The Ohio native has appeared in more than 65 feature films including a star turn as Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Ford Coppola’s landmark film APOCALYPSE NOW, which brought Sheen worldwide recognition. Other notable credits include WALL STREET (with son Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas), the Academy Award-winning film GANDHI (with Sir Ben Kingsley), CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (with Leonardo DiCaprio & Tom Hanks), THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (with Michael Douglas & Annette Bening), and a Golden Globe nominated breakthrough performance in THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES.

In 2006, Sheen played ill-fated cop Oliver Queenan in Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-winning film THE DEPARTED opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin. The same year, Sheen joined another all-star ensemble cast for the highly acclaimed feature BOBBY, written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez. BOBBY was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and SAG Award among others. The film also starred Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Hunt, Brian Geraghty, Sharon Stone, William H. Macy, Elijah Wood, Demi Moore, and Shia LaBeouf. For television audiences, Sheen is best recognized for his award-winning role as President Josiah Bartlet in NBC’s THE WEST WING.

Sheen is a passionate peace and justice activist. He has been arrested or cited 67 times for taking part in nonviolent demonstrations against various U.S. military policies, and has championed such causes as the alleviation of poverty and homelessness, human rights for migrant workers, and environmental protection. In 2008, the University of Notre Dame presented Sheen with the Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious award given to an American Catholic. Former recipients include: President John F. Kennedy and Speaker of the House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr.

In THE WAY, Sheen, plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son, Daniel (Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. He elects to walk The Way himself, and experiences his own emotional, and spiritual transformation…

What did you like about Emilio’s script for The Way?

Tom has this sense of entitlement and you see that when he first has to stay at a hostel; he thinks he’ll have his own room but he’s there sharing this dormitory… ‘This is outrageous’. Then he can’t sleep and he gets stuck with that wretched Dutchman who is always eating, and he tolerates him. And what Emilio is saying, which I thought was very powerful, was that it’s very American to say, ‘We can do it. We’ll decide. I’ll walk this path alone.’ And every time that Tom did it on his own he got in trouble. It was only when he went into the community that he realised that he could rely on people, and that everyone is broken. That’s what it means to be human. But how we make up for brokenness is through each other, and I believe that is how God finds us. In each other. In community, that’s where it is. You don’t have to do it by yourself, and you shouldn’t.

When did you first walk the Camino?

It was the summer of 2003. We were going to take bikes, horseback, and then rented a car. It was stick-shift. Taylor, my grandson, and I couldn’t drive it. Our friend could drive it and he’d teach one of us to drive while the other one walked. At Burgos, though, we fell in love with this refugio [hostel], and we stayed a few extra nights and Taylor met the daughter of the guy who owned it. They’ve been together ever since. She had been serving pilgrims most of her life. They’re about the same age, and she had never done the pilgrimage, so she did it from Burgos and fell in love with the pilgrimage, too.

You’ve worked with Emilio several times now. Do you like his direction?

He understands my ticks and eccentricities. We’ve worked together half a dozen times now. I remember way back I saw Emilio on set of a TV show I was doing in LA, and I thought that he’d come to visit me, but he was in the same show! It was called Insight. It was an anthology series.

Are any of your kids more like you than the others?

It’s strange. You know them in different ways. You know when one child is honest and when one is not. If there’s something I don’t like when I look at one of my children, though, it’s usually a reflection of something I don’t like in myself.

Are you surprised that they wanted to follow you into the same profession?

It did surprise me, and I was totally unaware of it to begin with. I remember Emilio had written a play in high school, and was acting in it, and we went over there to watch it and I saw him do this very emotional scene and it just took my breath away. I looked at him and thought, ‘Oh gosh, him too!’ But he was so good that I was calm about it. I knew then that he’d be okay.

What are your memories of Charlie’s first forays into this world?

Charlie kind of backed into it. He was on the baseball team, and he was very good, but he wasn’t doing his studies. He was ill disciplined, so he got kicked off the team. Charlie really wanted to get back on the team, because they were going into the playoffs, so I went down to speak to the teacher, and he said, ‘Don’t do this to him. You’ll only make things worse. Don’t support him.’ So I was forced to see a side of Charlie that I’d blinkered up until then. So then, as a second thought, he took himself off for an audition and he got the part! I saw him in something and remember knowing that he too knew what he was doing. Then we did a little scene together in a show and he did it so well. The other kids came across in the same way, although not as intense.

How does Charlie’s current behaviour affect your faith?

I include Charlie in my prayers. I always lift him up. I know the hell he lives in, because I was there. So I’m extremely compassionate and understanding. The key is on the inside; you can’t force anyone to do anything, good or ill, without their allowing you in. We’ve been through some very difficult times, but we understand what Charlie’s hell is.

Ramon, another of your sons, worked with you on The West Wing…

Ramon had studied dance and singing and he wrote songs and had a professional song-writing partner in Tennessee. His heart wasn’t in acting, though he loved the business, so he’d work as my assistant very often. And yes, he was my assistant on The West Wing and after that we formed a production company together, ESP, Estevez Sheen Productions, and he was in the office. Then when The West Wing came to an end, my contract with WB was up and I had to leave the lot. But Charlie was still there at WB, so he took things over and the two of them worked together.

You knew The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin from American President, but did you expect the show to do as well as it did?

I knew Aaron was good, and I had just a few small scenes in the pilot, but I knew it was a special show. We all did, but we didn’t have the confidence of it working on a commercial station; we thought it belonged on cable, because our show was not going to be selling cars or placing products. That was the big surprise. We didn’t think it was commercial. It was so non-commercial, and we started in 1999, before Bush. The first two years we were on the air, then he stole the office, was made President and that was the most difficult time for us, because we were so diametrically opposed, so in a sense we were a parallel universe, how things could be. We dealt with the same domestic and international issues as the real President’s office, and this Bartlett guy came from a moral frame of reference. He was Catholic and didn’t separate that from his office. He didn’t go and start a war with someone just to prove to his father that he is a man, which is what our idiot did. If you removed Bush from that office and looked at what we did, what would he be? A mass murderer.

