My goal as an actor has always been to reach a level where I can find a lot of interesting work, and I think I’m at that point now. The Oscar has given me a lot of recognition.
I used to play basketball and I was pretty competitive, but I was never a bad loser. I never got angry. For me it was always about doing my best and devoting myself to a challenge.
The very first things that I did, even in theater, were bad guys. They are meaty roles for the most part. With the bad guy you have more freedom to experiment and go further out than with a good guy.
There’s something about the Oscar that gives you sort of stripes where you feel you can dare to walk into a studio like Universal and say, “Hey guys, how about an idea of me playing the wolf man?”
You have to kill to survive. People have been doing it forever. I eat meat, and I eat fish. If I were on a deserted island I would need that to survive.
I mean I like most of the films that I’ve seen that I’ve been in. Those are the kind of films that I like to see. Am I getting better at making choices? Well, I think I might be getting better at reading scripts. Does that make any sense?
It really is a pleasure to work with someone who you admire. Whatever you do in front of the camera, and I don’t know what it is, but actors have this thing that you recognize someone that makes you better. When you do that, it’s a great feeling.
I’ve had people ask me: ‘How can you make a movie about a murderer? A terrorist?’ What they don’t understand is that I’m in support of everyone who appears on screen. I have to be. I take the position of everyone who’s on screen. I’m not judging them one way or another.
When you start to become a movie star it’s easy to believe that you are Superman. That can fool you. That’s why I prefer not to pay much attention to fame.
