Jamie 벨 Talks Turn, Fantastic Four, and Awkward 슈퍼마켓 Encounters 

Dashing 28-year-old actor Jamie Bell is everywhere these days. Appearing as a sexual sadist for hire in Lars von Trier’s

, among other things, the little lad who charmed the world in

has matured into one of the more interesting and unpredictable young actors in the business. He paid us a visit during a whirlwind press tour in New York last week.

I think the line has been blurring between movies and television the last 10 or 15 years. I’ve been so unaware of it, because I never pay attention to anything. Shows like

have really changed everything. The opportunity to play a reluctant hero, I’ve always liked that. A repressed heroic character who has huge flaws and huge conflict.

AMC became famous for its antiheroes, like Don Draper or Walter White. This guy sounds more straightforward. You say reluctant hero, but it doesn’t seem like he’s got that dark side.

No, he’s not as dark. He gets that way toward the end of the first season. When you dive into Revolutionary War period history, I think you often lead people in slowly. Because there’s a lot going on. The wigs and the muskets and the accents and the horses. We’ve tried to allow people in slowly and let the show speak for itself, let you figure it out, and then we’ll take you on a journey.

Had you been offered other TV shows that didn’t strike you as much as this one?

I had read pilots before, not many of them, though, honestly. I didn’t really understand the format of television. Now I do, I understand how it works. Even when we shot the pilot, I would always go up to Craig Silverstein and say, “It’s weird, I feel like there needs to be an ending to the scene.” That’s the whole point of television—you accomplish lots and also nothing at the same time.

You had just come off shooting a Lars von Trier movie. It's hard to imagine there's anything harder than that.

That was just an intense experience. But the actual workload was obviously for me incredibly light. It is a stressful situation, yeah.

What did you learn from working with von Trier in terms of stressful situations like that?

Just stress management. I’d obviously read the script, I’d talked to him about the character, but not a lot. I had a couple of things I wanted to do, but I got to the set, and it was immediately “action.” My instincts are always pretty good and pretty sharp, but that was it, the reassuring thing. Even if you feel underprepared, you’re actually prepared.

You started acting really young, and male actors can have a hard time getting taken seriously until they get older. To be able to take a role like that where you’re super in charge and dominant over Charlotte Gainsbourg, who is older, do you enjoy being able to claim that power for yourself?

It never really felt like a position of power, it just felt like this is what this guy is good at. His service is to make someone feel like they’re being dominated. But I swear to god, I really didn’t say a single word to her. I might have said good morning. I did not speak to her at all. And I saw her recently in a grocery store in Los Angeles, totally out of context, and freaked out, I didn’t know what to say. We had that experience, we didn’t have time to get to know each other at all. And she was buying milk, and I was like “What the hell do I say to her?”

Nothing, I ducked out of the grocery store and ran away. When we filmed, I hadn’t said two words to her before I was literally hitting her in the face. It was a very strange experience.

it’s the opposite, where you’re working with the same people for weeks and weeks. How was that different?

It’s amazing because everyone on this show is talented. Every single person is doing their job really well. You love them because they are who they are, but you’re also excited to work with them because you get to be in a scene with them. It’s exciting because you like what they do. We’re incredibly close, all of us. We did all the key art stuff, for the promotional stuff, early on, when we were shooting episode three. The people from AMC said, “You guys get along so well!” But the guy who was taking the photos said, “Well yeah, but you’re only on episode three. By 10 you’re going to hate each other!” And I could see how that would happen, but we’re so tight as a group, as a family. I think we really want it to work just so we can hang out with each other, more than anything else.

You probably can’t talk much about playing The Thing in

behind you, and presumably again at some point?

Yep, once Peter gets back from Middle Earth.

These are two characters that are you, but aren’t you. Which must be fascinating as an actor. What do you like about playing a character that looks nothing like you?

Well, I love anonymity. I like maintaining a bit of mystery. I’ve been working a long time, but I think people still think, I don’t know that guy. I think it’s a really good position to be in as an actor. I’m obviously incredibly well-known for one thing, from my first film. But I’m not him, because he’s this big. So it’s kind of a great position. Those roles, in particular, mean you get to be on something with a bit of clout, and profile, and some weight behind it. With

I got to work with Steven [Spielberg], who’s amazing. I think every person wants to have that experience if you’re an actor or you work in the industry. He’s an empire. He is movies to me. And something like

, it stretches you as an actor. It’s going to be such a challenge. In some ways I’m going to have to do things I’ve never done before.

One of my favorite actors in the world is Andy Serkis. I’ve worked with him three or four times now, and I just think he’s the best actor ever. He’s unbelievable. I’ve seen it firsthand, like when we did

together and we were using similar kind of technology, I’m assuming, to what we’ll be using on

, it was complete immersion. When Andy was being Kong you wouldn’t go near him because he might throw shit at you. He was a real fucking gorilla! That’s what it takes, it has to be full-on immersion. For the technology to be able to understand it, for the actors to be able to respond to it, for your performance to come through and maintain a sense of authorship. Andy is a pioneer in this field of acting, complete immersion.

and you’re headed back to L.A. Do you get a break now?

It’s a short window. And then if the show is successful, obviously we’ll pick up the show again. So it’s going to be a bit mental.

That must be a strange thing, to not know if you’ve married yourself to this character for the next 10 years.

Ten is extreme! That would be really extreme. But that’s the life of an actor, I think. I have no idea [what comes next]. People just tell me where to go.

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