Did you always take your children away on location with you, like to Mexico for Catch-22 and the Philippines for Apocalypse Now?

They came away with me a lot, especially when they were little and didn’t really have a lot of say in the matter. I just grabbed them out of school and took them to some pretty remote places. I did that quite often and we would get right into the community. Going to Mexico was memorable. We just left a blizzard in New York City then we were in San Bernado desert, and the boys would bring home kids from the fishing village. I remember one night Ramone disappeared during this huge carnivale. Here we are in a foreign country and I’ve lost one of my kids! We looked everywhere and then I found a kid, Manuel, from the community and he went and found Ramone for me. That was a crazy time.

Interview Martin Sheen QandA The Way

6:12:00 AM

“The Way” is Emilio Estevez’s fourth film as writer/director and marks the third collaboration with his actor/father, Martin Sheen. Emilio has established himself not only as an accomplished actor, but also as a talented writer, director and producer.

In 2006, he wrote, directed and co-starred in the Golden Globe nominated for Best Picture “Bobby,” which revisits the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968 and is set against the backdrop of the cultural issues gripping the country at the time, including racism, sexual inequality and class differences.

He made his acting debut in Tim Hunter’s “Tex” and appeared in Francis Ford Coppola’s ensemble drama “The Outsiders,” both based on S.E. Hinton novels. Estevez’ performance as a quintessential high-school jock in John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club” won him widespread attention and acclaim. Later that same year, he went on to appear in “St. Elmo’s Fire” before starring in “That Was Then, This Is Now,” for which he also wrote the screenplay.

Estevez made his directorial debut in 1986 with “Wisdom,” which he also wrote and starred in, while he also directed himself and brother Charlie Sheen in “Men at Work” in 1990. In 1996, Estevez directed Martin Sheen for the first time in the Vietnam drama “The War at Home” which Emilio also starred in and produced.

In 2000, he directed and co-starred alongside his brother, Charlie Sheen, in Showtime’s “Rated X” which was the first time Estevez and Sheen portrayed brothers on screen. His other acting credits include, “Repo Man” “Stakeout,” “Young Guns” “Young Guns II,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “The Mighty Ducks.”

In addition to creating original material as a screenwriter, the past few years have also seen Estevez working behind the camera, directing many popular television shows including, “Cold Case,” “CSI:NY” ”Numbers” and “The Guardian.

In The Way, Martin Sheen, plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son, Daniel (Estevez) killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. He elects to walk The Way himself, and experiences his own emotional, and spiritual transformation…


When did the idea for The Way first come to mind?

It began when I was in the middle of casting a follow-up to Bobby, which was a big, expansive LA story, which was multi-charactered. Then the funding finally came to a crashing halt around September of 2008, and my father had come here to Spain and walked part of the Camino with my son, and an old actor friend, who ended up in the movie as the old priest with the pocketful of rosaries. So we began these conversations about making a movie in Spain and I began to work on a draft, using The Wizard of Oz as a template.

With Tom as Dorothy…

Yes, Tom is Dorothy; the Dutchman is the cowardly lion; the girl is the Tin Man with the broken heart; I didn’t have my Scarecrow yet, and then I stumbled upon the book written by Jack Hitt. [Off the Road: A Modern Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain], and thought about using a writer with writer’s block, using Jack himself and his experience on the Camino, as the fourth character. He’s our Scarecrow and when we found the hay bales that you see in the movie along the Camino, I decided that that should be where Tom and the others find him. Initially I had been reluctant to talk to anyone about that Wizard of Oz analogy, but it’s very clear and I don’t think it’s a negative.

Why were you reluctant?

When I was doing the press for Bobby, a lot of people said I was aping Robert Altman, and I said, ‘No, it’s Irwin Allen, this is The Towering Inferno or Poseidon Adventure,’ and I got slaughtered. They said, ‘It’s more like The Loveboat!’ [laughs] The press was not kind, if I’m honest.

You’re making a habit of directing your father: he’s been in three of your movies now…

I know all his fits and phases, like he’s never met a person that he didn’t like, and kindness is an instinct for him. He’ll jump into a crowd, shake everyone’s hand, sign all the autographs, and that’s the wonderful thing about him. But that is also not who this character of Tom is, so I had to keep reminding him that he was not all smiles. Tom is cut off, emotionally cut off, and he can’t be laughing it up with the actors on set. I’d be like, ‘Not yet, it’s too early. We’ll get there.’

You’d have to remind him that the character was extremely conservative and reserved?

I’d remind him: ‘Tom voted for George Bush. Twice!’ Enough said. Tom is emblematic of how America is viewed by the rest of the world — somewhat cut off.

Did you collaborate quite closely with your dad, even though The Way is shot from your script?

Yes, like the river scene is his idea. I was like, ‘This a big deal. If you get killed in the second week of production we have big problems!’ We had to shoot the whole movie in sequence, because we wanted to be true to the landscape of the Camino. The bag gets away, he’s got to get the ashes, save his son, but by the end of the movie it’s all about him and his transformation. But I also thought that the river scene showed what happens when you don’t embrace community — when Tom tries things by himself, bad things happen. The gypsy grabbing the bag? That was his idea, too, as I was plotting. And then the night of the gypsy sequence shoot, he says, ‘Emile, don’t you think the boy should be up in the window?’ That was a great idea, and things like that happened along the way, that he inspired.

Apart from working with your father, the subject matter also has a personal appeal for you. In some way, you lost your son to the Camino, right?

