I've been told you have seen "The Yards" four times. What is it that makes the film so special for you?
I don't think I've ever seen another of my films all the way through. I feel really close to the film because I was involved with the project for two years before we shot. In post-production, I talked to James Gray, the director, virtually every day. I felt like I'd been involved with it for years. It turned out exactly how I'd hoped. Sometimes when you see a film your favourite scenes are missing - and you understand why - but here the scenes that I love were in the film and it all worked.
What would you say "The Yards" is about?
It's about the falsity of the American Dream. It's an odd thing that my generation faces; we're encouraged to pursue the American Dream but we don't really have the right moral support to make those decisions. So you have this character Willie. We know nothing of his parents bar one reference early on to his mother. You really get a sense that there's this child who has had to grow up really quick and hard. It's about betrayal and friendship and love, and how those outside forces can pollute our relationships.
Was it hard to leave the character of Willie behind?
Any actor who says that he or she had to leave that character at home on the weekend is full of shit and pretentious. It's more subtle than that. That's when you see through a performance, when it's all show. There's not one process for either getting into a role or out of it that I have found. For "The Yards", it wasn't until a year afterwards that I looked back and wondered how I did it.
Read a review of "The Yards".
