BY GENE TRIPLETT

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The man who would be Hulk was as laid-back and likable as any easygoing dude could be, more like the carefree charmer he plays in “The Kids Are All Right” than a guy who turns into a big green monster every time he loses his temper.

But when Mark Ruffalo settled back for an interview with The Oklahoman on Father’s Day afternoon, the official announcement that he would be taking over the role of Hulk alter ego Bruce Banner in the movie version of “The Avengers” was still weeks away, and he was here at the Four Seasons Hotel not to talk comic-book heroes but fatherhood and family. And gay marriage. And doing acrobatic sex scenes with Julianne Moore.

All of these elements come into play in “The Kids Are All Right,” a comedy-drama from director Lisa Cholodenko about Nic and Jules (Annette Bening and Moore, respectively), a lesbian couple in a longtime relationship, each with a teenage child conceived via artificial insemination provided by the same anonymous donor. Their family ties are tested when the kids (Mia Wasujiwska and Josh Hutcherson) decide to seek out their biological dad, who turns out to be Paul (Ruffalo), a free-spirited natural-food restaurateur who first wins the hearts of the kids, then the vulnerable Jules, and then even the brittle and guarded Nic — until she decides that five is a crowd.

“I’m pretty loose and easy,” Ruffalo said, grinning affably as he compared his own traits to those of Paul. “I think like the guy. I’m pretty open to people. I’m not too judgmental of them. You know, I like to have a good time; I like to make people laugh. I think those are qualities that Paul has.

“But after that, it pretty much stops. I’ve known a lot of people like this, a few people in particular that I’ve been really close to in my life, that I really have loved and admired. So in a way it comes naturally for me, because I know them so well. But I have three kids. I’m committed. I’m married. I’ve been married for 10 years, and you know, you don’t see me in the tabloids. I really kind of like my family and embrace my responsibilities, and Paul’s not like that.”

Even before he settled down, working as a bartender for nearly 10 years while he struggled to make it as an actor, Ruffalo could never get as lucky with women as Paul.

“I tried, man, I tried to be Jack Nicholson,” he said with a laugh. “I had some moments where I was close, but I’d always end up hookin’ up with a girl for a couple of years at a time. I had girlfriends. I’d live with them. I had a little period of time where I was trying to have a couple of different girls and be a bachelor, and you know that ended up with me gettin’ slapped.”

But in the film, his character’s the kind of guy who can tumble into bed with just about any woman he wants, including Moore’s gay woman, who’s hit a midlife crisis that’s causing tension at home. That was when the script called for Ruffalo and Moore to get buck naked and fake some pretty fiery sex scenes.

“Believe it or not, she’s a good friend of my wife, which takes a lot of pressure off me,” Ruffalo said.

They had all become good friends when Moore and Ruffalo worked together on “Blindness” in 2008.

In a separate interview, Moore said, “So, the fact that I knew him, that we really trusted each other, we were friends, all of that stuff was incredibly helpful. So we were able to do it quickly and easily, and it was fun, and I don’t even remember doing half of it. When I finally saw it at Sundance, I’m like, ‘Did we do all that? Oh my God, that’s outrageous!’”

“Well, you leave your body,” Ruffalo said. “Anything that’s that uncomfortable for you, I think you just separate from it a little bit. You just jump into it, and then a lot of times you can’t remember what happened because it’s so uncomfortable. … (At Sundance) I had my wife’s eyes covered during the whole thing.”

As for the gay marriage aspect the film, Ruffalo is quick to point out that it’s only a modern twist on an age-old subject and not the issue of the film.

“Not at all,” he said. “I’ve seen the movie now with a couple of different audiences, and they’re laughing because there’s a lot of humor in it. And they’re laughing not because it’s a jokey movie, they’re laughing because they see themselves in it. They see their own families. And ultimately I think it’s just an honest look at a family. I don’t care if it’s gay or straight or biracial or whatever. I don’t think there’s that much difference between ‘em, you know?”

Travel and accommodations provided by Focus Features.

From left, Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Mia Wasikowska, Mark Ruffalo.

Two moms; two kids; one sperm donor. Not a conventional family unit in the minds of many.

But no matter what your politics or moral views dictate, “The Kids Are All Right” conveys sentiments and truths about family ties and families coming unraveled that are universal. And it does so with great wit, wisdom and warmth — not to mention obvious originality — through the smart and deeply sensitive performances of its principal players under the knowing direction of Lisa Cholodenko (“High Art,” “Laurel Canyon”), who co-wrote the original screenplay with Stuart Blumberg (“Keeping the Faith”).

Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are enormously engaging and endearing as Nic and Jules, respectively, longtime partners in a lesbian marriage, living a cozy suburban life in Los Angeles with their two teenage children, Joni (Mia Wasikowska, fantastic in “Alice in Wonderland”), 18, and Laser (Josh Hutcherson), 15, who were conceived with the help of the same anonymous donor. Nic gave birth to Joni and Jules brought Laser into the world, and the kids refer to their parents as “Moms” in lieu of “Mom and Mom” or “Mom and Dad.” (“Don’t tell Moms,” “What will Moms think?” etc.)

