|
He's been in... well, just about everything, from Full Metal Jacket to Independence Day and now Joss Whedon's Serenity.
As Jayne he's the group's resident amoral thug.
How did it feel to be back on board Serenity more than a year after the TV show was cancelled?
It was a thrill ride for me. I keep coming back to this theme of redemption and appreciating it now, in the now. When I went
up for Full Metal Jacket I was a young man, 23, and while I knew that I was involved in a Kubrick movie and that's special,
I was not mature enough to realise that those special things are rare and to appreciate them while they're happening, so when
this came along, working with Joss and this special group of actors and the crew that Joss puts together, and the family atmosphere
that we built, I recognised it and appreciated it when it was happening. I tried to translate that to the younger actors like,
"This is special!" and they got it right away but I would keep reminding them "This is a special thing!" It's just thrilling
that we've done it.
Why do you think Jayne has emerged as many people's favourite character?
You know, I don't know. He is a colourful character I'll give him that. I'm just humbled by the response that I've been getting
for this character and thankful that they connect to it as much as I did because he's based on Warren Oates and a couple of
other of Western type guys that I grew up watching. Joss would say, "Bring me all you got!" and I'd bring too much and he'd
say "Bring it back". There was certainly an easy trap that I could have fallen into if Joss hadn't been so careful to guide
me, that of playing him negatively. That's always a trap when you have a villain. James Mason once said, "But I've never played
a villain!" And I try to keep that as my through line. Jayne is a pro-active guy who just doesn't get why we're keeping these
fugitives on board, it doesn't make sense 'It's bringing the alliance down on our heads you thick-headed idiot!' I think people
can connect to that because that's a realistic approach to a character. Plus he's got really colourful t-shirts and lots of
guns and stuff.
He's also the funniest character by far.
I understand that that was a bit of a surprise to Joss, that I could actually be funny! I don't know that Adam Baldwin per
se was known as a funny guy, but I just found the humour in the writing and thought I'd play it that way and see how far he'd
let me go. I think there has to be an element of truth in all good comedy, so if there's good writing and you play it honestly
then it should be funnier. when you see honest behaviour in an actor - at least I do when I'm watching a performance - I really
enjoy the fact that it's so organic and so honest that I just laugh along with the beauty and the simplicity and the honesty
of it.
Do you see, perhaps, true comedy roles in your future?
I've been around a while. I've played tough guys before, Jayne's a tough guy but I am a tough guy so it's kind of hard to
make me…I guess I would have been good in Kinky Boots! That would have been a good stretch for me and opened some eyes.
One can hope you get a chance for people to say "Hey! He's funny!"
You had another show cancelled recently, The Inside, was that a painfully familiar feeling?
On the other side of Firefly where I exist now, nothing can break my heart like that one so my walls are up. You can kinda
tell by the way they're handling your show what's happening and on The Inside I could read the writing on the wall so I wasn't
shocked when it happened. Whereas we were underdogs with Firefly and I was much less prepared for the cancellation of that.
Call me jaded, but it's hard. It was a great job, but Firefly was much more of a shock.
I had actually been through a similar experience on The Visitor, which was another example of, perhaps, miscommunication of
what the show actually was and what the producers intended it to be. I think that cross-communication will tend to go in the
favour of the network because it's their network, so I've seen it before and I'm sure I'll see it again and I'm more the wiser.
That's why it's important to recognise how special things like Firefly are while you're doing them and embrace them fully
while you're there. Because the next day you might not be.
|
