One of the things that really struck me about the film in general is how nuanced it is to the characters. No one feels wholly good or evil. And especially Damian, he feels dangerous because he seems like such a live wire. There’s this intensity going on behind his eyes all the time. How did you maintain that performance on set?
Same way with the boxing element of it. I work in a particular way that I’ve cultivated over these years and it changes every time, but it’s an approach where I try to make the line between action and cut as thin as possible, and only I know what that is. Sometimes it may seem as if I’m joking around, but there’s something, there’s always a method to it because you know what’s coming up next.
It’s discipline just to stay in it. Keep the body physically strong, keep the mind physically focused on the task at hand, and ultimately you’re playing make-believe and pretend, and the deeper you get into that world, the easier it becomes, the more brain and body begin to go, “This is real.” And for me, I want it to be real, as real as possible, at least. I play my music, I stay — everyone has different processes. Some processes can clash. If someone’s, if they’ve got to shake it and come right out, some of the greatest actors in the world do that, and you got to deal with that person then as their pedestrian self. Sometimes that’s helpful, sometimes that’s not, but very much I can rely on just kinda staying in my own [world] and keep it cooking.