May 4, 2009

Actor has strong career playing meek

By Robert Feldberg, NorthJersey.com

Matthew Broderick has created an unusual niche for himself.

When a producer needs someone to play a character who's reserved, unassertive, humble, gentle, unthreatening, submissive, inhibited, restrained or any combination of the above, he often turns to Broderick, a master of mildness.

The 47-year-old actor is currently on Broadway in a Roundabout Theatre Company revival of "The Philanthropist," portraying Philip, a British philology professor who can't bring himself to say anything negative or to contradict anyone.

He can't function as a literary critic, he explains, because he likes every book he reads.

"Todd Haimes [the Roundabout's artistic director] sent me the play," Broderick said in a recent phone conversation. "The character is kind of bottled up, through all of Act 1. He's very quiet; he won't stick up for himself."

It's not surprising that the Roundabout thought of Broderick for the part. Several years ago, he had a triumph for the company in a revival of "The Foreigner," playing a man who was so morbidly timid that he pretended not to understand English in order to avoid human contact.

"The characters are different," said Broderick. "This guy [Philip] is quiet; he's not painfully shy like the character in 'The Foreigner.' He says some nasty things in a friendly manner. He's kind of passive-aggressive."

In playing Philip — who tries to explain his personality in the second act — Broderick said he has to determine whether to deliver the passivity straight, or give it a humorous twist, as a way of relating to the audience.

"I have to decide whether it's better to bore people for a minute."

The son of actor James Broderick, he's been performing since he was a teenager, and has a range that extends well beyond meekness.

Broderick's breakthrough came when he was 21 and starred on Broadway in Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," playing Simon's version of his younger self with the timing, and tones, of a Borscht Belt comic.

He went on to portray the fearful accountant Leo Bloom in "The Producers," and the fussy Felix Unger in the revival of "The Odd Couple." (In different modes, he was the scheming J. Pierpont Finch in the revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," and con man Harold Hill in the TV film of "The Music Man.")

Broderick, whose many films include "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Election," said he enjoys both the stage and movies — generally preferring the one he's not doing at the time — but that theater holds a special place for him.

"I've been doing it since I was a teenager, and I do love it," he said.

"As an actor, you get to do the whole thing all the way through; nobody changes your timing. You own it, and it's very satisfying. I also like the connection with the audience."

His next project, he said, would probably be another play, "The Starry Messenger," written by Kenneth Lonergan (who directed him in the 2000 film "You Can Count on Me").

Even if they hadn't been friends since boyhood, Lonergan might have thought of Broderick for the role: a middle-aged astronomy teacher trying to come to terms with a life of inertia.