B.L. Swimfan is quite the creepy movie. Are you a fan of scary films?
J.B. I'm a fan of good movies. My criteria for a film isn't so much who's in it or what it's about, it's who directed it. So you've got Hitchcock or Kubrick, who are masters of that suspense, scary, creepy thing. As long as the guy who is making the movie is good, I'm there what ever it is.

B.L. So with Swimfan, this is John Polson's first Hollywood picture. How did you get turned on to him?
J.B. I checked out the project and I thought just by the script the character goes through a lot. But I said to myself it's going to depend on who the other actresses are. That's part of the key, especially the crazy one! So literally months later, I had auditioned for the role, met with Jon and liked him a lot. Then the project just kind of sat. Months later Erika Christensen  signed on and that's what greenlighted the picture. When I heard that Erika was going to play the role, I got interested again. I thought that she'd be a great person to play that role.

B.L. I was wondering if this was a challenging role for you. First of all you have to play a high school student whose personality drastically changes when his world starts falling apart.
J.B. He's got a serious arc and gets everything stripped away from him by taking the law into his own hands. It's intense.

B.L. So how much of a stretch was it to play this guy Ben Cronin?
J.B. There was definitely some extremes of emotion that had to be reached. At the same time, I believe there are two types of characters that I react to, characters that you identify with because they're like you and characters that you identify with because they are nothing like you.

B.L. So which is this?
J.B. This is the first one. He's like me.

B.L. OK, in what way?
J.B. That's me on the screen, but not being funny, being serious. I did a movie called Hackers, he was not me at all I think.  A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, not me at all. He was nothing like me.

B.L. Don't forget Bring It On.
J.B. Bring It On, very much like me, but the funny me. I hope.

B.L. How did you prepare for your role in Swimfan, because I heard that one thing you needed to do was shave your chest!
J.B. I did shave the old chest yes. I started swimming, that was step one. I started swimming about a month and a half before we even started shooting. I was in the pool every day. I bought a Speedo right away and started wearing that so that I could get used to it. The chest thing was just because a swimmer will shave every hair on his body. It cuts down weight, it makes you more aerodynamic, there's a million reasons why it's not a bad idea for a swimmer.

B.L. Well that's good.
J.B. By the way, that's not something I have any intention of keeping up by the way. I would rather be fancy free.  I'm not exactly a hairless dude.

B.L.  I was going to mention your beard. Is this for a role or something?
J.B. No, this is just me in my downtime.  Literally, I started shaving when I was about 14 because I had that little rat moustache coming in and it was driving me crazy and I thought it looked stupid. I mean, come on, I was starting to get in touch with my self image and my dad begged me not to start shaving. He warned me that the sooner you start, the sooner you are going to hate it. He was right! I now know what he was warning me about!

B.L. What's up next for you? The last time we talked you mentioned you were trying to get a band together.
J.B. I don't actually have a band. I have a drummer, who is one of my very best friends in the world, who I've known since freshman year high school. He is really talented and we have been talking about getting a band together for a long time. So if anyone out there is looking to be in a band, call me! But we need to find a couple of other people in Los Angeles and get it together, so that's something that I am going to work on.

B.L. Anything on your acting schedule?
J.B. I'm open to an acting job at the moment, only I'm trying to be really picky about it. I have had a few opportunities that I have said no to because I really want it to be something that just inspires the hell out of me. I just want to make the exact right move next. Or at least feel like I'm doing so.