Wendy R. Williams Talks to Adam Goldberg The Director of I Love Your Work Opening in New York on Friday, December 2, 2005 Village East Cinema (Opposite photo courtesy of Think Film)

Adam Goldberg is one of those guys. If you saw him on the street, you would think, “Hey, I know that guy from….well…from…hm…..well I know I know him.” He has one of those faces. And you do know him in a way. He is an actor who has had decent sized roles in everything from Saving Private Ryan to Friends. Not a huge movie star, but an actor – one of those guys who lives in the to-be-filed box of your mind.

And he is a director, directing first the neo-noir film Scotch and Milk and now the newly released I Love Your Work. And the guy has connections; he lives in the ultra cool indie-film world inhabited by actors like Christina Ricci, Vince Vaughan , Franka Potente, Giovanni Ribisi, Elvis Costello and Shalom Harlow– all of whom star in Work.

I Love Your Work is a trip into the mind of a newly famous actor named Gray Evans (played by Ribisi) who has a beautiful celebrity wife Mia (Franka Potente) and all the trappings of wealth and fame. And everywhere Gray goes there are cameras, peering into his life and if you believe African lore, stealing parts of his soul. And so one day he decides to peer back. He becomes obsessed with the life of one of his fans, Jane (Marisa Coughlan), who resembles a lost love Shanna (Christina Ricci). And from then on it, the film is a trip through the rabbit hole of madness; the celebrity becomes the stalker with tragic results.

On Tuesday, November 29, 2005, I had a chance to talk to Adam Goldberg at the office of Think Film, the publicity company for I Love Your Work.

Adam Goldberg - Photo Credit Wendy R. Williams

Question: When did your first get the idea for the movie?

Adam Goldberg: I first thought of the concept of a movie star stalking a fan in 1996 and started working on the actual script in 2000. I like to start with a mood, not so much with a structure.

Question: Did you think about the actors while you were writing? Did you hear Giovanni Ribisi’s voice in your mind? Christina Ricci’s?

Adam Goldberg: I had Giovanni in mind from the beginning and did think of him while I was writing. I actually had another actress in mind for Christina’s part. But when the actors arrived, they made the parts their own. They all added their own voices.

I have always been fascinated with other people’s lives.

Question: When I saw the movie, I thought it was a coke movie without the coke. The actor’s madness seemed like a coke-induced paranoia, but I never saw the character actually snorting coke.

Adam Goldberg: Coke was omitted on purpose. I did not want the movie to be about coke. Certain things simply were not there, like coke and computers.

Question: The film is filled with many film related references – the video shop, watching Singing in the Rain. A film about film.

Adam Goldberg: We are all affected by movies. For the last few generations, most of our references have come from movies.

Question: Where was this film shot? It seemed to be Los Angeles but there were many old apartment buildings that looked like Brooklyn and Gray rides on a subway.

Adam Goldberg: The film was shot in downtown Los Angeles.

Question: Do people actually live in downtown Los Angeles and ride subways?

Adam Goldberg: Yes they do, but I deliberately did not identify the city.

Question: Have you seen Antonini’s The Passenger? He uses the same type of deconstructed story line as you did in Work. (Note to readers: This was my film-critic-sounding question.)

Adam Goldberg: I have not seen that film in years but I have been inspired by Michelangelo Antonini and also by New Wave French cinema. I wanted the movie to cross time in periods of fashion; I wanted the actors to be living not quite in the present tense.

I view myself as a guy who is making a living doing something kind of odd.

Question: How has fame affected you? Can you go to Starbucks?

Adam Goldberg: Yes I can and I tell them that my name is Adam and they write it on the cup.

Question: You are the kind of guy people see and thinks they know but cannot remember quite where? Did I see him in the gym?

Adam Goldberg: People do not think they saw me in the gym.

Question: Where do you live – LA or New York? And where do you have more privacy?

Adam Goldberg: I was born and raised in LA and everyone has more privacy in LA because they are in their car.

Question: Does the spotlight bother you?

Adam Goldberg: I wish I was more in the spotlight and had more fame. I would like more success rather than less.

Question: And last, please tell us about your tattoos. (Goldberg’s arms are covered in black and gray tattoos and many of our readers have a few remaining inches of uninked skin and are franctically shopping for more tattoos).

Adam Goldberg: They are all from tattoo artist Mark Mahoney of the Shamrock Social Club. He is the best black and grey tattoo artist in LA.

So there you have it and many thanks to Adam Goldberg for agreeing to talk to New York Cool.