Having played an alien character in "Starman", were you wary of this script when it came your way?
When it first came to me I asked my agent what it was about and he said "it's about an alien". I said I'd done that part already. He told me I wasn't being offered that, I was being offered the psychiatrist role. I asked who was playing the alien, and they said it was Kevin Spacey and I thought that was great because I admired Kevin's work. So it all started to fall into place. A big part of the decision making process is being involved with a movie I'd like to see, and this felt like a project I could really be a part of.
One of the themes of the film is the importance of appreciating those that are close to you. Is this a lesson you have learned in your own career?
What tends to happen when you're an actor is that you are separated from your family for long periods of time, and you kind of get stuck in your own world. After the job is finished, and you get back together, if you're lucky there's three, four, or five days of honeymoon period before all these resentments come up. So what my wife and I tend to do is try to engage the relationship, keep in touch with the little news, just to keep it all going. That seems to help.
In recent times you have managed to mix your roles to great effect going, for example, from the laid back lead in "The Big Lebowski" to the US President in "The Contender"...
I've always tried to mix up my roles as much as I can. To a large degree that comes from my father, who was a wonderful actor, but he got typecast by his TV show Sea Hunt. So, whenever I get a chance to go from the Dude to the Pres that's a big plus for me. I enjoy that.
