June 28, 2008

Matthew Broderick is acting his age in 'Diminished Capacity'

By Marshall Fine, New York Daily News

His hair may be graying, and his face is a little thicker and softer these days. But at 46, Matthew Broderick is still boyish enough that it's shocking to realize his breakthrough in movies came 25 years ago.

"It's amazing - nobody thinks they'll do anything that long," says Broderick, who has two films opening within a week of each other.

"I've been an actor for almost 27 years. That's a long time. I should probably quit. Acting is a tough living. It's still exciting for me, which is good."

Broderick, who embodied precocious teens in films like "WarGames" (1983) and 1986's "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" - both made when he was in his 20s - has decidedly adult roles in his two latest movies.

In "Diminished Capacity," opening Friday, he plays a man suffering memory loss after a severe concussion - while trying to deal with a forgetful uncle (Alan Alda). "Finding Amanda," which just opened, has Broderick playing a gambling addict.

For "Diminished Capacity," Broderick studied up - just a little - on the effects of concussions.

"I'm not a huge researcher," he says. "A family friend is a neurologist, so I asked him about concussions and what it's like. But it's not so simple. It seems that it's different for everybody."

While "Diminished Capacity" is billed as a comedy, it does have dramatic undertones, which isn't something most moviegoers associate with Broderick. But beneath the actor's cheerful smile lies something darker, says "Capacity" director Terry Kinney.

"Matthew has a look like a deer in the headlights - and I mean that in the best possible way," Kinney says. "He has this truly innocent face, but there's a sadness in his eyes that's very compelling. His humor can be very dark."

Case in point: "Finding Amanda," in which Broderick's inveterate gambler goes to Las Vegas to retrieve a niece who has become a prostitute.

"Wormy is a good word for him," Broderick says of the character. "I've played some wormy roles, flimflam men and manipulators. I don't know if I've played someone so unsuccessful. But a wisecracking TV writer is not that much of a departure for me."

Broderick actually has roles in five films this year. He was also in Helen Hunt's "Then She Found Me" and will be seen before year's end in Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret" and Joshua Goldin's "Wonderful World."

Acting in so many movies back to back was a conscious decision by Broderick, one of the few actors who has been as successful on Broadway as he has in Hollywood.

"After I did 'The Odd Couple' [in 2005, with his co-star in 'The Producers,' Nathan Lane], I thought I'd like to do films for a while," says Broderick. "Had a great play come along, I never would have stuck to my plan. But it didn't - and suddenly I did five films."

He also had to weather the storm - by proxy - of the "Sex and the City" movie, which was produced by and stars his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker - and which brought a tidal wave of attention.

" 'The Producers' was crazy there for a while, but this was on a much larger scale," says Broderick. "Plus, this was not happening to me. I know how hard she worked. I'm very proud of her. People in the street like the movie and say so, which is pretty nice."

Yet for all the work he has piled up lately, Broderick admits to being undisciplined when it comes to evaluating new material.

"I'm very slow to get myself to read scripts," he says. "My first instinct is to put it next to my bed and go watch TV."