"Right now on "Close Up" "With The Hollywood Reporter"..." "All the auditions." "Those are some" "We've left some good performances." "Do you think there should be an award show for those?" "(laughter)" "Well, yeah!" "I played a lot of guys sitting in vans with headsets." "I did a lot of this like," ""We lost 'em."" "(laughter)" "And then you're walking around the set." "I went by one of the actor jurors, and she goes," ""You ain't even gonna cry or nothing?"" "I was like," ""That" " The" "What are you talking about?"" "That's right!" "(Rose)" "We'll hear from the six actors who delivered the most riveting dramatic performances this year." "♪♪" "Welcome to "Close Up" "With The Hollywood Reporter."" "I'm your host, Lacey Rose," "Television Editor." "Let's jump right in." "So, Paul..." "Mm." "On "Billions"..." "Yes." "The show opens with a dominatrix..." "Mm-hmm." "...who we later learn is-- is your wife." "Not really, not that." "That's what happens." "That's what killed, uh... (laughter)" "You mean now?" "But, she is..." "Yes." "She is urinating on you, which I have since learned is called a golden shower." "Hey, hey!" "(Giamatti) Yes, it is." "(Rose) Yes." "So, you read the script and you say," ""Yes, I'm in"?" "I mean, you see that" "Sure." "Yeah, absolutely." "I mean, it wasn't" "That wasn't the only thing the character does in the thing." "That was" " I" "It was very interesting because, precisely, it does end up being my wife." "What was interesting about it is, that we're not gonna make it a sort of freakish thing." "Uh-huh." "It was just gonna be this guy-- this is what he does." "Uh-huh." "And this is what they do as a couple." "And, so, it becomes interesting for the couple, but it's also a great sort of metaphor for the whole show." "Sure." "The whole dominance and submission thing is a big thing in the whole show." "So, there's no hesitation when you read moments like that." "Not for me, no." "If somebody's gonna pee on me in a movie, I will sign on the dotted line." "You look forward to those moments." "No, I do." "I thought this would be really interesting." "I mean, I hadn't done anything like it before, and Maggie hadn't done anything like it before." "It was actually" " It was a very interesting part of it." "I'm the (bleep) damn" "U.S. Attorney, Wendy." "So?" "I've been working there since before we were married and long before you were in office." "Look..." "Not that we're there, but we did always discuss that the day might come when there was a conflict." "That was before I was making eight times what you make, and before you started making" "Chuck Sr. plays like this." "Leave him out of it, okay?" "'Cause, you know, it's not..." "They're erotic scenes, they're not sort of sex scenes." "Mm-hmm." "I mean, I haven't had to do a whole lot of those." "Those are harder." "This is, you know, it's-- it's unusual." "Mm-hmm." "You know?" "What was more disturbing was the cigarette burn first..." "Yeah." "... and then the urination." "I was like, "Aah!" "Oh!"" "And then the chain" "Yeah!" "Yeah." "Oh!" "Yeah, I mean, that's mild, I mean, for what those people actually do." "(Rose) Y-yes." "I mean, you know... (Gooding)" "It's so funny." "It" " It took me a month and a half to shake O.J. Simpson from my psyche." "Yeah." "It really did, because it was the darkest role that I had ever done." "And yet, I still am proud of what I did..." "Yeah." "Even though" "I still feel the residual on my psyche." "Oh, see, now that pisses me off!" "They got The Juice in handcuffs!" "I was handcuffed for five seconds!" "They ain't go no other footage of me?" "This situation is very worrisome." "What's the lawyer say?" "I don't know!" "I don't even know where the hell Howard is" "Hey, where's Howard," "A.C.?" "I-I couldn't find him." "Well, find him, man!" "Come on!" "We've tried." "I'm drownin' over here!" "O.J., you need-- you need your counsel." "(woman)" "Robert, are you a lawyer?" "Yes, yea" "Well, I used to be, but not criminal." "Don't you think a little part of it stays with you," "I mean, from every character you play, though?" "(Gooding) Absolutely." "(Malek) Oh, yeah." "And you" "I'll go one further." "On Friday after we wrapped filming," "I got two tickets to see the Blackhawks in Chicago." "Saturday, I went to my daughter's dance recital." "She's 10." "My wife and I, she didn't have a ticket for me," "I got upset so I said, don't think about her, just focus on Piper." "It's Piper's day." "And then I watched." "And then that night, got on a plane to Chicago." "And it hit me." "The Saturday before the murders," "O.J. went to his daughter's dance recital and went off." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "He was (bleep) furious." "that she didn't have a seat for him." "And then, that night the murders happened, he flew to Chicago." "Uh-huh." "Now, he went for a golf stay." "How interesting." "I went to see the" "And it was just" "Whoa." "Do you think patterns like that..." "Yes!" "like flow, 'cause we live in patterns, in a way." "I mean, there are archetypes..." "Absolutely." "that we fall into, and there's energy that we like..." "Absolutely." "(Moura) For sure, yeah." "...move inside of." "Absolutely." "Absolutely." "(Rose) Yeah." "Absolutely," "I believe that." "Yeah." "(Malek) Yeah, yeah." "It does seem like." "You know, we all have to go to a very dark place." "I got the lovely break of doing "The Pacific,"" "which I talk about quite a bit 'cause it was such an indelible moment for me." "Sure." "But, I got to go to do the boot camp that everybody's doing these days when they go to war, and then I remember" "I was new, and I couldn't really step out of it." "I kept all that going on in my head." "And, you know, there are days" "I'm picking out gold teeth from these prosthetic bodies, but they were done so well, it felt so real, and it-- it physically and psychologically really had, uh, kind of a negative impact on me." "Sure." "Have you been able to separate on this?" "Yeah, on this" "I show up to work and I-- you know, I think you get all the work done ahead of time so" "I can enjoy myself there and have regular conversations." "Mm-hmm." "I mean, not everybody's like that, but I know that I need that to get through the day now." "I'm not saying anything new." "We all know why we do this." "Not because "Hunger Games"" "books makes us happy, but because we want to be sedated." "Because it's painful not to pretend." "Because