I think obsession and love are really quite similar, like two sides of the same coin 
In 2001, after being touted as the next big thing for his part in Michael Bay's bombastic Pearl Harbor and Ridley Scott's revisionist war drama Black Hawk Down, Josh Hartnett went decidedly low-key. Perhaps fed up of dodging explosives (and getting roasted by film critics), Hartnett tried his hand at romantic comedy with the rather iffy 40 Days And 40 Nights and cop caper Hollywood Homicide (only slightly less iffy). Now he's taking a shot at the romantic thriller in Wicker Park, Paul McGuigan's remake of classic French flick L'Appartement.
Is this a part you chased or were you always the first choice for Matthew?
This is something that they asked me to do a couple of years ago and I turned it down. Then they went on and created another cast with a certain other director [Joel Schumacher] and it wasn't anything I really wanted to be involved in. When they came back to me a second time I said, "I already turned this down. I don't want to do it." And then they sent me Paul's [McGuigan, director] tape of Gangster No.1 because he had recently signed on to do it, and I went and had a meeting with him and we got on really well. I also really loved Gangster No.1, I just thought it was a really well done film.
Did you refer to Vincent Cassel's performance in L'Appartement before making your own interpretation of the character?
I watched the original before we shot this version but I wouldn't relate my performance to anyone else's performance, if anything because imitation is boring to me. Finding the emotional reality is what's really important to me, and I think that comes from within. Once we started filming, I didn't watch it [L'Appartement] again.
This version of the story seems to suggest that true love can begin from manic obsession. Do you agree with that?
I think obsession and love are really quite similar, like two sides of the same coin. In one case it's requited and in the other case it's unrequited, so maybe that figures into how you look at it. But I think we all have obsessive tendencies in our love life, you know? If you don't, you should probably get out! [Laughs] In that case, I don't know if it can really be love, because love toys with your emotions. As Rose [Byrne, who plays Alex] says, "It makes you do some crazy things." But I don't think this movie says that true love can be borne out of an obsessive tendency, but just that sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.
Could you draw on your own experience of being in love?
Well I'm not like Matt. I tend to be a little too practical when it comes to love. In fact I'm a little bit more of a fatalist, you know? I believe in that old saying: "You hold something tighter with an open hand." You just have to let people fly away sometimes and do what they need to do. That's the best way in my opinion.
Do you, like your character, believe in love at first sight?
I don't know. I believe there's a spark at first sight that can be the beginning of love, but I don't believe in love at first sight.
You're working with Paul McGuigan again on Lucky Number Slevin...
Yes. It's a movie starring, well, myself - and Ben Kingsley is also playing a role in it. I'm sorry, Sir Ben Kingsley! We have yet to cast the rest of it but we're shooting it in New York and it's a gangster film that's fairytale-like where the two biggest mobs live on opposite sides of the street. They used to be one organisation but they had a falling out and now neither of the mob bosses leaves their respective strongholds. Then this mysterious young guy comes into their lives, who owes both of them a lot of money, and they try to use him to get the other one - and that's me. It's actually got this Kurosawian vibe to it. I love it. I think it's definitely something different and I'm just going to keep pushing in that direction.
