[ Being director] is really reassuring to me that it’s just about who is right for that role and less about if you ace the audition. It’s just about getting to know people, not about who’s a better actor a lot of the time. It’s about who fits that particular suit, you know?
Acting-wise, I’ve had all these experiences. Yet when I look at certain people whose careers I admire, they’ve gotten to play so many different characters. So it’s just that – getting to have more of these singular little adventures where you get to be a part of a completely different world.
I’ve had a couple opportunities where I’ve been on the other side of the audition process as a director.
[ Woody Allen] persona in the films are so iconic; it’s like on par with Groucho Marx or something like that.
I didn’t read the script [ Rules Don’t Apply ] for a couple years. It basically amounted to this kind of apprenticeship with Warren [Beatty]: conversations and learning about his whole background in the film industry and his life.
The biggest challenge to being an actor is when you’re not working, just being unemployed, the downtime and not having anything to do.
When I worked with anybody like Woody Allen, there’s the name, and your understanding of who they are before you meet them, that stays in your head a little bit.
The actors at that time had to learn all that stuff, it wasn’t just hyperbole. What was appealing to me about being an actor at that time is that there was a home base, with job security. You were employed on a regular basis, and you had to sometimes do things you didn’t want to do, but it was there. I also liked Hobie Doyle positivity.
[Warren Beatty] is voraciously detail-oriented.
I auditioned for four or five years and didn’t get anything after that.
It was pretty fun [auditioning on the Millennium Falcon], because I enjoyed the material a lot. Last year I read for the directors, then came to England and did a test on the Falcon, then came back and did a couple more screen tests in Los Angeles.
I’m just excited to be a part of the movie [Star Wars]. It’s always the particulars that are the most exciting.