Right. I was thinking, ‘What do I know about losing a son on the Camino?’ And then I thought of what happened with my son: he walked the Camino with my father, and he met a girl on the route. She was the daughter of the innkeeper in a place that they stayed on their journey. My son then moved to Spain, married the girl, and has been gone for eight years. So aren’t I more connected to this story than anything I’ve done in my life? It’s not a lament; I’m glad he’s found a life, it’s just that it’s 6,000 miles away! And I’m not ready to pick up and follow him. I’m sure he’s not too keen on that either! I do miss him, though.

Is your relationship with your son at all similar to your relationship with your own father?

It is. In a way, with my father it feels like we’re friends rather than father and son, and I have the same relationship with my son. With my father we kind of grew up together. He was only 21 when I was born. He was still happy when he could tie his shoes, ‘What do you mean we’ve got a baby in the house?’ It was the same for me; I matured with my children and grew up with them.

The idea in The Way of the wayward son: was that in any way coloured by Martin’s relationship with Charlie?

No, not at all. Daniel is less wayward and more curious. He is curious and doesn’t understand why his father wasn’t. There was more between Daniel and Tom in the longer version of the movie but the scenes were too protracted.

You started directing early in your career. In fact you are still, I believe, the youngest person in Hollywood history to write, direct and star in a movie, with your debut, Wisdom…

It’s a dubious distinction! The only thing I’m sure of it is that it is a film. It’s kind of the same with Men at Work. It was absolute silliness. It reminds me of advice I could give to a young filmmaker: I knew nothing about being on a run with a machine gun [Wisdom]. I knew nothing about being a garbage man [Men at Work]. These are things that are just so completely foreign to me. The best advice you can get is what I got from my mother, but didn’t take: write about what you know about. Otherwise it’s impersonal and there’ll be no connection.

What are your earliest memories of being on your dad’s film sets?

We went to a few but the first big one was Catch-22. He insisted that we all go to Mexico, so we moved there for about six months. To be on that set and see Orson Welles, Jon Voight and Martin Balsam and Mike Nichols. I was old enough to know that he’d just done The Graduate. Here was a formidable cat. And Art Garfunkel; I knew all of his songs. He was sitting in the same restaurant. It was pretty cool to be exposed to that. Growing up we just assumed that everyone lived like this. We were sort of like gypsies; we’d pick up and move and settle in and pick up and move. I was very fortunate to go to Rome for three months, Mexico for six months, and India for seven weeks.

Which director that you’ve worked with as an actor has taught you the most about the craft behind the camera?

I did two movies with John Badham, who’s a wonderful technician. We did both the Stakeout films, although we should only have done the first one because the second one was not well paced or well played, but I learned a lot of technique from John. I had a small part in Mission: Impossible and got to spend a month with Brian De Palma, which I loved. I used to go in on my days off and watch how the big boys do it. He has a style that is very much of his own and that is something I have yet to create for myself. I go to school every time I make a movie. If you were to look at the last four, you’d probably think that was four different directors. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing but I’m still evolving, still developing. Maybe I won’t get to that style; I could just be a journeyman director and keep telling the stories.

Would you want to make a $100 million dollar movie?

No. I couldn’t handle the stress! They’re also made by committee, and if I want to go make something by committee I’ll go make a Cold Case or a Numbers or CSI: New York, where you’re there essentially as a hall monitor! However, those shows do teach you great discipline. I could not have done Bobby without the experience of directing TV. I could not have done The Way in the way we did it, without the experience of TV. From Sydney Pollack to Sydney Lumet, those guys will tell you that they cut their teeth with TV, because of the pace. Somebody hands you a 55-page script and says that you have seven days to shoot it, ‘F--k!’ It’s totally daunting, although the system is there in place to support you. By going through those paces, that was my film school essentially. I just did it after I’d made a series of films! I’d wish I’d had those skills earlier.

Your next film, Johnny Longshot, is a sports movie set in the world of harness racing. Why horse and buggy racing?

I love sports movies and I want to create another family franchise. There’s Secretariat and Sea-biscuit, so people are familiar with thoroughbreds, but standard-breds are a different animal and serve a different purpose. The whole sport is very familial, the kids and wives are involved, and it’s also international. So, potentially, it’s a franchise that starts in the US and you can take your team to Australia, France, and other places where they race. It could be a lot of a fun and it’s a sport that we haven’t seen on screen. And then I’d shoot it like Ben-Hur. In fact I’ve been casting about to see if any of the Ben-Hur stuntmen are available (laughs). No, although actually a few of their sons are. I’d like to shoot in Michigan, where you can get 40 per cent of the costs back. Like I said, I don’t know how to make $200 million movies.

Emilio Estevez Interview Martin Sheen The Way

4:34:00 AM

Q: Had you ever wanted to work with the Coen Brothers for sometime?

A: Yeah, forever. I first met Joel in 1994 when I did a cable TV movie with his wife Fran down in West Texas. So I had met Joel in West Texas 16 years ago and it took them that long to offer me a job! (laughs). But I was dying to work with them and any actor you talk to would say the same thing. If you ask for a short list of directors, they would be right there.

Q: Why is that? What is it about them that makes them so vital?

A: Well their films - the body of work really speaks for itself. It’s not even a personal thing – you just have to look at their work and the quality of acting in their movies and it’s obviously something that they care very much about. And then you start to talk to other actors and they will tell you the same thing. I have a lot of friends who have worked with them – George (Clooney), Brad (Pitt), Billy Bob (Thornton). I was on the set of The Man Who Wasn’t There – I went to visit Billy a few times and you talk to crew members, guys like Roger (Deakins, director of photography, True Grit), Andy Harris, and all the guys say ‘you really should work with Joel and Ethan, you would love them..’ So it’s something everybody knows and everybody is always trying to get a job (with them).

Q: Did they live up to expectations?

