Actor Alex Pettyfer laughs while talking about cooking for his mother on Valentine&#8217;s Day. (Pioneer Press: C.J. Sinner)
Actor Alex Pettyfer laughs while talking about cooking for his mother on Valentine's Day. (Pioneer Press: C.J. Sinner)

I lied to actor Alex Pettyfer and he busted me on it.

Here's the thing: Most actors, especially actors in bad movies, do not ask the people interviewing them what they thought of the movies. For one thing, they don't care. For another, it puts everyone in a weird position, and the writer -- in this case, me -- knows any conversation that follows will be useless because it's not going to go in the story.

Anyway, I can use my review to say that the movie is terrible if I want to (find the review at But Pettyfer did ask me what I thought of "Endless Love," which opened Friday, and I was unsuccessful in my attempt to pretend I don't think it's garbage.

Here's the other thing: Pettyfer was a great sport about it. The actor, known for playing Channing Tatum's thong-clad protege in "Magic Mike," seemed genuinely interested in why I didn't care for his movie. And he was perfectly willing to move past the awkwardness to talk about other things, including his intolerance of gluten and his affection for romantic comedies.

"I love them: 'Bridget Jones,' 'Love, Actually,' all of the (director) Richard Curtis ones. I don't know why more guys don't love those films," Pettyfer said. "I think, really, they just won't admit they like them."

As the title suggests, there's big-time romance in "Endless Love," a remake of the '80s Brooke Shields tale of obsessive teenage love. According to the actor, the movie was always planned for a Valentine's Day release, which is why they removed some of the tragic elements of the Scott Spencer novel on which it is based and why there's a happy ending. Pettyfer plays recent high school graduate David -- something of a stretch for the 23-year-old.

"It was mostly about being open to being that age again and being in love," Pettyfer said. He was reluctant to reveal details about how to create the illusion of being younger, other than to say that when he's making a film, he goes into observation mode with everyone he meets.

"I will say that I find people get more closed as they get older," Pettyfer said, staring right at me to prove a point: "When you challenge a teenager on something, they will just stare back at you. They hold your gaze. But as you get older and more closed off, when someone stares at you, you close your eyes or look away."

Mostly, Pettyfer said acting involves concentrating and feeling free -- which are also the keys to his other passion, racing motorcycles. The actor would like to combine those two passions in a film, but he's aware of the pitfalls.

"If you think of Steve McQueen or Paul Newman -- they loved cars and they made racing movies, but can you name a racing movie that's really good?" asked Pettyfer, who said the possibilities I offered ("Bullitt," "The Great Race") don't count. His argument is that a great racing movie needs to be about the people first, rather than the races, in the same way "The Wrestler" was a great movie that was only incidentally about wrestling.

"There's a way to do it," said Pettyfer, who is struck by the similarities between racing bikes and acting in movies: "You become this other person. It's very freeing because you're in your own world and you can do anything."

In his own world, Pettyfer said romance is not a priority -- he planned to celebrate Valentine's Day this year by taking his mom to a movie. In fact, the actor -- who has been in long-term relationships with Dianna Agron and Elvis granddaughter Riley Keough -- claims he has always been single on Valentine's Day, so he has never had to plan a romantic extravaganza for the holiday.

Close observers of Pettyfer's love life might be skeptical of his single-on-the-holiday claims, since his breakup with Agron was reported in late February 2011 and the time between the start of his relationship with Keough (October 2011) and their engagement (April 2012) would also seem to include a Valentine's Day.

Long story short: It's quite possible that, when he claims he's always been single for Valentine's Day, Pettyfer is fibbing. Not that I'm in any position to object to that.
