Harry Connick Jr Interview, PS I Love You

I had the pleasure of sitting down with actor, musician, and New Orleans native, Harry Connick, Jr. at the recent Los Angeles press day to talk about his new film, the romantic comedy “P.S. I Love You.” Connick, who is known for his ability to capture the many moods of New Orleans through his music, turns in yet another memorable big screen performance starring opposite Hilary Swank.

Swank plays the central role of Holly Kennedy, a young woman who seems to have it all until life deals her an unexpected hand. Connick plays Daniel, the new bartender at Holly’s mom, Patricia’s (Kathy Bates) pub, who has an ability to say exactly what’s on his mind – often at inappropriate moments. He forms an instant attraction to Holly at, of all places, her husband Gerry’s (Gerard Butler) wake.

Harry Connick, Jr. is among the world’s most successful and multi-talented artists. Connick’s love of music and performing dates back to his childhood in New Orleans, where he studied piano with such luminaries as James Booker and Ellis Marsalis. He first performed publicly at age five, appeared on his first jazz recording at age ten, and released his self-titled major label debut for Columbia Records at 19, only a year after his high school graduation and his move to New York City. In the two decades since, he has released more than 20 albums totaling more than $25 million in sales and has received numerous honors, including three Grammy Awards.

Connick segued to films in 1989 when director Rob Reiner asked him to perform a number of standards for the romantic comedy smash “When Harry Met Sally.” The film’s soundtrack became Connick’s first multi-platinum album and also brought him his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance. The following year, he made his onscreen debut in the World War II drama “Memphis Belle.” His film acting credits also include Jodie Foster’s “Little Man Tate”; Jon Amiel’s “Copycat”; “Independence Day,” with Will Smith; “Hope Floats,” opposite Sandra Bullock; John McTiernan’s “Basic”; “Mickey,” written by John Grisham; and William Friedkin’s “Bug.” He has also contributed his talents to the soundtracks for such films as “The Godfather: Part III,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “The Mask,” and “One Fine Day” and provided the voice for one of the characters in “The Iron Giant.”

On the small screen, Connick starred in the ABC presentation of the musical “South Pacific” and played the recurring role of Grace’s love interest, Dr. Leo Markus, on the hit NBC series “Will & Grace.” In addition, he won an Emmy Award for the PBS Great Performances concert special “Swingin’ Out Live.” He also starred in two holiday specials, “When My Heart Finds Christmas” and “Harry for the Holidays,” both built around his best-selling holiday albums.

In 2006, Connick made his Broadway acting debut in the Tony Award-winning revival of “The Pajama Game,” earning nominations for Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Musical. He had earlier received a Tony nomination for Best Original Score for the 2001 musical “Thou Shalt Not.” In 1990, he played to sold-out audiences in “An Evening with Harry Connick, Jr. and His Orchestra – Live on Broadway” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

Connick was recently nominated for 2007 Grammy Awards for his song "Ash Wednesday," from Chanson Du Vieux Carré, in two categories:  Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Arrangement. His new single, “All These People” was inspired by the suffering he witnessed first hand after Hurricane Katrina. All proceeds from the sale of the song, written and composed by Connick and performed by the acclaimed singer/pianist in duet with gospel singer Kim Burrell, will benefit New Orleans Habitat Musicians' Village.

Harry Connick, Jr. is a fabulous guy and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us about his new movie, “P.S. I Love You” and his personal commitment to the ongoing recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans:

Q: Was there ever any thought of you singing?

HARRY CONNICK: I don’t think so. The character was kind of written and done. It was nice that I didn’t kind of have to do it. It’s a different head trip, singing. Then you have to think well, can this guy really sing or is he kind of a garage band kind of singing how he feels with no technique. I didn’t have to worry about any of that.

Q: You’ve got some great lines and you do have a pretty wild delivery. How did you find the pacing for this? It’s jaw dropping some of the things that come out of your character’s mouth.

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I know. I know a couple of people like that. I’m sure I’m one of them at times. It’s fascinating. The whole Asperger Syndrome is really something that I didn’t know a lot about, but I got to know it a little bit better when I found out I was doing this role. It’s interesting. Sometimes I find myself doing things like my wife will say things to me and I’ll say something completely unrelated in response to what she just said. She says ‘Are you even listening to what I said?’ I think that is the constant with a guy like the character I played. He just doesn’t think about the consequences of what he is saying. When it’s funny, it’s funny. But when it’s not, it can be pretty offensive. I enjoyed playing that. It’s different than anything I’d done before.

Q: Do you consider yourself a romantic person?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: In my personal life?

Q: Yes.

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Yeah. I do.

Q: In notes, or gifts or just the way you ...?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I know how nice it is to be told “I love you” and to not hear it as a response all the time makes me feel really good. I love my wife. She would be the first and only recipient of any romanticism I might have. She seems to like that. It’s pretty rare to find someone you really, really love and that you want to spend the rest of your life with and all that stuff that goes along with being married. I’m one of those lucky people and I think she feels that way too. So the romantic stuff is easy just because you want them to be happy.

