Filmmaking is a difficult process. There are the logistics of making a film. You have to do your part, and then change the entire thing around to do someone else’s part. A lot of the magic is lost, in between that, and you have to figure out how to get it back.
I’ve been working for many years and I think I’ve managed to work with some of the best people in the business, which has been rewarding and an apprenticeship.
You have respect and reverence for your characters and the fact that you’re going to epitomize that person for the rest of their lives. They’re going to be judged based on your performance by millions of people. You have a certain responsibility.
I have a dog and sometimes I’ll be the littlest kid with my dog and marvel at his ears and his nose and how he looks at me. If he died, I’d bawl like a baby.
If you go to YouTube and look up ‘grief’ you can find them and it’s just an unbelievable tool for an actor to be able to access, without being unethical. It’s like accessing the deepest, most painful parts of a person.
I got as much information as I could, so I wouldn’t look stupid, but this is a post 9/11 world and there’s only so much you can do with the FBI in terms of research.
I can think of films that I’m producing right now that are extremely hard-hitting, graphic films, that nobody necessarily wants to see, graphic in terms of violence, of adult content and racial and historical subject matter.
