'I'm Like a Catalyst'

Mark Ruffalo is making up for lost time. Four years ago--after more than a decade of bit parts and low-paying theatrical roles--Ruffalo finally had a breakthrough, playing Terry Prescott, a wayward drifter who comes home to stay with his straight-laced sister in "You Can Count on Me." The movie earned two Academy Award nominations and Ruffalo was hailed as a rising star. But just as things seemed to be looking up for him--with scripts piling up on his doorstep and he and his new wife, actress Sunrise Coigney, celebrating the birth of their son--Ruffalo was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The surgery and slow recovery left him out of commission for nearly a year. When he re-embarked on his film career, he did so with a vengeance. In the past two years, Ruffalo, now 36, has been in seven major movies, in roles ranging from a mustachioed, tough-talking homicide detective in "In the Cut" to an endearing boy-next-door type in "13 Going on 30." This weekend, he'll be appearing in two movies simultaneously. In Michael Mann's "Collateral," which shot to number one in the Box Office when it opened last weekend, he stars as a police detective trying to chase down Tom Cruise, who plays a contract killer. In John Curran's "We Don't Live Here Anymore," which opens Friday, he plays an unfaithful husband struggling to determine if his marriage is worth saving. NEWSWEEK's Jennifer Barrett Ozols spoke with Ruffalo at his hotel suite in New York about his unusual career path and where it might take him next. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: I understand you were the first lead to sign on to "We Don't Live Here Anymore." What drew you to the role?

Mark Ruffalo: I read the material and I thought, wow, this is difficult; and I was very impressed by the writing. I hadn't seen such an honest portrayal of marriage. But I was really reticent to take it on actually because it was such difficult material and I thought it needed a really special director to handle it--someone who really knew this sort of world well and respected relationships and had a strong, mature vision. And I couldn't really think of anybody who would be able to do it.

Ooh. That's not saying much for Hollywood directors.

[laughs] Well, I mean, I thought that they're just not making this type of movie--at least, not here [in America]. But then I saw John [Curran's] movie, "Praise," and I thought, this guy is really something else. And we met and I saw how much passion he had about the material and his point of view about it and I just immediately jumped on board.

You said earlier you don't usually see marriage portrayed this honestly. Isn't that a little cynical? Your character cheats on his spouse with his best friend's wife.