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He doesnt fit the conventional movie-star profile, and thats part of what makes his rise so intriguing.
Despite all this, Tomas remains hard to hate.
What does it feel like being known in America?
Sometimes its all so overwhelming.
Its not a creative place for me, to think that Im great.
He is just not really capable sometimes of creating peace and intimacy rather the contrary.
But its not his aim to hurt people.
His aim is to beseen.
Seen by others and seen by himself.
But its not easy when you need friction and immediate feedback so that feel yourself.
You usually inflict a lot of pain on others.
Do you think hes a bad person?No.
I mean, theres an interesting difference between badpeopleand bad in terms of evil.
I dont think he is a person who wants to hurt other people because he enjoys hurting other people.
I see Tomas as too self-centered to truly understand others needs.
He speaks another language from them and doesnt understand what they need, what they want.
He really sometimes just doesnt see whats going on!
Like when hes meeting his new girlfriends parents.
Some directors are thankful when you surprise them, and some want to protect their own creation.
Most of the time its a combination.
You are trying to create something that lives and feels spontaneous, but it is actuallybuilt.
Ira, I think, is a bit of both.
We just felt like, Okay, lets talk it through.
These two long sex scenes are introspective sculptures of these two relationships and the differences between them.
Its something that he cares about, something thats important for him.
You have longer takes, therefore you experience the arc of a scene.
After a long sex scene,this?
You dont always have to hear or see or feel everything.
That leads to terrible editing.
Its a very sad parody of the system, how things are often done now.
Theres no feeling of the collective space that we are in anymore.
Its like its a collection of individual performances: I have a line!
I have a line!
I have a line!
But it doesnt re-create this social plastic that is called society.
Also, Ben has a very nice back!
Its nice to see him in action!
Hes a good fucker.
So we went there, and Ira said, Okay.
Franz, this is Ben, and Ben, this is Franz.
He left, and then we had to talk and share our insecurities and our curiosities.
The first movie I saw you in where I went, Wow, whos that?
What was your approach to working with Malick, known for his free-form filmmaking?There was no preparation.
I didnt learn any lines, as far as I remember.
We began improvising with the light.
From there, I was just improvising on different ideas.
Sometimes Terry would come and whisper something in my ear and just give me a few words.
He once gave me a whole page of text, but it was just meant to be an inspiration.
He does kind of know who you are somehow, even though youve only met for five minutes.
Itll be all fine.
It was in the backyard of this military camp, and they just handed me a bunch of props.
Its a bit like cooking, you know?
Were in a Terrence Malick movie.
Thats a movie in which youre really carrying the story.
The point of view of the film is anchored to your character.
And this is not a man-child like Tomas or Waldland.
Hes a much harder person.The film is by the writer and director Giacomo Abbruzzese.
He serves and is sent to war and comes back traumatized.
I think to Giacomo the story has a bit to do with ghosts, and something maybe supernatural.
There wasnt much improvisation.
I was well prepared.
I had a language coach.
I mean, I guess its similar to cultural appropriation, you know?
So what can you do?
For example, I did that forGreat Freedom.
I wondered if you did that for that film: the extreme weight loss or deprivation approach.I did.
I keep it together, make a run at keep the traumatized face, and look good!
Im half-traumatized, half-sexy, and I dont know my lines.
Come on, now is that true?Its half-true.
And also, words sometimes say things they dont mean or the other way around.
So whenever I can, I have a go at integrate my eyes into my acting.
It might also partly be because I dont hear so well, so I look more!
Sometimes even the best actors are less predictable and stable as a partner than a camera.
I love acting with the camera.
I think its quite funny to pretend that its a human being.
When you watch a finished film, do you remember the experience of making it?Yeah!
It stays in your tissue.
You remember the energy on set.
That will stay with me forever, you know?
Im training to be a better member of the species.
My biggest desire is to justbeand relate.
All of a sudden its not you who needs to approach life, but lifecomesto you.
Theres a totally different experience when life happens to you than when you have a go at create life.
But in life, a lot of times we dont actually make the decisions.
The decisions are made for us.Its funny how scared we are of that reality.
But to me, the moment where I feel somehow how can I describe it?
