So what do you say to guys who might be tempted
to write this off as a "chick flick"?
Idiot.
That's great - I love it!
Also, they say no actor feels they're playing the villain.
But Walter is SO EVIL!
Were you able to find some humanity in him?
Look, um, evil?
What's evil?
Don't nod, tell me what is evil!
Well I don't want to give away some of the twists
but he's so duplicitous and he - y'know
he tells some pretty big lies to Margaret.
Which lie?
Well, I don't - well, y'know, about his past situation
and everything...
I mean, how do you as an actor make that a character you feel is justified in his actions?
Well, I'm asking these questions in the way that I'm just asking you.
Y'know?
Oh great!
You need to specify a little bit in order to, to, to
deal with it, y'know?
This is a liar!
Oooh...
Yeah, I don't know...
Is he?
I don't think so, but if - if let's say hypothetically speaking
he is, then now what do I do?
And what do you do?
As an audience?
Now you know he's a liar.
Great.
Let's go for a beer.
That's not a story.
That's, that's...uh...
a pigeon-hole at best.
We want to know specifics, what happened?
And why!
And where!
And with whom!
All these things.
A liar is...that's in the end an opinion.
Because who's to tell the truth?
We always like to put ourselves on the right side.
But we do that, um, for comfort.
We don't have to question ourselves
when we are very sure that he's a liar.
Okay good.
We're safe!
Because we're not!
That's not a story.
A story is like, in this case, y'know
him, you have her
she does this
he does that
at first it works beautifully together
then it doesn't anymore
because now outside forces start to pull
either way, the relationship changes
we're looking for conflict and for change
Liar is neither conflict nor change.
Well also, y'know, a lot of foreign actors come here to Hollywood
make a big splash, they get nominated, they WIN an Oscar
then a lot of times they go home
you've not only stuck around
but you continue to land big roles
what's your secret?!
There's no secret.
I just work!
Everything nowadays is - and that's part of our story in Big Eyes
that everything that's dear to us
that we like to do
is being commodified
everything that - that we, um, really engage in wholeheartedly
with our lives, and our souls
is somehow turned into something else
for someone else's benefit
making some money
it always needs to be something, a secret recipe, formula
because otherwise you can't sell it
so when you ask me this question
you're not really believing that I have a secret
that I have - that I'm some mysterious - member of some mysterious occult movement
that can say....
a magic spell!
then it happens
No, no I just do what I love to do
and that's what it's all about
Also, y'know, you play a lot of villains.
And I think it's very interesting to hear your perspective on how to categorize them
you're the new James Bond villain
how do you keep it fresh each time?
That's how.
I just do what I'm convinced I should be doing.
I'm not saying that it's always the right thing
but um...then I - at least I'm willing to accept the mistake.
That's good - you haven't made any yet.
Well...plenty! Plenty!
Well you've done a good job hiding them!
Thank you!
Thanks!