Interview with John Corbett from "Raise Your Voice"

Getting back to acting, did you ever think you’d be where you are at this point?
No. This is a strange, great trip, but no. I thought my life would just be like everyone else’s. I’d be able to walk around this planet and nobody would pay much attention. It’s kind of changed.

You’ve gotten some really weird parts where things have just worked in your favor – like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” How does that feel?
You know, I don’t know. I don’t know how to describe it. I was making a movie in Toronto called “Serendipity” and they sent me a script called “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” I read it and loved it and said, “Hey, they’re coming here. When can I meet these people?” “The movie’s gone. They offered it to somebody else.” “Oh man, really?” So I go down to the bar and I was flying back to LA the next day. It was about 10 o’clock at night, the crew just wrapped and I had the day off. So I’m sitting there at the bar talking and they’re saying things like, “So what’s your next project?

What have you got going on?” “Nothing man.” I said, “I just read the funniest script called ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’…” As soon as I said that, I get a little elbow in my right side. And I turned and it was Nia [Vardalos]. She said, “Hey – you’re John Corbett.” I said, “Yeah.” She said, “Did you say ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding?’” I said, “Yeah.” She said, “That’s my script.” I said, “F***! You wrote that script?” 10 minutes later she offered me the job. They had come to Toronto and didn’t have their leading man yet. She was hoping to find him in Toronto. She just didn’t find anybody in Los Angeles that she wanted to play the role, and they were shooting in four days.

You bring a lot of charm to the different roles you play. Do you think that’s hard to put onscreen, to just be yourself? Is it really acting?
It’s a little of both. You have to do it over and over and over. You know, you do that one scene for four hours so you have to recreate it every time. And the camera’s got film in it. They say, “Action,” and they clap the board, and you know that things moving so you want to try to be interesting on some level and have some kind of charisma (laughing). So you know, you have to manufacture it a little bit. But it’s easy to me. I know what the scene’s about and I know how charming or not charming I want to be in any scene.

Are you ready to have a family?
No.

How about marriage?
I’m not opposed to it, but I’m not close to it. I’ve never been married. Yeah, so… I don’t think I’ll be getting married or I probably won’t ever have kids.

Is it a commitment issue or is it not important to you?
I just think you should get married if you want to have some kids. And if you don’t… I don’t really feel the need… I have somebody in my life for the last three years, so there’s a commitment there. We live together.

Do you think it’s ironic that you’ve become sort of the ideal leading man to a lot of women, based on some of the roles you’ve had?
Yeah. Yeah, I do. I’m always sort of blown away when they want me to play that guy, but I’m so f***ing bored of that. I don’t really want to do that anymore.

What do you want to do?
I want to sing. I want to play my music and go down that road. It’s getting harder and harder to be on a movie set and to be there all day long. I’m 43 now, and I’ve been doing this for I don’t know – 20 years almost – and it’s just not that fulfilling to be on a movie set all day long.

Is it a waste of time?
The money’s fantastic. It’s not a waste of time because they only ask me to be there for five or six weeks and then they give me, literally, a wheelbarrow full of money. I mean, the kind of money that would take me 10 years to earn if I had a regular job. So it’s impossible to say no, you know?

What about television?
No, I’m done. I’m done with television.

Do you think that working less is becoming a trend with actors? Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow have both mentioned it recently.
I never really thought about it and I don’t care about anybody else – but it’s a good plan. I’ve been stocking my nuts away like a squirrel for 15 years. I don’t have kids, I don’t have a wife. I own my own house. I don’t owe anybody for it so I put my nuts away. I really made a commitment to myself to just do what I like to do and want to do, and not to do anything. I’m not even going to give six weeks away for money anymore, you know?