Q: Given that you follow parallel careers, what draws you to a movie role?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: What I liked about this movie is that I kept waiting for it to end with me and Hilary together. And it didn’t happen. So I said OK, I’m in. Had I ended up with Hilary, I probably would have done it anyway because it’s with Hilary. [Laughter] I wanted to work with her. But the fact that it didn’t up like that was fantastic to me. In fact, there was a little bit of talk ... I heard some rumors that after we shot it, they were considering re-shooting the ending. I said “Oh man, I hope they don’t do that.” I would definitely have an opinion about that. I thought it was an atypical ending and an interesting character and things like that.

Q: What drew you to something like “Copycat” which caused a lot of comment at the time?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Well, I was surprised I got that role, to be honest with you. I didn’t audition for it and I had very little experience going into it. I did two movies before that and they were both very small parts. I met with the director, Jon Amiel, before we did it. And he said “What do you think about serial killers?” Now he is from England and I think my accent probably sounded different to him than some of the other people he had talked to. He wanted a guy with a real strong Southern accent. He said “What do you think about serial killers?” I told him my dad was a D.A. in New Orleans and I said, “Well, you know, we used to hear stories.” I just had a conversation with the guy and the next thing you know he said, “I’d like you to play this role.” I was thinking what did I possibly do to convince this guy that I could play this part? I knew I could do it. I had some interesting ideas about it. But I just knew I wasn’t going to get it. I just look at things that look interesting to me.

Q: Are you still doing a lot of work to help New Orleans?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Yeah, a lot. I have worked with Habitat for Humanity for awhile. And we have a project called Musicians’ Village down there which is really kind of turned into this great, thriving community and there’s at least 40 families living there now. Eventually there will probably be 80. There’s also a big center for music we’re building called the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music which is very exciting because traditional music in New Orleans, along with other types, was on the brink of disappearing anyway. When the hurricane came along, it literally chased everybody out of town. So this is a formal place. See, I used to go to Bourbon Street when I was a kid and there would be club after club after club of people who were around when the music started. I mean these are legendary, maybe not so well know, but really legendary musicians. All of us could just go bounce from one club to the next and play with these people from the time we were 5 years old. Well it’s all gone now. So the musicians are still there, many of whom are living in the Musicians’ Village. But now there is a place, when they go to this center, they are going to be able to teach there and show these young kids.... You kind of have to have a formal sort of meeting place to do that now. So it’s exciting. I am very happy with it.

Q: Have you shown “The Iron Giant” to your children?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Yeah, they’ve seen it. I haven’t shown it to them but they’ve seen it. They’ve watched it. I think we have the DVD. I wasn’t there with them when they saw it. But they’ve seen it.

Q: It’s a film that’s meaningful to a lot of people. What was the experience like for you?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: It was great. I saw Brad Bird in a restaurant in London. I was over there doing some press and I didn’t kind of recognize him. It was a little bit dark. He passed me by and said “Hey Harry.” Since then he has done “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” And I’m thinking this guy is an American treasure. What a brilliant, brilliant man he is. If I ever had the chance to work with him again, I’d crawl and do whatever it took just because ... and I’d love to do something with him in a musical context at some point. “The Iron Giant” is just a great movie. I was just talking about it in the other room. I hear about it a couple of times a week. People tell me about that movie.

Q: Could you talk more about Asperger’s syndrome?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I have heard a little bit about it. I was watching one of these shows on TV and Angie Dickinson was talking about her daughter who apparently committed suicide and had this syndrome. I can’t tell you scientifically much about it and I am certainly not the one to ask about the proper definition of it, but just from the experiences I read about it, it must be debilitating. Have you seen this book called “Look Me in the Eye?” What’s the guy’s name? (Note: the book’s author is John Elder Robinson) There is a little boy on the cover like from the ‘50s and he’s looking right into the camera. It is his story of having this syndrome. Basically, it’s about this kid who was not able to look his parents in the eye. He would be playing in a sandbox in kindergarten and a little girl would say “I have a red doll.” And he’d say “I like chocolate chip ice cream.” He doesn’t realize how to communicate. They just don’t pick up on social cues and how things should normally go. It’s a fascinating syndrome. I’ve read more about it since I finished doing the movie than while I was doing it.

Q: How was your “Pajama Game” experience and how many months did you do it?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I did it for probably six months in total. It was unbelievable. It was great. This is coming from somebody who tried to get out of it about two weeks before rehearsals started. I saw the movie and I said “I can’t do this.’ I can’t play this square guy eight times a week. It is exactly the opposite of what I want to do. I don’t want to say the same lines every night. I don’t want to sing the same songs every night. I called my manager and said you’ve got to get me out of this. I can’t do it. It goes against everything I am as a jazz musician which is completely spontaneous and shows change every night. When I actually started rehearsing, I asked a good buddy of mine, Glenn Close, I said “How do you do that eight times a week?” She said “You’ll see.” She goes, “Within the confines of and the restrictions of the stage, you will find that there’s a lot of room to move around.” And it was unbelievable. There wasn’t one show where I said “Oh man, I got to do this again.” I loved it. And I can’t wait to do it again.

