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NANCY MILLS
NYT Syndicate
Romance was different in 1999.
"We didn't have such ready access to answering machines or Google searches," Anthony Edwards said."People communicated differently then."
Or miscommunicated, as they do in the period romantic comedy My Dead Boyfriend, directed by Edwards, who is still best known as Dr Mark Greene on 'ER' (1994-2002). The film, scheduled to open in theatres and on demand on November 4, stars Heather Graham, Katherine Moennig and, in the title role, John Corbett.
Based on Dogrun, a 2000 novel by Arthur Nersesian, My Dead Boyfriend addresses the question,"How well do lovers really know each other?" In the case of Mary (Graham) and Primo (Corbett), who have been together for six months, the answer is not very well.
Primo's unexpected death, in front of the television in their East Village apartment, comes as a shock to Mary. Even more shocking, though, is her gradual discovery that he was an accomplished painter and poet. More revelations come when she meets his mother, his dog walker and some of his former girlfriends.
"The book always made me laugh," the 54-year-old Edwards said, speaking by telephone from the living room of his Manhattan home."Maura Tierney and (her then-spouse) Billy Morrissette found it years ago, when we were working together on 'ER,' and I optioned it."
Morrissette wrote the screenplay, but it took Edwards more than a decade to get the film into production. He never stopped trying, though.
"I just related to it as great writing," he said."Probably because I ended up living in New York and had more experience with people here, I was determined to keep trying to turn it into a movie.
"I laughed at the situation and the characters that inhabited this world," he continued."They're eccentric but grounded. Looking for love and trying to figure out who we are as people can be an unpredictable journey, but so worth going on the ride."
Edwards was fascinated by how Mary bumbles along.
"She saw the world the way she thought it should be," he said."She thought, if she looked a certain way or if she played the guitar, everything would work out well. She knew this guy for six months, yet knew nothing about him. Her being surprised by life and by things in front of her, things she had never seen before ” that's fun to watch.
"There are some big surprises," Edwards said."I think love is something that people can be unaware of, and it can surprise them. People try very hard to put square pegs into round holes."
"So many great surprises happen when you're not looking for them," he added."If we think we can control people and make them act in a certain way, we lose the magic."
His own romantic life ” after a 1980s relationship with Meg Ryan, Edwards married makeup artist/entrepreneur Jeanine Lobell in 1994 ” has had its share of surprises.
"When I met my wife," he recalled,"I think I knew right away that she'd be important in my life. I think she did too."
The two have four children ” a 22-year-old son, Bailey, and three daughters: 19-year-old Esme, 16-year-old Wallis and 14-year-old Poppy ” but are now separated.
"We're no longer together," Edwards said softly."It's been a couple of years now. I'm not really talking about it too much."
Instead he is trying to strengthen his career after a decade of focusing on his family. After an eight-year run on 'ER' that ended in 2002 with his character's death (he did appear in a flashback episode in the show's final season in 2008), he moved to the East Coast and then took time off.
"I've spent 10 years in New York, being with my kids and walking them to school," Edwards said."People told me, 'You'll never get back the life you spend with your kids when they're young.' I was very lucky to be able to be at home with them.
"Now they're old enough, and things have changed," he continued."I took advantage of that, and am ready to go back and work again."
Although Edwards slowed his work schedule, he never really left acting. After leaving 'ER', he appeared in such films as Thunderbirds (2003), Zodiac (2007), Motherhood (2009) and Flipped (2010). Two years ago he returned to network television as the star of the short-lived ABC drama 'Zero Hour' (2013).
"We made 13 episodes," he said,"and they yanked it after three. You can see it on iTunes."
His recent CBS pilot, 'Drew', failed to get a pickup. He was cast as Nancy Drew's father, Carson, while Sarah Shahi played Nancy, an NYPD detective. Now Edwards is looking for another series or another film to direct.
"The kids are sick of me and want me gone," he said, stifling a laugh."I've got a couple scripts, and I hope there's interest after My Dead Boyfriend opens. I did a play last year. I hadn't done one in 20 years."
Growing up in Santa Barbara as the youngest of five children, Edwards became fascinated with performing when he was 12. He appeared in 30 plays before leaving high school.
"It's great to grow up with a passion," he said."I missed having a real liberal arts education, but acting brought me incredible adventures and experiences."
After getting his driver's license, Edwards often drove two hours to Los Angeles to audition for commercials. Before enrolling at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to study acting, he spent a summer in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) launched his career, as it did for several others in its cast.
"That was my first feature film," Edwards said."I was 19 and at USC with Eric Stoltz and Forest Whitaker. We all auditioned for Spicoli, Sean Penn's role, and when we didn't get it we got other roles."
He and Stoltz played Spicoli's stoner buddies, while Whitaker played a looming football player in the film, which became a popular hit.
That led to so much work that Edwards dropped out of college. He played a computer-science geek in the cult favourite Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and then the best friend of the hero (John Cusack) in Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (1985).
His first adult role was another winner: The blockbuster Top Gun (1986) brought him international acclaim for his performance as the ill-fated Lt Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw.
Frankly, Edwards admitted, it all seemed too good to last. For a while it looked as if he was right.
"I'd started acting at 16 and was already having my midlife crisis," he said."I had early success, and then not so much in my late 20s. Acting didn't seem like it was going to be bigger and bigger."
It was, though.
"I was directing a little movie," Edwards recalled, referring to Charlie's Ghost Story (1995),"and my manager said, 'Maybe you should put the movie on hold for a minute to do this pilot.'"
It was the pilot for a show called 'ER', and it changed his life.
"'ER' did everything for me," Edwards said."I was part of something that was huge ” and, at that time of my life, I had four kids in those eight years. For me it was the most secure part of my life."
The show also let Edwards hone his skills behind the camera: He directed four episodes of the series.
"'ER' was bigger than any individual," Edwards said."If the show depends on you and your performance, that's a horrible place to be. You want it to succeed because of the sum of its parts. Luckily there were 10 different actors with me, plus great writers.
"We were the beneficiaries of the kind of story-telling that wasn't being done at the time," he went on."We went up against all conventional television wisdom. We had a character show with all those characters doing all that stuff but not explaining what they're doing.
"They wanted to treat audiences as if they were idiots," Edwards said."But we didn't, and audiences were thrilled."
He may never find a job that rewarding, but he isn't sweating it.
"I don't know what I'm doing next," Edwards admitted,"but that's never been scary for me. I'm just glad that My Dead Boyfriend will be at people's fingertips on November 4. It's not a groundbreaking, earth-shattering drama that will shock people. It will make people laugh, and I'm ready to laugh again."
