August tracks the rise and fall of a cocky internet startup boss who watches his company implode during 2001’s dot-com meltdown. Set in Manhattan a few weeks before 9/11, the movie follows brash CEO Tom Sterling as he pitches venture capitalists on the mystique of his LandShark company.
Josh Hartnett ( 30 Days of Night, Lucky Number Slevin), who produced the movie, stars as a fast-talking master of B.S. who’s living the instant-millionaire dream until reality pops the bubble. August, which opens Friday in New York, also stars Naomie Harris, Rip Torn and David Bowie.
Wired.com chatted on the phone with Hartnett, who’s in New York recharging for a couple of weeks before moving to London to play the Tom Cruise role in a stage production of Rain Man, about the era of rock-star CEOs and dot-com flimflam.
Wired.com: This movie seems to encapsulate a whole generation of dot-com visionaries — or were they con artists? — who made and lost fortunes before the bubble burst in 2001. Did you model your character after people you observed at the time?
Josh Hartnett: I had a few people to draw on, but the role was so clearly written I didn’t have to do any kind of impersonation. I do remember being in New York around that time when these upstart Silicon Alley dot-com chiefs in their mid-to-late 20s really acted like rock stars. They were out all night at all the right places, dating the right girls, living the dream.
Wired.com: And throwing insanely expensive launch parties.
Hartnett: Yeah, definitely. So I remember that and styled myself and took on the attitude of these people I saw who were very sharp and aggressive.
Wired.com: It’s funny that in August (trailer embedded), it’s never made clear what the hell Tom Sterling’s company actually does.
Hartnett: That was a purposeful omission. What made this time period compelling for me is that it seemed like, from the stories I heard, the more obtuse your sales pitch was, the more likely people were to give you money. The less you said, the better. I love Tom’s speeches in the film because if you really break it down, he’s not saying much.
Wired.com: So here we are seven years later. The web is hot again and Hollywood is cooking up all kinds of internet ventures. Do you have anything in development for the web yourself?
Hartnett: I have no immediate plans, but there’s going to be an awful lot of changes going on in our business. I just wonder what the future for the two-hour film is.
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