Mark Ruffalo says “acting is like loving a beautiful woman who can’t love you back.” No wonder the rising star of independent film decided to ditch the pain and heartbreak for a stint behind the camera.

At the Sundance Film Festival with his directorial debut, Sympathy for Delicious, Ruffalo says he’s discovered a whole new love, with more tangible – not to mention more spiritual, and far more intellectual – rewards.

“As an actor, you’re not focused on the whole. But as a director, you have to see how every little piece works. It’s a much greater scope,” he says. “I don’t know how directing changed me as an actor, but I do know I (would like to) put acting aside for a while and focus on directing. It was something I immediately felt comfortable doing.”

Though Ruffalo appeared in Ang Lee’s Civil War drama Ride with the Devil alongside Tobey Maguire, it was his part opposite Laura Linney in Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me in 2000 that established him as a visible talent. Bigger parts and bigger movies followed, including Zodiac and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as well as the forthcoming Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ruffalo says he had no long-standing desire to direct a film before he turned his energies toward Sympathy for Delicious. The whole project actually came about as a result of his early days studying the thespian craft, and a friendship he developed with fellow talent, Christopher Thornton.

“Chris and I were in the same class with Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek .. . and he was considered one of the most promising talents of our class. He had it in him to be a great actor,” says Ruffalo. When Thornton’s dream of acting fame was cut down as a result of an accident that left him in a wheelchair, he and Ruffalo realized there was a shortage of good parts for people in chairs, and if there was a good role, it generally went to an able-bodied actor.

Sympathy for Delicious was their way of changing that. Penned by Thornton, the movie tells the story of a hot young DJ named Delicious who is paralyzed and unable to come to terms with the reality of his new life. In the hopes of finding the miracle cure, he enters the twilight world of faith healers and starts up a creative partnership with a band of suspect rockers – played masterfully in the movie by real-life rocker Juliette Lewis, first-time frontman Orlando Bloom, and oddball Canuck Dov Tiefenbach.

“We were fortunate to land (the cast) we did,” says Ruffalo, as he acknowledges the people sitting next to him on the leather couch, including Bloom, Tiefenbach, Lewis and, in a wheeled chair all his own, Thornton.
“It’s amazing to be directed by an actor,” says Bloom, who earned rave reviews from fellow cast members for his rocker chops.

Bloom says he relied on English rockers from the North, such as Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, for performance inspiration, but Ruffalo says the unique sounds in the film were inspired by Canada’s own instrumental oddballs, Do Make Say Think and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

“We wanted to keep it rough,” he says.

Lewis, who’s now established herself as a bona fide musical act nearly a decade after being the object of ridicule by the so-called serious music press, says she was impressed by everyone’s ability to switch gears and immerse themselves in new personae and new responsibilities.

“I’ve worked with actors-turned-director before,” she says. “(What made Ruffalo different was) he was so visual. You don’t often find a new director (who comes out of acting) with such a strong visual style. He was breaking all the rules, and I love that in cinema.”

The film is earning pretty good reviews on the Sundance theatre shuttle – easily the buzz hive for word-of-mouth here in Park City, but Ruffalo says the real reward of making the film was working with his friend Chris, and exploring a central idea.

“You get the healing you need, not the healing you want,” says Ruffalo. “That’s what really started this whole thing.”

Sympathy for Delicious is currently seeking distribution, but, given the buzz, chances are, it could sign a deal before the fest wraps Jan. 31.

I found this clip of “Sympathy For Delicious” on youtube and I though I’d share with you guys. I am already loving this movie since it’s not only directed by Mark but also puts together some other great actors that I love, like Orlando Bloom.

Let me know what you think! Soon we’ll have a forum where we’ll be able to discuss Mark’s movies and career.

The Lord’s ways are mysterious if not downright perverse in “Sympathy for Delicious,” an unusual tale of miracles and self-doubt that marks the feature-directing debut of Mark Ruffalo.

Although not aimed at the conventional religious audience (its profanity and occasional images of debauchery rule that out), it is straight-faced enough about its metaphor-ready premise that marketing to secular viewers could be a challenge.

The title refers to a turntable wizard nicknamed Delicious, who has lost use of his legs and found himself homeless, living in his car under a bridge and relying on the generosity of do-gooder priest Father Joe (Ruffalo). Played by screenwriter Christopher Thornton, the character is bitter and standoffish, eager to get off the streets, but only on his own terms.

After a failed visit to a faith-healing evangelical congregation, Delicious finds that he has the power to cure disease and disability. With the touch of his hands, he cures everything from blindness to gout — but he can’t heal himself.

Ruffalo gives voice to the film’s unironic point of view: Shocked but not disbelieving, he urges Delicious to join him on Skid Row and put his God-given gift to work. Curiously, the film never wonders whether Delicious, a worldly denizen of the Los Angeles music scene, might be an unbeliever; the only crisis he faces is whether to give of himself freely or exploit his new talent for money and fame.

After teaming briefly with Joe and becoming understandably overwhelmed with the attention he draws, Delicious allows himself to be turned into a sideshow. He joins a band whose narcissistic frontman (played with vigorous pomposity by Orlando Bloom) sees the laying-of-hands as a fame-ensuring gimmick and quickly loses himself in the rock life.

The band and its milieu are drawn in such broad strokes, as an amalgam of rock-star clichés, that “Sympathy” has a hard time portraying the moral crisis Delicious faces in a realistic way. The caricatures are particularly jarring given the strong realist notes hit by other production elements, like Chris Norr’s artful cinematography.

Among the better-known filmmakers is actor Mark Ruffalo, who is making a directing debut with Sympathy for Delicious, about a paralyzed man drawn into the world of faith healing.

The Sundance Institute has today unveiled the lineup of films in competition for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (Jan. 21-31). The U.S. Dramatic Competition’s 16 films include: Derek Cianfrance’s romantic drama Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams; HIMYM star Josh Radnor directing and starring in happythankyoumoreplease; Kevin Tyler Asch’s Holy Rollers starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha; James Franco starring in Allen Ginsberg story Howl; Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut feature Sympathy for Delicious; and Jake Scott (Ridley’s son) directing James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart in Welcome to the Rileys.

You can get more information at Sundance’s Official Website by clicking here.

Added 30 more pictures of “Delicious” set, taken today:

Enjoy!

Gallery Links
• Sympathy for Delicious (2009) – On Set pictures