Page 91 - Sharp Winter 2023

with it. And I believe that if you’ve done a take once or twice the same way, you’ve got to change it up. You already got that. So, you don’t have a lot of time for experimentation. How about none? And then also the amount of time. If we did ten shows it was the equivalent to five sequels in a row, like five Rocky’s, and that’s fatiguing.
Would you say this project in a way was similar to when you did Copland in 1997, where you were really hungry to have a new, dramatic role? Yes, very much so. In Copland, I said, “Okay, I’m gon- na be the weakest guy on the set and the weakest character.” That’s how that you have to be. So, you go here and have to check it at the door. This one I said, “You have to be a toughest guy on the block, but you also have to be the most unpredictable. You have to be funny, you have to be tough and then you find out he’s gonna be a little tragic later on, because he has some terrible regrets that he’s gonna try to remedy.”
Are there things you’ve done with this character that you feel like you’ve never done before? Oh, definitely. I think the acting in this is definitely much more layered than I’ve ever done. Usually, Rocky is pretty, let’s say, one dimensional. He has a certain metre, a certain pacing. This character, every time he’s with the bad guys, he’s tough. He’s with his daughter, he different. He’s constantly al- tering his ego, his personality, for what the situation calls for.
I know you’ve had an Edgar Allen Poe biopic that you’ve wanted to make for years, but are there any projects like that you’re still really hoping to make one day?
Yeah, there’s a couple there. There’s one I wan- na do, it’s called Hunter, which I’d like to do as a streaming series. There’s another called Levon Cade. A lot of these are harkening back to when men were men [laughs] — when action films were basically men overcoming incredible odds, but terra firma and real, not something that’s CGI-driven. Almost like Rambo, Rocky, early Charles Bronson, Dirty Harry. That’s the kind of film I’m focusing on.
Even though, obviously, it seems like action films have shifted to that — superheroes and CGI — are there any younger action stars who’ve impressed you?
I think there are, but I’d like to take them out of that scenario and the CGI aspect of it. Because I know they all wanna do it. I can’t tell you how many actors and comedians, even Adam Sandler, have said “I’d love to do Rambo.” It’s like every guy’s fantasy to do that stuff. But it’s something that’s very hard to find, that kind of actor. You can find muscles and a good look and this and that, but that’s not what it takes to be Charles Bronson. They’re there, but it’s not for everybody. So when you find someone like Jon Bernthal, you go ‘yeah, he’s got the makings of it.’
And do you think that’s essentially lived experience?
I think so. That’s a good point. It is lived experience. If you’ve grown up as a child actor and you move along, what exactly have you experienced? You’ve lived basically a surreal world your whole life. I’ve been in some bad places in my life, and I use it all the time for sensory recall. Like, I’ve been arrested, I’ve been in some really difficult situations. And it’s always gonna be there. And I literally, like a filing cabinet: pull up this nightmare, pull up that one. And that sensory recall comes in handy.
Do you consider yourself a method actor in that way?
Yeah, I would. I use that... what is it called? Like if I’m acting with you, I’ll put my father in your body. So I replace you with his. So it’s like I’m talking to him, which changes the whole dynamic as opposed to talking to an actor I don’t really know. Substitution, that’s the word.
And one last thing: there was this post on your Instagram that me and my friends all loved where you post a photo of yourself with all the keys to Vatican City. Can you talk about that a little?
That! So, I go there, and I’ve been there a couple of times, but for some reason, everything was avail- able to me. They said, “This is the keeper of the keys, who’s been here for 40 years. This is every key in the Vatican, and no one touches it but him.” And when I tell you, he knows where every one of them is, and they let me hold it and grab it right back. It was almost like grabbing Jesus’s chalice, he’s that special. And so then I go in and I unlock the Sistine Chapel. And you walk in, and there’s sunlight there, and you got the key.
FEATURE
“It’s harkening back to when men were men — when action films were men overcoming incredible odds, not something that’s CGI- driven.”
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