Sam Rockwell Discusses Winning Best Supporting Actor for 'Three Billboards' | Oscars 2018 - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Sam Rockwell answers questions backstage at the Academy Awards following his win for Best Supporting Actor in 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.'

Transcript

00:00Could you tell us more about the process, how you embodied the character, how you started working on that role?

00:06Oh, it's so boring, but if you want to hear it, I can tell you the whole...

00:10You know, it's like a big souffle or a stew.

00:13You throw some potatoes and some carrots in there, and it's kind of...

00:17You work with an amazing dialect coach like Liz Himmelstein, who worked with Gary Oldman and Margot and Terry Knickerbocker, my acting coach.

00:27And I did some ride-alongs with some cops.

00:32Josh McMullen in southern Missouri.

00:36Liz Himmelstein taped two cops, actually.

00:39There was a guy named Deemer in L.A. I did a ride-along with him.

00:42And I met with a skin graft doctor who introduced me to some burn victims, actually.

00:48But the thing is, that's if you have the luxury of time, which you don't always have for a part.

00:57And then I worked with Martin, and...

01:00But sometimes you get a part and you only have a week or a couple days to prepare.

01:05I heard that Jeremy Renner only had four days to prepare to play Jeffrey Dahmer, which is a lot, if you're playing Jeffrey Dahmer, you know.

01:14So I had the advantage that I had, like, two or three months.

01:18And so I got to indulge in all this research.

01:21And so it was a lot of fun.

01:22So that's a long answer to your short question.

01:24We're going to go to 59 and then 134.

01:27Matt Fager, Home, Roger Ebert.com.

01:29Hey.

01:29You said a wonderful thing about the arc of your character being Barney Fife going into Travis Bickle.

01:33Yes, yes.

01:34I'd love to ask, in any way, was Barney Fife and the great Don Knotts any inspiration to you as an actor throughout your career?

01:42Absolutely.

01:43I mean, I mean that when I say Barney Fife.

01:46And, you know, the town of Ebbing is very much like Mayberry.

01:50And Woody Harrelson's character is very much like the Andy Griffith character.

01:54And, in fact, I could be wrong about this, check your facts, but I think we shot in Silva, North Carolina.

02:02I think Mayberry was shot there, but I could be wrong about that.

02:06But, you know, the goofiness of Barney Fife, the kind of hapless thing of Barney Fife,

02:12and then his transition into somebody else was just sort of, Travis Bickle was kind of a,

02:20Barney Fife to Travis Bickle was kind of a generalization,

02:24but it's a lot more complicated than that, obviously, but, you know, yeah.

02:29We're going over to 134 and then 16 in the back.

02:32Hey, Sam, over here.

02:34Other side.

02:35Hey.

02:36Oh.

02:36There you go.

02:37To your left in the back.

02:38Okay.

02:39Hey, hey.

02:39You dedicated your win to Phil Hoffman, and I would just want to...

02:43Oh, you caught that.

02:44Good.

02:44We could hear it.

02:45You heard that?

02:45Yes.

02:46Because I thought the music was going.

02:47Yep.

02:48Oh, good.

02:49I'm glad you heard that.

02:49Good.

02:49So I'm curious, like, as a friend and as a colleague, tell me, you know, what he meant to you,

02:55how he inspired you.

02:56Well, I guess you want to start making me cry, but he's, yeah, he was an old friend of mine,

03:01and he directed me in a play at the public theater, and, yeah, he was very close to me,

03:07and he was an inspiration to all of my peers, you know, people like Jeffrey Wright, Billy

03:14Crudup, Liev Schreiber, you know, everybody, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin, I mean, whoever

03:21was in my age range, Phil Hoffman was the guy, and he was a great director, and he believed

03:30in doing theater.

03:31In fact, he vowed to do a play a year, which I don't know if he got to do, but because he

03:36was very busy doing movies, but he was a great inspiration and a great theater director,

03:42and I don't know if anybody knows, he was a bit of a jock.

03:45He was a wrestler, and he played basketball, and he inspired me, and I could go on for

03:51an hour about Phil Hoffman.

03:53Philip Seymour Hoffman was a good friend, and he was a huge, huge inspiration on me.

04:01Yeah.

04:03We're going to 16, then we'll come to 198.

04:06Somewhere in the back.

04:08To your right.

04:08In the back, to your right.

04:09To your right.

04:10Okay.

04:10Thanks.

04:10Okay.

04:11Hey.

04:11For Latin America, how you doing?

04:13You know, I stopped counting at 21 the awards that you won before the Academy Awards.

04:19So did you count them at all?

04:20I'm sorry, can I say it one more time?

04:22Yeah, I stopped counting at 21 the awards that you won.

04:28So did you count them at all?

04:30Then, did you feel that those were like billboards saying, Sam, you're going to win the Oscars

04:36now?

04:38No, but that sounds like a really cool dream, but no.

04:41No.

04:44We're going over to 198, and then I'm going to have to wrap it up, so 211.

04:48Hey, what's up, Sam?

04:48Hey, what's up, man?

04:50Stephen Byrne from RT2FM, Ireland.

04:52I like your hair, dude.

04:53Ah, thank you very much.

04:56Obviously, very proud of Martin, because we hail from Ireland.

05:00And Saoirse.

05:00And Saoirse as well.

05:02Cartoon Salute tonight.

05:02Colin and then Bruges, yeah.

05:04Loads, exactly.

05:05As a frequent collaborator, obviously, now of Martin, what is it about him that makes him

05:09such a great artist?

05:11Well, you know, he says, Martin says that, you know, you couldn't set this in Ireland

05:16or England, but I actually think you could set this movie in almost any working class

05:22town all over the world, but he disagrees with that, but I think it could be anywhere

05:29almost.

05:29But there is obviously something very timely about it now, what's going on in this country,

05:34you know?

05:35Yeah.

05:36And we're going to wrap it up right here with 2-11.

05:38Hi, James Blue.

05:40Hey, how you doing?

05:40From PBS NewsHour.

05:41Hey.

05:42There's been some complaint, criticism about the film.

05:45Yes.

05:45Specifically as it relates to betrayal and the relationships of African-Americans.

05:49Yes.

05:50Can you talk about specifically your character and whether you take that criticism on or

05:55how you dealt with it and your sense of that?

05:58Well, yeah, I mean, it's a complicated issue, but I mean, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote an article

06:02that was really amazing, sort of defending the movie as far as that goes, and it was really

06:09eloquent.

06:09I didn't realize he's like a cultural professor, which I didn't know, in addition to being

06:15like a basketball icon, and that was a great article that articulated everything.

06:20And I think for me, you know, the whole thing is that, you know, they have a lot of work

06:25to do, Mildred and Dixon.

06:28It's not like they're like all of a sudden redeemed at the end of the movie.

06:31They have, you know, a lot of work to do.

06:34Maybe some therapy, you know?

06:36It's an ongoing thing, you know?

06:39So, and it's also, it's a movie, and it's a dark fairy tale of some sorts, and so it's

06:44like, it's not necessarily, in real life, we probably would have gone to prison, both

06:50of our characters.

06:51So, you know, that's sort of how I see it.

06:57Thank you so much, and congratulations.

06:59Thanks.

06:59Thanks a lot.

Sam Rockwell Discusses Winning Best Supporting Actor for 'Three Billboards' | Oscars 2018

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