(whooshing)
- Anyway, I watch the movie this often, it's so good,
I really enjoyed it.
It sort of reminds me of Pinocchio, in some ways.
(laughing) - Huh.
- I'm gonna begin by asking, so just to start off,
what's that initially attracted you
to getting involved, in "The True Adventures Of Wolfboy?"
- It was really the story,
and the sort of fantastical elements that the story had,
even though it was all based in reality,
just sort of the colorful characters,
and I really wanted to play Paul, and I was attracted
to who he was, and who he became,
and how he evolved throughout the story.
- Can it be kind of easier in some ways as an actor,
to get lost in a character,
when you're kind of behind the disguise in some ways.
'Cause I guess it makes it even further removed
from yourself than any other role you might have played.
- Yeah, absolutely.
There was something that did, I was able to...
There's such a separation
between me as Paul, and me as a person,
even the crew, I would see the crew after work,
'cause it was an amazing group of people.
And some of them wouldn't recognize me,
because they were used to seeing me
with this all this makeup on,
but when I had this makeup on,
I felt like a different person,
and I had different reactions
from some people who would stare at me
and look at me different.
- Yeah, in some ways, did that help inform the performance,
to kind of get that natural reaction from people,
to know then what the character
would have gone through himself?
- Yeah, absolutely.
For me, it helped me get these characteristics,
just having the prosthetics on
and going through the process of playing them on,
it felt very restrictive, and I just had this shield over me
and it was tight on my face, and sometimes I just wanted
to tear it off and I hated it at some point.
And that's exactly how Paul, felt.
He hated his hair, and wanted to do anything he could
just to rip it off his skin.
So it sort of related to that, and then yeah,
with other people, definitely.
I mean, it looks authentic in person, and it feels real,
so for other people, it definitely helped.
It helped act extras, and people walking by,
they didn't have to ask because they're confused
by my appearance.
- I mean it's yeah.
I could resonate with the cards,
it's unfortunate that I'm so hairy,
that if I go to the beach,
I feel, I know what it's like, to be that hairy in public.
(laughing)
But I was wondering about, you said, mentioned,
about, obviously the prosthetics and the makeup and stuff.
Did you have to get to set, two free hours
before your cast starts,
just to go through that whole process?
- Yeah.
Eventually, it took about three and a half hours
to put it on, and then half an hour to take it off,
and that was when we were better at doing it,
and when it was sort of, yeah, I was on a good day.
But before I was taking six hours, five hours,
and then got less and less,
but it was definitely a long process.
- And it's got a great cost.
But most interesting,
just wanted to speak to you about John Turturro,
who I've just loved for years.
What was he like to collaborate with on this?
'Cause he always plays
such kind of larger than life characters.
Is he quite like that in person?
- Yeah, absolutely, he definitely is.
But isn't necessarily like that in real life.
I think it, for me, when I was on set with him,
is he is obviously playing this very theatrical character
and this character is very intimidating,
and he sort of embodied that onset.
I mean, he brought a whole different vibe and feeling
to the movie, and to the set.
But when he was himself, he's very different from that.
I feel like he's still so incredible,
and he has a lot of interesting stories
and you're drawn to him, and he's outgoing,
but he's a little more...
He's a normal person, but yeah, he's awesome.
Yeah, it was incredible.
- Yeah, I mean, the list of people
you've now collaborated with, is kind of remarkable,
from directors, to actors.
Do you find when you're on set,
are you kind of consciously studying their craft,
and the way they work?
Or do you think you've just kind of always
had just a kind of natural subconscious thing,
where you're just absorbing everything went,
that you're sort of learning along the way?
- That's a good question.
I think as I've gotten older,
I've more consciously studied them.
I think when I was younger, I learned so much,
but I wasn't actively watching them,
I was sort of just sitting by and absorbing it at all.
But now I'm now I kind of have the opportunity to watch them
and see how they work, and just study what they do,
which is really, is awesome.
It's cool to see, how each person
sort of approaches their projects and the differences
between them and then also the similarities, yeah.
- 'Cause I'm kind of in awe of some of your choices.
You seem to just have kind of great project,
after great projects.
So I'm just wondering, 'cause a lot of times,
when young performers kind of come into the industry,
there's a bit of a sense of, not take what you can get.
But very much, get yourself out there,
let people know who you are.
But with your choices, it seems more considered,
it seems that you're really picking the right parts
at the right time and the right collaborators.
I just wonder, if that's kind of for you,
the whole choosing process and then deciding
what to take on.
Is that quite a big thing for you, and what makes a project
that makes you go right?
"That is gonna be the one for me."
- Thank you.
Yeah, I'm lucky, I have great people around me,
and I have an amazing team.
My manager is here right now, but she's awesome,
and my agents and my mom,
I'm very lucky that I have people that aren't like,
"Do this project, make money, get your face out there."
It's about the quality,
and whether or not we're all attracted to the story
and I'm attracted to the people attached to the project,
and just not a business, it's an art, I guess.
Yeah, we're all artists and yeah.
So I think it's important to choose projects
that I'm drawn to, and that are not based on the budget,
or the size of the movie, but just the stories,
and whether it has a interesting meaning,
and also whether it's a character
that I know I'll grow from, and if it can be different
from what I've done before, and if I learn something new.
It's also a good thing, not to get into the habit
of doing the same thing, which is a scary thing as an actor,
is to get into that comfortable rhythm,
which sometimes I think everyone struggles with,
including myself.
So I will continue to try, and I try to do things
that are new and unique.
- And have you always wanted to get into acting?
'Cause I remember at my school,
the kids who wanted to kind of get into drama,
and kind of do the drama classes and stuff,
were usually the kind of class clowns,
and the loudy kids in the class.
They were always the ones that wanted to perform.
And I just find you shock me as someone who's more quite,
not as kind of overtly kind of like in your face,
as some of the kids I went to school with.
And so I just wondered
if you were kind of just quietly behind the scenes,
always planning a kind of maybe a career in film
and if it came to you quite early.
- I never considered it.
I'm originally from Philadelphia,
and there's not a lot of opportunities
to start acting there.
And so I never consciously thought about it,
but in hindsight, looking back at who I was then,
I mean, I was very shy, and introverted,
but I would be in my room going over scenes
from 'The Dark Night,"
and I would pretend that I was Heath Ledger, and Star Wars.
And I would just play out scenes in my room,
and I had no idea what that meant,
but now that I look back on it,
I guess I always not wanted to do it,
but had some sort of interest in it.
But yeah, I never knew that I could, because like you said,
all the actors that I knew,
or what I imagined to be an actor was very outgoing,
and sort of precocious, and I definitely wasn't that kid,
so I didn't know if I was fit for it,
but I ended up trying it out, and loving it,
and becoming obsessed with it, yeah.
- Because I've seen you've made some brilliant projects,
and there some have got links to "Sequels,"
and "Knives Out Two," is coming,
I just thought that you might,
could you maybe be in that discussions?
(laughing)
- No, I don't think so.
That's exciting to hear.
I just wanna watch anything
with Daniel Craig and Ryan Johnson.
Yeah, the great thing about that movie is,
I don't like to watch myself,
so on this, I got to watch the movie as a viewer,
but also have that, like, "Okay, I'm in that, that's cool."
And I got to work with these incredible people,
when I get to watch them work,
but also got to enjoy it as an audience member.
Yeah, I miss that. - Yeah, wow.
I'm looking forward to the "Sequel," anyway.
(laughing) - Yeah, me too.
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