Q: Are there any other musicals on your wish list?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: There are musicals out there, but putting all that stuff together is a nightmare. You can’t imagine. We all have our favorite musicals and you say “I’d like to do this particular musical.” Then you’ve got to go and put it together and get the rights. It’s really a complex process. So there’s nothing specifically on my list but I am definitely going to do it again.

Q: Is there any musical you think should be made into a film?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I think there’s a lot of them. But you have to understand, I don’t know I’m necessarily the first person that they’re going to come to, to do it. I know I would like to have that experience. But obviously Tim Burton thought Johnny Depp would be the guy to play that. And that’s great. Just like Rob Marshall wanted Richard Gere to play the guy in “Chicago.” I applaud those guys and I think it’s great. Like Gerry Butler, he’s a singer and does all that stuff too. So there’s a lot of people out there and a lot of people have ideas about what they want. And I don’t know if they want me per se. But it’s something I’d like to do. I think it’s going to depend on me kind of getting the project started myself as opposed to waiting for it.

Q: Even though you didn’t perform for this movie, there is a lot of musical talent on this set. Do you relate to actor and musicians in different ways?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Not really. We didn’t really talk about it much. There was a piano on the set one day and I just felt like playing music because I hadn’t played in awhile. I went and played. And everyone gathered around. It was one of those kind of corny moments. I was kind of playing by myself, then you look up and there’s people standing around. That was fun. I’ve known Nellie (McKay) for awhile. We didn’t talk much about it. And I haven’t even talked to Gerry about it too much. We were joking about it in an interview before. But no, not really, not too much.

Q: Have you been asked to contribute a large amount of your music to soundtracks for movies?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Not really. I have done songs here and there. But I have never scored a film. That is something I would like to do at some point but again...

Q: What about “When Harry Met Sally?”

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I sang a couple of songs in the movie. To make a long story short, there were 15 different artists who were used in the movie who couldn’t be, for whatever reason, a part of the soundtrack album. So I ended up with the whole CD. So that’s what kind of launched my career because I probably would’ve had two or three of those songs, but Ella and Frank and Ray Charles didn’t want to be on the record for some kind of contractual reasons. So they said “Harry, do you want to sing this song? Do you want to sing this song?” Before I knew it, I had the whole ...

Q: It was a great sound track.

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Well it was good for me.

Q: I’m surprised they didn’t ask you to sing a love song on this soundtrack. Was it ever discussed?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I never heard about it. Never did.

Q: Since you wrapped this film, have you shot anything else? Do you have anything coming up or has the writers strike affected you?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: It really hasn’t affected me. I am doing a movie in January called “Chilled in Miami” with Renee Zellwegger and that will take us through the end of March.

Q: Can you talk a little about the character you play?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Yeah, I play… [laughs] It’s kind of like “The Pajama Game” in reverse. I play the union head at this dairy factory in Minnesota and some high, powerful woman -- that’s Rene — she comes from this big agency who is trying to mechanize the factory and shut it down and get rid of all the people there. Arguments ensue and then we fall in love.

Q: So it’s a romantic comedy?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Yeah. It better be.

[Laughter]

Q: Are you going to tour again anytime soon?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Well we just came back from Europe about a week ago. And then right after I do that movie with Renee, we go to Asia. We’ll be all over Asia.

Q: Do you still think of yourself as a singer who acts?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: I really don’t think of it like that. People ask me that all the time. What comes first? To answer your question, I guess that’s what I am, but I don’t think of it like that. When I’m on a set doing a movie, I’m not thinking about music. And when I’m on stage, I’m not thinking about acting. I just like to do them both, but I started with music. That’s sort of what brought me to the table.

Q: For someone who doesn’t know much about the great music of New Orleans, who should they go listen to?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Oh just go down there and visit. There is a paper called Gambit. It’s kind of a weekly paper. It’s unbelievable the types of music that you’ll hear down there. It’s incredible. They have traditional jazz and R & B and people like the Neville Brothers and the Meters, and young and old. There’s still a tremendous amount of music down there. Just go and the city needs that really I think more than anything else.

Q: Is Tipertina’s still happening?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Uh huh, it’s still there.

Q: What percentage is New Orleans back?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: You mean population-wise?

Q: Is the city coming back?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: It’s slow, man. They have probably two-thirds of the people who haven’t come back to live there. The infrastructure is really suffering because there’s no tax base there now. If you go downtown, if you went and stayed at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans and you kind of hung around that area, you’d say “What’s the problem?” because most of that area is fine. But it’s the other 80% of the city where people live that was sitting underwater for six weeks. So it still has a long, long way to go.

Q: What became of Preservation Hall?

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Preservation Hall? That’s still there. That’s a great one. It’s one of the great ones. I know I’m getting old because now some of the guys in my band play at Preservation Hall. [Laughs] When I was a kid, it was all the old guys. And now when my guys aren’t working with me, they’re at Preservation Hall. [Laughs] So man, I need to be like Menudo and cut everybody loose when they’re 20!

Q: Thank you.

HARRY CONNICK, JR.: Nice to see you. Thanks a lot.

“P.S. I Love You” opens in theaters on December 21st.