"'The Basketball Diaries' was
the first time where I actually read a script and I didn't
want to put it down. Then I met Scott Kalvert, the
director, who hadn't done a movie before. He had done
these Marky Mark videos. So that was a bit of a problem.
I wanted to do this movie, but I didn't want it to turn
out ot be some After School Special about drugs, which is
what it could have turned out to be. But when I met Scott,
he seemed like a cool guy. He didn't have all the
Hollywood director shit going on. And he was willing to
listen to my opinions. I'll tell you this story. We were
looking for someone to play this kid Mickey, and Scott
wanted to bring in Marky
Mark. He'd worked with him and really liked him. And
like any normal human being, I freaked out. Because I
figured somebody who's a singer like that, which is not
necessarily music I'm a fan of, was not right for the part.
I told Scott no, we can't audition him. He said, 'I
worked with Marky and you gotta stop thinking that he's
gonna pull some macho thing with the film, he's not like
that. When you get to know him he's a really cool guy.'
And I said no, no, no, absolutely not. I don't care,
there's plenty of cool people out there, just find one of
them. But I finally thought about it and I said, 'Look, I
know if I had done something [like] what Marky Mark did,
and got a bad reputation like he does, I'd feel really bad
if some young actor wrote me off just because he was in a
good place in his career.' We had read so many kids for the
character, but everyone just didn't get it. They were
putting on this false toughness and this false street thing
which just didn't work. And so I met Marky and as soon as
I met him I wanted to find something wrong with him,
because I had this fear of what other people were gonna
think of him and what I'm gonna think of him, like he's
gonna do something terrible in the movie. But as soon as
he came in he was really cool and he said hello so
matter-of-factly, and did the scene and I couldn't help but
be charmed by what he did. He brought an element of
reality to it, and he brought an element of being truly
street, because that's what he is. And he was the best
person for the role by far. But I still had this problem,
I didn't want to admit it. And finally I got myself to
say, 'Okay, he's the best person for the role, I can't see
anyone doing it much better than him. He's Marky Mark, so
what? We'll do it.' And I got a lot of shit from everyone
about it, but you know what? He's great and they're all
gonna have to admit they were wrong.""When you guys were
shooting in New York, there were stories in the paper all
the time about how you and Marky Mark were out on the
town..."
"It's funny," he says. "Here I am doing this
film that deals with this kid who has nothing going wrong
for him, but gets trapped in this world of drugs. And his
whole life completely changes. He pushes off everything in
his life just for this heroin addiction. And I don't do
drugs! At night, Marky and I would go out. New York, it's
a fucking hard town, huh? Let me just tell you about all
this shit that was fabricated and ridiculous. Me and Marky
did goout on the weekends and have a good time at clubs.
That was all, but they want to escalate it to something
different, which is what the tabloids are all about.
Supposedly we were at the same club one time that Derrick
Coleman was at, the basketball player. He's like seven
feet tall or whatever. But supposedly I get into a fight
with Dereck Coleman. I never even saw the guy, but
supposedly I get into a fight with him and I argued with
him about something, which would be completely beyond the
realm of possiblity. Marky supposedly comes to save the
day and helps defend me. We all get in a fight with
Derrick Coleman."
"And beat the shit out of him, I hope,"
I say.
"No, it just said we got into a big fistfight.
And I could just see my little skinny white self fighting
with this guy. So they wrote up a lot of garbage about us,
which is cool, I guess. What the hell."
"The rumor around
town was that you were the new River Phoenix."
"If they
mean that I was in trouble, that's total bullshit. I've
always liked River's work. I'm discounting the drugs and
whatever he did in his personal life, because the drugs
weren't who he was. But as far as his acting and as far as
who he was as a person, I respected him a lot. I think I'm
different from him, but I hope that I can somehow be
thought of as someone who is unique and thoughtful, someone
whose work will be respected."
"I think that's it," I
say, standing up.
"Wait," he says. "Did we go over
everything? We didn't talk about what I think about
acting, but who cares about that shit anyway? Okay, I guess
this is really it."
I expect him to just sail out the
window, but like a mere mortal, he leaves through the
door.