There’s a fantastic scene in the movie where you are interrogating Karl’s character and you are so into his face up you can feel the discomfort in the audience. Was that in the script or was that a suggestion from Tom?
Its just Bobby doing his job, man. In the script the lines are there. I think the notion that Bobby is not being very nice to him are there, but in terms of what you see in that shot? That’s just the dance. Turn the camera on and see what happens. And Karl is very game for it and a good scene partner. We f–ked around a little bit. I mean, that ‘owl’ line isn’t in the script either. I just f–kin’ said it. (Laughs.)
Aaron said that because the picture shot on real film Tom would let you all f—k around sometimes to get to the end of the reel. Were there any moments that got into the movie because you screwed around for a bit?
No, no. Not so much. I think it might have been different for [Aaron and Jake] because they were really trying to create a different kind of chaos [in their scenes], that kind horrifying chaos. And I think Bobby is pretty efficient. He’s not showing off. He just wants results. There wasn’t anything like that [with me], but with Aaron’s energy in the film and what he’s trying to capture it was wise of Tom to give him some opportunities. Trying to get into the head space of someone like [Aaron’s character] is very, very difficult.
One of my other favorite scenes in the movie is when Bobby and Tony go and find Aaron’s character in a compromising position on a toilet in the middle of nowhere. In theory, Bobby is thinking, ‘Oh, he’s in this horrible place. I’m gonna come in and be in control,’ but Aaron’s character really pushes back.
It’s how it’s written, but I think Bobby is a pretty cunning guy. I don’t think the correct way to deal with that situation is to yank Ray off the toilet but then you have nowhere to go. Y’know what I mean? And what Bobby wants is information which is hard to get. So, he’s willing to string Ray along a little bit and play his little game because what he really wants is to get him to the scene of the crime and then have Edward/Tony confront him.
You’ve had an incredible year with great turns in ‘Midnight Special,’ ‘Frank and Lola’ and ‘Complete Unknown,’ and even small roles in movies such as ‘Loving’ which must have been just a couple of days shooting right?
That was a day. We shot all that in a day. We shot it in order. The order you see it in the movie. I got there early afternoon. We shot the scene outside with the car. We shot the scene at the dinner. We shot the scene with Mildred at the sink. We shot the TV scene and that was it.
Having shot so many films over the past few years is there anything that pops out? Any moment? Or…
…is it a blur? Well, it’s also that the order in which you make these things is not the order that they tend to come out. If you look at something like ‘Midnight Special’ I made that quite awhile ago and Warner Bros. for some mysterious reason kept it in a closet for a year. With ‘Frank and Lola,’ there is a Vegas part and a Paris part. And the Vegas part was like three or three and a half weeks and then we went to Paris for a week. But ‘Elvis and Nixon’ was also coming together, so what we did was we went to Vegas shot the meat of the [‘Frank & Lola] story, did ‘Elvis and Nixon’ in its entirety and then did the Paris portion of ‘Frank and Lola’ afterward.
It would seem like that sort of schedule would f–k your head up. It’s not like you’re playing a character you can just create in ‘Elvis’ you’re playing this iconic guy.
Most people who are playing Elvis…I mean, when Joaquin played Johnny Cash or Jamie played Ray they are like, ‘I took a year and devoted my life’ and I basically had Christmas break. I was watching ‘Viva Las Vegas’ a couple of times thinking, ‘Uh, I hope this works out.’ But, yeah, that was a run of…but you know what happens is you meant people they want to work on something. You give them a handshake agreement or whatever, but they don’t have their financing so it’s this nebulous ‘Let’s see what happens’ and then all of a sudden three of them will get their money at the same time and are all like, ‘O.K., we’re ready!’ And that’s what ends up happening. This insanity of, ‘What movie am I in?’ So, I don’t want that to be the normal thing. I’m becoming a bit more fastidious about it.
It seems that even your one day showing up in ‘Loving’, which by the way is a very poignant moment in the film because you’re character is the eyes to show them to the world…
He changed their lives. That picture of them lying on that sofa watching TV is a masterpiece.
I can do it for Jeff. I mean, I feel very safe with Jeff. I trust him. I did my homework before I went in. For me that was like a haiku. I studied the guy, Grey, a fascinating guy and I was like, ‘This makes sense.’ And it was really well written that segment and it kind of just quickly encapsulates the story in a very efficient way which is sort of Jeff’s forte. Oftentimes when you just have a day or two on a movie it can be very awkward feeling like ‘Oh, everyone knows each other.’ It’s like the new kids at school feeling, but because I knew Jeff it didn’t feel that way. Plus I already knew most of the crew from his other movies.
I think your next project is Guillermo Del Toro’s new movie and I’m sure you’re under a cloud of secrecy, but is there anything he pitched you that got you excited or was it just the overall project itself?
We sat down and met in California and he said, ‘I’ve written a movie with five actors in mind.’ And he told me the five actors and I was one of them and he’s like, ‘This movie means so much to me. I’m going to move heaven and earth to get it down and I wrote this part and I really want you to do it.’ Done, yknow? I was very flattered.
“Loving” opens in limited release on Nov. 4. “Nocturnal Animals” opens in limited release on Dec. 9.
For more industry insight and Oscar buzz follow Gregory Ellwood on twitter @thegregorye