we're cowards." "I think since the day we wrapped the first season," "I've been thinking about the second season." "and feeling like there was an immense amount of pressure." "It really had a cultural impact on so many people on so many levels." "And, you know, you want to be able to retain that or improve upon it." "There's something scary about coming out of the gate so strong." "The only way to alleviate myself of that pressure is just to keep working, keep discovering, keep researching." "And go to that place ev-- you know, every chance" "I could." "And I feel like, if you step on set that-- that next season and you have all that, then no matter what happens, you can't get mad at yourself." "It'll hopefully be no fault of your own." "Right, right." "But, I think we have a great group of people that I-- it feels like everybody came back with that mind-set... (Rose) Uh-huh." "...that said not only can we do as good a job, we can do better." "And, feeling pretty good." "So far, so good." "So, some of it's alleviated." "Uh-huh." "And, Forest, with you, with "Roots,"" "what was it about it that you wanted to say," ""Okay, it's time to revisit this again"?" "I mean, I think it was, like, a few things, I mean... it's more inside of," "I think," "Kunta Kinte's character and his mind." "It starts to show you their history and their back history in a way that I hadn't understood before." "I didn't even understand his religion." "I didn't know he was a Muslim." "Hmm." "You know what I mean?" "And, so, he chooses to compromise and give away parts of himself to function, to have a good life." "And then has to confront, like, his own identity." "He loses identity in-- at the end of the-- at least, my character's life, he regains his identity." "And I think this issue of identity is something that I've been playing with in a lot of different things" "I'm trying to understand." "So, I-I decided to give him a shot." "A lot of challenges, you know, with the-- with the violin itself and with other instruments, 'cause I started to decide to add on other instruments, you know, like, to express, like," "his transition from the past with the kuntigi, which is the African guitar..." "Mm-hmm." "...to the violin." "The piece itself," "I think is important for the legacy of what it is." "You know, people have" "The youths today haven't seen this." "I think it's very important for them to look at this and remember this as a source of identity and move on to the next phase of... (Gooding) Mm-hmm." "(Rose) Sure." "...the progression of ti-- of where we're moving to." "Kunta Kinte." "No, no, listen to me." "The master's wife done named you Toby." "Kunta Kinte!" "Your name is Toby now." "(speaking native language)" "I ain't got time to (bleep) wag with a Guinea." "Say "Toby."" "(speaking native language)" "Toby!" "Toby, Toby, Toby," "Toby, Toby!" "Toby!" "You're gonna be Toby now, and you're gonna be Toby forever." "(water splashing)" "And I don't care nothin' about your Africa ways!" "And do you remember the impact that it had on you?" "Well, yeah, I mean," "I watched it, like, with my family." "I mean, it was" "Everybody watched it." "(Cannavale) Everybody." "Truly-- quite literally, everybody watched it." "Yeah, yeah." "So, uh..." "I watched it with my whole family, though, and like, sit in front of the TV and watched it." "And then we'd all talk about it at school the next day or something like that." "Mm-hmm." "Uh-huh." "It's things that... you'd never seen before." "In what ways do you hope it sort of changes the dialogue, whether it's in Hollywood or beyond with a project like this?" "I think it just frames, like, the-- the situation so you can understand this sort of" "African holocaust in the way that what happened in the passage, and-- and how we've progressed and where we've moved to today." "Mm-hmm." "The piece allows us to historically move from era to era and see the progression of our culture and how we've become either more tolerant or less tolerant, or question if that is-- if we've moved past" "those same issues." "Mm." "You can't" "You can't watch it without being confronted with-- with the issue of civil rights, the issue of human rights." "It's not possible to-- to watch someone being beat-- beat to death, and then him having to be forced into a new identity by having to say a new name for himself, having to take a new life." "Mm-hmm." "I mean, being powerless, you know." "I think those are all like, uh, things that we have to explore." "You know, because this is going on everywhere." "Mm-hmm." "Refugees from-- from-- from issues of slavery in this country and other countries." "All kinds of things that are touchable." "Mm-hmm." "That are relatable, that are happening right now that we need to like try to understand still in this dialogue." "Stay tuned for more from the year's best drama actors." "♪♪" "♪♪" "Welcome back to "Close Up" "With The Hollywood Reporter."" "We're getting the inside stories from TV's most intriguing drama actors." "Bobby, I'm curious, with "Vinyl,"" "um, is there something sort of liberating to playing a character who's that big and sort of that extreme?" "Or is it scary to have a character who has, sort of, so few limitations, if you will?" "Well, for me, it's-- it's very freeing." "It's very nice." "I've never gotten to play a role that's-- that's this... dimensional, really." "Uh-huh." "That's this big a role..." "Uh-huh." "...I mean, for lack of putting it an easier way," "I mean." "So, it's a pretty big role." "I've never" "I've never been the lead in anything before, and-- and that's kind of what the role calls for, you know?" "I-I really can do anything in this part." "Uh-huh." "And it was set up that way by Terry Winter and Martin Scorsese." "Yeah." "And they told me from the beginning, like, this guy is out of his mind." "Uh-huh." "So, just go and run with it, and you can-- you can-- you can play everything in this role." "You're all hearing this the same way?" "Yeah." "No." "Of course." "Three bars." "Three bars," "I can tell they'll be filling football stadiums." "Come on, Richie." "(chuckling)" "Where are we with" "The Good Rats?" "And what do you draw from to get to that sort of extreme place?" "I think, just-- just experience." "I just, you know," "I feel like I've" "I feel like maybe 20 years ago" "I wouldn't have been able to-- been ready to do this part, and I just feel like" "I've gotten" "I've