“˜Antitrust’ probes dark side of digital world

  METRO GOLDWYN MAYER In the film "Antitrust," opening
tomorrow in theaters nationwide, Ryan Phillippe
plays an ambitious computer genius whose brains get him into
trouble when he goes to work for Gary Winston (Tim
Robbins).

By Emilia Hwang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

On screen, actor Ryan Phillippe is an expert at carrying out
cruel intentions and living it up at Studio 54. Offscreen, the
26-year-old actor has mastered the art of changing diapers.

“I’ve been staying at home watching the baby,”
said Phillippe in a recent interview. While growing up,
Phillippe’s mother ran a day care center in the house, and
long before the arrival of his 15-month-old daughter Ava the actor
had already seen his share of diapers.

Phillippe (pronounced Fil-lih-pee) has also seen his fair share
of programming code in his latest film “Antitrust.” The
suspense thriller explores the cutthroat business of the computer
industry.

“I thought it was really timely,” Phillippe said.
“At the time we started making the movie “¦ there was
that whole technological boom, every front-page article was about
the latest merger.”

In the film, Phillippe is computer genius Milo Hoffman, plucked
from his own garage-based start-up to work for a
multi-billion-dollar software corporation. He is recruited by the
company head, Gary Winston (Tim Robbins), whose top secret project
is devised to control all digital communication technology and to
dominate the global economy.

Hoffman’s dream job does not last long, however, as he
soon finds himself in a terrifying world of surveillance and
intimidation.

“We all have privacy concerns that I think are definitely
realistic,” Phillippe said.

The movie explores the increasing ability of modern technology
to monitor individuals. Phillippe echoed the film’s
timeliness, referring to surveillance not only on the internet with
the use of tracking devices known as cookies, but also on city
blocks with the proliferation of surveillance cameras.

“It’s creepy to me,” Phillippe said.
“There’s a lot of people whose job, from morning to
night, they spend the entire time on camera.”

In the paranoid world of “Antitrust,”
Phillippe’s character becomes entangled in a mire of deceit
as even his loved ones come under suspicion.

“I liked the whole idea that he had no one to
trust,” Phillippe said. “I liked the fact that the
character was very much on his own.”

When he’s not looking over his shoulder for murderous
computer hackers, Phillippe finds confidence in his wife, Reese
Witherspoon.

“The advice that I get for the most part is from
Reese,” he said.

Though both Phillippe and Witherspoon (“Election,”
“Cruel Intentions”) are accustomed to the Hollywood
spotlight, the couple is able to keep their home life separate from
their profession.

“When she’s working on a movie I’ll run lines
with her before she goes to bed at night, but beyond that, (acting)
doesn’t have much of an effect on our personal lives,”
Phillippe said.

Though they are successful at keeping shoptalk out of their
home, the career couple still has to reconcile the difficulties of
traveling.

“We don’t want to be working in two different areas
at the same time,” Phillippe said.

Fortunately, while filming “Antitrust” in Toronto,
Witherspoon and Ava were able to visit Phillippe on the set.

“(Phillippe) is the most dedicated, nice, together young
guy. He really has his priorities in order,” said co-star
Rachael Leigh Cook. “He loves his family more than
anything.”

Before becoming a working actor and father, Phillippe had never
taken acting classes and went to a school that had no drama
program.

“My family is so far removed from this business, but for
whatever reason, I guess they believed in me,” he said.
“I just felt like (acting) was something I wanted to
do.”

FILM: “Antitrust” opens tomorrow in
theaters nationwide.