Did you find much in your character in "Dear Frankie" that you could relate to?
Oh, I always find stuff in my characters to relate to. But ‘The Stranger’ especially. There was very much the loner side of him, which I know I have within myself, a side of solitude. I think people who know me can see, but people who just meet me can’t because I’m generally very fun and gregarious. But I love to spend a lot of time on my own. I can seriously go into my own head and often love to let myself travel where I don’t know where I’m going. I always felt that that was his kind of form of escape, in a way. And then my own history. I spent many years not knowing where my dad was so it had an immediate [connection]. Not knowing if my dad was alive even. He turned up when I was 16 out of the blue. So the scene when Frankie is confronted with this man who he thinks is his dad, I mean that destroyed me when I read it.
That must have really hit home. How do you play past a scene like that?
Well, you understand those feelings but you don’t necessarily play them because that was Frankie’s role, not mine. Frankie was me, I was my dad. So I can’t take on too many of those feelings. But it was what I allowed to be pulled out of me when I came to understand Frankie’s plight. It’s what made me care about the movie so much, in a way.
Why don’t we learn your character’s name?
I think because that’s what is so enigmatic about that role. It’s a man with no past, present or future. She didn’t want to know anything more about him. It was just simply somebody to step in and perform a function, and the less known about him, the better. And I think that’s kind of what helps suck the audience in again, you know? Who is this man and where does he come from? Why don’t we know more about him? Again, I think it’s unusual. And as soon as a name becomes involved, there’s more identification. It grounds things a little more, which is probably what we didn’t want to do.
Is it important for you to mix up the big studio roles with independent films?
Oh absolutely. I mean, I made “The Phantom” although “The Phantom” was, believe it or not, an independent film. It was just a very large, expensive independent film.
You don’t think of it that way.
(Laughing) No, you don’t, but it was. And, actually, you could see such a difference in how it was made. You were still working with large sets but you had that more kind of informal feeling. There was a more direct relationship simply with your director and one hands-on producer, than when you’re involved in large studio movies where there are so many cooks in the broth. So believe it or not, you could sense the independent nature of “Phantom.” But absolutely, I love to do films of all shapes and sizes and feelings and genres. So for me to go from “Tomb Raider” straight into “Dear Frankie,” there’s nothing that excites me more than to keep mixing it up.
Speaking of “The Phantom of the Opera,” I have never encountered fans as passionate as yours are. I wrote a review of the movie and I have never had a response to a review like I did to that one…
Did you write a good review?
I wrote a very glowing review. In fact, it was on my Top 10 list of the best movies of 2004. I love that movie. It was beautifully done [said while just realizing I would have in fact had two Gerard Butler movies in my Top 10 list if "Dear Frankie" hadn't been yanked from release].
Well thank you. I’m so glad you liked it. It’s funny because when I do interviews and people say, “What were your top 10 movies of last year,” I actually want to say, “Well, ‘Phantom’ and ‘Dear Frankie’.” (Laughing) You can’t really say that but now that you’re talking about it…
Feel free to say it.
So that means two of my movies were on your Top 10 list?
Yes, but "Dear Frankie" didn’t get released so I had to take it off. Back to the responses I received to my review of "The Phantom of the Opera," how does it feel to inspire fans, total strangers, that way?
I know, I know. I think that’s beautiful. Some people say, “Don’t you think that that’s weird?” And actually, no. Maybe I look at it too naively but I think that the fact that I have touched those people as opposed to another actor or person... Because when I choose my roles and very often when I play them, you imagine that if you connect with something like this, then there surely are going to be a few other people out there who are going to feel those feelings. I know that when I play roles I often feel those feeling so intensely I can’t describe it. And they are often exceptionally poignant or life-changing feelings, and I think that just some other people get that. And when they get that, they feel it strongly about it. And how can you not be happy at that?
I think it’s one of the nicest privileges as an actor is to know that you can move people in one moment, make them think about their lives, or make them laugh or make them cry or make them understand something. Or just make them feel something because I think so many of us, including myself, spend too much time not feeling enough, you know?
Page 4: On Playing The Phantom and "Beowulf and Grendel"
