I've worked with directors who have done it too much, particularly in television, you know, 'okay we got it, let's move on, next setup.' 'Well what about, we could maybe investigate?' 'Mmm… no, let's go.'
I'm ready to go up to the Danny Glover level.
In my mind, I'm not scary at all. I'm channeling my inner Cary Grant!
I get sent horror scripts every week and most of them are putrid. A lot of people think it's an easy medium but it's not. Not if you want to make ones that last.
So I grew up watching film noir, you know the classic stuff. William Holden, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, all those.
Actors are a funny lot. Sometimes they're not satisfied with where they are. I include myself.
Voiceover is probably the toughest of all the markets to get into. Everybody wants to do it because it's again three to five hours work. You can roll in there with your bedroom slippers and robe on if you wanted to. And it's fun.
I remember my first professional paycheck. I couldn't keep it as a memento because I needed the money, but I have kept some of the residuals that I get. I got one the other day that was for two cents. I might put that in a frame.
I love film noir, so Billy Wilder is like my favorite director of all time.
When Michael Bay called me, I'd worked with him before on 'The Rock,' and he called me and said, 'Tony, I might have something for you.' I said, 'Okay, you haven't called me in ten years!' He said, 'I've been busy!' I said, 'I've been busy too Michael, glad we could make our schedules match!'
My love is the theater.
All of my contemporaries in L.A. are all graduates of either Yale, Julliard, Trinity. The best of the bunch come from that.
I only do television if it's something really good like '24.'
People who come through television, if they don't get distracted, they learn how to shoot fast. They don't get shocked. And if they know how to adjust to that and they think outside the box, then they'll be fine.
I'm also a blues musician, and all blues artists can trace their pain to the slavery fields of the Mississippi Delta.
Thank God for voiceover work.
The ability to be frightening with stillness is what appeals to me.
It's not like I wakeup everyday and say, 'You know what, I need to do a horror film.' Statistically it's only like forty percent of my output but it's a great ride and the fan base is really dedicated and that's always cool. When you're lucky enough to be in a good one it's fantastic.
I grew up a single kid and so my whole childhood was spent in my backyard dealing with imaginary circumstances and role playing and stuff.
With film sometimes you're thrown in there and you literally hit the ground running, taking your best shot and just leave it up to the editing.
