david arquette appreciation thread

[casekonly]

gotta give it up, he's a former writer and drug user.

 

 

 

David Arquette: Friend indeed

By LOUIS B. HOBSON

Calgary Sun

HOLLYWOOD -- David Arquette is glad he got a little help from his Friends.

 

Three years ago, Arquette was getting high -- and not just on life. He says he prefers not to glamorize drugs by naming his former substances of choice, but admits they were very much a part of his life.

 

Then Arquette was cast as Officer Dewey in Scream.

 

One of his costars was Courteney Cox, who plays Monica on Friends.

 

"We realized pretty quickly that we were falling for each other, but my addictions made it difficult for us to have a proper, lasting relationship.

 

"I desperately wanted a serious relationship, but that's impossible when you're as messed up as I was," recalls Arquette.

 

The couple parted reluctantly and amicably.

 

Fortunately, Scream was a mega hit and the following year, they found themselves playing lovers on camera in Scream 2.

 

"We immediately reconnected, but because I was at a big crossroads in my life, we never committed."

 

What surprised Arquette was that Cox did not give up on him. This was her first serious relationship since her break-up five years earlier from Michael Keaton.

 

"Courteney was there for me like no other woman I'd ever been with.

 

"She didn't give up on me just because I'd given up on myself. I was actually shocked that when the smoke finally cleared, she was still there."

 

Arquette, 28, is the youngest sibling in the Arquette acting dynasty, which includes Rosanna, Patricia and Alexis Arquette.

 

Their grandfather Cliff Arquette was a TV star in the 1950s and their father Lewis Arquette played J.D. Pickett on the Waltons.

 

"It wasn't an easy life. There were often long periods between my father's jobs. We'd often run out of food and get IOU's at Christmas.

 

"The reason we Arquettes can play trailer trash so well is that we learned it first hand."

 

When he was a teenager, Arquette's family moved into a small apartment just off Hollywood Blvd.

 

"It was in the seediest area of Hollywood. I got to know the addicts, runaways, hustlers and prostitutes better than I did my own brother and sisters.

 

"I was a real troublemaker. I was a graffiti artist. I snuck around at night painting buses and signed myself Somer Kids Gone Bad."

 

At his family's insistence, Arquette began acting and immediately got roles in the TV series The Outsiders and Parenthood and graduated to such feature films as Wild Bill, Airheads and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

His flirtation with drugs escalated in proportion to his career opportunities.

 

"I call those my free-fall years. People got really frightened for me. Family members tried to intervene, but I wouldn't let them.

 

"My poor mom didn't know what was going on and I didn't, either. I was so messed up. All I know is that I didn't want to deal with it."

 

Finally, he got a dose of the reality he'd been trying so desperately to escape.

 

"My mom died from cancer. Losing her was the hardest thing I've ever had to cope with. Without Courteney, I know I couldn't have coped.

 

With Cox's encouragement and support, Arquette took counselling and eventually went into rehab.

 

"She didn't make it a condition of our friendship, but I knew if I wanted to stay with Courteney, I had to clean up my act."

 

Arquette says that once he was in therapy, he and Cox talked about their future together.

 

"I got therapy. We got engaged and then we started going to therapy together.

 

"We still go on a regular basis. It's essential.

 

"We know there are going to be rough times ahead, so we want to be prepared to deal with them."

 

Arquette proposed to Cox at her parents' home in Florida.

 

Early in the evening, he confided to her father that he was going to ask Courteney to marry him.

 

"Her dad gave me his blessing. It was so cool. That night, I lit off all these fireworks on the beach and asked her to marry me.

 

"She was really excited and happy that she didn't have to prod me into proposing.

 

"I did it all on my own."

 

Arquette and Cox are teaming up for Scream 3, which is scheduled to begin filming in July.

 

Before that, they will produce and star in a romantic comedy called The Shrink Is In, in which she will play his therapist.

 

On Friday, Arquette stars as Drew Barrymore's brother in the comedy Never Been Kissed.

 

It's a film about what people will do to be popular in high school.

 

"I was a geek in high school and I'm still a geek. I've never learned how to dress properly, so I always look geeky.

 

"The irony that you only discover once you're out of school is that the geeks in school who read books, go to theatre, dance and concerts turn out to be the cool adults.

 

"The cool people in school usually end up being losers in their adult life.

 

"They're as vacuous as they were in school.

 

"If I hadn't discovered drama class in high school, I would have had nothing to fall back on as an adult.

 

"I don't have any other skills, but I'm going to start learning."

 

Arquette won't reveal the wedding date, but he's realistic enough to realize "it won't be that much of a secret. None of the Friends people can do much on the sly.

 

"It will be a really traditional wedding. It's essentially going to be for Courteney and her mom."

[casekonly]

Somer from the KGB. i wonder if there are flics on the net?