Richard Jewell star Paul Walter Hauser says he ‘isn’t leading man material’
Paul Walter Hauser is the star of true-life drama Richard Jewell, worked with Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood, and has acted alongside Margot Robbie. But Hauser says he knows all too well the feeling of being an outsider.
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Paul Walter Hauser knows all too well the feeling of being an outsider and being judged by appearances.
The American actor, best known to date for his roles in I, Tonyaand Blackkklansman, is by his own admission “a heavy-set guy” who has at times felt burdened by his weight.
And in an industry and a town that values looks and image as much as acting ability, he’s not exactly classic leading man material.
“I have been to Hollywood parties where people look at me like ‘are you one of the waiters?’,” says the affable Hauser. “I have been to functions where people look at me sideways the whole night and it sucks. It hurts.”
He says that being on the receiving end of that kind of shallow judgment has made him more empathetic himself, and given him a desire to spread positivity wherever he goes.
“I want to try to give everybody else a fair shot and know that you don’t know what that person went through before you met them that day,” he says.
“We don’t know what people are walking out of or dealing with. The hope is that even when people aren’t sure about me, maybe I can try to love them and be sure about them.”
That attitude, as well as a close-knit relationship with this mother, also gave him some valuable insights to play the title role in Clint Eastwood’s new movie, Richard Jewell.
The true-life drama is the Oscar-winning director’s attempt to restore the honour of an overweight, average Joe security guard at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics whose dogged determination saved many lives in a bombing, but who then found himself wrongly implicated as the chief suspect for the crime.
Jewell’s life was turned upside down when he was named by an Atlanta newspaper as a “person of interest” to the FBI and he underwent a trial by media, with various outlets implying he fitted a “lone bomber” profile who had planted the bomb so he could find it and soak up the accolades.
Although he was never formally charged Jewell’s house was searched twice and encircled by news outlets and he had to pass a polygraph test before eventually being cleared 88 days after the bombing.
“I was interested in Richard Jewell’s story because he was the common man, the average person,” says Eastwood.
“He was never prosecuted, but he was in every way persecuted. There was this rush to judgment to accuse him, and he didn’t have any power to escape it and was, for a long time, too naively idealistic to see he needed to save himself.”
Initially it was Hauser’s physical resemblance to Jewell that put him in the frame for his first lead role after years of eye-catching supporting roles. Eastwood’s casting director Geoff Miclat had seen his scene-stealing turn as the dopey, deluded, self-appointed criminal mastermind Shawn Eckardt opposite the Oscar-nominated Margot Robbie in I, Tonya and was struck by the similarities.
Miclat printed out pictures of Hauser and Jewell and showed them to Eastwood, who was working on another film, but passionate about getting Richard Jewell made.
“He kind of squinted and looked at it and thought ‘yeah, that could be the guy’,” says Hauser, a huge Eastwood fan.
“And then they just totally jumped off the project they were doing and it was full speed ahead on trying to make Richard Jewell. So I never really auditioned and I didn’t really meet him prior to saying yes. I just kind of read the script and said ‘of course’ and we got to meet a few weeks later.”
Hauser says the acclaimed I, Tonya has opened plenty of doors for him in the industry and he still considers Robbie and her husband Tom Ackerley to be “really good friends”.
“I, Tonya is definitely a calling card for people in the industry to acknowledge who I am or the basis on which I can perform and take characters who could be absurd or fake or unrealistic or obnoxious and try to give some depth and humanity to them,” he says.
“That’s the hope.”
Certainly that quality came in handy for Richard Jewell. The real man, who died of heart failure in 2007 aged 44, was certainly a hero but hardly a saint.
Before the Atlanta incident he’d been fired as a deputy sheriff and a university security guard for overreaching his authority and he also had a fondness for firearms and issues with the tax department.
“He was very needy and aggressive and naive – he had his quirks and problems like we all do,” says Hauser, who watched footage of Jewell to capture his speech and mannerisms as well as talking to his mother Bobi and lawyer Watson Bryant.
“I think I presented him as flawed – but always well intended. That’s what I love about Richard – he has got this big heart.”
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Hauser says the role was one of the most difficult he has done, walking a fine line between accuracy and some of Jewell’s larger-than-life traits that could have easily tipped over into a redneck caricature.
“I heard one critic say that this is a showy performance for Paul Hauser but I don’t think it’s that showy,” he says.
“Quite the contrary, I think I actually have to be the straight man the whole time and try to keep composure and keep it together and be realistic and grounded.
“So I found that very difficult, but the good thing about that is if you keep it really realistic and quiet and simple when you do have those impactful moments of crying or shouting or having a fit they are more earned because you weren’t acting that erratic throughout the film.”
Richard Jewell opens tomorrow.