Critics didn't exactly fall in love with last month's romantic comedy Leap Year, and neither did its co-star, Matthew Goode. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Goode was refreshingly blunt, describing the movie as "turgid" and proclaiming that "I just know that there are a lot of people who will say it is the worst film of 2010." (There go the DVD sales.) So, if Goode didn't like the movie, why did he do it? To avoid something else he despises: traveling.
That was the main reason I took it — so that I could come home at the weekends. It wasn't because of the script, trust me. I was told it was going to be like The Quiet Man with a Vaughan Williams soundtrack, but in the end it turned out to have pop music all over it. A bit like Chasing Liberty again. Do I feel I let myself down? No. Was it a bad job? Yes, it was. But, you know, I had a nice time and I got paid.
Goode's hatred of travel could change, as the 6'2" actor admitted he'd recently auditioned for the role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Goode was not confident about his ability to land the role. "Look at the size of me for Christ's sake!" the actor lamented.
While Goode admitted the Hobbit would be "impossible to refuse" if he was cast, it wouldn't be the first time Goode has felt wrong for a part. Goode recently told Metro UK that he "shouldn't have been cast" in last year's comic book adaptation of Watchmen.
There were many reasons I shouldn't have been cast in that film and I think people were quite pissed off. I'm lucky I don't own a computer.
But trust me, the negative feedback was relayed quite well by friends of mine: "Oh my God, everyone hates you, man. It's awesome." When I got there to start filming, all the artwork still had Jude Law's face on it so I figured he was meant to be doing this but was too expensive. That was good for me.
Goode can be seen next in Cemetery Junction, an insurance comedy from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, where Goode will play Ralph Fiennes' prospective son-in-law. "Ralph's character is a complete a**hole and I'm an a**hole in training," Goode said of the role.
Posted 02.26.10 by Ryan Even though he's been around a while, we picked Leap Year's Matthew Goode as a likely 2010 breakout star because a.) he and co-star Amy Adams make a ridiculously cute couple, and b.) because Hollywood needs a new, good-looking British rom-com option now that Hugh Grant is heading out to pasture. Does the movie help give Goode a chance to finally become a household name?
"This is a full-bore, PG-rated, sweet rom-com. It sticks to the track, makes all the scheduled stops and bears us triumphantly to the station. And it is populated by colorful characters, but then, when was the last time you saw a boring Irishman in a movie?"
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"The director, Anand Tucker (Shopgirl), leaves things relatively uncluttered, which I appreciated. At the same time, I could have put that less generously — as in, not very much surprising happens."
— Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"Leap Year is like most relationships: You keep waiting for it to get better, until you finally accept that it won't."
— Aaron Cutler, Slant Magazine
"...another rom-com without much rom or com."
— Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
"Free from sex or naughty language, Leap Year appears to have been designed for that huge mother-daughter matinee market, ahem. Trust me: Take mom to It's Complicated instead."
— Brian Miller, Chicago Tribune
Posted 01.07.10 by reelz