”

What is he like on set?

“He’s a super sweet guy and he really knows what he’s doing, he knows what he wants. He’s got such cinematic and storytelling ability; he just understands every single aspect of filmmaking, and it was just a joy to work for the guy, to sit there and listen to him ramble on about historical film knowledge. I remember Leo’s doing this shot where he’s reacting to sounds that are off-camera, and Marty leans over and says, [affecting Scorsese’s New York accent] ‘Y’know the first guy that did this – y’know, with sounds off-camera – was in 1928 and the guy’s name was such-‘n’-such, and then about eight years later this other guy took it a little further.’ He literally went through seven decades of history to the bit that got us the shot. It was brilliant.”

I haven’t seen the film yet, so tell me a bit about your character.

“I play a character named George Noyce [pictured], and he’s a patient – or an inmate, depending on how you wanna look at it – in the psychiatric ward on this island. I play the pivotal scene with Leo’s character, Teddy, in the movie. It’s this cool scene, and it’s a really cool movie.”

He’s frightening looking in the trailer. Is this another character where you underwent a physical transformation? Are you buried under makeup?

“There’s some bruises and stuff, but not too much, not as much as Elias Koteas’ character [Laeddis – a hideously scarred inmate]. Not that bad.”

So, how did you get involved with the film in the first place?

“That’s an easy one to answer: Marty called my agent and said, ‘I’ve chosen Jackie to play George Noyce,’ and our response was, ‘That’s awesome, where would you like us, sir? [laughs] Where do we report?”

Had Scorsese cast you after seeing Watchmen?

“No, I…. [pause] I almost forgot – I made him an audition tape for The Departed! My audition tape was too late in the process by the time they got it, though. The response was that Marty said, ‘This guy is awesome, we wanna put him in the movie, but we already cast all the parts.’”

You’re becoming quite a sought-after character actor. Are there any iconic roles that you’d love to play in the future?

“Santa Claus. Then we could have a double feature of Nightmare on Elm Street and Santa Clause 8, or whatever.”

Um, Santa Clause? Really?

“Naw, there’s nothing sitting on the table where I wish I could play that character in that thing.”

So right now you’re just happy to go with the flow. How would you describe your sudden burst in popularity so many years after starting out as a child actor in the Bad News Bears movies?

“It’s just been a rollercoaster ride and I’m on it with my hands in the air, going, ‘Whooo-whooo!’”

-Dave Alexander