Did you always want to play Eli?
That was the intention, because when I read it I was like, “wow,” I immediately connected with that part and that was sort of the impetus for getting the rights to like, “well this is a great role for you.” But it was also a great, very original story. And then the opportunity to work with Jacques, we couldn’t believe [he’d want to make it] because it was a great way to have someone tell the story and strip it of the nostalgia and clichés of the American experience. And the truth in this time period, the American West was just like a Tower of Babel—there were so many people from all over the world all speaking these different languages. The more we got into it, the more we realized it perfect idea for Jacques, a non-American, to do it.
I love Jacques. He’s incredible, but before we get there, I want to ask about what spoke to you most when you read the book.
The idea that you could follow the story of two men that murder people for living but care about them now— you get invested in what’s going on inside them. To me, they’re not necessarily criminals in the book. It was more like a traumatized child, like child soldiers, those kids in Africa who they pressed into service at 11 years old. They don’t have a choice. They are this way because they were pushed into it at a young age.
There’s a terrific a love/hate relationship with the brothers and that dynamic of the younger brother pushing around the older brother. What that was like just working with Joaquin on that?
It’s a universal story in that way, because everyone has some kind of relationship like this, whether it’s a sibling or a parent. There’s a lot of very familiar family territory in this movie. I have three brothers and of course, there’s all kinds of buried feelings in our family history that I brought to this and everyone involved, Jacques, Joaquin, brought very personal stories of their past into their inner life when we’re making this movie. You just can’t avoid it if you’re being truthful, it just comes out.
That was compelling stuff: I know what it’s like to be a brother and I know what it’s like to have those kinds of power dynamics and families and I think Joaquin is the greatest living actor, not to be over the top, but I’m just telling you the truth. I think he’s fearless. There’s nobody who’s that alive on camera to me when I watch films and especially a movie like “The Master,” when you watch Joaquin, it’s like watching an animal on screen. You can’t tell what he’s going to do next and that is the essence of good acting—surprising the audience.
What was your acting relationship like, working together?
We both had a lot of respect and held each other in high regard when we started, but we didn’t know each other at all and, and were very shy. It’s hard to believe now given how intimate we became in the movie. But it was hard for us to make eye contact at first because we’re both very intense personalities.
The way we became comfortable was just spending time together. Not talking about this and that. Of course, in time, we shared stories about our past and our families and our inner feelings and things, but in the beginning, we would just take two hour walks together and not talk. We’d walk around the streets of all Almeria, Spain and not speak, other than, “Where should we go? Okay, let’s go up there” and then just start walking for two hours. It’s funny, by osmosis, two cells spend enough time together and they start to merge. I feel so close to Joaquin now. I will do anything for him. I really do feel like he’s my brother now.
That’s really awesome. I can tell this means a lot to you.
Acting is such a funny job because you’ve invested so intensely, emotionally and intimately with people—other actors—and sometimes they just go off into an orbit and you might not see them again. And other times you have life-changing experiences. I really do feel like this experience definitely— I’ve put everything into it. I’ve never been so involved and so invested and so completely immersed in a character in a project.