Saturday, 8 May, 1999

Matthew Broderick grows up for Election

By Tyler McLeod, Calgary Sun

Say it ain't so, Ferris.

Imagine: Ferris Bueller hanging out in the teacher's lounge discussing curriculums and field trips with Ed Rooney?

"It's nice to be on the other side of the fence for a while.

It's interesting," Matthew Broderick says.

Thirteen years after starring in the seminal teen flick

Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Broderick has gone back to school.

This time, in Election, he's working for the man.

"What I want to have is a long career. So if I can play the older roles and people can now accept that, then I'm very happy," Broderick says.

At age 37, the Tony-winning actor still has trouble shaking the hit films he made during the '80s -- the most persistent of which being the devilishly handsome and dashing juvenile delinquent Ferris Bueller.

"They're just parts I play. I guess that gets confusing sometimes," Broderick prudently concedes. "Like, in high school, I did poorly. I ended up fairly popular because I did plays,

but I was never the kind of confident, puckish guy Ferris is.

I didn't get away with anything -- I was always in trouble."

Then again, fans love to talk about Ferris so much, Broderick says, "that movie seemed to overshadow the real thing where it feels like it was my high school!"

Well, Matthew, better you recall Ferris Bueller's antics than those in Election.

The bitterly funny satire which opened in theatres yesterday casts Broderick as Jim McAllister, an unsatisfied teacher in a prosaic Omaha, Neb., high school.

McAllister's personal crisis manifests itself when an eager student (Reese Witherspoon) starts steamrolling her way to victory in the student council election.

For someone who began a career on Broadway as a teenager, Broderick found it easy to relate with the young stars of Election.

"Yeah, it was. Reese is so wonderfully good in the movie -- she was a pleasure to play off," he reports.

"As far as Chris (Klein), Jessica (Campbell) and Frankie (Ingrassia) ... it was their first time and there were just so happy to be there -- it was infectious."

Broderick delivers a knockout performance as the faculty member who stages the Study Hall Putsch. Details of his character will have audiences instantly flashing back to teachers of their own.

"Alexander (director Payne) told me to gain some weight ... that was really easy, I found," Broderick laughs.

"They put grey in my hair and I had really ugly clothes -- the stupid ties and dockers.

"Everybody from the costumers to Alexander had a very good understanding of Jim."

Broderick doesn't just look the part of a teacher.

Mr. McAllister has all the moves of an experienced classroom performer.

"I did think a lot about teachers I had. I also sat in on some classes. What I found most helpful is I spent a little time in the teachers' lounge," he says.

The result of his efforts is a high school movie like no other. Dead Poets Society it ain't.

"Or Lean On Me? It's a little of both. He's a good teacher at the beginning, but as the movie goes on, his heart is not in teaching any more. I don't know where it is -- but it isn't in teaching."

Broderick's heart is still in Hollywood, he insists.

He did Addicted to Love after Cable Guy, Election between Godzilla and Inspector Gadget, but doesn't consciously seek out smaller films and plays to balance the blockbusters.

"It sounds like a good plan, but I can't say it was a plan.

It just worked out that way."

Less and less, though, we are seeing Broderick as the old-fashioned nice guy film-goers grew to know during the '80s.

"You know, I'm not really as nice as sometimes I am perceived to be," he says.

"But I've had more success in those kinds of roles, so I see how people think that."