I’ve worked in a few sort of ‘institutional’ theaters – the Royal Shakespeare, the National Theater in England – and they’re hopelessly top-heavy with bureaucracy.
My career has evolved at its own peculiar pace. American careers are supposed to have a much more singular direction than I’ve been able to… stomach.
I think that if you get too close to the character, if you do too much historical research, you may find yourself defending your view of a character against the author’s view, and I think that’s terribly dangerous.
There’s nothing more daunting than a musical, but there’s also no more direct line to joy. Getting there, though, is like pushing treacle up stairs.
The people on the business side in the music business are kind of different from the theatre business. I think it’s partly because there are different pressures on the industries.
I want to establish a wide range and play all kinds of parts. It’s that sort of acting career I really respect. I like to turn a sharp left from whatever I’ve done before because that keeps me awake. That’s why I want to be an actor – I don’t want to play endless variations on one character.
In most careers, you find something you do well, and you tie an increasingly larger bow on the package.
I think artists are driven by the engine of their own talent, but it’s a question of what use they put it to.
I moved to L.A., because that’s where they point cameras at you. And that’s what I’d like them to do.