A: Completely and for a whole host of reasons besides being genuinely nice people. Each phase of the process was a real pleasure. For a start it was a wonderful screenplay – it’s a great adaptation of the book. And then they sent us all storyboards where we could literally open this giant book and look at the shot design of the film. It was basically like looking at the movie in cartoon form before you go and make it. So you got all of this information before you even enter into the process of production, and then within production, they have an incredible flexibility in terms of being available to good ideas that happen in the moment. And so it’s just that kind of combination, which really means that they’ve got total mastery of the process of directing. And then obviously there’s the whole post-production part, which we actors aren’t a part of, but that’s a whole other phase that they are obviously just at the very highest level. They are pretty great directors. But it’s all set up that way - they knew how they were going to edit the scene pretty much when they were writing it.

Q: Was it fun building that character?

A: He’s a great character and it was a lot of fun. I worked with Tommy Lee Jones in 1994 when he directed The Good Old Boys, which Fran (Frances McDormand) and I did with him and that’s when I first met Joel and Ethan. And Joel and Ethan subsequently worked with Tommy to incredible effect in No Country For Old Men and Tommy gave a remarkable performance in that. And actually, I had Tommy as a frame of reference (for True Grit) because he’s from West Texas. And he’s also somebody who is really fun to listen to, he knows a lot about a lot, and there’s something of the English teacher in him - you can ask him an obscure question and he enjoys knowing what he knows (laughs). And so we kind of riffed on that. It’s not exact but it’s a similar way of presentation. My character in True Grit is supposed to be a windbag – it’s like he comes over as a man who knows everything but actually doesn’t know very much at all! Not that Tommy’s like that, but Tommy is a great storyteller. And that was where we started to build the guy.

Q: And the lovely irony is that this guy – a windbag as you call him – gets his tongue badly bitten. How did you play those scenes?

A: Actually that idea isn’t in the novel – it’s pure Joel and Ethan. But you take the idea of this guy who won’t shut up to the extreme, where he actually severs his tongue and still keeps talking. And I figured out how to do it a few months before. I took one of my daughter’s hair bands and wrapped it around my tongue to kind of give myself that handicap and then tried to speak normally and it just worked really well. I had dinner in New York with Joel and Fran (McDormand) here in New York a few months before we started shooting and said ‘let me show you..’ And I pulled the hair band out, wrapped it around my tongue and he liked it and so we stuck with that.


Q: Would you say it’s a very faithful adaptation of the book?

A: Yes, I would. I’d say it is a very faithful adaptation of the book, and obviously there are some corners you need to cut to tell a story in two hours but I think this is a pretty faithful rendering of the book.

Q: Did you watch the original True Grit movie? What was your attitude to that film?

A: I actually still haven’t seen the other film, because when I had talked to Ethan and Joel about this one, they said ‘we are just going to the original source material, we are not seeing it as a remake, we’re seeing it as an adaptation of the Charles Portis novel…’ So they gave me the novel. And I went out and I did buy a copy of the movie, but I still haven’t cracked it yet and that has more to do with four young kids at home (laughs) and I haven’t a lot of time.

Q: Did you take your children on to the set for True Grit?

A: I took Gia on set and she was totally cool. She wasn’t quite two years old at the time and for her it was all about the horses. I wasn’t working so much that day – they were doing the scene where Rooster says ‘fill your hands, you son of a bitch…’ So I wasn’t needed for a few hours as Barry (Pepper, who plays Lucky Ned Pepper) and Jeff were doing their thing. Barry’s horse was called Topper and Gia was initially a little afraid – so she went from being scared to interested to fascinated and then suddenly, she was sitting on Topper’s back. And literally, for months afterwards every horse she saw was Topper. It was really cool.

Q: And now she wants one of her own…

A: (Laughs) Yes and I have to explain that living in New York it doesn’t quite work. It’s like ‘sorry, honey, we can’t quite fit Topper into the apartment…’


Q: Are you a fan of the western genre?

A: Yeah, very much so and in fact, it’s hard to find material that feels like it’s not just a retread of something. But this is a western that deserved to be made. I think Clint (Eastwood) did it to great effect 15 years ago but I read everything and I hadn’t come across a script that was this good, with directors of this calibre and a role like this. It was a very easy decision for me.

Q: Are you still hoping to make the Liberace biopic with Michael Douglas?

A: We are hoping to go this summer (2011) – that’s the plan. There are fewer movies being made than there were even three years ago because of the economic situation. I’m encountering something that I didn’t encounter four or five years ago which is I can’t get a lot of movies made just on my name. And I’ve talked to a lot of directors who say ‘we tried to get this or that off the ground, but it didn’t happen..’ But with Liberace we’re planning on doing it, Michael is planning on it – everything is going great with him, which is fantastic – it’s just that the money is not in the bank yet. But we’ll get it.

Q: Were there any surprises?

A: Well, there were scenes that were shot when I wasn’t there so they were really a lot of fun to see. I had seen the story boards that Joel and Ethan do to plan out the movie so I knew what was coming. I have to say, I was really moved at the end when Jeff is riding with Hailee on the horse – when he gets to that cabin and the last thing he says in the movie is, ‘I have grown old..’ when he collapses on the ground and he shoots his gun into the air. I love that line ‘time just gets away from us..’

Interview Matt Damon True Grit

8:20:00 AM

Rabbit Hole is the new film from John Cameron Mitchell (Shortbus, Hedwig and the Angry Itch) based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Lindsay Abaire. Rabbit Hole stars Nicole Kidman in a Golden Globe nominated performance and Aaron Eckhart, with a supporting cast that includes two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest, Sandra Oh, Tammy Blanchard, Jon Tenney, Giancarlo Esposito and newcomer Miles Teller.

Set in the suburbs of America, Rabbit Hole tells the story of Becca and Howie Corbett, a married couple struggling to return to their everyday existence several months after the loss of their child. Becca and Howie embark on separate journeys, making increasingly unexpected choices that threaten to pull them apart. Distancing herself from her family and her own emotions, Becca begins to surreptitiously follow a local teenage boy with whom she shares an unexplained connection. Howie clings wholeheartedly onto his memories and places his faith in the everyday routines of life, but an acquaintance at a group therapy session offers a more unconventional method of dealing with his feelings.

