Into the Breach

RYAN Phillippe doesn't usually beg for work. But the Hollywood star of movies including Gosford Park, Cruel Intentions, and the Oscar-winning Crash made an exception for Clint Eastwood.

"That's the only time I wrote to a director," he says. It led to a starring role in Flags Of Our Fathers, which told the true story behind the famous photograph from the Second World War of soldiers raising the flag in battle against the Japanese.

The actor and the director never discussed the letter. "This was a letter saying that both my grandfathers fought in the war and I'd like to be part of something honouring that generation," explains Phillippe.

"I said I'd do the smallest part if you would be willing to have me, and ended up playing the lead."

Phillippe has no need to go looking for work, with five movies coming up in the next 12 months. Breach, which brought him to the Edinburgh Film Festival, sees him playing another real life person. He followed John "Doc" Bradley in Flags Of Our Fathers with Eric O'Neill in Breach. This young agent-in-training was assigned by the FBI to help expose FBI operative Robert Hanssen, who sold secrets to the Soviets for more than two decades until being jailed in 2001.

Phillippe, who began acting on the small screen as US daytime TV's first gay teenager in One Life To Live, feels an added responsibility in portraying a real person and especially one he's met. "I certainly felt that on the Eastwood movie. My character's son had written a book and I spent time with his family," he says.

"With Eric, the difference was we were contemporaries. We're about the same age, from the same part of the country and a similar background. We would hang out and drink a beer, talk sports and then start getting into the movie. It was more of a friend thing, he watched the Superbowl at my house in LA. He was a much more accessible real life person to play than Doc Bradley."

A lot of your work is done for when you're playing someone real, he believes. "The look and manner of speech are decided. Often the opposite is true, you're using your own imagination in creating. So I like the idea of doing both. There are different values in each," he says.

Meeting the person can also alter the actor's approach to a character. With O'Neill, it changed every idea he had about how he'd play him.

"Eric has this great spirit and personality, and I felt there wasn't enough in the movie to show that. These things were key to how he made his way through the situation, and show why he was the right guy to be put on Hanssen's desk," he says.

Not only did he spend time with O'Neill, the actor was also given access to the FBI. "It's amazing, one of the best things about this job is you find yourself in situations and worlds that no one else would," he says.

"I was being shown around FBI headquarters by agents and taken into classified rooms the public never get to see. That was pretty exciting, seeing an organisation the public don't see."

His co-star Chris Cooper, who plays Hanssen, was less friendly, not because they didn't get along but to aid his characterisation of Hanssen, who was a tough boss for O'Neill at work. So Cooper kept his distance from his fellow actors off camera. "I think we both did. We both kind of work the same way," says Phillippe.

"Some people make jokes right until they call 'action'. I've never felt comfortable with that. It's not about living in the part or being so method, but if you stay in the headspace and are aware of the tone of the scenes you're shooting, I think that's better. It's a concentration thing.

"He and I worked similar like that. We'd do a scene, come off set and go our separate ways. Now we're doing this Press trip and having dinner where we're laughing and it's a different experience than when we were making the film."

Cooper was one of the reasons he wanted to do Breach. "He's the best the country has as an actor. I considered it an opportunity to take a masterclass in acting 12 hours a day five days a week," he says.

"There would be times I was off-camera during one of his close-ups and I would be blown away by what this man was doing with his eyes, his soul. If one day I can do ten per cent of what this man does, I'd be an infinitely better actor."

Sitting in an Edinburgh hotel room chatting, Phillippe seems happy and at ease with his life. At 32, he's convinced people not to cast him solely on his looks and, on a personal level, has come through a marriage break-up with Legally Blonde star Reese Witherspoon.

He's at a good point in his life professionally. Not just busy, but engaged in projects he cares about. They include Stop Loss, a movie about a soldier back from fighting in Iraq, who refuses to return to battle despite the government mandate requiring him to do so.

"That's the most intense part I've ever played, the range of emotions this guy goes through. The storyline is very much akin to Deer Hunter - what happens when the guys come home, what they're dealing with, what happened while they were over there, the disillusionment. It's an incredibly relevant film," he says.

"There's a lot of Iraq-themed movies. This is different because it deals with what happens when the guys come home. I always think those are really interesting war stories to tell, even more so than the battles. We've seen a ton of stuff blow up and we all know how horrible war is. This is about the lasting pain and suffering, a sense of fallout."

He owns up to strong political views, believing in making them known in a more subtle way through his work than by joining high profile causes as other actors do. "I go back and forth on how much someone who does what I do should espouse their political beliefs - and who really cares? At the same time I would not be ashamed to say that I don't agree at all with this war in Iraq and the decisions being made by my country."

He'll continue to choose work that really interests him, particularly grab the chance to work with directors whose work he admires. No one could deny that he's on a roll with his movie work. "It was sort of a progression that started around the time of Gosford Park," he says. "I was getting these studio offers to make really fluffy, stupid films and I know how unfulfilling that would be. I decided to seek out small films and help get those made. I started using what little notoriety I had to get movies made that I thought were of interest, instead of trying to elevate myself as an actor or regards the fame or pay cheque."

He was demanding it of himself, having recognised that the only power in his business is the ability to say no. "You define yourself by your choices and I feel that it's very clear what I don't want to do. That makes it much easier to seek out what I do want to do.

"I don't want to make a movie I don't want to see or have already seen. Those are my criteria. From there you just want the most original scripts and to work with the best people."

Breach (12A) is now showing in cinemas.