Nic, a doctor, is the high-strung, confident alpha half of the couple who enforces the house rules, while Jules is the sweeter and more vulnerable of the two, the mostly stay-at-home parent who has tried different jobs, attended architectural school and now wants to try her hand at landscape designing.

It’s a reasonably comfortable and happy home, save for the midlife tensions caused by Joni’s impending departure for college, and Jules’ indecision about what to do with the next stage of her life. But then the kids decide on their own to satisfy a natural, nagging curiosity to seek out their biological father.

And they find Paul (a shaggily charming Mark Ruffalo), a hip, affable, carefree bachelor and successful natural-food restaurateur who motorcycles into the family’s life and turns things upside down, first winning the hearts of the kids and then the off-balance and open Jules, who gladly tends his garden in more ways than one. Even the brittle and guarded Nic begins to warm to him, until she sees how their family framework is suddenly beginning to break apart at the joists.

At this point, the battle is joined, among kids and moms and the newfound dad, who’s decided he wants to join the fold. It’s a familiar story told with modern twists, which makes this film all the more eye-opening and entertaining in its 21st-century way of examining age-old familial foibles.

Don’t get the idea, however, that this movie about family is suited for family viewing. This is strictly adult fare, with raw sex scenes — mostly of the heterosexual variety — and situations speaking plainly to mature and hopefully open-minded audiences.

At turns tough, tender and tumultuously funny thanks to the pitch-perfect performances of a well-chosen ensemble cast, a gifted director and a brilliant and heartfelt script, here’s a film that truly hits close to home.

— Gene Triplett

MOVIE REVIEW

“The Kids Are All Right”

R
1:44
3½ stars

Starring: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson.

(Strong sexual content, nudity, language, some teen drug and alcohol use)

BY GENE TRIPLETT

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Julianne Moore seemed amused that it was Father’s Day morning and she was here to talk about her role as one-half of a couple of lesbian moms in “The Kids

Annette Bening, left, and Julianne Moore

 Are All Right.”

“Happy Father’s Day,” was her bright greeting to all the male reporters around the interview table as she entered a sun-filled suite at the Four Seasons Hotel. “Oh my goodness, it was so nice of all of you to come out on Father’s Day to work.

“I have a pedicure planned for my husband,” allowed the radiant, lightly freckled redhead with the smiling blue-green eyes as she pulled up a chair.

“That’s awfully nice,” a journalist remarked.

“Yeah, I’m not gonna do it,” she quickly assured everyone.

Moore has enjoyed a long-term relationship and marriage to director Bart Freundlich and is raising two children, much like the woman she portrays in “The Kids Are All Right.” But the big difference is Moore’s character, Jules, is married to a woman named Nic, played by Annette Bening, in director Lisa Cholodenko’s comedy-drama about family ties and trials.

Jules and Nic are also raising two kids, Joni (Mia Wasikowska), 18, and Laser (Josh Hutcherson), 15, both happy and well-adjusted youngsters, until one day they decide to find and meet the anonymous sperm donor who fathered them.

Enter Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a hip natural-foods restaurant owner and footloose bachelor who is an immediate hit with the kids, then with the vulnerable Jules in a way that she’s never experienced. Even the brittle family breadwinner Nic begins to warm to Paul’s easygoing charm after a while — until his presence begins to cause family ties to unravel.

Sure, a gay marriage is part of the premise here, Moore said, but it’s certainly not the issue.

“I thought it was incredibly charming,” she said. “Really, really moving and important, because it’s a portrait of a marriage, you know, a middle-aged marriage and what it means to be committed and what it’s like to be in a family and how you grow up, and how do you move away from your parents and still stay connected, and stuff that’s pretty universal.”

Moore was the first actor to become attached to the project in 2005, and she believed in it enough to hang in there through all the struggles an independent production faces, including financing, casting and personal matters, such as Cholodenko’s pregnancy from artificial insemination.

“I met her, I think it was in this hotel at a Women in Film luncheon, and told her how much I loved her work. I loved ‘Laurel Canyon,’ I loved ‘High Art,’” Moore said. “I said I hoped we’d work together, and by the end of that year, she sent me the script to ‘The Kids Are All Right,’ and it was a long process. … But it was always there and always kind of alive, and I had every intention of doing it. I love Lisa, and I love her work.”

Moore insists there are no political pitches for gay marriage in this screenplay by Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg, just a portrait of a kind of family that exists in real life but is not often depicted on-screen, dealing with common family problems.

“They’re a very traditional family,” she said. “I mean more conservative and traditional than most families. I mean they have one working parent and one stay-at-home parent. I know very few people like that these days. Out of necessity most parents work. So they’re kind of fortunate and incredibly bourgeois.”

