Chris Eigeman (Lionel Herkabe) Interview

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<img src="http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/images/herkabe.jpg" title="Chris Eigeman (Lionel Herkabe)" alt="Chris Eigeman (Lionel Herkabe)" align="top" height="118" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="350" />

Lionel Herkabe played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001177/" title="IMDB" target="_blank">Chris Eigeman</a> was a love to hate character in Malcolm in the Middle with a recurring role as Malcolm's teacher through the series. First appearing in <a href="http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/episodes/details.php?image_id=50" title="Emancipation Episode Guide">Emancipation</a> in 2001.

<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001177/" title="IMDB" target="_blank">Chris Eigeman</a> recently starred in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462579/" title="IMDB" target="_blank">The Treatment.</a>

<blockquote><strong>Deserves props for: </strong>Being a regular for cult filmmakers Whit Stillman and Noah Baumbach, including a role in the latter’s brilliant <em>Kicking and Screaming</em>. He’s also had lengthy stints on <em>Malcolm in the Middle</em> and <em>Gilmore Girls</em>.
<strong>You’ve often been cast as the articulate sarcastic type. Was <strong><em>The Treatment</em></strong> a conscious attempt to move away from that?</strong>“I think so. It’s a hard question to answer because those kinds of roles were something I became known for, which is great. It’s great when anyone pays attention. But I was looking forward to playing somebody who actually had trouble expressing himself. Jake Singer’s unable to talk about his own feelings unless he’s speaking of them in the third person.”

<strong>Was that a big draw to the film?</strong>

“That, and working with actors I’ve long admired. Certainly Ian Holm. Of course that had sort of an ironic side to it. Most of my scenes I have my back to him. [Holm plays his therapist.] It reminded me of an O. Henry ending. ‘Yes, you’ll be able to work with Ian Holm, but you’ll never be able to look at him.’”

<strong>I’ve always found <strong><em>Kicking and Screaming</em></strong> to be, while hilarious, a very sad movie, especially once you graduate college.</strong>

“It has incredibly sad moments. When my character is sitting around singing the titles of books, I think he’s pretty much hit his bottom. The movie really shouldn’t be on the pamphlet for movies you see when you get out of college. You ought to just watch <em>Raiders of the Lost Ark</em>.”

<strong>Do you get noticed a lot by fans of the Whit Stillman and Noah Baumbach movies?</strong>

“Yeah, but I learned really early on in my career to not make a big deal out of it. After I did my first movie, <em>Metropolitan</em>, my wife and I went out to a really nice restaurant and I noticed a lot of people were looking at me. My wife turned to me and said, ‘Do you think these people are looking at you?’ And I said, ‘Well, my first movie just came out.’ And she said, ‘No, Sidney Poitier’s sitting at the table behind us.’ So from that moment on, as soon as I think anyone’s recognized me, I just assume Sidney Poitier’s standing behind me.”</blockquote>
Source: <a href="http://philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=14749" title="PhiladelphiaWeekly.com" target="_blank">PhiladelphiaWeekly.com</a>
 
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