Breach is the true story of the FBI’s takedown of Robert Hanssen, the biggest traitor in U.S. history. Ryan Phillippe plays Eric O’Neill, the agent who brought Hanssen down. With the real O’Neill right beside him, Phillippe had the ultimate actor’s resource.
Interview: Ryan Phillippe Talks Breach
“It was less about what I learned from him and more what happened to my idea of how to play the part once I got to know Eric,” said Phillippe. “His personality, man, he’s a great guy. He’s got this indomitable spirit, this confidence that let me know how he could get through a situation like this. I wanted some of that life in the guy.”
Hanssen played the part of the ultra-religious family man while he sold secrets to the KGB. But his relationship with Eric was more personal than business. “To me, one of the funniest things, once I’d met Eric and I’d hear him tell stories about Hanssen, he’d talk about how much Hanssen annoyed him. That’s something so funny to me. The idea about he’s not only the boss from Hell and one of the worst spies in U.S. history, but the guy would get on your nerves and he [Eric] would get on Hanssen’s nerves and I like the idea of like the married couple in the car on a long road trip bickering. To find those sort of human, idiosyncratic aspects of what is an enormous story, was what was really appealing to me.”
Phillippe did have to sacrifice for the role when director Billy Ray asked him to give up smoking. “That’s one of the craziest sacrifices I think you could make in preparation for a part but I did it anyway. But Chris Cooper’s a chain smoker and I’d be doing these scenes in the car with him I’d just quit smoking and everything, the tension, the anxiety that goes along with quitting, it all fed some of those scenes. I’m like, ‘Why is he smoking? I had to quit?’”
Breach
Breach
Breach
Things have been very serious for Phillippe, not only in his personal life, but with a string of films that weigh heavily on an actor’s mind. But the art makes it worthwhile.
“Listen, I only want to make movies I want to see and I only want to tell stories that haven’t been told. I’m a serious guy, I think, sometimes, to a fault. I like serious subject matter. If I’m going to devote months of energy and time and take that time away from my kids, the story has got to resonate with me. I can’t do the fluff. I can watch it. I can appreciate it. It’s not what I want to spend my time working on. There has to be some kernel of some idea that holds my interest that I feel like people haven’t seen that could maybe, in some way, effect some change. A movie like Crash can do that potentially. There are other examples. That’s where my interests lie. I do like to play both sides. Flags of Our Fathers was a great opportunity to honor my grandfathers who both fought in World War II, to tell that story about a war that needed to be fought for the betterment of the free world and this next Kim Peirce movie, I play a soldier back from Iraq who has served two tours and completed a five year contract and they stop loss him and try to send him back and he fights the system and doesn’t want to go, doesn’t believe in this war anymore. So, I mean, I like the idea that life is not black and white and there are these gray areas and I think that’s where the most interesting stories are found.”
Breach is out in theatres now.
For trailers, synopsis and more movie info, head over to the Breach Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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