Moore thinks even moviegoers from the right end of the political spectrum can appreciate the family picture presented in “The Kids Are All Right.”

“There was a study, it was about don’t ask, don’t tell,” she said. “The thing that most changes opinions is proximity. Proximity and knowledge. So if you’re in a unit with a guy who’s gay, and you didn’t know he was gay and you find out, and you think, ‘Hey, he’s a regular guy. Wow, look, that’s not so different,’ it’s the same thing with gay families. If you are living in a neighborhood and there’s a same-sex family next door to you, you think, ‘Wow, you guys are doing the same things.’ That is what is slowly changing popular opinion. And I think that movies in a sense don’t influence culture as much as they reflect it. …

“I mean, it really is interesting and complicated and funny, because you realize people are, you know, we’re all dealing with the same stuff, oddly, because we all live in the same world.”

Moore hopes audiences take away the film’s real intended message.

“I really think it’s about how important families are,” she said. “It’s a wonderful look at a long-term relationship, what it’s like to be parents, to grow up a family, and I think it’s a reminder of how much we cherish it, how much we should, you know?”

Travel and accommodations provided by Focus Features.

Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of ’Shutter Island’ pays homage to Gothics

BY GENE TRIPLETT

Dennis Lehane has learned how to describe “Shutter Island” to a potential reader or viewer without giving away any of the dark plot twists or clues to the shocking surprise ending of his chilling Gothic thriller.

“I’ve had a lot of practice, so don’t worry about it,” the author said in a recent phone interview. “The first thing you would say is, ‘You’ll never see where it’s going.’ The word you hear most about this book is, ‘It’s a trip.’ I mean, it’s taking you on a pretty wild ride.”

Published in 2003, the Boston-born writer’s eighth novel, set in the year 1954, tells the story of two U.S. marshals investigating the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from a federal hospital for the criminally insane on one of the remotest of the Boston Harbor Islands.

The book became a movie in 2010 under the direction of Martin Scorsese, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo as the investigators and Ben Kingsley as the institution’s inscrutable head psychiatrist. Now it’s out on DVD, and Lehane was doing a round of interviews in the hope of enticing a few more thriller lovers into taking a “trip” behind the walls of Ashecliffe Hospital, where nothing is remotely what it seems.

Rachel Solando, who murdered her children, is loose somewhere on the island, having inexplicably escaped a locked, guarded cell under constant surveillance. A killer hurricane is rolling down on the island as U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) search for the missing inmate, and Daniels is beginning to suspect the existence of radical experimentations and surgeries being performed on the patients.

Or is something wholly other going on?

Lehane is the author of two other novels turned into well respected films: “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone,” directed by Clint Eastwood and Ben Affleck, respectively.

Dennis Lehane

Unlike those stories, which took a lot of time to plan out, Lehane said the complete narrative of “Shutter Island” came to him in one night — in his sleep.

“Yeah, one night I had this bizarre, almost waking dream,” he said. “It’s hard to describe. I got up, scribbled everything down on a piece of paper, woke up the next morning, and there it was.”

He wishes every book could come to him so easily.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” he said. “That would be awesome actually.”

Lehane was on the set during the making of the film, and actor Ruffalo got to know him a bit.

“Yeah, I went out and had drinks with him,” Ruffalo recalled in a separate interview conducted Sunday in Beverly Hills. “I really liked him. He’s a great guy. A great writer, really down to earth. But, you know, using that book for the movie was fantastic for me because that did 90 percent of my work.”

And Ruffalo also praised Scorsese for skillfully translating Lehane’s complex and atmospheric novel to the screen.

Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Leonardo DiCaprio, from left, in "Shutter Island."

“Scorsese, he shows you movies to inspire you,” Ruffalo said. “So we were steeped in ‘Out of the Past’ and ‘Laura’ and all of these films that were from that noir sort of period, which is Gothic. And so, basically I was trying to really do as best an impersonation as I could of Robert Mitchum. And so I think that translates really well. It’s hard to do that, especially with a book with that many turns and twists in it. It’s really hard. And so hats off to Marty again for that.”

Lehane agreed that his vision had been accurately captured on film by the director, who, surprisingly, was working from a screen adaptation written by Laeta Kalogridis.

(Lehane said he never attempts to turn his books into screenplays because “it’s just like operating on your own child if you’re a doctor. I don’t see how anybody can do it.”)

“I loved it,” the writer said. “I mean (Scorsese) got it. He got what I was playing with and what I was trying for. And he did cinematically what I did in the language of the novel. The language of the novel is heightened in such a way that you should be aware very early that you’re reading a novel, that this is an homage to Gothics, that this is basically a book about being a book in a lot of ways.

“And he made a movie about being a movie. The movie is in your face as a movie right from the beginning. You should realize very quickly you’re not in the real world, you’re in Oz.”