Metro Interview and Hyperion update

Did the cliché about sequels never being as good as the original put you off doing The Hangover Part II? No, because the script was so good. It was a much darker vision of a lost night set in Bangkok. I was looking forward to getting back into [my character] Phil’s shoes and working with those guys again after two years.


When was the last time you had an alcohol-induced blackout? Years ago. I was susceptible to the calling of alcoholic beverages. It was seasonal: Scotch in the winter, gin and tonic in the summer, spring, fall, winter…


Any memorable occasions when things got a bit out of hand? I banged my head on the concrete floor of a basement in New York. I was showing off. It was during the song Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson. I had to get stitches.


What impact did The Hangover have on your career? It opened a lot of doors. I don’t think I’d have got Limitless [with Robert de Niro] if I hadn’t done The Hangover. Financially, it meant I could take care of my parents. I still have to fight for stuff: the idea of being offered a part wasn’t in my vocabulary before. I was offered stuff in the same vein as The Hangover afterwards but I didn’t want to do it.


You’re the Sexiest Man Alive, according to People magazine – how’s that? It’s so ridiculous. It’s not helpful to have that label as an actor. We’ll see: hopefully it won’t be to my detriment.


Is there a difference between being a film star and being an actor? It’s a syllogism – if you’re a film star, you’re an actor who acts in movies, right? I’m an actor, that’s all I know. The rest of it is just ephemeral bulls***. It’s here today, gone tomorrow and so much of it is driven by social media. The turnover of all this is at such high velocity. If you hold on to any of it then shame on you.


The ephemeral bulls*** aspect of it can change people’s careers, can’t it? For a day, maybe. Things come and go fast. I’d hope all that sort of stuff doesn’t affect directors wanting to work with me. That would be awful. I don’t think it would open doors to any work I want to do. I’ve just played a guy who is released from a mental institution and has split up from his wife, who has taken out a restraining order against him. It’s a drama-comedy. I don’t think I need to worry about being pigeonholed.


Why did you want to become an actor?Because of movies such as The Elephant Man, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now and Raging Bull. My father showed me those movies when I was about 12. My parents were very nervous about my career choice. I don’t come from a family of thespians. I was fortunate enough to pay off my student loans through acting work in two years, which is a miracle.


Who have you learned the most from working with? Robert De Niro. Just about not doing too much. Acting is getting in the way of what’s already there.


What are the perks of fame? I really don’t know. It’s about integrating fame into your life so it becomes normal and you don’t have to change your life. I’ll never stop taking the subway and walking around. The price you pay is getting photographed but it comes and goes. It’s bad now because of that People magazine thing but I know it will go away again. I was fine for months – when I was in Paris in August I hung out in a huge tourist place reading a book and got nothing. But when I went back recently I had 20 people following me around. I’m sure it will go away again.


How are you preparing to play Satan in (I, Robot director Alex Proyas’s) Paradise Lost? When I talk to someone I think of how much I hate them. Just kidding. I can really relate to the story of Paradise Lost. I did a Milton course as part of my English degree and fell in love with that character because I couldn’t believe how appetising he is in that poem. Satan is the hero. It’s a story we can all relate to – Dad’s gone crazy and he wants us to worship the dog and then his brother says: ‘Dad’s right.’ It’s about the father betraying the character.


Giving Milton’s Paradise Lost an action-packed film adaptation is going to invite criticism isn’t it? You bet it’s going to be criticised. You’re taking one of the greatest pieces of literature of the past 300 years but who cares? It really is a wonderful experiment.


What else do you want to achieve in your career? I want to direct. My writing partner and I are adapting The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, a sci-fi writer. It’s a four-book series. It’s not that I thought I wanted to do something unreachable: I just love the material and we’re having a crack at it. We wrote a 40-page treatment and we’ll start working on it in the summer. 

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