played a lot of different roles in the years leading up to this, and... and I think those roles really sort of prepared me for it." "You know, I've gotten to play leads on stage before." "Sure." "And in the-- in the last, let's say, ten years I've gotten to play bigger roles and more interesting supporting roles." "And I think they've all kind of led me to this character in a way, you know." "I feel like" "I've gotten to play elements of this character in other parts, and I really get to put it all together now and really have fun with it." "So, Paul, you've obviously-- you've-- you've played real characters before." "I have." "I mean, is it" "Do you" " Is there pressure that comes with that?" "Or is it actually, like, it allows you to find a connection to that character?" "Yeah, sure, it can be really fraying." "I mean, I li" " I've played some historical characters..." "John Adams, certainly." "...you know, that are long dead." "So, we have no idea what they really sounded like and stuff." "Yep." "So, you know, you have-- a certain amount of it's kinda really circumscribed." "I've done a lot of it, and you have a lot of freedom." "And in some ways that kind of confinement of, like, I gotta look like this and talk like this frees you up in a funny way, too." "Hmm." "So, it's interesting." "Um, but I also love the idea of inhabiting a real person, a historical character." "There's a" "It's an exciting kind of story to step into and stuff like that." "Sure." "So, I just love doing stuff like that." "Sure." "David McCullough knows what he probably looks and sounded like." "(Rose) Uh-huh." "(Giamatti) Yeah." "It's really fun to invent all of that." "Like, what did these people sound like?" "Sure." "You know, we had to make all that up." "We made up accents and stu" "I mean, it was really fascinating." "Huh." "So, that kind of research stuff is really fun." "Yeah, and then you actually do become" "But, then there's too much of it." "Well..." "You know what I mean?" "(Gooding) Yeah." "And then it's like at a certain point you have to stop 'cause you can't just play the guy." "You have to then... create and pretend and make it up, too." "Wagner, do you worry about the sort of repercussions of playing a character like Pablo Escobar?" "Yeah, there's" "Yeah, there's this, and there is also this personal-- because, I mean, it's not that you-- you-- you bring the character to your house or anything like that, but we actors, we" "I mean, painters, they paint their thing." "Mm-hmm." "It's outside their bodies." "Musicians, they do it, it's also" "Our thing is here." "Mm-hmm." "That's right." "So, our bodies, they have the memory of what you're doing, so..." "Mm-hmm." "Your body doesn't know you're acting." "Exactly." "I love this." "I mean, "the body doesn't know you're acting."" "Yeah." "(Gooding) That's right, you produce tears..." "You do-- you do a strong scene, an emotional scene, and then you" "Wait, oh, so I'm gonna go have a coffee." "And" " And your hands are like" "The residue of it stays on you." "It stays on you." "Because you-- you-- you give information t o your body..." "Yeah." "Yeah." "...and your body doesn't know it's a lie." "(Giamatti) No." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "So, you keep that thing in your..." "And psychologically." "(all agreeing)" "You have to take care to, you know, to-- it's-- it's not nice." "(speaking Spanish)" ""Narcos" was a-- is a very different experience, because we all went, moved to Bogota... (Rose) Uh-huh." "...to Colombia." "We shoot in locations, and we didn't really know... exactly what we were doing in the first season, actually, I think." "Mm-hmm." "You know, and now..." "I think that production-wise and script-wise and character-wise, we are all more prepared to do what we were supposed to be-- now that we have seen the first season." "Mm-hmm." "(chuckling)" "And, uh, but for me, personally, there's a" "So, we all know what's gonna happen with Pablo Escobar." "Yes." "It's like, it's a character that we" "It's like" " I felt like, when I finished the first season that I had-- that I had to finish it." "(Whitaker) Mm-hmm." "(Rose) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm." "It felt like a film that had shot, like, 'til the middle of the film..." "Oh, wow." "...and I had to-- to go until the end of it." "It's like accomplishing a... something." "A mission, or" "Sure." "It's been a big part of my life." "Yeah." "It was the craziest thing" "I have ever done." "I mean, I didn't speak Spanish." "I was a thin" "I wasn't the obvious choice to play this character." "Portuguese." "Is" " Right?" "Yeah, we speak Portuguese in Brazil." "He's Brazilian, yeah." "Yeah." "I'm Brazilian, yeah." "What a trip, right?" "So, I had to learn a language... (Whitaker) Yeah." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "...in order to play a character which, you know, creates this" "That's cool." "We moved to-- to Colombia and there's a-- right before everyone and just stayed there." "(Whitaker) Uh-huh." "So, it's been a-- a very deep experience in our lives." "Mm-hmm." "So, in the first season," "I didn't want my family to be there." "Huh." "So, I had to be there alone." "So, it was also really tough and difficult." "Sure." "As it was difficult for Pablo to st-- to be away from his family all the time." "(all agreeing)" "Now, I feel more comfortable, so I brought them there." "Mm-hmm." "My kids are there learning Spanish and going to school." "Huh." "It's just a" "Wow." "And it's like, um... it makes sense." "How 'bout that coke?" "(laughter)" "All the coke!" "All that coke, man." "It came" "It came from Colombia." "Sitting around a table with a bunch of actors, you go, "How's the coke?"" ""The coke?"" "♪♪" "♪♪" "Welcome back to "Close Up" "With The Hollywood Reporter."" "We're talking with the actors behind" "TV's most compelling dramas." "What do you guys wish directors sort of better understood about actors?" "And" " And what do the really good ones get?" "I like questions." "I like when a director asks you questions." "And, like, they might be rhetorical questions that he already has the answers to... (Giamatti) Yeah." