Aaron Eckhart recently spoke to Vanity Fair, and talked a lot about Rabbit Hole:
Q&A: Aaron Eckhart: “I’m Not Happy with My Career”
Krista Smith: So in Rabbit Hole, with all the heavy emotions, we got a little bit of Aaron Eckhart without his shirt on.
Aaron Eckhart: Oh boy.
By the way, I forgot you’re a beefcake when you want to be.
Oh my goodness.
This role did not require it.
Aw, hideous! Hideous. It’s funny, because apparently there is a Web site of—I’m sure this is with all actors—they have a Web site of [me with my] shirt off. It’s just beastly. Anyway.
You did all right.
Let’s get to more important things.
With Rabbit Hole—how did it make its way to you?
It’s unclear whether my agent called me or Nicole [Kidman] called me out of the blue, but somehow I got the message that Nicole wanted to talk to me. And whenever that happens, I always get a little worried. Like, what did I do? So she called me up and said, “Listen, I’ve got this movie I’m producing, I’m passionate about it, would you please read it?” I read it and I thought, This is too good to be true. … I felt like [this could] be a crowning achievement in my career, because I knew that she was going to be so good in the movie.
You guys had never worked together before?
No. I’d only known Nicole—I think I did something socially with her one night with a bunch of people in New York. But I didn’t know her; I just was a fan of hers.
And did you guys actually live in that house?
[Director John Cameron Mitchell] slept overnight there—he slept in the little boy’s room—and Nicole and I commuted. But we had our dressing rooms next to each other, Nicole and I shared a bathroom, so it was a very intimate surrounding. You would hear everybody through the house at all times, so you really got this feeling like you were a family.
…
Well, with Rabbit Hole, it may not be huge overseas—
[Laughs.] It might not even be huge domestically—
—but it’s huge in the 310 and the 212.
You know, I’m happy—I think I’m happy for Nicole. Again, we were talking about Johnny—look at Nicole.
How was she like as an actress, and then as a producer?
Well, she’s very good at faking that she’s not producing. I mean, she’s acting, but she’s also taking care of business at the same time. And she did it very gracefully. We knew that we all had her confidence and that we were all there together. I tease her all the time—I’d be like, “Nicole, who do I talk to about my trailer? You know, I need to talk to a producer—oh, you’re a producer! Well, my food, and I want my own bathroom and”—I teased her a lot about that stuff. If there was a problem, I’d say, “Nicole, get over there and take care of business. Go start yelling at somebody.”
So funny—I would imagine some of the levity was helpful because the subject matter was so intense.
Yes, there were a lot of tears. Think about it, it’s very heartbreaking.