With their world tilted off of its axis, the couple must decide whether to allow their increasingly fractured personal journeys to bring them back together. Rabbit Hole is a vivid, honest and unexpectedly funny portrait of a family searching for what remains possible in the most impossible of situations.

Interview Nicole Kidman Rabbit Hole

2:30:00 AM

Jason Statham, 38, has been called Britain’s most bankable star and one of its most valuable exports, in worldwide cinemas anyway. He first found fame, a lower-grade version anyway, as a champion diver and even represented Britain in the 1988 Olympic Games. He then became a model, street-seller and eventually, by accident or universal design, an actor in Guy Ritchie’s fresh, frenetic 1998 hit, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This brash handsome neophyte almost stole the show. No wonder then that by 2002, visionary French writer, director and producer Luc Besson had cast him as a new era of delivery man in The Transporter, a worldwide hit which spawned a trilogy and effectively crowned Hollywood’s new action king. Many films and rather more substantial fame later, Statham is Arthur Bishop, a brilliant, reclusive hit-man with a different kind of heart in acclaimed British director Simon West’s new film The Mechanic.

You’ve said you want to move towards more quality films. Is The Mechanic one of them?

I think it's definitely moving in a direction that I want to be moving in, yes. It's a little more interesting to play this kind of a character than some of the other roles I've done, and now I'm getting to work with more experienced producers and more experienced directors, like Simon West. And of course actors of great quality like Ben Foster [Statham’s Mechanic sidekick]. I think once you get a good screenplay, everything else about a film gets raised in some way. That's the driving force for me - to work with better people, doing better things, and having better scripts. This is certainly something going in the right direction.

What makes you pick a film?

Gut instinct mostly. That and your intuition are the best things. You have to like the script and be involved with a director you think can steer the ship and keep it off the rocks. That’s a very important thing. [Director] Simon West comes with so much experience so it’s not like you have to make any second guesses that he’s going to know what he’s doing. I’ve worked with first-time directors and they seem cool but sometimes you go, “Am I doing the right thing? Does he know what he’s doing?” I was so pleased Simon was going to do an action film and I was going to be in it. And as soon as they told me they were trying to cast Ben Foster opposite me, I thought, “This is a no-brainer”.

Is there any sort of British “stamp” on the film given that you and Simon are both Brits?

I am a British guy in essentially an American film but I don’t think people really care too much about that although Simon and I are certainly the ones kicking this through. There’s a big British influence. That’s why it’s good. There’s a shorthand with anyone from the UK - you speak the language, the humour’s there. And I tend to work better when I can have a bit of a giggle. Simon supplied that and it takes the pressure off. When something’s good, it just feels easy. And we never take ourselves too seriously. I think that’s a great aspect of the Brits. We’re always laughing at ourselves.

Were you already a fan of Ben Foster’s work?

Oh yes. He’s great. He’s a real quality actor so for me to be able to work opposite someone like that and not some hairdresser cast off the street - which is what happened with Transporter 3 - well, it was fantastic.

The role of Bishop is incredibly physical. Can you talk about your preparation?

It changes so much, depending on how injured I am. I do try to work with stunt people that I've worked with before, so we have a certain amount of know-how in terms of what we are going to do together. It wasn't like we had a ton of extensive choreography to learn for this one but I have a gym I go to that preps me. A ton of stuntmen work out there all the time so it's great to go there before I shoot a film. I try not to focus too much on dieting and losing weight unless it's really, really necessary.

What about the mental side?

Well I'm not a method actor, I hope you know that! I just find an ability to be able to play the roles that I do. The physical stuff is easy, the other prep comes from rehearsals and communication with the director, and that all comes whenever you get to where you are filming.

What was it like filming in New Orleans?

We had a great time down there. We met some great people, and made some great friends. It's the second film I've done down there. It's slightly more appealing in the wintertime than it is in the summer when it gets kind of sticky.

This is a remake of the 1972 version of The Mechanic starring Charles Bronson. Were you a fan of his?

Of course, yeah. I've seen every film he made. That's why he’s so great. You can watch those films time and time again. I've always been a fan of Bronson’s.

Did you have any reservations about tackling a character he had already made his own?

Comparisons are always going to be made, and it's not the first remake I've done. I did a remake of The Italian Job years ago, and again, that was a great, classic movie that some people think should never be touched but it ended up being a decent job. And it's the same with this. A lot of people won't remember the original, or won't even have seen it. It was nearly 40 years ago. So, yeah, I don't think we are too bothered about it being a remake.

Which was the most fun scene to film?

I think being strung up there on the outside of this huge building with Ben [Foster] and seeing how scared he was. He was pooping himself! It makes me sound a little bit sadistic but it’s great when you do something with real excitement to it. It seems there's always so much more reward in doing something in terms of the action than a good dramatic scene. There's no one clapping for that. People might be touched by it but it’s the action stuff which produces the euphoria on set.

Bishop is a huge classic car enthusiast who is restoring an E-Type Jaguar in the film. Do you share his passion?

I love cars actually, yes. I’m not much of a tinkerer but I could talk all day about vintage cars and the old E-Type is a great one. I'm particularly fond of all the Jags, the old Aston Martins, the British cars, but I don't have any classics myself. They tend to break down a lot and there's always a problem with that. There's nothing reliable about an old classic but they’re so great to sit in, walk around and admire.

How comfortable are you being perceived as the action man of your generation?

Very comfortable I suppose, if that's what you want to call me. I'm working away and I'm very happy doing what I'm doing, and things have been going well recently. I've been working with some good people.

You’ve been working as an actor for 13 years now. Can you talk about how you have developed.