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "...but he's making you feel like you're coming up with the answer." "I find really good directors do that." "Yeah." "You know," ""What would happen if..."" "Mm-hmm." "You know, like, it's only when you get home later that you're like," ""Oh, he tricked me."" "Yeah." "He knew what he wanted." "But, like, in the moment..." "They act like it's you." "...it makes you feel like you're collaborating." "Yeah." "That's nice." "(Malek) Yeah." "I like that." "Yeah, it's that quality of the director to bring out an emotion in you." "And you think you're giving it to him, but you fe-- even if you feel like you failed, he got what he wanted from you." "Like, Oliver Stone was fa" "(Malek) We're sheep, yeah." "We're sheep, but Oliver Stone was famous for finding out a person's insecurity and picking on them." "(Giamatti) Yeah." "(Rose) Hmm." "And getting you so, like" "Aah, that when you actually did the work" "I don't know, out of insecurity he found something that he could use, so..." "I think, with me, as long as the director knows what he wants, be it through man-- manipulation or direct" ""Do it this way,"" "fine, because if" "I give him what he wants, then I know that he's gonna use that." "And if I have something else that I think might be of interest to him," "I only show him that after he gets what he wants." "Mm-hmm." "Because a lot of times, if I work along with a director who doesn't know what he wants and goes," ""What do you want to do?"" "I do it and he goes," ""That's great."" "It's like, yeah, but" "(Giamatti) Yeah, that's good." "It's not what you want." "It could be something more." "Yeah, that's so weird, yeah." "It's also weird when you feel that you can fail and-- and the director's gonna be there, you know." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "That's true, too, yeah." "It's" " It's okay." "(Whitaker) To instill confidence in you." "Let's try again." "Let's, uh, you-- you-- yeah, confident about that." "(Whitaker) Yeah, yeah." "(Rose) Sure." "I think it" " I think it" "I know for a direc-- for me, a director that can let me feel that he's listening and watching and-- and that he's-- he's got me covered." "Mm-hmm." "Yeah." "And I don't" "I don't mean camera-way," "I'm talking about" "(Malek) Trust." "(Giamatti)" "No, your insecurities." "It's that security that's really important for me, 'cause sometimes you go into a vulnerable space..." "Yeah." "(Malek) Right." "...and you want to know" "I mean, you want to be able to look to somebody sometimes, 'cause you get insecure." "Yeah." "And you say, did I do that?" "Did I make that?" "I don't even know if I got that." "Yeah." "You know, you want somebody" "(Giamatti)" "Somebody you can trust." "(Whitaker) Yeah." "(Rose) Sure, I" "I want to be emp-- sorry, empowered." "I don't love being broken down, you know." "Yeah, no, I've never" "I've never worked with a guy who's done that." "I don't know how" "I'd react to that... (Rose) Just cry in a corner." "...to that kind of negative, that reduc-- that thing where they're reducing you." "I don't know how" "I'd take to that." "No, that's like some 1970s, golden age of television, where they broke you down over and over." "Yeah." "All right, looking back at the early days of your careers, what were the worst audition stories you guys must be harboring deep down?" "Cuba definitely has one," "I can tell." "Yeah, everybody want-- has one, but nobody wants to be the first to tell." "Well, you're gonna be the first to, uh..." "I'll never forget," "I had a McDonald's commercial, and they teach you when you go on auditions to slate your name." "And my agent," "Carl Lee Jr., just passed away recently-- my heart and soul-- says, you know, when you slate your name, it's the first time that they will see you in a-- a tape of people" "hundreds that look just like you on your audition tape." "So, you always-- you know, you-- you-- you show your energy when you slate your name, so... me and two other black actors came in, and at the time" "I didn't know the-- this director, but now I know him and his reputation," "Joe Pytka." "We walk into this audition and the three of us hit our marks, and she says," ""Okay, slate your name."" "And I say," ""Hi, I'm Cuba Gooding Jr.!"" "And he goes," ""What?" "Seriously?" "Next!" "Get him out of here!"" "(laughter)" "How awful!" "I was like," ""Okay."" "(laughter)" "I left and I" "I was marked." "I'm guessing you didn't get that commercial." "Didn't get it?" "He kicked me out!" "I didn't even audition." "I slated my name and he kicked me out of the room, (bleep)." "I had to audition once." "I mean, I" "I haven't done a lot of commercials." "And I was 17, 16." "That was really embarrassing because" "I was supposed to play the wind." "(Cannavale) The wind?" "(Moura) The wind." "(Cannavale) Yeah." "I didn't know what kind" "I mean, I" "In a commercial?" "In a commercial." "And I didn't know what to do because I-I was told that I was supposed to be doing something." "And I just didn't know exactly how" "How does one play the wind?" "You know, the wind." "And then he said-- the guy said, "Okay, we want the camera to like you, so look at the camera and do something."" "I got off the set, and it was terrible." "I felt like the worst actor in the world because I couldn't play the wind." "You should've broke wind." "(Cannavale) Yeah." "Yeah." "Yeah, that's hard, yeah." "(Giamatti) That is hard." "I don't even know where to begin." "I don't either." "(Malek) Yeah." "You don't go" "(Moura blowing)" "Yeah." "(laughter)" "That's really good." "That's awesome now." "Exactly." "If only..." "You've had years to think about it." "Someone's been thinking about it for years." ""Why didn't we cast him?"" "(Rose)" "You've perfected the wind." "(Cannavale)" "One time I had an audition for-- remember that movie" ""Starship Troopers"?" "Mm-hmm." "Yeah." "It was like early in my career and-- and it was, uh-- and it was just-- there was no script." "I remember being like," ""Well, how am I supposed to prepare?"" "And they were like," ""It just gonna be improv."" "And, um, and-- and the only, uh-- all I had to do was," "I had to react to a bug, like a big bug, and scream," ""Bug!"" "(Giamatti) Yeah." "And I remember, like, doing it, and being-- and they were like," ""Ugh, okay, thanks."" "I could hear the sigh." "Yeah." "And I" "And I just remember like not wanting to leave the room." "Just going like," ""I-I can do it better!" "I can do it better."" "And I was young, and I was like-- and just refused to leave the room." "Yeah." "And I just kept doing it over and over again." ""Bug!" "Bug!" "Bug!"" "I didn't get it." "That's the one thing I" "I