by MATTHEW HAYS

As William Hurt talks about his latest role, it's hard to suss him out. He's perfectly genial, warm and charming even, but this is William Hurt: the actor's actor, a man whose onscreen character specialty is men with a virtuous veneer coupled with a certain sinister edge. Think the confused love interest to Kathleen Turner in Body Heat, Meryl Streep's wayward husband in One True Thing or the vacuous reporter in Broadcast News.

Now, sitting in a chic Old Montreal bar, Hurt is playing the generous interviewee. He appears extremely enthusiastic about the Quebec film he's pumping up, the children-friendly feature The Blue Butterfly. Directed by Léa Pool, the film is based loosely on a true story. Years ago, Montreal insect guru Georges Brossard was approached by a boy who was dying of cancer. The lad had one final wish: for Brossard to take him on a faraway voyage in search of a very rare butterfly. Reluctant, Brossard eventually caved in and took the kid; upon his return from the trek, the child's cancer went into remission.

It's an uplifting story, but if you're looking for Hurt to play straight and virtuous, forget it. Hurt injects the role with a good deal of cynicism, making his insect expert a man with a conflicted past, someone who doesn't instinctually take to children. Hurt's adept touch at creating depth helps The Blue Butterfly to sidestep the schmaltz trap. Also helping is Pascale Bussières as the sick child's anguished mom. "She restrains herself from any gratuitous sentimentality," Hurt says of Bussières, praising her to the hilt. "That restraint dignifies the film."

Relying on hunches

Still, while Hurt brings this character to life very well, I confess to being surprised at watching this Oscar winner in a kiddie-friendly feature. What led Hurt to this role? "I read the script and really saw the potential. All the work you've done, all the studying - you know what? It comes down to a hunch. Admittedly it's an informed one. You start developing an eye for things, where you might find some life."

And playing a character based on a real-life figure? Meeting with Brossard was "terrifying," concedes Hurt. "This guy is outrageously alive! His enthusiasm is overwhelming. What you don't want to do in this situation is do a caricature or a copy. I just met him for character development. You're not going to recreate that person, you're going to find a point where you share something of the spirit or life of that person. Georges had doubts about me playing him. When you've done something brave with your life, and someone else comes along and says they want to represent it, you may be thinking, ‘Wait a minute, they're going to try and do what I already did? Their work may well not be as original as mine.' They're going to be asking, ‘Are you a 10 per center or are you up there in the front lines?' It took a long time for Georges to be convinced because he's a guy with high standards." Obviously, very high standards, if he had some reticence about being portrayed by an actor with Hurt's CV. "I think he's on board now," Hurt reports.

Then comes another barrier: that old thespian adage about never working with children or animals. "Yes, you hear that a lot: never work with kids. You know why? Because they're breathing. And if your work isn't alive, you wouldn't want to be caught dead near them, because the eye of the audience is going to be drawn to that of the living. If you're dead, they're going to forget you when compared to the children. And good riddance, as far as I'm concerned. I welcome working with children."

Despite appearing in numerous big budget films - he had a supporting role in Spielberg's AI and has just finished shooting a feature with Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan - Hurt hasn't made his disdain for certain Hollywood tendencies a secret. At last month's press conference for The Blue Butterfly, Hurt stated that it felt great to be part of a film where his name didn't appear above the film's title on the promotional poster. Hurt smiles when I bring his press conference statement up. "It's always nagging when the chance for a liberating trusting atmosphere is abandoned for competitive egos and insecure people. But I think that's true wherever you go. We all have problems. It's not just my métier."

A kiss is still a kiss

At 54, Hurt still has a strange boyishness about him. Looking at his face, my head begins spinning with the various roles he's taken on; perhaps naturally, my mental rolodex stops rolling at Kiss of the Spider Woman, the '85 film in which Hurt played a transvestite stuck in a South American prison with Raul Julia. The role would land Hurt an Oscar. He seems genuinely touched when I tell him that that role has brought him a certain hero status in the gay community.

"You know what? A lot of people in the gay community have been heroes to me. For years you didn't have to come out of the closet. The courage, the energy it took to do that was really profound. Racial minorities were already out of the closet, because people could see that they were different. Courage to me involves conscious choice in a situation where it's not necessarily required. And that is a phenomenal brand of courage, one that inspires me the most. Courage is about knowing what you're afraid of and doing it anyway. I worked on Christopher Street [in New York's gay district] for years. I've certainly had close friends who died of AIDS. Those were my friends."

But despite the personal investment he had in his Spider Woman role, Hurt insists he has no one favourite role, from stage or screen. "It's my métier, my work, it's the theatre that I love. I really enjoy it and love being a part of it."

The Blue Butterfly opens Friday, Feb. 20

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