I think I know what I'm doing now. Just. You get to know what you're doing and there's no substitute for the experience. The more experience you have, the more you know what will work for you and what won’t. Now I have 10 years of knowing what’s good for me. A lot of the elements are not in your control but when it all comes together, and in a good way, that’s the best. There are certain things I’ve done which make me bow my head with embarrassment and I won’t mention them because there’s no point. Then there are others I’m really proud of. It’s just about reducing the percentage of ones you’re not proud of. I mean I’ve just worked opposite Robert De Niro and Clive Owen in a film called The Killer Elite so that's definitely another step in the right direction.

Was it intimidating working with Robert De Niro?

Very intimidating, as you can only imagine. You don't want to make a fool of yourself in front of that man.

Luc Besson produced all three of the Transporter films you starred in. Do you feel he’s responsible for some of your success?

Oh, he's one of the key figures for me. He was basically the first person who gave me the lead in a movie. He’s a very significant man and had a huge effect on my career.

Who else has had a significant impact on you?

Guy Ritchie of course. [Ritchie has directed Statham in three films, including Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.] I remember being with Guy years ago and I asked him, “Should I go and sign myself up for drama school?” I’d just done Lock Stock on a whim and his words of advice were: “There’s a fine line between intuition and technique and I think you will serve yourself much better by going on your intuition”. The words and advice of Guy Ritchie seem to stick with me.

Any news on The Expendables 2?

Yes, I have heard about a sequel, and I'll be the first to say yes to a phone call from Sly [Stallone]. As soon as the movie started to do really well, he said, “You know, it would be great to do this again”. And if there's anyone that can do a good sequel, it's Sly. He's done a fair amount. We had a good time and it's definitely something I'd like to repeat.

And what about a third Crank film?

It's a shame the second one [2009’s Crank: High Voltage] didn't do that well. The first one had a little bit more success and the second one was absolutely nuts. I don't know whether we'll do another one, I just know I had a great time working with Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor [writers/directors]. They are absolutely mad as hatters.

Do you see primarily action films in the cinema or other sorts too?

I like all kinds of films. I don't have any particular favourites. I enjoy myself. I go to the cinema and watch all different kinds of films. Recently I’ve seen The Fighter and The King’s Speech and I thought they were both terrific. Very good indeed.

Did The King’s Speech make the hard man cry?

I do get teary you know. There’s a lot of films I get teary in. Another good film I saw that did make me get teary was Blue Valentine. I did cry in that. I was welling up in The King’s Speech but we watched that with a lot of people and I was trying to stay tough. But it’s so powerful.

How do you like spending your free time?

I like to relax and spend it with people that I've grown up with, people that I care about. I’m happy to just sit around, doing nothing. On a beach is fine.

Are you into soccer?

Not so much. All my friends are. I'm not as big a soccer fan as people might imagine, being British.

You were on the British Olympic diving team when you were younger. Do you still follow diving?

No, it's probably the smallest sport in the world. It’s not even follow-able. Literally, as soon as I retired from diving, I had no interest in it.

How did you get to become a champion diver anyway?

I tried it and then within a year I was on the British team. All of a sudden you are travelling around the world competing, and there's a certain aspect of that which is very appealing to a young man. The next thing you know, you click your fingers, you turn around and 12 years have gone by!

Did your diving career help with this markedly different one?

It was very good for me to do that in terms of what I'm doing now because a lot of the training was about gaining aerial awareness. If you’re doing a lot of stunts, you need a great sense of distance and timing so a lot of the tumbling and trampolining I used to do has paid huge dividends.

What do you have coming up, work-wise?

This is the first period in several years where for the next few months I'm not doing anything. The last three years, I’ve always had something in front of me. Now I'm just waiting for The Expendables 2.

How will you spend your time?

Dropping down two or three gears and just breathing for a few months. I did go back to Britain at Christmas and saw everyone but it’s the wrong time of year to go. It’s hectic and it was too much. I think I will get to go back and see someone I want to see and didn’t get to see, and all the people I hold close. I’ll do that in the next couple of months. Recharge! Get to the spa! Get my nails done!

Interview Jason Statham The Mechanic

4:55:00 AM

Q: Hi Harrison. What was it about it about Mike Pomeroy, the legendary newsman you play in Morning Glory, that appealed to you?
A: He was a very different character to one I have played before and I could see his utility in the piece overall. He's a complicated man. What also attracted to me to the role was I liked the people involved in the movie. JJ Abrams (producer) told me he was developing a part for me and when I read it I thought, 'Well done JJ. It's a good opportunity for me'. I also liked the work of (director) Roger Michell. Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton are actors I also admire so there was no reason not to do the movie.

Q: You say Mike is complicated man. That's an interesting way to describe him.
A: (Laughs) Yes, he's an ass. But, I could also see that the events of the film had an impact on him and he had an impact on Rachel's character, Becky. The emotional context that comes out of Mike and Becky's relationship is a bonus.

Q: Have you ever met a man like Mike?
A: No, I don't think I have, but I think I knew who he was because the script was so clear and his thematic utility in the film was so clear.

Q: We discover Mike is a bit of a gourmand in the kitchen. What about you? Do you have any culinary skills?
A: I like food and I like cooking, but I'm pretty much a meals in minutes kind of guy. I like simple preparations. I suppose I'm famous in my house for my ability to cook a stir fry. I can cook a pretty great stir fry for you very quickly.

Q: You have had so much success as an actor, but have you ever had any secret desire to be a news broadcaster?
A: (Laughs) No.

Q: Who do you admire as a news broadcaster?
A: There are some I admire, but there are others I don't now that news has become an entertainment business. I always admired what Tom Brokaw was doing and of course Walter Cronkite. I like Brian Williams and Diane Sawyer. Those are a few of my favorites.

