Nicky Katt: Low-Rent Warren Oates?
Actor Nicky Katt, who has a central role in The Way of the Gun as one of the story’s flinty bodyguards (along with Taye Diggs) and who visited town for the film’s benefit premiere last month, is hardly a newcomer to Austin. The actor spent time here during the Nineties while filming two of Richard Linklater’s films, Dazed and Confused and subUrbia (and the upcoming Waking Life). And now he has all the more reason to come to town: visiting his in-laws. Nicky Katt met his wife in Austin (something Katt shares in common with director Christopher McQuarrie, who also met his wife in Austin during the Austin Heart of Film Festival and Screenwriters Conference).
While working on Linklater’s films, says Katt, he “fell in love with the town” and learned his way around. “Later, I was visiting a friend of mine [the actor Steve Zahn, who lives in New Jersey]. I really didn’t know where I was going to live, and Steve suggested I go where I had the most fun. I instantly thought of Austin. So I came here, and that’s where I met my wife.”
Although Katt has worked in the business since the age of 13, with Eighties films like Gremlins and The ‘burbs on his résumé, it is really only recently that the actor has stepped into leading roles. Part of that may have to do with his tendency to opt for roles as the bad guy, roles that he generally finds more interesting and quirky. “Rick Linklater once called me the low-rent Warren Oates,” he says. “I’ve really tried to do this chameleon thing for the past five years. And I can’t complain. I’ve been working steadily, doing really interesting things.” Perhaps that’s why The Way of the Gun appealed to him. As he describes it, the movie focuses on “a small, close-knit group of scumbags. It was perfect for me.”
Katt hopes eventually to generate more of his own projects, like the moody psychological study Scotch and Milk, which he co-starred in with Dazed and Confused alumnus and first-time director Adam Goldberg. “I’m in a place where I can keep going after these studio films or I can try and generate my own little projects. I’m kind of taking a break now. The auditioning process can get really taxing,” he comments.
In a few months, Katt’s popularity with fans and casting agents will probably rise several notches. He’s one of the co-stars of Boston Public, one of Fox TV’s highly anticipated new fall series, created by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, The Practice). That visibility may well turn the handsome actor into a bona fide heartthrob, but remember girls, when you see him around town, he’s married.
This article appears in September 8 • 2000.