Artikel über Micheal Pitt

HYPE: Michael Pitt

Just a few years ago, Michael Pitt was a 16-year-old bike messenger on the streets of New York City ("It was horrible--I got hit, like, twice a week"). At 18, he made his stage debut ("I thought I was going to be a theater actor for the rest of my life"), and then he was noticed by a "Dawson's Creek" casting agent, which led to his breakout stint on the show. More interesting nontheater projects soon followed, and it was shortly thereafter that he found himself filming Hedwig and the Angry Inch, playing rip-off rock star Tommy Gnosis. And as he recalls it, he learned quickly that he had to stick to the rulebook on an indie: when he sneaked out one day for a smoking break, incensed star/writer/ director John Cameron Mitchell burst outside screaming after him, much to the amusement of onlookers, in full Hedwig attire--i.e., head-to-toe glam rocker drag. "He was like, 'You can't do this!'" says Pitt, "'This is a low-budget film! We don't have time to be--wait, give me a drag.' And he'd smoke the cigarette for a second, and then continue to yell at me." Pitt, now 21, shows a stage thespian's choosiness as he carefully selects the scripts, projects and people he works with; in addition to the critical hit Hedwig, he's made Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester and Larry Clark's Bully. In his newest project, Barbet Schroeder's Murder by Numbers, Pitt plays a teen psycho opposite Sandra Bullock's been-there-solved-that detective. "A lot of times I feel like I have a shield," muses Pitt on his luck landing jobs. "A Van Sant shield," he laughs. "He'll grab me if I stray in the wrong direction."

--Lonny Pugh Quelle: Movieline.com Vielen Dank an Sandra von James van der Beek Online!