Q: You have some great scenes with Rachel. She said she was a little intimidated working with you and Diane. Did you notice that?
A: Oh no. Not at all. That could easily fold into the relationship her character has with Mike. He would have been intimidating and frightening, but I don't think she was intimidated or frightened. She's a strong-willed young lady and I think she is a very strong talent.

Q: Some of the funniest scenes in the movie occur when your character goes head-to-head with Diane Keaton's character. Was there much ad-libbing in there?
A: No, no. It was all written or something we came across in rehearsal, but I think that obviously was as fun as anything. I hadn't know Diane before, so I was pleased to get to know her.

Q: Yes, I was surprised to learn you have not worked together.
A: Well, we do different kinds of films. I describe her as being part of the intellectual branch of the service and I'm in the commando branch. You know, the jumping and falling down department.

Q: Knowing that, did you have any preconceptions about Diane going in?
A: I didn't really. I have always thought she was a wonderful actress and it was really fun to work with her. She really knew what she wanted to get out out of her character in each scene and she was tenacious about getting it. I thought she was great to work with. She was inventive, spontaneous and always kept it fresh.

Q: Roger has directed so many wonderful films like Notting Hill and Venus. What was he like as a director with you?
A: He was easy to work with. As a technician, it was easy because of the visual storytelling skill he brought to the scene. He managed the jokes and emotional context both very well. He got good performances from different kinds of actors so I very much admire what Roger did.

Q: Morning Glory deals with the issue of losing and regaining success. What do you regard as being successful?
A: The only significance of success is it allows you to do what you love doing. It's nice to pay your bills, but I've been doing this for 40 years. If I didn't like it I would have stopped doing it a long time ago, but I really do love it.

Q: The film also deals with ambition. Is your approach to working different now than what it was early on in your career?
A: I don't think it’s different. I still have the same ambitions to give the character the best expression I can. To be of service to the thematics of the film and to be a decent person to work with. They’re my goals.

Q: Can too much ambition ever be a bad thing?
A: There's certainly this thing they call blind ambition where one is ambitious for the sake of itself. You only admire ambition that is appropriate and focused on making the film as good as it can be.

Q: There's a great scene in the film where your character is at the legendary restaurant 21 with some veteran news broadcasters, Bob Schieffer, Morely Safer and Chris Matthews. What was that scene like to shoot and what was the topic of conversation when the cameras weren't rolling?
A: We shot that fairly early in the day. We were sitting there for hours as the scene was being lit. It was very interesting. Mostly we just told rude jokes.

Q: Who was the best joke teller?
A: Me of course.

Q: When you need to catch up on news is TV your preferred choice or do you prefer newspapers or the internet?
A: I actually like the radio. The news is very easy to capture via headlines. I'm more interested in the background story. The indepth elements of the story. Somehow, with radio, you have to have an intellectual density because you don't have the distractions of picture and the dash and flash of that. You really have to tell a story.

Q: Do you watch any TV news?
A: I try not to watch too much TV news, but I do flip around between the major news shows. I'm most interested in the Sunday morning shows.

Q: Did you do any research into what makes news anchors tick before you started filming, or did you dive right into it?
A: No research. I just felt I knew the context of the morning news programs after having appeared on them the last 20 or 30 years. I thought I knew how to play that kind of anchor. I knew what was behind him. He was a self-satisfied, smug, kind of an ass. I tried to bring that into the context of being a network news anchor. I'm sure that's not the case of any network news anchor. That was the obligation of this film.

Q: What inspires you to get up each morning and go to work, especially when you have doing it for more than 40 years now.
A: Really, more than anything else, it's the love of storytelling and practicing my craft. It is always a pleasure to work with other people and working with a crew and all the other people who work on the set.

Q: A very funny scene in Morning Glory takes place in Bryant Park when a member of the public runs up to your character and mistakes him for another famous person. Has that ever happened to you?
A: (Laughs) Yeah, people mistake me for someone else. Even though we look nothing alike, people think I'm Michael Douglas.

Q: Michael Douglas? That seems odd.
A: Yeah, it's strange. I don't correct them. I smile, nod my head and keep on walking.

Q: Does working on a film get easier for you or is it still a challenge?
A: For me, the hardest part is deciding what I'm going to do. That usually comes before I'm on the set when I'm working with the director and writers to make clear what we all want from it and how best to get it. The dressing up and pretending to be somebody else is always the play part of it.

Q: With Mike, did you feel sorry for him or do you think he's made his own world?
A: I can see how lonely and tortured he was. Certainly, I could feel a degree of sympathy for him, but ultimately it's his fault.

Q: Mike likes to go hunting and appears to be a good shot with a gun. How are you? Are you a good shot?
A: Pretty good, yeah, but hunting is not an obsession of mine.

Q: Mike has plenty of regrets in life. When you look back on your career, any regrets or do you wish you had done anything differently?
A: No, no regrets. I’ve had a very blessed life and I’m very grateful for it.

Q: It has been wonderful talking to you Harrison.
A: It has been a pleasure.

Interview by Donna Walker-Mitchell

Harrison Ford Interview Morning Glory

7:10:00 AM

Q: Hi Rachel, how are you?

A: I’m great thanks.

Q: In Morning Glory your character Becky Fuller is very driven and quirky. What was your take on her?

A: I instantly liked her when I read the script. Becky was just this very scattered, goofy, kind of nutty character who is in charge of everything. She’s trying to keep this whole big fiasco together and she wants to stop it from completely coming apart at the seams, yet she is completely coming apart at the seams. I liked that juxtaposition. I also liked the fact she was very expressive about how she felt. You know, normally, it’s the on-air talent that is so communicative about their feelings, but she’s this behind the scenes person who really had a lot of personality.

Q: Becky has ambition to burn. Could you identify with that in terms of your own career?

