Patrick Wilson talks about 'Life in Flight'

Here's a phone interview with Patrick about his role in "Life in Flight":

Taking off 'In Flight'

Patrick Wilson has an especially put-upon look in his latest film, "Life in Flight," which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival. It's as if his character, Will, ate something that disagreed with him. The wonder is that no one seems to notice - not his business partner, certainly not his wife (Amy Smart).

"It's much easier on the outside to say, 'Why don't you see this?'" Wilson said by phone from the Los Angeles set of his new project, "Barry Munday."

"What appealed to me about the script is it was a simple struggle. He didn't know what he wanted in both his personal and professional life. I think there was just enough in there [to show] where his mind was wandering," Wilson explained. "Not every situation, whether it's questioning your marriage, needs to be told in ways like 'Little Children.'"

"Little Children" (2006), which Wilson also starred in, demonstrates a troubled marriage by showing him going at it with a neighbor's wife on top of a washing machine.

"Life" is a bit more subtle. In addition to his look of indigestion, Will loosens his tie a lot and has mildly flirtatious conversations with his love interest (Lynn Collins).

Also unlike "Little Children," this film takes place in New York, which is used to convey story points. Will lives in the sort of glassy, white-walled Village brownstone that looks good in a design magazine but has all the warmth of a museum. His work as an architect takes him to Brooklyn, where the gritty, industrial waterfront ironically is a breath of fresh air.

"When it's used wisely, you see this loneliness," Wilson says of the city. "It's very easy to get lost. I lived in New York for 13 years, and I've always been fascinated by how you can have so many people crammed together and yet it can just feel so isolated. I definitely feel like that played a role in the film."

So it is appropriate that the movie's first public showing will be at a New York festival - though, unfortunately, Wilson probably won't be there to see it because of the film he's shooting.

He regrets the bad timing, but he's happy that "Barry Munday" is a flat-out comedy. It's a nice change of pace from the musicals he first became known for ("Oklahoma," "The Full Monty") and subsequent film work (the closet case he played in "Angels in America," the pedophile in "Hard Candy"). He has also wrapped a role in the big-budget "Watchman," as an impotent, retired superhero.

"Certainly after 'Hard Candy,' strange roles started to come my way," Wilson said. "After 'Little Children,' leading roles and adulterers came my way. But none of the films that I've done has made such a commercial impact that that's what people know me as. I've never felt pigeonholed." - John Clark

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2008/04/27/2008-04-27_ tribeca_documentaries_deliver_dose_of_dr.html?print=1&page=all

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