Thursday, June 10, 2004

`Stepford' marriage doesn't compare to the real thing, Broderick says

By Barry Koltnow, The Orange County Register

Matthew Broderick has learned how to make himself invisible.

The trick, according to the actor, is to walk behind a celebrity who's more famous than you.

"I learned that when I was working on a movie with Meg Ryan a few years ago," he explained. "If I fell behind about 10 steps, everybody would run up and bother her without even noticing me. It was great."

Broderick said he has employed the same trickery on occasion when he ventures out of his New York City home with his wife of seven years, Sarah Jessica Parker, the very famous star of the now-defunct HBO series "Sex and the City."

"If you're with a super-famous person, like Sarah, you can use their status to your advantage," he said. "I do it all the time at premieres and other public events. People want to talk to Sarah much more than they want to talk to me. I can just stand there and be invisible.

"But it's getting harder since our son was born. There are many people who seem to find it interesting to photograph a celebrity couple with a baby. It's not really me they're interested in; it's Sarah and the baby. I just happen to be there."

Well, Sarah Jessica Parker isn't the one who has a movie opening Friday. That would be Broderick, who stars opposite Nicole Kidman in the remake of the 1975 cult classic "The Stepford Wives."

In the new version, which plays more as a comedy than a thriller like the original, Broderick is an anonymous television network vice president married to the high-profile president of the same network. After she suffers a sudden reversal of fortune, he moves the family from the big city to the placid suburb of Stepford, Conn., where men can be men and women can be robots.

The original film was intended to explore the male reaction to what was then an embryonic feminist movement. It's almost three decades later and the filmmakers apparently believe the same issues exist.

"Of course, the situation is exaggerated to make a movie," Broderick said, "but I guess there are still problems between men and women, particularly with the rise of the power couple.

"Personally, I have never had a problem with my wife's fame and fortune," he added with a laugh. "In fact, I encouraged her to sign for another season on TV because I knew they'd back up a truckload of money. I don't mind at all if she makes more money."

Broderick said he never considered his marital situation as similar to the one depicted in the movie until he started talking to members of the media.

"I swear that I never thought about it until two days ago when I began doing interviews for this movie and reporters started asking me if I thought my life was anything like my character's. I still don't see it but I guess that's bound to happen if you're married to someone who's on another level of fame like Sarah."

Broderick's level of fame is hardly chopped liver.

The actor was born 41 years ago into a show business family. His father was the late James Broderick, who starred on the respected TV series "Family."

The younger Broderick resisted the actor's life for a while, until he made his professional acting debut opposite his father in the stage play "On Valentine's Day." He was 17.

In 1983, Broderick won the first of his two Tonys in Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs." He won his second in 1995 for the revival of the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

More recently, he starred with Nathan Lane in Mel Brooks' "The Producers," the record-breaking production that will be turned into a movie next year with Lane and Broderick reprising their roles. Broderick said he idolized Brooks before working with him, but was concerned about the plan to turn a cult film into a Broadway musical.

"Like so many people, I grew up a huge Mel Brooks fan," he said. "I used to fall asleep at night listening to the "2,000-year-old Man" records. And I memorized all of `Young Frankenstein.'

"So it was a thrill when Mel asked me to be in this new show, but I couldn't help but to worry that we might be messing up a classic. Sure, people look at `The Producers' now and say it was a no-brainer, but at the time I was concerned about whether it would work.

"Then, one day Nathan (who beat out Broderick for the Tony) said: `Listen, it's Mel's (project) to screw up. If it doesn't work, everybody will blame him, not us.'"

During rehearsals, Broderick said the new show seemed to be working, but no one was really sure. Then somebody invited a small test audience to sit through a rehearsal.

"Not everything was working right yet, but we could hear giggles in the audience long after the jokes were over. We knew then that we had a funny show."

Roderick has been one of those fortunate actors with a movie career that has rivaled his successful stage career.

He first was noticed in the 1983 film "WarGames," in which he played a high schooler who almost starts World War III while playing computer games. Three years later, he starred in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," which remains his most memorable movie role.

He recently moved to the small screen for the ABC movie "The Music Man," but will return to the big screen in "The Last Shot" and "Marie and Bruce," his next two movies after "The Stepford Wives."

But those new films will have to wait until after the summer. He said he's taking a few months off to work on his role as father to 19-month-old James Wilke Broderick.

"Before you have a baby, you wonder if it's a good idea to have a baby. I know I wasn't sure I wanted one.

"But I'm shocked at how much I like having a baby. Sure, there are moments when you think, `Remember when we didn't have to take care of this baby and we could get up anytime we want and we could go to Europe on a whim?'"

"But then something happens. Some chemical squirts into your brain and tells you it's all worth it. You can't fight it. You fall in love with this little baby and you are overcome with this strange instinct to protect this child."

Broderick said the only drawback to being a father is the unwanted attention by the paparazzi.

"I have to admit that I don't like when they take his picture," the actor said. "I don't blame the guy because he has to earn a living but I feel bad for the baby because he didn't ask for any of this.

"I would never say that about myself," he added. "It's not fair for an actor to say, `Stop looking at me' when they have been asking people to look at them their whole life. But my son didn't ask anybody to look at him.

"Still, there's nothing I can do about it. Photographers are fascinated by celebrity couples with a baby, and baby boys have to go outside."

It's just makes it more difficult to be invisible.