A: Definitely. Certainly the feeling of getting your first shot at something you really want and knowing you have to make it work. Or feeling like you have to make it work or you’re never going to get another shot. I think so many people start their careers that way. First of all, it’s about getting your foot in the door and then once you have it there, it’s how do maintain it? We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get it right, but you can’t possibly do that all the time. There’s no room to fail anymore.

Q: What do you regard as your first big break, the time where you thought everything was on the line?

A: I felt that way from the very first job I had on television in a kids TV series (The Famous Jett Jackson). It was a guest role and it was about three days work, but I thought ‘This is it. This is my moment.’ I was 21 or 22 at the time.

Q: Becky’s mother in Morning Glory is not encouraging in terms of her daughter’s career plans. Were your parents always supportive of your goal to become an actress?

A: Yes, they were always very supportive and I was very lucky. I certainly remember though when I was at school, because I went to theatre school, with a lot of kids whose parents weren’t supportive. I always thought it was so brave of them to be there on their own dime without the support of their family. The thing with acting as a profession, it isn’t a sure thing and yet it’s what you love and you’re going for it. It is tough when you get to that point and think, when do you stop if things aren’t going your way? When do you give up something you love and should you ever do that? The answer is different for everyone.

Q: Do you think you would have ever given up?

A: That’s a good question. I really don’t know. I did face rejection and I still do, but  it doesn’t make me want to run away. It stings (laughs). It’s not a pleasant feeling, but you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try it again.

Q: Are you like Becky where you have a very definite idea of where you want your career to go?

A: No, I’m not really like her that way. I don’t really have a plan, I guess. It’s a crap shoot. I just do things which speak to me and I can’t really explain why some things jump off the page and some things don’t. Sometimes you’re at a certain point in your life and it just makes sense, but if you’d read that same script a year before it wouldn’t have even crossed your mind. A good story, a great role, a great director and good people rank highly for me.

Q: Speaking of which, did you know Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton were going to be your co-stars when you signed on for Morning Glory?

A: I knew Harrison was on board and that was another huge draw. I just knew he was going to kill this part. We haven’t seen him like this in a while and he’s so funny. He’s so good at it. I think people forget how funny he is and he does it in such an unexpected way. He doesn’t play for laughs at all. He has a really dry, still sense of humour and it’s really perfect for this character. He was very vulnerable too which I didn’t know going in and I found myself in scenes with him where he was completely exposed emotionally and very honest.

Q: Harrison said you seemed very at ease in doing the scenes with him.

A: No, that’s just my coping mechanism - I seem very calm on the outside, but on the inside, I’m screaming! It’s funny because I always get so nervous, especially when I do awards shows.

Q: Really?

A: Yes and people say ‘You seemed so calm on stage’ but the minute I’m done, I’m shaking like a leaf. I’m always asking ‘Did I just make a completely fool of myself?’ and people say ‘You’d never know you were nervous’ but on the inside, it’s a whole other story. I guess I just conceal it well because I was very nervous to work with Harrison. He’s one of my childhood heroes.  I wanted to impress him when we did those scenes. I wanted to be a good team partner for him and I wanted to bring my A-game because I respect him so much.

Q: What was it like working with Diane?

A: Another amazing person to get the opportunity to work with. She’s so funny and talented and she always looks like a million bucks. She gave me some great personal advice too. I said to her one day ‘You always look so fabulous in the mornings’ while I would come to work dressed in sweatpants. She would always be in high heels and dresses and look so fantastic. I said ‘I always want to save my good stuff’ but Diane told me ‘There’s no time like the present to break out all your best things. There’s no point in saving it. It’s there to be used and you need to treat every day that way.’ I thought that was great because it’s so true. Before that I’d save all my good stuff, but for when? (laughs) Now, thanks to Diane, I’m breaking out the good stuff!

Q: New York is almost like another character in this film. What was it like shooting here?

A: New York is very important in this film. You put a camera on any corner in New York and you’re going to get something amazing, but Roger (Michell) had some very specific ideas of things he wanted to shoot. You know, the statues, the monuments, the things you pass by every day and don’t take note of. He incorporated those in a really beautiful way. I loved his approach to it all.

Q: What was it like working with Roger and how was he as a director?

A: I had met Roger a few times to talk about Morning Glory. I’ve long been an admirer of his films and how diverse they are. He insisted on rehearsals which I think is great. He has a theatre background so he gets the benefit of that. One of the things I like most about Roger is that he has a great way of weaving in these seemingly very peripheral characters and making them important and making them matter. I mean, the greatest pool of unemployed actors are in New York City and he brought in such amazing talent, such as John Pankow (who plays Lenny Bergman) and Matt Molloy (Ernie Appleby). All of the producers in that newsroom where Becky feels bombarded, they were all exceptional. I think that was one of my favourite scenes in the movie. Each and every actor in that scene brought so much to the table.

Q: What was one of the more unusual aspects of shooting Morning Glory?

A: Well, that would have to be the pigeon wrangling. There are billions of pigeons all over New York so you’d think it wouldn’t be difficult to find a pile of them to run through, but let me assure you, I had to coax those pigeons with bread to be in that scene. It was very relaxing actually (laughs). But running wasn’t the easiest in those heels.

Q: I can imagine.

A: Yes, we had to have a shoe test in my trailer to see which ones were going to work. Anything with a platform? Not so good. You need a little grip.

Q: This film deals a lot with drive and ambition. Do you think too much ambition can ever be a bad thing?

A: I do actually. I think being very ambitious can serve you well up to a point, but Becky is one the verge. I think she does tip over at a certain point (laughs) and she has to pull back a bit.  Maybe this is a little more internalised for me regarding Becky, but I think she comes to realise that sometimes you don’t have to do it all by yourself. I think women have a tendency to think we have to do it all, but that can be very hard. I think when you foster relationships, as well as having your career, it means we also can learn to let go a little bit. I believe balance in life is key.

Interview by Donna Walker-Mitchell

Interview Morning Glory Rachel McAdams

6:34:00 AM