INNOCENCE LOST: An interview with The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys director Peter Care, stars Jodie Foster and Jena Malone and animator Todd McFarlane. Part 2 of 2 By Warren Curry 6/7/02

Malone looked forward to the experience of shooting Altar Boys as somewhat of a refreshing change. "I hadn't really worked on something like that in a while," recalls the actress. "Usually you're just the token child on the set and there's some kids around, but (this time) I knew that all of my scenes were going to be with younger people my age. I thought it was going to just be a lot of fun." Like Foster, Malone was instantly drawn to the script. "I remember reading it and just being thrown into their world," she mentions. "The dialogue was no naturalistic and I could just see these characters in my head." Margie is forced to confront a dark secret in the film (which I won't divulge), and the way in which the character deals with this issue was another aspect of the role Malone found intriguing. She observes, "I think anyone can take it anyway (they) want... (What) I think is so beautiful and complex about this character is that she is accountable for her actions... That's why I fell in love with the character, because she didn't fall into that and she wasn't the victim. She was the person that said, 'I did some things that I don't know how I feel about, but at the same time I did them.'"

Malone is hopeful that not only people in her age bracket, but many others will respond favorably to the complexities of the teen character. "I knew that if I was sitting in the audience, as I was watching this and I didn't have any prior recognition of what the film was, I would be so excited to see a young female character like that," she offers. Malone, whose poised, confident demeanor belies her youth, understands that roles, which offer the depth of a character like Margie, are few and far between and accepts that reality. "I don't think it's going to change all of the sudden. I don't think 20 years from now people are going to want to view teenagers as complicated creatures. I hope they do; I think that anyone who says that a typical teenager is not complicated doesn't really understand them at all," remarks Malone. "I read a lot of stuff and it's all the stuff that's supposed to be marketed toward my age range. It's all the easily accessible, tied up in pretty bows, the cheerleader or the daughter or the son...But, as a teenager, I feel that I have some sort of obligation to myself, what I'm representing, what I'm putting out there... I've been able to find really incredible scripts that are complex and complicated and beautiful and painful and light and dark. It's hard, it's a process -- there are a lot of scripts that you have to read and there are a lot of things that you have to go through... It's important to find certain things that you're really into and that you really understand fully and you believe in. I don't need there to be 70,000 projects that are really great, just a couple. Just intrigue me for a couple of days a week and I'll be happy."

As for the two young male leads, Care readily admits he was a bit apprehensive about casting Hirsch. "I didn't want to use kids who had been on TV or encouraged (to do) that sitcomy act, and it was depressing to see what you could tell were really great kids and really talented kids, who were given all of these bad habits," reflects the director. "Emile came in and I felt he was inexperienced because he hadn't done a movie before. I thought, 'Wait -- I have to have this 14 year old kid with this movie on his shoulders, he's in nearly every scene, we're going to be shooting for 37 days. Is he going to be able to keep going?'" The talented Hirsch proved to be more than up to the task, as Care adds, "In the end, he won me over because I saw that he brought such a great emotional truth to the character." Given Culkin's considerable experience, Care felt no such trepidation with the actor. "Kieran, in particular, really was the only kid below the age of 20, who really understood that character of Tim," says Care. "And he really wanted to do Tim. We thought Kieran would want to do Francis, because that's the lead, but he said, 'No I want to do Tim,' which was great for us. He put himself on tape and made that character live." Foster also found that Culkin quite closely resembles the character he played. She explains, "Kieran is a bit unconscious and I think he would probably agree that he doesn't think about his motivations about where he's headed. He always reminds me of Robert Downey, because he's very witty on the outside and he's very funny and he's such a natural actor. He is all of those things and sometimes he seems more innocent on the outside and then, when you sit down and talk to him, you realize that he has a lot more going on."

As for the eyebrow-raising name of the film? "I'm so pleasantly surprised that no one said that we'd have to change the title," reveals Care in a spirited manner that would lead you to believe he hadn't discussed this same topic countless times before. "I thought we'd end up with some Hollywood generic name. I thought it would be a marketing issue. It's a long title. We'd been testing it out on taxi drivers and receptionists and everyone seemed to like it. I'm glad THINKFilm felt the same way." With the help of a few more taxi drivers and receptionists, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys could be one the most talked about films that emerges from the independent film world in 2002. The fantastic efforts of all involved are certainly worthy of such discussion.

Read Joseph Campbell's review of The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

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