He’s an up-and-coming everyman
Topher Grace has a theory about acting: There are just two types of men an actor can play. “There is the guy you want to be and the guy you are,” says Grace, who competes with the movie-star hunk of the title for his childhood sweetheart in “Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!”
“What’s amazing about this film is that it actually has both guys in it. It has the Tom Cruise and the Tom Hanks. I personally think it’s infinitely more interesting to play the guy the audience relates to,” Grace continues. “My theory is that even Brad Pitt was turned down for a date at one point. I think the guy you want to be, that guy serves a purpose in live-action films. But I think it’s more interesting to play someone the audience kind of hops on the shoulder and rides through the movie with.”
Although the film had a disappointing opening weekend -- third place, $7.3 million -- people who know and work with the 25-year-old Grace have nothing but praise. Descriptions like “diligent,” “prepared” and “thoughtful” keep coming up in conversation.
“He’s incredibly studied on what and where his character is coming from,” offers Robert Luketic, the director of “Tad Hamilton.”
“He is so dedicated to his work,” says his good friend Ginnifer Goodwin, who met Grace on the set of “Mona Lisa Smile” and appears with him in “Tad Hamilton.” Grace recommended Goodwin for the role.
“He has such range,” says an enthusiastic Jeff Filgo, executive producer of Fox’s “That ‘70s Show.” For the last six seasons, Grace has played typical teen Eric Forman on the raucous comedy series.
“His work ethic is unbelievable,” says Filgo. “Here we are in our sixth season and we have done 150 episodes and he has never come unprepared to a table read.”
“I think he plays the consummate everyman,” says Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, producer of the film “Mona Lisa Smile,” in which Grace plays a law student in the 1950s. “He plays him with earnestness and intelligence and enthusiasm that makes you want to watch more. He reminds me of a young Jack Lemmon.”
As Grace strolls into the lobby of the Chateau Marmont, one wonders if the lanky young actor can live up to so much hype. But a little time with him confirms what his co-workers have said.
He’s shy. Reserved. No, he won’t talk about his “ ‘70s Show” fellow regular Ashton Kutcher, whose high-profile romance with Demi Moore remains fodder for the tabloids. The only costar he’ll gossip about is Beans, the mutt that plays his dog in “Tad Hamilton.”
“We did not get along,” Grace says, sipping a glass of water while relaxing on an overstuffed sofa. “Beans was the biggest diva I have ever worked with.”
He’d not interested in becoming the next big thing in movies. “I can’t imagine the film poster I want to see that just I’m on,” he says. “Maybe I will find that piece of material that will make me want to watch me on screen for two hours.”
Team player
Grace is more than content to be part of an ensemble. “I think it makes you better,” he explains. “If it works right, it becomes an amazing team sport. You are passing the ball to each other and you use everyone’s strengths to build.”
“Tad Hamilton” finds Grace playing Pete, the hard-working manager of a small-town Piggly Wiggly supermarket who has loved his best friend and co-worker Rosalee (Kate Bosworth) all his life. Just as he is about to tell her how much he cares, Rosalee wins a date with bad-boy Hollywood heartthrob Tad Hamilton (Josh Duhamel). Completely taken with the thoughtful and grounded Rosalee, Tad ends up moving to her hometown in West Virginia, much to Pete’s dismay.
Luketic recalls seeing Grace in his film debut in the 2000 Oscar-winner “Traffic” as the preppy, drug-pushing boyfriend of Michael Douglas’ daughter. “A director is always on the looking for emerging talent,” says Luketic, who directed the original “Legally Blonde.” “I remember being struck how real his performance was. I made a mental file and then I became educated with ‘That ‘70s Show’ and that demonstrated with me a range, an indicator of real talent. He’s the everyman. The new Tom Hanks.”
One of the best scenes in the film was Grace’s idea: Tad Hamilton has just bought a farm and Pete hopes to show him up in front of Rosalee. When Pete demonstrates to Tad how to chop wood, the buff actor rips off his shirt to get more comfortable. Not to be outdone, Pete takes off his shirt to reveal a rather spindly chest and abs.
Grace says the competition between Pete and Tad has become “primal” at that moment. “It’s getting to the point where Pete is hitting rock bottom. This is basically two cavemen here, so let’s take our shirts off. But like a half-hour [after making the suggestion], I am sitting in the body-makeup trailer saying ‘Is this my idea?’ But I am really proud of the scene. It’s a joke that basically has no words but encapsulates what the movie is about, which makes me really proud. My favorite stuff in ‘Tad,’ and ‘Traffic’ too, is the wordless stuff.”
The brown-haired, hazel-eyed Connecticut native never had any intention of becoming a professional actor. He was a freshman at USC -- “I was being rejected from film school and majoring in drinking. I had no direction” -- when “That ‘70s Show” came about. The producers, Bonnie and Terry Turner, had seen Grace the year before in a production of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at the New Hampshire boarding school their daughter was also attending
“It was wonderful that Bonnie and Terry came along -- when you have someone in your life when you have no direction. I have to say there was a period where I had the role and we started the show, and I never thought I would get this far in my entire life, so what do I dream about now? Then you start working and you can see you are right at the bottom again.”
Watching reruns, Grace realizes how inexperienced he was when the series started. “I would recommend the sitcom to any young actor,” he says. “It’s the greatest graduate school. You can be good and then come back the next week and be excellent. You get to have a second chance. You just have to stay on the air and over a period of time you learn how to be professional. It’s like the boot camp and graduate school of acting, and also you have genius writers who know how to write to you specifically.”
‘Dodger’ fan
Grace has been shooting “That ‘70s Show” in Los Angeles while also doing another movie, “P.S.” with Laura Linney, in New York. Grace is a huge fan of director Dylan Kidd’s first film, “Roger Dodger.”
“I remember saying to my agent, ‘I want to work with him,’ ” Grace says of Kidd. “This new script luckily had a role for someone my age. It’s kind of this May-December romance thing. Laura is the best actor I have probably worked with. She was very supportive for me. It was my first sex scene -- a lot of firsts for me -- and I needed someone to help me through.”
And he’s thrilled about “Synergy,” a movie written and directed by Chris and Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”). The comedy, which begins production in March, also stars Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson. “Talking about being obsessed with directors, the Weitz brothers are like the new James L. Brooks,” he says with boundless enthusiasm.
Unlike Kutcher -- whose new film “The Butterfly Effect” also opened Friday (at No. 1) -- Grace has stayed out of the limelight. Goodwin points out that he doesn’t capitalize on “being the hot young actor. He goes in the opposite direction.”
“If I was writing a book called ‘So You Got a Sitcom Right Out of High School,’ I would say in the first chapter, there is nothing you have to do besides show up and do good work,” Grace says.
