Fruit is a strange thing to hunt: it can't run, it's not sentient, and there's no trophy to mount. But as Adam Leith Gollner chronicled in his 2008 book, The Fruit Hunters , that hasn't stopped a handful of obsessives from trekking into dark H.M. Stanley-like forests looking for the perfect lychee or guava. Now the book has been made into a documentary , currently screening in Canada, directed by Yung Chang ( China Heavyweight ). One surprising star--beyond the mangoes and loquats--is the actor

Bill Pullman, who, as it turns out, is a fruit obsessive and hardcore orchardist. We recently spoke to Pullman about his love of trees and great Jews in fruit. --Joshua David Stein

How did you become a fruit head?

Bill Pullman: Well, I always had a little ag side of me, but it's closeted. It never seemed to surface. Perhaps there was no reason to. But I have always been impressed by the fruit community. There is a Tao of fruit, which is generous. You share what you know and you give what you can.

When did you plant your first fruit tree?

BP: I planted an orchard when I was 13. The impulse came from wanting to grow my own apples. That and the nursery catalog showed an apple tree with a beautiful girl standing under the fruit. Whether the flavor or the picture that did it, I've been hooked since. I started planting trees 20 years ago in Hollywood. When I started to research, I found that there are a lot of common fruit trees, but that if you want to extend your productivity through the whole year, you have to plant species from other countries.

My interest in fruit, however, isn't solely fruit on the tree. It's tied to the usage of the fruit. Last November, my wife and I opened The Hollywood Orchard , which is a community virtual orchard near our home. We harvested 4,000 pounds [of loquats, lemons, grapefruit, oranges, among other fruits] since we launched.

You can't possibly eat that many loquats .

BP: No, we give much of it to food pantries, but I've always been intrigued by food preservation. Tree and table together is what I've always found intriguing. It takes a lot to process fruit. You've got to be committed not just to a nice-looking yard but you spend a lot of hours cutting out squirrel bites [from the fruit]. During the holidays, my wife and I put together our own baskets. We put in all the things we've grown--loquat preserves, loquat butter, loquat sauce, dried persimmons that we dice and make into our own granola. Perhaps I have a certain smug, vain side. I'm attracted to the idea that I could offer people something they couldn't buy. Or maybe I might be cheap because I give them eight ounces of something they could never get anywhere else.

That seems a world away from the sort of fruit obsessives featured in the film.

BP: I think the film's director, Yung Chang, was looking to cast a longer net. What Yung wanted to do was look at people who are obsessed, not just with the hard-ass flavor but what this fruit and orchard means in the culture around it. The word "paradise" in Persian is the word for orchard. Orchard has been a big idea. Fruit has been a big idea. When you see the movie, you get a sense of why people are questing for orchards idea now.

I have a question for you: Why are there so many Jews in fruit? There are so many Jews who are in the fruit business: Mark Slutsky, the screenwriter, is Jewish. Adam Gollner, the author, is Jewish. There's a guy, David Karp, who is the genius of fruit. He's Jewish. He is obsessed and competitive. Perhaps it's that Jews are so data-filled.

I mean, Adam and Eve were Jews, right? And they ate the first fruit.

BP: That's a good one.

P**erhaps it's less about fruit and more about Jews. We always rise to the top, whether it's in media, finance, the arts, or fruit.

BP: That's the kind of exceptionalist theory that gets you in trouble. My father in law, Al Hurwitz, who was culturally Jewish, not religiously Jewish, felt that he never wanted to talk about Jewish exceptionalism.

I don't feel similarly constrained. [Long pause.] Bill Pullman, why fruit not vegetables?

BP: For me, orchards are more forgiving. I'm not a gardener. I don't have the consistency for gardening and I have barely enough for an orchard. I don't embarrass myself. You have to be there tending and weeding. With orchards you can go through negligent periods and recover.

Finally: favorite fruit?

I don't have a favorite fruit. There are things that thrill me each turn of the season. Right now I'm crazy about these fuyu persimmons, but next May I'll be all about the Persian mulberries.

I share the love.