It gave so much back, I don't know how to explain it. When you're feeling challenged, I don't know if you guys ever had a deadline or something you had to meet on a story that you really were involved in, you really didn’t want to let it end, and you were working 20 hours a day just to finish it in time. Yeah, it’s draining, but at the same time, it’s so rewarding that you don’t feel like you missed that time when it’s over.
Did it change your perception of things in general?
I think every movie I do gives me a new perspective on different things.
How hard was it to get that made?
For a while, when I took a year off - when I took nine months off to get “Mozart and the Whale” together - it was kind of stressful because I was worried that nobody would put the money up for it, for “Mozart.” And I kind of put all my eggs in that basket. And if it didn’t work out, it would be a lot of wasted time. But that’s the kind of risk that I guess I like to take. Actors have this all the time where they’re worried about whether they’ll ever work again. Fortunately for me, I have a whole lot of stuff in my life that I like to do and I guess I just don’t think about it as much. But when there is something I really want to do and I’m really passionate about, it’s nerve wracking waiting for it to happen.
What’s your character in “Sin City?”
I play a kind of unnamed character. I’m only in it for two… The reason I got into it is because Robert Rodriguez needed to get the rights from Frank Miller. Frank had felt like he had been duped before. He didn’t want to give the rights away to his baby, “Sin City.” I had worked with Robert before and I told him at the time, anytime he ever wanted me to do anything, I’d be up for it. And I was about to go shoot “Mozart.” He was like, “Well, just come down here for a couple days. We’ll shot a scene and show Frank that we’re going to do this right.” So I went down there and then Frank gave him the rights after that. Then Robert called me back after I got done with “Mozart” and said, “Can you come down and just do one more scene for the end of the movie.” So I’m just in the beginning and the end.
Is it a scene from the comics?
Mm-hmm. He’s a much bigger character not in this story. They call him any number of things, from The Ladykiller to…In the script, we call him The Man. So it’s kind of like take what you will from that.
How was working with Robert Rodriguez?
I’ve worked with him twice now.
But this time he’s using different technology.
Yeah, but he’s still doing the same [things]. He’s still working with the same crew, he’s still working in Austin. He’s still doing it exactly the way he wants to do it all the time.
Sort of like you?
I guess, but I don’t have a studio where I live and I don’t have a whole bundle of people working for me at all times. He’s doing it his way and I appreciate that. I like him for it.
Have you been approached for “Superman” again?
I was approached a couple of times for it. I’m not going to do it.
They tried again?
They tried to get me a couple of times and it just wasn’t for me.
A big franchise doesn’t hold any interest to you?
Depending on what it was. If it was a franchise that I thought… If the character was up my alley, I’d do it. But there aren’t that many characters the big studios have been making that have been intriguing to me.
Are there any books you would like to buy and star in?
Unfortunately, there are people that snap up books before they’re even printed and every book that I’ve gone, “My God, somebody should make this into a movie,” somebody already is. Unfortunately, sometimes it’ll sit in development for years and years and years.
Can you name any specific books?
I love that book “Perfume.”
Is Tom Tykwer doing that?
Well, it was going to be Julian Schnabel for a while directing it. And I went up to his studio and tried to coerce him into casting me. It’s definitely not a role that people would really consider me for usually, so I just wanted to see if I could get my foot in the door. That was a couple years ago. And then the movie went to this guy who did “Run Lola Run.” Who knows where it’s going to go from here, but I’ve got other things that I gotta do. We’re doing “Rum Diary,” which is a Hunter Thompson book. That’s one that I really wanted to do and luckily got involved with it at the right time. And “Black Dahlia.” Same thing, another book I really wanted to be a part of. And we’re doing that, too. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.
When do you start “Black Dahlia” and “Rum Diary?”
Probably next year. “Black Dahlia’s” going to come first, right after “Lucky Slevin.” And then “Rum Diary” is going to come after that, shooting in San Juan.
What’s the next movie you and your “Wicker Park” director are doing together?
“Lucky Slevin,” that’s what it’s called. We can’t talk about who’s in it yet, can we? Because they haven’t officially signed on yet, but it’s a pretty amazing cast, great script and crappy director [Hartnett makes that comment as director McGuigan enters the room].