used to do a lot, is just, uh, stay in the room until it was, you know-- you just wore out your welcome." "Uncomfortable." "Yeah, right." "Like, "No, I" "Another one." "I'll do another one."" "And they're like, "No," "I think we've seen enough."" "(Moura)" "Yeah, yeah." "You were great, you know, just..." "Yeah, exactly, it's time to go." "But not great enough." "And, moving on." "Now I'm out of there as quick as possible." "It's like, move on." "Don't go away, we'll be right back with more." "♪♪" "♪♪" "Welcome back to "Close Up" "With The Hollywood Reporter."" "We're getting the inside stories from TV's most intriguing drama actors." "So, if we had your agents sitting around this table..." "Uh-huh." "...and I asked them about your-- (chuckling) how you react when they present you with-- with projects, what would they say?" "I think my agent would say they'd never know how" "I'm gonna react." "Huh." "'Cause I never know how I'm gonna react." "Part of what" "I enjoy about this is not knowing what's gonna happen to me next." "(Malek) Yeah." "(Rose) Uh-huh." "And what" "I'm gonna get next, or what's gonna suddenly be interesting to me, you know?" "What are projects that have come your way that you've been not sort of thinking that this would be something that they'd want you for, and then have been delighted and done it?" "Oh, jeez, I don't know." "So many things." "I don't know." "I did a movie called" ""The Illusionist"..." "Uh-huh." "...which is a small little movie." "And I remember getting that and thinking," ""Nobody's ever wanted me to play a German police detective before."" "And I was think" ""The Illusionist"" "is not a little movie." "It's a wonderful movie." "I admit, I mean, you know" "That's what" "I was thinking." "(overlapping voices, laughter)" "But I remember thinking like," ""Wow, I-I" "Nobody's ever wanted me--"" "Mm-hmm." "And" " And I loved doing that thing." "(Whitaker)" "Yeah, you were great in it." "'Cause I had no idea" "I'm gonna be running around with a hat and a pipe and like a cape and (bleep), and jumping on a train and stuff." "I was like," ""This is fantastic!"" "I just didn't ever see that coming." "(Rose) Uh-huh." "(Giamatti) You know, and it-- so that's wonderful, that's a big part of it to me..." "Sure." "...is this enjoyment of," "I have no idea, really, what's gonna happen to me, 'cause I'm lucky to exist in a place where I don't know, if that answers your question." "Yeah." "They wouldn't know." "They wouldn't know." "They'll always be surprised." "And sometimes they'll be like," ""Why the (bleep) do you want to do that?"" "Uh-huh." "You know, I'll be like," ""Because I want to do a thing where I have a bird and I play with a bird."" "(Cannavale) Yeah, yeah." "That's true." "My agent's always afraid to bring me things that are like a detective..." "Uh-huh." "or a Mob guy." "(Giamatti) Yeah." "'Cause they know" "I'm gonna be like... (laughter)" "(Cannavale)" "Or making pizza." "(laughter)" "(Rose)" "Uh-huh, uh-huh." "(Giamatti)" "Really, was there a lot of pizza guys?" "A couple of pizza guys, yeah." "Have you?" "Yeah." "I've actually got a pizza Mob guy once." "(laughter)" "Like a guy, a Mob guy, who liked making pizzas." "He was, like, on the run in Witness Protection, and I was like..." "Sure." "And they were like," ""But he's in Witness" "Protection and he's in Arizona,"" "and I'm like," ""Yeah, I could go to Arizona." "It's not that (bleep) crazy,"" "you know, but..." "I think everybody at this table has gone through that transition." "When I started in this business," "I was conditioned to-- for failure, and "No,"" "and to hear "No."" "So, you go to a billion audition, and then you get one and you're like," ""Oh, (bleep), I got a job," "I got a job," you know." "And, so, you just are conditioned to be insecure and I" ""This isn't gonna work."" "Then, the transition that I spoke of is, now your agent calls you and say," ""Now you have to choose from a plethora of things."" "And you're like," ""So, I have to say 'No' to myself on those things?"" "(all agreeing)" "And when you do that, you're saying "No" maybe to something you should be doing or you shouldn't be doing." "Yeah." "Mm-hmm." "So, that's why I let go of the scripts and," ""What are the filmmakers" "I want to work with?"" "(Whitaker) Yeah." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "'Cause let them tell me what I should be doing, because when I started at this business," "I was just trying to win any role, any role it is, you know." "(Rose) Right." "You know?" "So..." "And it shifts so quickly, yeah." "But, you're not the only one at this table who either currently is playing, um, a real life character." "What are the up sides and the down sides of inhabiting a real character?" "(Whitaker) I was" "Even recently I was asked to play-- to do a film with early onset dementia." "And, like, the few times that I've played somebody who has schizophrenia or bipolar issues..." "Mm-hmm." "...it's really affected me." "Mm-hmm." "And I just" "I just couldn't" "I literally said," ""I can't do this film for you."" "Even though the role is interesting..." "Mm-hmm." "...and it'd be good, but I'm just a little nervous." "I haven't figured out how to, like, put myself there, 'cause my" "I'm really susceptible to myself some-- to different things, you know." "So, if I just tell myself" "I'm not remembering, and I start, like, not remembering for like a month... (Malek) Mm-hmm." "...then I don't know what it would do to, like, the neurology of my own system." "So, I get nervous 'cause I think it's" "It's something I've been trying to figure out." "I've been trying to figure it out, what to play, and then like shift Brease, you know?" "And like damage yourself..." "And get another file." "Yeah, exactly." "...or something." "Yeah, no, I know." "You know, something." "Yeah." "Theater was hard in that way." "I mean, I felt like I did damage to myself sometimes, you know, physically and psychologically." "It got really hard to do." "I just have to make sure that I have, like, space to be alone." "(Giamatti) Yeah." