Romeo Must Die came at the right time. It was the right vehicle for me.
Doing Shakespeare in the Park has always been a dream. Everyone else says Hamlet, but I want to play Romeo.
There are really only two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and put the darn ball in the basket.
Sometimes the leads are equally balanced, like in 'Romeo and Juliet,' but sometimes they're just not.
Romeo is the most misunderstood character in literature, I think. He's hardcore to play because he's displaying the characteristics of Hamlet at the beginning, and, well, then everything else happens.
I started off as an actor thinking that I would be this Romeo, this dashing leading man. It turns out that I'm a character actor.
My very first car was a grey Alfa Romeo Alfasud, which I got in 1987. But, in our family, all cars were for sale - so they might be there in the morning and were gone at night. In the mid-90s, I joined Porsche and the Carrera was the car, and the Carrera 4S was the one they gave me. As a wee boy from Dumfries, I couldn't believe it.
I was in Siena and decided I wanted to write a story set there. Then I discovered that the original story of Romeo and Juliet was set in Siena. It occurred to me that this was too much of a gift - I had to do it. That's how I ended up writing a parallel story to Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo Must Die was the first film that I did where I was able to just be free as an actor.
When I step out onto the ice to compete 'Romeo and Juliet,' I don't feel like a fighter. I feel very nervous, and it's very difficult for me to get into the mindset for it.
