Arts & Entertainment

ON THE COVER

LEFT: In Failure To Launch,
Ace (Justin Bartha), Tripp
(Matthew McConaughey) and
Demo (Bradley Cooper) are
30-something bachelors

who've never been able to
leave the nest.

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

broken wrist really
turned out to be a lucky
break for Justin Bartha.
It happened 12 years ago, when
he was playing tennis at West
Bloomfield High School.
Bartha's injury forced him to
look around for new activities,
and he switched his attention
from sports to theater. The
attraction really wasn't the stage
so much as the opportunity to
keep up with friends and meet
girls.
The novice performer soon
realized that acting was winning
his heart, and he went on to pur-
sue his new passion nonstop in
New York and Hollywood, with
the high point arriving this year.
Besides having an important role
in the feature film Failure to
Launch, opening March 10 in
area theaters, he is starring in the
new NBC sitcom Teachers, which
debuts March 28.
In the midst of strenuous days
on the Teachers set, Bartha took
time to speak about his achieve-
ments and background with the
Jewish News.

A

New Roles

"I don't consider myself that
much of a [professional] suc-
cess," says Bartha, 27, whose
family belonged to Temple Israel,

where he had his bar mitzvah.
"What is positive is that my
achievements allow me to work
more. People are aware of me
and want to work with me.
"Every job that I do makes my
life seem like a dream life. I can't
imagine anything better. Every
day, I go to wonderful places and
work with talented people."
Bartha plays Ace in Failure to
Launch, a movie that immerses
him with the talents of Matthew
McConaughey as Tripp and
Sarah Jessica Parker as Paula.
Ace helps with a plan that
heightens the romance of the fic-
tional couple, a bachelor reluc-
tant to move away from the com-
fort of his childhood home and a
young woman secretly hired by
Tripp's parents to motivate inde-

Ace (Justin Bartha) and Kit (Zooey Deschanel) make an unlikely
match in Failure to Launch.

42 March 9 • 2006

iN

pendent living arrangements.
"The characters in this film
are really identifiable, and it's
just a good time says Bartha,
who has partied with the actors
after long working days. "Ace is
kind of the opposite of me. He's a
techno guy who's crafty, but he's
a little nerdy. I like to think of
myself as a really cool guy"
Bartha, whose diverse roles
have cast him as a psychological-
ly challenged person in Gigli and
a global positioning specialist in
National
Treasure,
says he
approaches
each role by
analyzing
the part and
building the
fictional per-
son from the
Justin Bartha in
ground up.
his 1996 West
Building
Bloomfield
a new char-
High School
graduation photo acter for
Teachers,
also star-
ring Sarah Alexander (Coupling)
and Deon Richmond (The Cosby
Show), came directly from his
Michigan background.
"I based the character on two
teachers I had in high school —
Rob Leider, who headed up the
theater program, and James
Corcoran, who was my English

West
Bloomfield's
Justin
Bartha goes
high profile
in two new
Hollywood
roles.

Bartha, center, made his
feature film debut as the

psychologically challenged
kidnap victim in 2003's Gigli,

co-starring Jennifer Lopez and
Ben Affleck.

learned he had the part in Gigli,
co-starring Ben Affleck and
Jennifer Lopez. The film didn't
fare well, but it brought critical
acclaim to Bartha.
The actor's other cinema cred-
its include Tag, Thought Crimes
instructor," says Bartha, who
and Carnival Sun — work he
graduated from West Bloomfield
found after his university project
High in 1996. "They both had
drew management agencies to
quite an influence on me because him. He wrote and directed the
they really cared about the kids.
short film Highs and Lows, which
"I made a new character by
premiered at the South by
taking their personality traits
Southwest Film Festival in 2003.
and mixing them with a little of
In Trust the Man, which pre-
Johnny Carson's style. Their
miered at the 2005 Toronto Film
assignments and ways of teach-
Festival, Bartha played opposite
ing very much mirror what I'm
Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup and
trying to do with this series. My
Maggie Gyllenhaal.
character is quietly attempting to
"Justin was and is extremely
make a difference while showing
creative and dedicated," recalls
some sarcastic elements."
Leider, now a curriculum spe-
• cialist for the school district. "He
Praised Performances
was able to do a myriad of roles
Bartha, whose family moved to
and could work on serious
Michigan when he was 8, gradu-
drama, such as Hamlet, and chil-
ated from New York University in dren's shows at the same time.
2000. Although he started college
"Justin was likeable, funny and
with an acting program; he
good-natured and could put
transferred to film school.
many emotions into his per-
After creating a show for uni-
formances. He would find things
versity television, he was hopeful from life to use in his characters
it would be picked up by MTV.
and make each moment on stage
On the day of that rejection, he
his own. I'm so happy that he