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "Like, and so I-I" "I kind of inadvertently push people away, I think." "(Giamatti) Yeah." "And I think I send out a signal that tells people" "I need to, like" "I need space, I can't come home from work... from a 18-hour day or whatever it is, and be bothered." "Yeah." "(all agreeing)" "So, I just have to have, like, space to be able to" "(Giamatti) Decompress." "That's why I like working in New York so much, you know," "I can just go out... (Giamatti) Go home." "...I can walk." "Walk around and, um..." "Yeah." "It's absolutely necessary." "I couldn't just come home and... (Moura) Yeah, absolutely." "(Rose) Sure." "(Gooding)" "I love it." "(Rose) You do?" "I always love it." "I mean..." "I've played a few" "Ben Carson and, you know..." "Mm-hmm." "...uh, Master Chief" "Carl Brashear." "And, now O.J." "and, uh," "I think it's because we as actors try to find an emotional truth to the character in whatever situation you put him in, right?" "Mm-hmm." "So, you do your research and you try to get his mannerisms down." "You try to get the, you know, the hair to look as much like that character." "But, when you connect with that character truthfully, the audience will forget what he looks like." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "You know?" "I've said some stuff about your show." "I absolutely adored it." "I really did." "Uh-huh." "But if I gave it one critique, and I've said this in press is, when they go to the real Pablo Escobar," "I feel like they betray you every time." "I'm like... (laughter) ...I finally got..." "That's tough, yeah." "...that image out." "(Moura) Mm-hmm." "And I'm into you." "(Rose) It's that guy, yeah." "And then they jump back to the real guy, and I think..." "That's interesting, yeah." "I think it's one of those things where the audience will go on your-- the truth of your journey." "It's just like take after take." "We" " You know," "Marlon Brando says that he watched" ""On the Waterfront,"" "and he said," ""In and out, in and out."" "And they were like," ""What does that mean?"" "He's like, "I was in and out, truthfully, I--"" "You know?" "And it could have been just because of the different takes that they use." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "But it really is that." "When we see our work, we look for the truth, when we're really, like, caught up in it, you know, so... (Whitaker) Mm." "(Rose) Yeah." "Yeah, and I'm curious about this." "How did you" "Did you try to imitate him, or to talk like him, or to... what was your" "Well, I-- as much as I could, you know." "Ryan and I had this agreement early on." "I said, you know," "I'll look like him as much as I can but, you know," "I will be the actor that will give you a truth for whatever you want." "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm." "So, you tell me-- you know, we had a shorthand where he'd say," ""Do this take where he's guilty." ""Do this take now where he's frustrated 'cause his son did it."" "(Moura) Yeah." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "Like, he literally talked me through." "(Moura) Oh, wow." "So, I had to put myself in that mind-set." "And that was the truth that I" "I felt was my job." "And, it's like" "We had a videographer on the set every day, and especially when we were doing the courtroom stuff, so we would watch what we were about to shoot real-time..." "Really?" "(Cannavale) Wow." "...you know, and there were certain things" "What a trip." "Yeah." "(Gooding)" "Like, the biggest example would be the "not guilty" verdict." "When he did it" " I'll" "I have to tell the story." "So, I don't know if anybody's seen the show, but... (Malek) Yeah." "A few people have seen it." "...my character goes through an emotional roller coaster, right?" "So, in that-- in that verdict, he was so (bleep) drugged up and doped up that they said" ""Not guilty"" "Well, you saw how he did it when he did it." "Yeah, yeah." "So, I tried to mimic his reaction to a "T."" "And I'm, you know, between takes I wanna" "You know, you're walking around the set just trying to stay away from everybody." "I went by one of the actor jurors, and she goes..." ""Oh, you ain't even gonna cry or nothing?"" "Like, she critiqued the fact that I wasn't crying" "(laughter)" "She goes, "Mmm..." "Cuba, you know you better work."" "(Giamatti) Wow." ""You better end crying."" "I was like," ""That" " The" "What are you talking about?"" "I swear," "I was just like..." "Let me do me, and you-- do you." "You be a juror!" "It was like" "But it was because" "I was trying to mimic that moment." "Yeah." "Yeah." "If I was really" "If it was Cuba Gooding Jr." "found "not guilty,"" "I'd be like... (sobbing)" "With like" "I prayed to God!" "(laughter)" "♪♪" "♪♪" "Welcome back to "Close Up" "With The Hollywood Reporter."" "We're here with this year's stand-out drama actors." "All right, the industry often likes to sort of lock people into certain lanes." "Were there points early in your career?" "What were the types of roles... (Giamatti chuckling) ...that you sort of kept getting approached for and you were sort of tired of it." "It sounds like you have an answer to that." "(laughter)" "I played a lot of guys sitting in vans with headsets on watching reel-to-reel tape play." "I did a lot of this like," ""We lost 'em."" "(laughter)" "I did that guy like non-stop." "(Rose)" "Oh, you're good at that." "Or this guy... (ticking)" "This guy," ""Get out of there, Mike!" "Mike, get out--"" "I'm like, "Not again, great."" "I had to do a lot of that guy." "A lot of that guy, yep." "Forest, was there-- was there a type of role that you kept getting approached for that eventually like," ""Okay, enough, I'm" " I am done with those kind of roles"?" "I guess" " I guess I played a lot of detectives in different things." "I" " I've been kind of lucky." "I got a chance to play a lot of different kinda cool parts." "(Rose) Mm-hmm" "That's true." "Played so many different kinds of parts." "I remember when" "I saw you in, um... the Stephen Rea film..." ""Crying Game."" "...in "Crying Game."" "I'd already seen you before, but I remember seeing that movie and going," ""I didn't know he was English." "He's English."" "Yeah, yeah." ""He's English."" "Yeah, that's a cool thing." "Damn, that was wild, yeah." "Yeah." "So, this guy's played everything." "Yeah." "(Rose) Uh-huh, uh-huh." "Amazing." "What about you guys?" "Were there things that you sort of kept getting approached for, a box or some" "(Gooding)" "I remember, after I did a film," ""Boyz n the Hood"" "I got every street hood kid offer and wound up" "I chose one, which was "Gladiator,"" "which was a boxing movie, still a street kid." "But then after that," "I told myself" ""No more street kids,"" "and wound up playing a deaf mute in a Western called" ""Lightning Jack,"" "only because it was different than anything else." "(Rose) Not a street kid." "(Whitaker) Wow." