It didn’t take Aaron Eckhart, a guest at last night’s The Moth event in Union Square, long to place his most memorable New York moment.
Ten years ago, when Mr. Eckhart, now 39, was a “struggling New York actor,” he was out for an evening stroll in the midst of the winter holiday season. “Snow on the street, lights in the trees of Gramercy Park—beautiful, the night, gorgeous, holding hands with my then-girlfriend,” he said, pausing to look at his now-girlfriend, a tall dirty-blonde with chiseled features. “You’ll have to excuse me,” he told her sheepishly, wearing a leather jacket over a blue sweater and denim shirt. Looking back at the Daily Transom, he went on, “A car comes around a corner, honks his horn at another car, I said, ‘Shut up!’ and he said, ‘Fuck you!’ and then drove off into the night. And that’s when I realized that I was in New York City!”
As for his view of Halloween here, a more city-wise Mr. Eckhart simply views it as “a normal day in New York City,” he offered with a chuckle. “I like when people dress up as boxes of things, like Milk Duds. I always think that’s a clever disguise, because I just like being boxes of things. I’ve never done it myself, but I admire those who have the guts to do it. It takes courage.”
He just finished shooting Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the newest installment in the Batman franchise, in which he plays Gotham’s district attorney Harvey Dent alongside fellow actors Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Gary Oldman. Next up: Traveling—a romantic comedy co-starring Jennifer Aniston.