Pregnant

Ryan Phillippe is in the news this week for two reasons. First, for his starring role in The Lincoln Lawyer. Second, for the claims of actress/former girlfriend — Alexais Knapp — that Ryan is the father of her baby, due in June.

He’s “gladly” agreed to take a blood test for the latter. I spoke with Ryan last week before the baby news came out and he talked about his kids (with ex-wife Reese Witherspoon) constantly during our interview. So if he does turn out to be the baby daddy, I’m sure he will step up and be a darn good one.

But back to Lincoln Lawyer. Ryan was one of 200-odd actors who auditioned for the role of Louis Roulet in the new crime thriller, adapted from the novel written  by Michael Connelly ‘I had to fight for this. I had to audition for this, which is not always the case, at this point in my career. But, this character’s function to the movie is pretty integral, so if it didn’t work, that may have meant that the film itself didn’t work. I think it was important for the filmmakers to see what an actor might do with it.  I think that makes perfect sense. As I move into directing, there are certain parts where you need to see what someone is going to do with it.”

And he found inspiration in accused murder Joran van der Sloop’s TV interviews for his tricky and entitled character.

“There was something about van der Sloop’s arrogance that related to Louis,” Phillippe told me  at the press junket.” Beyond that it was just me trying to F with Matthew. .We intentionally didn’t rehearse very much, so that it would be fresh and we would be able to catch each other off guard. I think we had pretty good dude chemistry together.”

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