Paulo Costanzo talks pot, teen movies and the San Francisco nightlife
Image: Paulo Costanzo talks pot, teen movies and the San Francisco nightlife:Movie still courtesy Miramax FilmsPaulo Costanzo, left, plays Hartnett?s scheming roommate, who is determined to see Hartnett?s chastity vow broken. :
March 5, 2002
Paulo Costanzo, a 23-year-old Toronto native and co-star of the new “no sex” comedy “40 Days and 40 Nights,” doesn?t want to smoke weed with you.
“It gets uncomfortable when people come up to me and want to smoke weed and philosophize,” Costanzo said. “I don?t even smoke weed.”
The question is almost an everyday occurrence for Costanzo, who played an intellectual stoner in the movie “Road Trip.” He is a hero to many college students at Ithaca College, where the movie was based.
Like many actors before him, he strives to try different roles to challenge his assumed persona. After “Road Trip,” Costanzo played a homosexual frat guy in the movie “Gypsy 83” and a band manager in “Josie and the Pussycats.” In his new movie, he plays roommate to Josh Hartnett, who is trying to remain celibate for 40 days and nights.
“I play the antagonist who is trying to make Josh?s character give in to his impulses,” Costanzo said.
Costanzo, who has so far starred in teen movies, said the genre is dying down.
“This movie is not a teen movie, but rather a genre-breaker. It has heart,” he said.
The film is set in San Francisco and much of it was shot on location. While in the city, Costanzo and the film?s writer, Rob Perez, would occasionally take in the nightlife.
“We got abandoned by our cab one night and we ended up going into this red club. When we got inside everyone was having sex,” he said.
Perfectly fitting for a movie about celibacy.
Costanzo has been acting since high school. Prior to “Road Trip,” Costanzo was a TV movie actor, appearing in “The Don?s Analyst,” “Rescuers: Stories of Courage” and “My Date with the President?s Daughter.” He ventured into TV series work with the Canadian shows “Ready or Not” and “Psi Factor.” He was also a regular on the Nickelodeon show “Animorphs.”
Costanzo?s next film, “Scorched,” has him starring with Hollywood heavyweights Woody Harrelson, John Cleese, Alicia Silverstone and Rachel Leigh Cook. He plays a bank employee trying to rob his employer. This could be the role that separates him even further from his humble teen genre roots and puts an end to free marijuana offers.
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