Both Brain and Brawn

David Strathairn often looks like he’s in a state of limbo when acting. Perhaps it’s his apprehensive appearance and pensive persona, as though he’s quietly hiding some deep, dark secret. Watching him reminds you of Nick Carraway from “The Great Gatsby,” or even Clark Kent.

It’s the way Strathairn conveys those qualities of dutiful sacrifice and pained preoccupation. Yet his physical prowess proves he’s no victim either. He certainly handled those rough waters well in “The River Wild,” and capably navigated his way around Cajun country in “Passion Fish.” He also threw a mean curve ball in “Eight Men Out.”

Given all that, it’s no wonder director John Sayles gave Strathairn the starring role in his latest film, the aptly titled “Limbo,” which opens Friday. As Joe Gastineau, the moody Alaskan fisherman with a haunted past, the versatile actor got to be both cerebral and physical.

Which meant taking a lot of risks along with co-stars Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who plays an itinerant lounge singer he falls in love with, and Vanessa Martinez, who plays her introverted daughter and the film’s eventual catalyst. As a result of a dangerous boating trip, these three must fight for their lives when stranded in the Alaskan wilderness outside of Juneau.

“One of the good things about David is that he’s very capable of playing text and subtext,” Sayles explained. The filmmaker should know: He and Strathairn have worked together on most of Sayles’ 12 films, dating all the way back to his first, “Return of the Secaucus Seven” (1980), in which Strathairn had a small but memorable role as the fast-talking, gum-chewing gasoline attendant.

“As with any long-term working relationship, you know how he moves through the day and what he requires of you and doesn’t, and how he wants to tell stories,” Strathairn, 50, said recently by phone from outside of Philadelphia, where he’s appearing in the play “Sally’s Porch,” coincidentally another story about coming to terms with a deeply painful transitional period.

Strathairn and Sayles first met performing together in summer stock in New Hampshire after they both graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts. They clicked creatively and have worked fairly regularly ever since: In addition to his earlier roles in Sayles’ “Secaucus,” “Eight Men Out” and “Passion Fish,” Strathairn also had notable performances in “Brother From Another Planet,” “Matewan” and “City of Hope.”

“He’s used to only using a part of himself and holding back,” Sayles noted. “He’s measured in what he says, and he’s thought a lot about things. David’s always feeling and thinking. He pays attention to what’s going on. He’d be the first person in a room to put a log on the fire.

“As an actor, he finds ways of using his physicality and the physicality of his surroundings. It’s the training he got from attending clown college. I always had David in mind when I wrote Joe (in ‘Limbo’). Although it’s dangerous in the wild, he doesn’t panic. He finds shelter, he gets food and he doesn’t kid himself.”

Strathairn believes the secret to acting is always finding what lies beneath the surface. If there’s evidence of a real person, he can flesh him out with his inventive skills. “It’s Chekhovian,” he suggested. “You’re thinking one thing and saying another.”

Which explains the enormous success of Strathairn’s “escort” roles, as Sayles likes to call the wide range of character parts he’s played, often in big-budget Hollywood movies. They include the quirky, blind sound engineer in “Sneakers,” the menacing priest in “Simon Birch,” the sympathetic marketing man in “A League of Their Own,” the dreamy usher in “Lost in Yonkers,” Tom Cruise’s intense older brother in “The Firm,” the psychotic father in “Dolores Claiborne,” Meryl Streep’s estranged husband in “The River Wild,” the winsome bookworm in the television series “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,” the taciturn Duke in the recently released “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the mysterious and sardonic pornographer in “L.A. Confidential.”

“He’s such a contradiction,” observed Curtis Hanson, who directed Strathairn in both “The River Wild” and “L.A. Confidential.”

“He’s a genuinely modest, self-effacing actor who gravitates toward roles in which he can stretch and hide himself. He loves practicing his craft in a way that a lot of actors don’t. He lusts after diversity. He’s extremely handsome and seductive, but he hides those qualities that most actors flaunt.”

In fact, Strathairn originally turned down the part of Pierce Patchett in “L.A. Confidential”--which turned into the role he is most renowned for. “He was convinced he couldn’t play this handsome and smooth purveyor of whatever you desire,” Hanson added. “I had to browbeat him into taking it. Interestingly, on the set he caught the eye of all the girls with his unassuming sexuality. He was the actor they flocked to. He was such a consummate manipulator that people didn’t recognize him.”

A ‘Tapestry’ of Themes

“Limbo” contains Sayles’ usual mixture of history, culture, community and politics, all strategically wrapped around a particular environmental imperative. In this case, Alaska as the last frontier, a vast natural theme park and an ultimate destination for those seeking a second chance in life. However, Sayles’ storytelling strategy is riskier than usual, as he dares to pull the audience into “a condition of unknowable outcome.”

“That’s John for you, pushing the envelope to get the audience to participate in the story,” Strathairn offered. “There’s this whole tapestry of stories in ‘Limbo.’ Everyone’s life is a story, not just Joe’s. There’s the community, the fishing industry, the diary that’s discovered in the wilderness. That’s the way John works in all of his films. His characters are part of a woven fabric, and each is equally important in this symbiotic relationship with their chosen place.”

Despite the underlying uncertainty, there’s a definite emotional arc in “Limbo,” according to Sayles. “As far as I’m concerned, when David and Mary Elizabeth agree to make a try at this family . . . that’s the biggest risk of all.” For Strathairn, film is still a mystery in the way it’s shot and edited, which is why he returns to the comfort and stimulation of the stage time and again. Prior to “Sally’s Porch,” he appeared in Harold Pinter’s “Ashes to Ashes” in New York.

At least there are no physical risks on the stage. “In Alaska, there is such a massive wilderness that your life was always in the balance,” said Strathairn, a San Francisco native who currently resides in New York’s Hudson Valley with his wife and two boys. “At any given moment, you could be like these people we were playing. The water was cold, the elements weren’t optimal. It was rough in the woods.”