The Marvel actor remembers the days when he felt like quitting after his brother Scott Ruffalo was killed in 2008 and what made him return to acting again.
- Jan 12, 2024
AceShowbiz - Mark Ruffalo wanted to quit acting after his brother was murdered. The "Poor Things" star felt tired of his profession after fulfilling his goals and realising it was becoming increasingly business-driven so was reassessing what he wanted to do around the time Scott Ruffalo was killed in 2008 and turned his attention to directing "Sympathy for Delicious" instead.
"You have your dreams, and then those start to become realised, but it's not what you thought it was going to be, and at some point it gets away from you, and the next thing you realise is it's all about the business and someone else's idea of your career that doesn't have much to do with what your idea was, and then you lose what your idea was of what your career was going to be," he told The Hollywood Reporter's Actors Roundtable.
"I was already feeling that way, and then my brother passed away just before I was going to direct a film that I'd been working on for a long time, and during the course of doing that, I was like, 'I don't know if I want to go back to acting. I kind of feel much more comfortable here [directing].' "
But the 56-year-old actor was tempted back to acting with the role of Paul Hatfield in 2010's "The Kids Are All Right" - though he was still determined it would be his "last" job, only to find the freedom that attitude brought made him find enjoyment again.
He said, "And then I got a great part, the kind of part that I wanted to do, and I was like, “This is going to be my last acting gig." And it was The Kids Are All Right. [Heading in to the film], I was just like, 'I'm going to do whatever I want. There's no rules anymore. I don't have to be anybody for anybody else.' "
"And so I just did what I wanted with it, and it was a really freeing feeling... Then I went to Sundance. The movie I directed premiered, and then two days later The Kids Are All Right premiered, and I was sitting in that audience and I was like, 'This experience is so honest. This movie's about something so important.' "
"I heard everyone laughing, whether they were straight or gay or whatever, whatever their religion was, their background, everyone was all laughing at the same thing. And I was like, 'That's what I want to do. That's why I came here.' "
But Mark admitted his decision to stick with acting was always swayed by the lack of further directing opportunities that came along. He added, "And then no one was like, 'Hey, do you want to direct another movie? Do you want a five-picture deal as a director?' So I found my way."
