When I first walked in to London, I was so overwhelmed by the village, the sheer volume of people. I was just so excited. You don't know what to expect. So the level of excitement was almost draining, just taking everything in. I was so exhausted after I swam because of all the excitement in the build-up.
'Villain' succeeded because we were genuinely working towards a good film. We worked hard and with a lot of conviction.
I've played the villain before, but my baddies have always entertained.
I keep attacking the villains, the know-nothings, the people who want to take our freedoms away.
When Edna O'Brien's first novel, 'The Country Girls,' was published in 1960, her family and neighbors in the small Irish village where she was born tossed copies into a bonfire expressly set for that horrifying purpose.
You could be a victim, you could be a hero, you could be a villain, or you could be a fugitive. But you could not just stand by. If you were in Europe between 1933 and 1945, you had to be something.
I was born in a mining village, and you either played football or played football. If you didn't play, there was something wrong with you.
I had a sympathetic role in 'thirtysomething,' and in two weeks I'm going to do the role again. But in the movies, I just love the heavies. It's much more fun. Villains are a ball. People have been laughing at me for 50 years, so I love to sit in the back of the theater and listen to them hate me.
I know what's good for me. I can't play black or gray. I can't be a villain or anything close to one. I have to play white.
I knew Bobby Dylan back in the days when he lived in the village. He used to come and see me and sing songs for me, saying they ought to go into my next collected book on American folk music.
