Source: Buzzine Izumi Hasegawa of
Buzzine has a truly great interview with actor Sam Worthington, primarily focusing on his new indie film,
Texas Killing Fields,but the actor also reflects on his career to date in an open and frank conversation. I read this article a while ago and was impressed with Sam's responses and with the news that the less-than-spectacular "Clash of the Titans" has somehow been greenlit by Warner Bros. for a third movie before the sequel was even released, I thought I better share this with the CBM community to hopefully bring some optimism. Kudos to Izumi for the great interview.
IH:On how to balance the small films with the blockbusters? SW:
I think I'm pretty lucky to start with. If you get something like Avatar, it opens up a lot of big blockbuster doors. But there was a thing my mate told me years ago, when I said, "Oh, there's a great independent script and a great blockbuster script, and the independent thing will show me off more as a character." He said, "But which movie would you go see?" He said, "You go see blockbusters," and that's how I pick. I pick which movie by: would I want to go see something like The Debt? Or: do I want to see something like Terminator? And within that, you, kind of by chance, end up with a career that balances. You're not just sitting there going, I'm going to do one big one for them and one small one for me. That's the ideal -- at least, that's what people think. But when you talk with Christian Bale, he's not thinking: one for you, one for them. He's thinking: one for him. What story does he want to tell? And whether it's Terminator or The Fighter, that's how he picks. IH: After doing something like Texas Killing Fields, how difficult is it to go from material that is so weighty to something like Clash of the Titans 2? SW:
You make Clash 2 weighty. Clash 1 is a video game. You make Clash 2 weighty. You take everything you've learned and go, "I'm not doing this f*cking shit! I'm going to do a weighty script in a blockbuster." That's the bigness of a blockbuster. They're very hard because they're done by such a machine, so you try to get that weight that an independent can allow you -- that freedom that they have on an independent script -- and then you try to fit it into a blockbuster where there's a whole set of people who have a say. With something like Clash 2, that's definitely what we've aimed for. And that's all I really want to say on that. IH: Do you have to do that at the script stage or in the individual development of your character? SW:
You do it all the way through. You sit down with the studio, you sit down with the character, you sit down with everybody and have a whole different look at how we're going to handle it. But that's the hard thing about making blockbusters, because they're just churning them out. They give you five months, and the date's already pre-planned for the next year. There's a speed on it. But if you can get that weight and gravity into a blockbuster, even into the character... I've let myself slip a couple of times, but that's going to be changing. You've got to work a bit harder, I find. Blockbusters aren't necessarily as easy as you think. IH: It seems like it takes extra effort on your part to protect yourself... SW:
I decide what I want to bring, to come in there and go, "Look, I've just done this thing, and we mapped it out this way. How do we get that same reality and gravity and grit on a green-screen stage with fantasy creatures? What are we actually really trying to say?" The Debt – what is it trying to say? What is Killing Fields really trying to say? What do we really want audiences to walk away from Clash 2 with in their hearts more than, "Whoa, that's a great spectacle"? When you look at Avatar, you find the balance is perfect. He knows what he wants to say, and he gives you the spectacle. It's very rare; it's a hard thing. But that's why I like doing blockbusters, to try to get that. IH: Is it different to be the guy on a film where you now have some authority to change the way things are done? SW:
It's an interesting question. Every movie I do, the pressures get more -- not only from the media, but the bloggers, from the studios... Primarily now, though, it's getting more from myself because I'm pushing myself more. Some of that I know I learned from Jim, which was: all the criticism in the world isn't going to be as strong as the criticism you have for yourself. And the only reason to be doing this job is to keep pushing and pushing yourself. So that's what I learned from him, and now I'm in a fortunate position to be able to sit with a director or a writer or a studio and say, "Look. Here's where I want to push myself. Is that okay? Are you giving me the trust and the ability to do it?" Kudos to Izumi for the great interview. Be sure to click the link under the banner to read the full transcript.
Samuel Henry J. "Sam" Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an English born, Australian actor. After almost a decade of roles in Australian TV shows and films, Worthington gained Hollywood's attention by playing Marcus Wright in Terminator Salvation (2009) and the lead role, Jake Sully, in James Cameron's science fiction/fantasy film Avatar (2009).
In 2004, Worthington received Australia's highest film award for his lead performance in Somersault. He performed predominantly in leading roles in a variety of low-budget films before transitioning to major studio films, ranging from romantic drama and comedy-drama to science fiction and action.
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