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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q: Tell us about working with first-time director Michael
Mayer.
A: He has an incredible sense of blocking, not like many
film directors I’ve worked with have, because obviously,
with stage, it's so much about that physical space, but with film,
you can cheat physical space because you’re shooting single
people and single shots
and so on.
But he really understood the approximations of the characters
at different times and how that told stories without any dialogue.
And he was great. Mike’s a great
film director/theater director, and at the end of the day, you’re
directing people and you’re kind of helping them tap into
stuff that you hope, having cast them, exists within them.
But you’re just helping them, leading them out of themselves
or into themselves.
Q: Tell us about Michael Cunningham’s adaptation.
A: He’s such a wordsmith. He’s such a beautiful
writer. Michael knew each character so implicitly because he spent
about five years writing the book, and it was just so beautifully
written.
Each character was as extreme as they were in the book, even Clare
[Robin Wright Penn’s character], was kind of crazy and eccentric
as she is at times; she was just painted with such a beautifully
soft brushstroke. So it was just gorgeous to be part of it.
Q: Talk about what the title means to you.
A: Well, hopefully you can carry it around with you.
I say that because I travel a lot. So it is your heart. It’s
wherever you find peace, but peace can be found in turmoil as
well.
If you get yourself out of the turmoil, peace becomes greater.
Obviously, for me, it is family, it's friends, and they’re
all in Dublin.
But even though they’re in Dublin, they’re within
me, so they’re here in this room and this hotel. So, you
know, I suppose what I’m saying is, home is where the heart
is.
Q: Is the character of Bobby bisexual or just Asexual?
A: No, he's not aware enough of sexuality. He is bisexual,
asexual, he's not sexual, he's just a lover.
If he met a girl that rocked his world he'd be with her, and if
he met a boy that rocked his world, he'd be with him.
You can call that bisexual, of course, but Bobby wouldn’t
even know what it was if you said to him, 'you're bisexual'. It's
not in the realms of his thinking, he just exists.
Q: In the movie, your character never wants to be alone,
have you ever felt like that ever in your life?
A: No, there are times when I need some space.
Q: Even before the fame?
A: No, it’s always been kind of the same, I always
enjoyed being on me own. And also I loved company, I loved going
out and having a laugh with groups, but with the character of
Bobby, he’s someone who is really not even aware of it as
an Achilles or a neediness, but he just doesn't want to be on
his own, ever, because he has stared loneliness in the face, when
his whole family died around him.
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Q: Colin, you've been in
a couple of smaller films this year. Are you getting tired of
the blockbuster roles?
A: S.W.A.T. was four and
a half months long and I had a blast doing it, but I definitely
wanted to do something to challenge myself a little bit more.
I got a chance to work on Intermission
and it was being shot in Dublin with a bunch of Irish actors and
I was licking my lips at the prospect of it.
When Home at the End of the World came along, I just loved it
when I read it, really adored it. And then I went on to Alexander.
Q: Would you like to balance your career between movies
like Alexander and smaller films?
A: For the first time in my life, I realized that I'm
in a fortunate enough position to, by and large, pick and choose
my projects. I want to do different things but even if it's a
big movie, I’d better believe in it on some level.
Q: What are your priorities these days as you become
more successful? Are you trying to balance your personal life
with your career?
A: Not really, maybe I should be thinking more into the
future but I don’t think too far into the future on the
risk that I'll miss the present, you know?
And I don’t want to as the present is pretty good. I mean,
I'm working hard, I have a beautiful son, and as long as I can
be with him and he knows who his Dad always is and I can go to
work as well, I'm fine.
Q: How old is he now and has fatherhood changed you?
A: 10 months. It's not like a major metamorphosis…but
the first time you hold your baby in your arms, a sense of the
strength of love washes over you.
It's a very strange love and a very beautiful love and a very
pure love, unconditional to the extreme. But has it changed me?
I don’t know.
Q: What’s your master plan of the kind of roles
you want to play?
A: You know what, I've never had a master plan and it's
done me okay so far, so I'll just reach it and see what I wanna
do.
Q: What do you see when you look at your previous films?
A: I don’t really look at them, I'm too busy; just,
I know which ones I liked doing and which ones I didn’t.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I start work on a Terrence Malick film. It’s
called A New World. It’s the story of the English settlement
in the early 1600s. I play John Smith. Terry wrote the script
and it's beautiful.
Q: What are your impressions of him?
A: He's very shy but he's just an incredible man. He's
very, very shy, but he's highly intelligent and very gentle with
his intelligence.
His intelligence has a piece of him that is very childlike; he
sees beauty and sees details everywhere and that's strange and
just gorgeous.
Q: Have you thought of directing?
A. Maybe someday, I don’t know, maybe someday.
I'm still trying to figure out the acting thing, but maybe.
Q: Are you comfortable living and working in Ireland?
A: Yeah, it's my home; it will always be me home.
Q: Do you go back a lot?
A: I can't, I mean, I've been on the road, I live out
of a suitcase for five years. I have a place in Dublin but I've
been staying in hotels for five years. I miss Dublin very much
but it will always be there for me.
Q: You have said in the past that your mother is concerned
that you smoke too much and that you drink too much. Is your mother
more or less proud of you, these days?
A: She’s carried the same amount of pride all her
life regardless of what I've done, or what positions I've put
myself in, she's that strong.
Q: Have you slowed down any?
A: I don’t know, if I have a day off then I will
have a few beers, but my mother's very proud of me, she's always
been proud of me, man. She's a great woman.
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