What was the appeal of The Fast And The Furious for
you?
"Intuition is a large part of my process. The Fast And The Furious
is what I call a studio-generated script. This film was greenlit from an article
in Vibe magazine, so the script had to be pulled together. I signed on because
of a conversation I had with [director] Rob Cohen. He said, 'Describe to me the
shot where the camera goes through [my character] Dom into the car and out the
exhaust.' That was the one visualisation that I needed to be invested in the
film".
Your character, Dominic, is very much the strong, silent
type. Are you like that yourself?
"I think we as human beings are much
more complex than any character that has ever been portrayed on film. Part of
the luxury of film is being able to play a character who may appear glamorous. I
could take one aspect of my personality and make that the seed of the character.
"So when I look at a character like Dominic from The Fast And The Furious, I see a character who is strong, who is a caretaker. As an actor, you have to find a relationship with the character".
Rob Cohen has called you "the 21st Century's first new
action hero", comparing you to the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone. How
does that feel?
"It depends what that means. I'm flattered by the fact
that I could be compared to two men who have been the most successful in that
genre. That's extremely flattering. I am an actor first, indisputably. The years
before Steven Spielberg wrote a role for me, for Saving Private Ryan, I was an
auteur out of necessity. My history absolves me from just being an action hero.
I'm attempting to bring more to the table, more depth to my characters. I don't
approach Saving Private Ryan any differently to The Fast And The Furious".
You mentioned you began as a writer-director, with your
feature Strays. Will you direct again?
"Right now, I'm like a kid in a
candy shop. I'm being offered all these amazing roles, and it's just so hard to
turn these roles down. That's what I've had to do. I've had to turn down
multiple roles. I can't direct right now, because you're looking at nine to 12
months for just dedicating yourself to something".
How did it feel knowing Spielberg was creating a role for
you?
"It is the highest form of validation. When I was in school, I
wasn't the kid who was getting the awards. I didn't get the best-dressed award.
To be the subject of a Hollywood fairytale... after that experience, I started
buying into all those old anecdotes of the old-time actors, like Clark Gable
being discovered on a hay-cart. Nothing could be more outlandish than Steven
writing a role for me".
How was the experience of working with Spielberg?
"When I got on the plane to go do Saving Private Ryan, I was handed the
script before I got on. The role didn't exist in the script; I wasn't thinking
about the role I would play. I was thinking about watching Steven work. I would
have gone out there to shine his shoes, as a young film-maker.
"His way of directing is very efficient. He's brilliant at knowing what lens to use to capture a mood. With the confidence he has, he's brilliant at making a gesture turn into a beautiful scene.
"Also what I learnt from Steven Spielberg, is that the most confident directors are the most receptive. On the first day of film-making, he took the script and said 'This is just a blue-print! Any ideas you have then come forward.' Here's the guy with more accolades than anyone I know, and more money than God. And he's receptive? I got why he was receptive; although his budgets are high, he wanted to make magic. After all the success, all he wants to do is make magic. If that's what he's going for, that must be the thing to go for".
Are you much of a party-goer when you're back home?
"I haven't had a drink in two and a half years. I'm one of those people
that wants to do everything in his power to be as good as possible to try to
master a craft. If I feel, whether right or wrong, that drinking alcohol at this
time in my life could hinder me at all, I will drop that. I feel more in tact
without it. I feel like I'm able to be more in tune with my emotions.
"I don't get to escape like I did when I used to drink. I was never a heavy drinker, because of my years of bouncing. I bounced six nights a week. As a bouncer you can't drink. It's an amazing training ground for handling people. It's an amazing training ground for being effective in speech. I try to learn as much as I can from every experience, and I believe I learnt a lot from that. You learn how to read people from bouncing. I've had friends who've had their neck slit from here to here, from reading a person wrong. It's a survival skill".
You've just completed Knockaround Guys, with Dennis Hopper
and John Malkovich. Is it more of a comedy?
"Yeah, in an American Guy
Ritchie kind of way. In a post-Tarantino kind of way".
And you're about to work with Rob Cohen again, on "punk
James Bond" film XXX?
"Yeah. It's tricky because the hardest thing to do
is to get that role in XXX. I wanted it. That's what I've been presented with,
so it's hard for my agent to understand that. I'd do a musical if I could. I'd
do a re-make of My Fair Lady if they'd let me!"
You're reputedly a big Lord Of The Rings fan. How did it
feel not to be a part of that?
"If there's any tragedy that exists in
modern times, it was the fact that I was not a part of Lord Of The Rings. Had I
had the power, that I soon hope to acquire, I would've been... I'm not even
going to tell you what I would've
been!"