Heās not your 19th-century Frankenstein.
āI donāt know where this lumbering idiot came from. In the book, heās extremely aršÆticulate, heās sensitive, heās a quick learner,ā Aaron Eckhart tells The Post. āI mean, š²Frankenstein has gotten a bad rap.ā
The 45-year-old actor gave the monster a makeover for the gritty new action-fantasy film āš °I, Frankenstein,ā in theaters Friday. In the movie, based on a graphic novel, Eckhart stars as Adam, Dr. Fšørankensteinās chiseled monster. Caught in a centuries-old battle between gargoyles and demons, heās not green, nor does he have bolts in his neck.
āThis is so different,ā says Eckhart, explaining why he was drawn to šreinterpreting the classic character. āWeāre kind of the next chapter in terms of what would happen if he were roaming the Earth forever. How does a man whoās been cast out š¼by his father, called an abortion ā an aberration ā now trust somebody?ā
The other big difšference? This time, the monster has a killer six-pack.
Although Eckhart says, āI havenāt been to the gym išÆn years,ā donāt think he hasnāt suffered for his art. āI work out every morning ā I throw rocks and dig holes and jump over stuff [and] Iām also a road cyclist.ā
He also quit cigars this year aāfter coming down with pneumonia ā ironic, given thatā one of his most lauded performances was as a tobacco lobbyist in āThank You For Smoking.ā
And then thereās his diet.
āYesterday, I was doing some shopping and I had to tear myself away from getting a large pizza,ā he says. āI literally had to wrench myself out of the pizza place. I didnāt eat š§at all until I got home ā I had put some yams in the oven earlier that morning. So I had cold yam.ā
Eckhart was born the youngest of three brothers in Cupertino, Calif., to a Mormon family. (āIām Mormon. I grew up Mormon,ā he says of his faith today. āYou [always] have those ideals inside of you.ā) The Eckhaš rts eventually moved to England, where Aaron got his start in acting as a teenager, playing Charlie Brown in a school production. After that, he never stopped.
His big break happened in 1997, as the lead in
Neil LaButeās āIn the Company of Men,ā but name recognition came from playing Julia Robertsā biker beau in 2000ās āErin Brockovź§ich.ā Ever since, Eckhart has appeared in a blend of critically acclaimed indies (āRabbit Hole,ā āThank You For Smokingā), explosion-fests (āBattle: Los Angeles,ā āOlympus Has Fallenā) and even superhero epics (playing Harvey Dent/āTwo-Face in āThe Dark Knightā).
That last one inspired him to keep āFrankensteinā from veering intź§o dangerous camp territory, unlike many other graphic novel adaptations.
āYou just gotta take it really seriously, which I did,ā says Eckhart. āItās like āBatman.ā You know, some are more campy than others. And whyį©į©į©į©į©į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©š±į©į©į© are they? Itās the director, really. People like Chris [Nolan] taking the initiative or making the decision to say, āOkay, this is about real crap.āā
These days, Eckhart is also thinking a lot aboź¦æut the messages that his movies send to young kids, which raises the question š§øof whether the bachelor is finally considering a family of his own.
āYeah, Iām sitting on my ranch in Montana and Iām saying, āI have to.ā I do want to have kids,ā he says. āI just canāt seem to do the other thing first . . . you know, find šsomebody to have them with. Iām continually on the lookout.ā
He may have difficulty finding the time to do so. Later thišs year, heāll star in the supernatural thriller āIncarnate.ā Eckhartās also set to appear in āLondon Has Fallen,ā the sequel to last yearās surprise hit, āOlympus Has Fallen.ā He hasnāt read a script, but hopes heās ākicking somebodyās assā and ānot being tied up to a freakinā balustradeā like in the original.
But his long-term plan is to create his own works. Over the past two years, Eckhartās written and produced a movie based on a best-selling book ā heās coy on spilling the detailsš§ on what it is just yet, other than that itās an action film about a father and a daughtš¦er.
āI think the next step for me is to emancipate myselfš from [being a] for-hire actor. Iād like to be developing and directing my own movies, and doing what I want toā do ā and maybe have started a family,ā he says. āThatās really the two things that I havenāt accomplished.ā