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "You know, 'cause" "I didn't want to be the guy-- the go-to street kid guy, you know." "In the" " In the breakdowns for me, it was always" "I'd always just look for "quirky" or "weird"" "somewhere in there." "I was like, that's what I'm gonna go in for, surely." "(Moura) Yeah." "Yeah." "And I-I resented it for a while, and then" "I kind of thought, you know, this was something to be proud of, that you can be that kind of outsider in anything." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "Obviously, this role for you has been wildly sort of impactful and I imagine sort of game-changing." "I'm curious-- the offers are probably coming." "When you look around and think about" "I gotta go guys," "I have a meeting." "(laughter)" "What time is it?" "But I'm curious as of when you think about careers you want to emulate and decisions you want to make about what to do next, and how are you thinking about what to say "yes"" "and what to say "no" to." "It's such a good question, and I don't know if any actor ever figures out, like, what exactly they want, but again, now doors have-- have definitely been opened, and gotten to read scripts" "and meet with directors that, you know," "I never would have had the opportunity to..." "Mm-hmm." "...a year ago." "And..." "I've just always" "I've wanted to just work on really great content, great material, with capable, inspiring, artistic directors, and..." "If something moved me or scared me, then I was drawn to it." "I don't need to work all the time." "(Rose) Mm-hmm." "I would much rather wait on something really special that speaks to me, and I think I do look for things I can shine in, but ultimately, now that I work on this show that has really provoked people" "in such a way that..." "I want to do that more." "I want to have it be so socially conscious..." "Mm-hmm." "the way, you know, something like "Roots" is, something that has an impact not just as-- as a piece of entertainment but, you know, affects us on a social level and" "(Whitaker)" "Well, your show does that." "Yeah, it empowers people." "And I-I mean, that's my favorite thing about it." "Sorry to cut you..." "No, no, I mean, it definitely does." "I mean, it deals with the culture in a deep way." "Mm, yeah." "And the movement of the culture, like, as we're growing and expanding in understanding privacy and all kinds of" "Yeah." "D'you see what I mean?" "No, it gets to some really intense, crazy stuff after a while." "Yeah, yeah, very." "(Rose) It sure does." "Are there projects of yours that sort of virtually nobody has seen?" "And what is it about that specific project that was-- that made it so special to you, and-- and then, why didn't it connect with-- with a broader audience?" "Is there one?" "I did a little movie called, um," ""Fast Food Nation"" "that I'm really proud of that Rick Linklater made." "Yeah!" "He's one of my favorite filmmakers... (Whitaker) Cool." "And I had just coincidentally read that book..." "Uh-huh." "...a couple years earlier and I'd given up on" "I haven't touched fast food since I read that book." "It just changed my life, that book." "And then," "I was doing a play in New York called "Hurlyburly."" "And I was playing like a kind of a nasty guy, another coke guy." "And, um... (laughter)" "And, I mean, he was like crazy, and I had never played that kind of role before." "I played, like, nice guys before." "That's a great play, man." "I had done like" ""Third Watch"" "and "Station Agent"..." "Yep." "...and that was it." "And Rick" "And Ethan Hawke was in that play, and Rick and Ethan are good friends, and Rick came to see that play and was" "He didn't now me." "Mm-hmm." "And he was like," ""Wow, you're really nasty." ""You want to play this nasty guy in this movie?"" "And that was the first opportunity" "I ever got to play a nasty guy." "Huh." "Until that point," "I'd only been getting these nice guy roles." "Mm-hmm." "And they were kind of bland and..." "Mm-hmm." "You know, like Paul says, it's the surprises, really." "Like, you just have to be open to anything..." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Yeah." "...because" "I was typecast for two years playing a nice guy, and then I was typecast 'cause I was playing, like, the guy that was really straight, but he end up being gay at the end." "I did like four of those guys." "And then I was a Mob guy for like three or four roles." "So, you just never know..." "Yeah." "And for a minute there," "I thought I was just gonna be a nice guy." "Uh-huh." "And then Rick gave me this opportunity, and that kind of led to-- a certain-- another certain kind of personality." "Sure." "But I was really grateful for that, 'cause I got to work with Linklater, and nobody like-- nobody saw that movie for whatever reason, and I'm still really proud of that film." "Sure." "Forest, is there one that comes to mind for you?" "Whether it was way back in time or more recently?" "I did a few." "I mean," "I did a film called, uh," ""My Own Love Song"" "with Renee Zellweger..." "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm." "...which was with this filmmaker, uh," "Olivier Dahan who directed" ""La Vie en Rose."" "Mm-hmm." "There's a really unique-- from an auteur's point of view, a perspective, I mean, in the way he saw the universe and the world, and her" "I really thought the movie was really special." "And, uh, but it didn't even get released here." "Yeah, never heard of it." "(laughter)" "Dick." "No, no, I don't mind, 'cause that's what we were talking about." "It was a joke." "Did he just say that?" "Jesus, man." "You know what, I'm done." "I'm out of here." "(laughter and shouting)" "This is Forest Whitaker, man." "Don't you know who you're (bleep) talking to?" "This guy's never coming back to this table." "Get him the (bleep) out of here." "You don't get water." "How about "Ghost Dog"?" "(overlapping voices)" "(Moura)" "Such a great movie." "(Giamatti)" "That's one that's not" "That didn't fall through the cracks." "No, no, no, no, it has, like, a strong cult following." "But, yeah, it was like-- with-- working with some great, you know, auteur directors that their sensibilities were maybe not right for the distribution system in the