Ex-Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale plays Balthazar, one of the Satan's emissaries who delights in causing Constantine, and humans in general, to suffer.
GAVIN ROSSDALE INTERVIEW ('Balthazar'):
How did you prepare for playing a half-breed demon?
I think the main thing was to just remove all conscience, all caring, all thought for anyone else and to be as reveling in someone else’s misery and pain as possible. So, basically, it was to be as inhumane as I could think of. And the words really helped do that because they’re so well written and it was so much fun just playing around and just treating John Constantine like a cat does a mouse.
How much of your own stunt work did you do?
Well, the stunt guy is whenever I’m flying through the air. You’ve got to give the credit to the stunt guys. But the rest of it from my own perspective, I was doing a lot of – most of – that because there wasn’t that much else actually. I’m just a slice, it’s Keanu’s film (laughing).
Did you learn to do the coin trick?
Yes, I did. A couple of months I carried the coin around and just would play with it whenever I could. Of course the chat shows that I’ve been doing, they all give me the coins to do the ‘roll.’ So I can still do it.
Now you've got two big movies in one musical family. What's that all about and are you planning to continue acting?
I know. It’s just the universe at play. You know, it’s like it gives you hope. It gives me hope because you could never plan something like that and it just goes to show that if you just keep your head down and just try and do your thing, sometimes magic happens.
Is it just keeping in line with the whole theory that musicians want to act and actors want to be musicians?
There’s definitely like this kind of obvious ring to it. But at the same time, if you hold out like we did for the movies that we thought were really good, I don’t know, maybe you get away from it being too like dilettantish. You’re just trying to do the real thing. Like for me [with] acting, I love to act and I find it very inspiring. And it was a case of waiting to find the right thing that I wanted to do and that wanted me.
But when all's said and done, you’re still a musician?
At the end of the day I have a record coming out in July that I’m mixing. There’s someone working for me on the music right now as we speak. I’m moonlighting right now, double-shifting.
You've got a fun moonlighting job.
It’s a great, high-class moonlight. I love it.
What else are you working on?
I have a new band called Institute and that comes out in July so I’m very excited about that. And I have another movie, “The Game of Their Lives,” that comes out I think May 22nd. I have a small part in that as well.
It sounds like you're keeping busy on the music front.
Very busy on the music front. In July I have the new record that’s coming out and then in August I’m going to go on tour probably for the rest of the year, until my wife or another movie comes along.
And at the end of the day, you’ve got to take care of your wife.
At the start of the day and at the end of the day, a happy wife is a happy life (laughing).
