ScreenTime – Clifton Collins Jr. – Exclusive Interview

Welcome to ScreenTime.

I got the chance to put Clifton Collins Jr. through the ringer recently, and it was a tricky bit of work.  As you probably know, I do one kind of interview (which is why this section is not called “Interviews”).  I don’t particularly want to hear people telling me how great their next big thing is, and I don’t think anyone else needs another version of that going around anyway.  I want to know people a little better, and I think throwing out (sometimes pretty unusual) questions about what they watch can give a little insight.

When your mark refuses to pin himself down, this becomes a complex angle.

If you aren’t immediately familiar with the name (well… shame on you and Hollywood both frankly), the pictures should click for most everyone.  Since the early ’90s, he’s been putting out solid supporting roles, and as we moved into the new decade he solidified himself as one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood.  Interesting and complicated roles in Tigerland, Traffic, The Rules of Attraction, and several others led to his role in Capote which absolutely screamed that it could not be overlooked.  Though critics certainly haven’t overlooked his work (by and large), a fair percentage of the general public retorts by wondering what Capote is.

In the recent and coming soon category – Horsemen was recently released on DVD, and Sunshine Cleaning is coming towards the end of August.  He was in the new Star Trek as Ayel, the second-in-command to Eric Bana‘s Nero.  He’s also in: Crank: High Voltage, The Perfect Game, Extract, Boondock Saints II: All Saint’s Day, Brothers (which is around Christmas), and is shooting The Experiment.

Here we go!

1. The fairly obligatory question – Star Trek fan?

Of course, this is a tricky question.  What’s he going to say, “No, I hate Star Trek?”  For all that Clifton was extremely down-to-earth throughout the interview, and had plenty to say, you could feel the hesitancy here.  In the end, I took him to be something of a fan, but he seemed to rather pointedly want to avoid accidentally falling into a Trekkie category.

2. You’re roles are so varied that it might be hard for fans to get any sort of feel for you.  When you’re picking movies or TV shows, what genres do you gravitate toward?

Here Clifton set his flag in the sand and began his campaign of blatant refusal to lose his mystery.  He didn’t want to pick a genre he preferred for his own consumption as adamantly as he wanted to make it clear that he didn’t want to be in any genre when looking to his roles.  When it’s a question of what he wants to do, he said he loves breaking the mold and being diverse.  He wants interesting characters rather than any particular kind of movie.  When picking something to watch, it’s only quality that matters.

As is often the case, the interview theory brokedown into a general conversation, but in this instance things became such a general sort of general that it was difficult to go anywhere.  He doesn’t watch a lot of television, so there went a lot of questions.  He mentioned tuning in to a lot of the offerings on The Discovery Channel, and brought up Lock Up as something he watched, but apart from that he was hard-pressed to move to the small screen.  After quite a while, he finally broke and gave me Beavis & Butthead as something he could mention positively.

Even in the realm of film, so much of what he watches comes by way of researching roles, and his experience is so broad, that any answers proved difficult apart from an overall love of the game.

I tried to press on.

3. If your next movie was your dream gig, and you got to pick everything, what genre movie is it, who are your two co-stars, and who directs?

It was no good.  The movie is definitely a Western, so I’ve got that.  Beyond that, Clifton was pretty clearly spoiled for choice.  He mentioned that he’d love to work with Christopher Nolan, and J. J. Abrams (and even let on that he was rather a fan), and thought it would be cool to work with Steven Soderbergh on a Western, but he was still not to be pinned down to any single answer.  For actors he tossed out Samuel L. Jackson, Benicio Del Toro, and Anthony Hopkins, but if I let him he would have named at least half of SAG.  Ultimately, he said that he just loved actors, and there was no way to make such picks.  ”It’s like having 70 children,” he said, “and then being asked to pick two you like.”

I stuck my toe in with a couple of other movie angles, but I quickly gave up.  He soon gave me to understand that the quote about having children worked just as well for movies as far as he was concerned.  What had he seen recently?  A fairly random assortment of things that were largely for research purposes.  He’d seen The Hangover, and liked it pretty well, but he’d also recently watched Das Experiment (well, because obviously), The Thing, and Nevada Smith.  Not exactly a telling combination.

He could list some favorite movies for you, but it would go on forever, and would be varied enough that it would lead to little that would give you any sort of feel for his tastes.  Among things that popped into his mind were: The Party, Lost Weekend, Angels with Dirty Faces, The Exorcist, Bullitt, and John Ford in general.

If you’re a fan and want to get to know Clifton Collins Jr. better, good luck.  I can tell you that he is one of the most affable guys I’ve talked to in a while (and that’s among some pretty stiff competition), and that his knowledge of film is astounding, but if you want something you can write down try asking him questions unrelated to screens.  Maybe he’ll answer you.  But, don’t be surprised if he extolls the virtues of all colors equally.

Are You Screening?

© 2009, Are You Screening?. All rights reserved. Reprinting without express permission of the author is prohibited.

About Marc Eastman

Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

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Tagged as: Clifton Collins Jr., Interview, Movies