Ladder 49

The D

Sept. 21, 2004

By Kyra Kirkwood

It wasn't "Help!" or "Save me!" that brooding, versatile actor Joaquin Phoenix hollered the first time singeing flames got too close during training for his upcoming fireman epic "Ladder 49." No, those words weren't nearly professional enough. "Mayday!" he instead screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Yeah, I completely panicked," joked the blue-eyed Oscar nominee, chuckling good-naturedly as he described the rigorous, yet necessary, schooling he and the rest of the film's cast endured at a fire academy in Baltimore. Despite the initial fears, Phoenix knew he had to surmount them in order to shoot the film properly. "I wanted everything to be as real as possible. I knew that physically, it would be really demanding and tiring. Accuracy and authenticity were really important to me. It was the only way I was going to make this movie."

Phoenix, 29, plays Jack Morrison, a devoted Baltimore firefighter who reflects on his life after a roaring warehouse blaze leaves him trapped deep inside the inferno. Year by year, Morrison rewinds his memories, remembering everything from the first day he met his mentor Capt. Mike Kennedy (played by John Travolta), to the moment he first saw his newborn baby, from fights with his wife Linda about the dangers of his job to pranks played by the fraternity-like crew of the firehouse for the past 10 years.

The realism of the film and how it depicts firefighters' lives were top priorities for director Jay Russell ("My Dog Skip"). He noted that "Ladder 49" paid homage in a way to the families of the firefighters, "who will tell you their [families] are the real heroes." Phoenix relished that Jack Morrison wasn't a helmet-wearing Superman, but rather, a flawed, noble character mirroring reality. The payoff was meeting with firefighters across the country and hearing from the real Jack Morrisons out there.

"To go to these firehouses and have these men and women come up to usäguys shook my hand and looked in my eyes and genuinely said, "Thank you for making this movie.' No one has ever thanked me for making a movie. Maybe my agent, but that's it," said Phoenix. "I've never had that experience before in my life. And that's what made me feel it's really worth it. Everything that we did really means something to them. This has been probably the most fulfilling experience I think I've ever had in terms of my profession."

Travolta, a veteran actor everyone on the set looked up to, loved honoring those men and women who risk their lives daily to save strangers, despite the consequences to them and their families waiting on the sidelines.

"Let's, for them, get it right," he said. "They couldn't help but care and put their lives on the line. It's something beautiful."

The intensive training schedule helped bond the cast to each other and to the real Baltimore firefighters, who also served as "reality police," ensuring that the script and plot were plausible.

"They were so accommodating and so intent on helping us, as actors, portray what their life is like," said Billy Burke who plays firefighter Dennis Gauquin.

Like the others, Phoenix went on actual calls with a truck company after studying at the fire academy. In par with his trademark all-immersion research for his roles, Phoenix practically became firefighter Jack Morrison, despite a few mishaps in the beginning with the flames and some fear-of-sliding-down-the-fire-pole issues. In the end, he surmounted his phobias and did most of the perilous stunts himself.

"[The cast] probably got a little too involved at times," Russell said.

But Phoenix, who stars next year as Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line," denies any hazardous filming conditions.

"I never felt in danger," he said, stirring his coffee and flicking his dark hair off his forehead. "Compared to what we experienced in the field where everything was totally unpredictable, on set, it was nothing."

SIDEBAR

Some critics questioned director Jay Russell's choice to cast intense actor Joaquin Phoenix as an all-American type hero in "Ladder 49." But cast and crew believed in this Oscar-nominated actor's ability to throw himself into a role and make magic.

"There's a quality of vulnerability Joaquin always has," said co-star John Travolta. "[Casting him] was right in all its apparent wrongness."