Billy Crudup
By Sherry Weiner
Dressed in faded jeans and a makeshift sports jacket, Crudup’s dark hair is especially long and he has hints of a mustache and sideburns, all of which, he says is because he’s doing reshoots on Cameron Crowe’s untitled rock movie.
Q: Is this your regular outfit or is this your "interview clothes"?
Billy Crudup: Here is regular [points to jeans, shirt] and here is interview [points to sports jacket]. There we are. This is my one jacket. Actually, I have two jackets. So if you see me again it will probably be in the same jacket or one other.
Q: Both Waking the Dead and Jesus’ Son are unusual films. How do you choose your projects?
BC: Both films have interesting messages that are discussed in a unique way. What we have in film as well as in theater right now is a conventional way of storytelling—and audiences are comfortable with that. I feel that it’s important to have different voices and ways of storytelling. But most interesting to me were both the characters. Both are going through extreme confusion that doesn’t come to an easy resolution at the end—which is a really important message as far as I’m concerned. Life is confusing and as much as we may want answers, a search for answers is a futile endeavor. And if you embark on that, frustration is the path you’ll find yourself on. I feel that asking the questions is the answer that opens the mysteries and complexities of life to the fullest. And these movies explore that theme.
Q: Was it difficult playing someone who’s so full of anguish?
BC: What’s really difficult is when you yourself are carrying that anguish. That happens when you don’t know what you’re doing at work and when you don’t feel comfortable with the person that is leading you through this path. With Keith (Gordon) I knew exactly what we were doing everyday. I knew how I could affect it in a positive way and I knew when it was working and when it was not. I didn’t always have the answers but I felt very comfortable with him and impassioned by the story that we were telling. It takes an emotional toll but that is mainly fatigue. It’s generally very exhilarating and fulfilling to know what you’re doing and to be able to approach it with some sort of confidence because there’s somebody that you trust leading the way.
Q: Do you draw on your own life when you need to get in touch with that intensity?
BC: The most interesting thing to me is when acting as a craft has some artistry to it. You exercise your imagination and create a three-dimensional character and you suppose that the world that you are acting in is real. I draw from myself only in so far that I am part of the human experience and can empathize with people going through these kinds of things. ‘I’m not thinking about the time my dog died when I was eight years old in order to figure out how to cry.’
Q: You’re in the untitled Cameron Crowe film. Do you think that film will be your breakthrough role that will let you command a bigger salary?
BC: Certainly that was a bigger budgeted movie that buys you the luxury of more time and bigger sets and bigger casts. But it’s not any bigger to me in terms of its’ power. I do appreciate its’ value and Cameron is someone I thoroughly enjoyed working with. But it holds just as much importance to me as Jesus’ Son or Waking the Dead. To be honest with you, for about five years now I’ve heard the story of this film or that film being my "breakthrough" role. I’ve grown a little weary of it. I’m just excited to work on the things that I want to work on. So, in all honesty, that has very little relevance to me. I probably wouldn’t end up doing the films that they pay you $10 million to do. Let’s face it, ‘Nobody is going to pay me $10 million to do Jesus’ Son.
Q: But it must be frustrating as an actor to work hard on a film, get great reviews and then the film isn’t seen by many people.
BC: Of course, but the question becomes do you want to have a lot of people see you do crap or a few people see you do something that’s of value to you? That isn’t to say that anything that is successful is crap. It just means if you focus on having people see your work only, on a very broad level, you’re doing the same thing that Fielding does in the film which is to water down anything you want out of life yourself.
Q: What do you do to chill out after a day at work?
BC: When I was doing Without Limits, I would probably have gone for a run, when I was doing Hi-Lo Country, I would probably have gone off to a stable and rode and after doing Cameron’s movie, I play guitar a lot now. So spending a night with my girlfriend annoying her with my guitar is probably a good way to veg-out.
Q: It’s hard to imagine you singing a song to anyone.
BC: Oh I don’t sing, I just play—and I’m a novice. I’m mostly just learning a lot of "Kumbaya."
Q: On screen you have tremendous chemistry with Sarah. I know it’s said that chemistry is an intangible that no one can make happen; do you agree with that?
BC: I disagree. I think what you have in a script is a wonderfully creative relationship. It’s funny to me that say that the way people interact is just chemistry and that the script doesn’t do that. This is what we created and worked on in rehearsal—how they touch one another, how they respond to one another, what they’re open to, what they’re not open to—all the things that you don’t see in the film. The fact that we had worked together before gave us a head start as far as trusting one another. But I do feel that it is an extension of some sort of artistry that the relationship is a viable one for many people.
Q: How did the director help you to create that relationship?
BC: We rehearsed quite a bit—both with the text and without it. We created our own sense of histories with the characters and then related them to each other. What Keith (Gordon) did moreover on the set was that he wasn't interested in a result but in a moment. That allows you to free yourself up and focus on what is happening in front of you.
Q: Has the amount of films you’ve been doing interfered with your doing stage work?
BC: Unfortunately, the stage doesn’t pay very much. It costs a lot for people to see it yet the people who do it don’t get paid a lot. So doing a lot of films actually enables me to do more theater.
Q: Do you still live in Manhattan?
BC: I do. I love it and wouldn’t live anywhere else.
Q: The film leaves it open-ended if Sarah is alive or dead. As an actor did you decide that question for yourself?
BC: I feel that the film takes Fielding’s point of view. I think that he’s at a place at the end of the film where he says, ‘If you are alive, thank God for coming to see me and I wish you well and I love you.’ ‘If you’re not alive, thank God for being a part of my life.’ His being able to understand how one life could affect another life is the vital thing for him. What was important for him was to embrace his experience with her and move on.
Q: Is there any actor whose career you’d like to mirror.
BC: That has never occurred to me. All I can hope for, if I make it to a ripe, old age, is to be able to look back on my resume and not have any regrets about the things that I’ve done. And so far, so good. I feel very lucky about the career that I’ve been able to create.
© 2000 Cinemaze Entertainment Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
