Jim Caviezel's eyes got him 'Angel Eyes' role

Published: Friday, June 01, 2001

It was James Caviezel's breakout role in Terence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" that caught Jennifer Lopez's eye to cast him as the mysterious Catch Lambert in her movie "Angel Eyes."

"There was a tight close-up of his face," explained Lopez. "These incredible eyes just stared through me. It was such an intense gaze."

The filmmakers originally had eyes for Aaron Eckhart ("In the Company of the Men," "Erin Brockovich"), but he bowed out, unhappy with changes to the character after the script was rewritten.

Other actors were considered to replace him, namely Benjamin Bratt, Viggo Mortensen and Andy Garcia.

Lopez was having none of that.

"I said to Mark Canton (the producer), 'You've got to get the guy from 'The Thin Red Line' for the lead.' It's amazing what he can convey with his eyes," he said.

Lopez had convinced the filmmakers, but Caviezel wasn't so sure himself.

"I actually turned it down when they came to me," a soft-spoken Caviezel revealed.

"I was up for 'Pearl Harbor' at the time and I wanted to do that," he continued.

"So that film I didn't get, but I also had just signed on to do 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' So I turned 'Angel Eyes' down again. I didn't think that I could give the kind of performance that (director Luis Mandoki) wanted."

In "Angel Eyes," he plays a man who wanders around Chicago performing good deeds here and there.

He finds himself following police officer Sharon Pogue (Lopez). He saves her life.

The two form an unusual relationship, both struggling with demons they haven't faced yet. For him, it's the death of his wife and child.

"I met this friend of mine who lost his wife," Caviezel explained, "and I asked him if he could give me any insight on it.

"He said that basically he lives with a lot of guilt because, although he loved her, he put his work ahead of her and he regrets those moments in his life and they always come back to haunt him.

"He told me that through his own tears and I said, 'Well, that's where I gotta get to' and I didn't know if I could do it," he said.

Caviezel had to learn to play the trumpet for the role, something he had never done before. "The first day, I couldn't make one note and the second day I hit a high C. How bizarre," he explained.

"Then the instructor says, 'Hey, I think through scales you could learn how to play this song.' By the end of the shoot I could play — I started learning one song and they (discarded) that song and went to another one, 'Nature Boy,' and then for fun I always wanted to learn how to play 'Hello Dolly.'

"So I learned how to play 'Hello Dolly' and 'Nature Boy."'

Perhaps most daunting for Caviezel was getting romantic with Lopez.

"It was my first love scene. I was really nervous," he said.

"Jennifer picked up on that and said, 'Is this your first love scene?' And I said, 'God, am I that bad?' She goes, 'I always seem to get every guy's first love scene.'

"So I told her, 'Look, I'm going to keep the Calvins on and you can figure a way you want to shoot it, but I have a wife and there are certain things I'll do and not do."'

Next up for Caviezel? He goes on trial in the military courtroom drama "High Crimes," opposite Ashley Judd.