Q: Have you all met before this?
MRM: Well I've worked with Denzel before, on Pelham 123. I worked with Joaquin three times. twice we acted together. In the Village we played brothers and in Ring of Fire he was Johnny Cash I was Elvis. And he directed me in Brotherly Love. And me and Bradley just did Alien: Genesis together. But I have yet to work with Mr. Day-Lewis or Mr. Hawkes.
Q: So do you all feel the right people belong here or has it become too political, as far as who gets nominated and who doesn't?
MRM: Well I think we all are just here as clappers for when Daniel wins. I mean come on, haha. He pretty much has this in the bag.
Q: Do you feel you need to use darkness or pain as your motivation or is that a cliche?
MRM: Oh no for me it is essential. It was always the fuel, maybe too much so. And that's why I feel like I am moving away from acting and trying to be more like this guy (points to Lewis) over here and just act every once in a while. I mean if you look at my future schedule, I'm slowing it down. I'm contracted to do two more Bond films and I am looking at this comedy Seth McFarlane has offered me which is really unique and that is the one genre I haven't tackled yet, comedy. I need to do that. So I'm interested in that. But I am in such a happy place now, with my band, we're gonna tour Europe next summer with Boomkat, I'm in love, I plan on starting a family next year. My relationship with my mom has come a full 180. We are closer than ever. We talk almost everyday. We laugh, we share things. I'm helping her write her book she's doing. We have made so much progress. Super close now. It's great. I mean, I used to have that itch to act as a means to channel my pain and now that things are going so well, that itch doesn't seem to be there and I don't wanna act just to keep acting. But at the same time I love what I do, I love this business, I love being on set. Olivia Wilde and I just started a production company in New York. She and I both want to direct. I've already directed one indie back in 2010. It came out in 2011. And we will produce pictures out of that company as well, with Truth or Die being the first project out the gate for that. So I am definitely looking at that next phase, that next stage of my career. Because I can't always be the angry brooding metrosexual guy forever. And the chameleon thing, which I really love, can only work for so long. I'm running out of different looks to try. Haha.
Q: So you feel that if you are too happy you lose the urge to act?
MRM: For me, yes. I feel I gravitate toward darker roles because they speak to me. A character who is struggling with something. But when I am in a good place I don't want to spend 3 months on set in a dark frame of mind. I wanna be on the beach in Italy with my girlfriend or performing in front of fans on stage with my band. I want to stay in that happy place I don't want to leave it because I feel it's my job. Acting isn't a job to me. It's something I feel compelled to do. I do a role because it speaks to me. That's why I wanna tackle comedy and try happier roles. But the problem is there aren't that many interesting happy role, haha.
Q: What was one piece of advice someone gave you in your life that steered you toward acting or you feel changed you forever?
MRM: It sounds silly but I guess it wasn't advice but as he (Denzel) said a word of encouragement that steered me toward believing in myself, was in junior high I was goofing off in music class and they heard me sing and the teacher said I should try out for the Lion King musical play we were doing. I never had any interest in acting or singing or being in a play. But I had a bad GPA that year and they said if I participated that my grade would go up so I needed that. So I did it. Afterwards a girl in the hall who NEVER noticed me before said to me "I saw you in the play over the weekend, you did great. Then I went to class, sat down, and all the girls in the class turned to me and for 5 minutes straight kept raving about how good I was, they didn't know I could sing, blah blah blah. It was life changing. I finally found something I was good at."
Q: What's one thing about yourself you would change?
MRM: Umm, I guess I wish I didn't fall so hard so fast for people I don't know well enough yet. I gotta work on that.