U.S." "I have to say, I" "I want to do more of those films." "Like, it doesn't-- it never bothers me who sees them," "I just want to work with interesting filmmakers, like you got to work with all those filmmakers." "(Whitaker) Yeah." "I want to do that." "I want to work with some obscure Norwegian filmmaker who, you know, nobody sees the movie." "I-I don't care." "Feel proud of the movies." "I don't feel" "I mean, seriously, it didn't come out," "I mean, I'm" "(Cannavale) Yeah, yeah." "Right." "I feel good about the films and the filmmakers." "The movie exists in the world, yeah." "And you learn, inevitably, from each one, whether they see it or, you know..." "I filmed-- one thing" "I wanted to add is like, all the auditions... (Rose) Uh-huh." "...like, I almost wish that sometimes people would be like," ""Hey, I saw you audition for that."" "Uh-huh." "Even though you didn't get it, those are some, you know, I think..." "Some of your best work?" "...would have some good performances that, for one reason or another..." "Sure." "Is there one that got away from you?" "Do you think there should be an award show for those?" "(laughter)" "I" " Yeah, yeah." "(overlapping voices, laughter)" "My best takes are off-camera." "So, he's doing his coverage?" "All right, well," "I'm here for you." "(Gooding)" "I got this now." "♪♪" "♪♪" "Welcome back to "Close Up" "With The Hollywood Reporter."" "With me are six of the most compelling drama actors on television." "Are there doors that you guys feel, even at this point in your careers, where you've had a tremendous amount of success that are still closed?" "I mean, types of roles that you still can't get?" "White guys." "(chuckling)" "Cowboys." "Yeah." "Cowboys." "Yeah, I could never be one." "It's true, though." "I just never, like" "(Whitaker) Yeah, you could." "I never really could play..." "I'm always playing" "I'm always" "I'm always getting, like, the ethnic roles of some kind." "(Gooding)" "Yeah." "Oh, yeah." "You know, like a Mob guy, or like a-- or like a Italian" "American pizza guy or some (bleep) like that." "I never get like doctors and, you know, and um..." "Yeah, like I don't" "(Giamatti)" "I never play Italians." "I never get" " I would love to play an Italian." "I am Italian, I never get to play Italians." "I've had people tell me" "I'm not Italian enough, so..." "We get all the Italian guys." "(Cannavale)" "Like, I'd love to be in a Western." "Like, I'd love to be in a Western, man." "(Giamatti) I'd love to be in a Western!" "And I'm like, they're never gonna put me in a Western." "But I know if" "I'm in a Western," "I'm gonna have to play this guy, you know, the guys who's like," ""What'll ya have?"" "I mean," "I'll be that guy." "(laughter)" "You know?" "I could also be the corrupt mayor." "(Cannavale)" "The saloon..." "You could be-- even the sheriff, even." "Yeah, the guys building the railroad through somebody's farm." "I'm gonna be that guy." "(Cannavale) Come on." "The tycoon." "Yeah!" "I'm gonna be the tycoon, with the pocket watch." "All right, so we are gonna go to a lighter point." "When you were coming up and you get the first big role, what was the first sort of big splurge?" "I don't need money." "What I'm looking for is a" "To have experiences that bring something to my life." "To my life." "(all agreeing)" "(Gooding)" "It's so funny, it's" "There's also a currency in working with, like, an icon of some kind, and him telling you a story of a iconic director he knew." "(Giamatti) Yeah." "Those always make me go," ""Ah, this is-- this is the pay right here."" "Yeah." "Yeah." "(Rose) Yep." "For me, it's always been somebody knows my name." "The first time" "I ever met Woody Allen, that's when it-- it blew me away that he knew who I was." "Mm-hmm." "He'd seen me in a play, and he knew my work." "And he'd seen you in a play." "Yeah, and I was like," ""Wow, okay, cool."" "(Gooding)" "That's cool." "All right, so if a gun was to your head and you couldn't be an actor anymore, what would you guys do?" "I'd own a bar." "I'd run a bar, yeah." "You'd own a bar?" "I'd be in Bob's bar." "(Gooding) Yeah!" "(laughter)" "I think we all would, man." "You could find me at "Bobby's."" "Yeah, they're down at "Bobby's."" "Down at "Bobby's."" "(laughter)" "(Malek) That's perfect." "(Rose) I love it." "I'd be in Bobby's bar a lot." "(Rose)" "I love it." "What about you guys?" "What would" "What would you do?" "(Gooding) Something creative." "It would still be" "I-I feel" "I hope it would be something associated with..." "Mm-hmm." "...film, TV, or stage in some way." "Writing, directing, craft service." "What if you couldn't?" "(Rose) Craft service." "If I couldn't" "What if I couldn't do anything in..." "If they said you couldn't be in anything artistic." "Anything artistic?" "Yeah." "Is that what you're saying, nothing artistic?" "Oh, I'd get a job somewhere, you know, to pay my bills." "It'd be something physical, construction or something." "Anything artistic would be hard." "It would be hard." "Dreadful." "It'd be hard, 'cause you'd feel like," ""Oh, I'm just..."" "Right." "Like, what is it" "Yeah." "We've got no other skill sets?" "Come on, everybody." "I have no other viable skills." "I really don't." "Construc" "I think construction too." "For some reason" "I'm always drawn" "Yeah." "I guess building something." "Yeah." "You know, there's something about that." "I've always been athletic my whole life, boxing and ice hockey and other sports." "So, maybe an athletic thing?" "Pro athletes are so scary, 'cause your career ends, boom, and then you're done." "I know, and you're 35." "Yeah, and you're young, and you're like," ""Okay, what do I do now?"" "(Rose)" "Uh-huh, uh-huh." "What do you got," "Forest?" "And, not to put a downer," "I-I" "No, I-I would probably be working with the U.N. or-- or with some NGO..." "Mm-hmm." "...like somewhere in the field." "(bleep)" "(laughter)" "I know." "I want to change my answer." "I want to change my answer!" "(laughter)" "(overlapping voices)" "I'm just kidding!" "Animals..." "I want to work with animals and children, with the... (laughter)" "Yeah, absolutely." "We'd all be" "We'd all be doing charity work." "We'd all be working for Forest." "Forest!" "From out of Bobby's bar, and we're following" "Forest around to..." "That's what we're all gonna do." "I love it." "Well, on that note, thank you guys so much for being here." "All right." "Thank you."