We Got This Covered: Were there any other actors, characters or performances you relied on in creating your character here?
Matthew Fox: Not really. I’ve seen a few of those like Hannibal Lecter who is one of the most iconic serial killer/bad guys in movies, so there was a lot of imagery that was popping up in my head from stuff that I had seen.
I just really wanted to stick to what Rob and I were talking about, and I have to say that I just can’t say enough good things about Mr. Cohen. I am the biggest fan of him and our experience of collaborating together on the film was really special.
For five months before we got to shooting, we were firing emails to each other constantly with ideas or thoughts or images and certain specific moments in the film. Maybe more than ever I felt that Rob was right there deeply into the character with me, and so I felt it was sort of like the two of us and I really felt like he had my back and that we could go really deep and try a lot of different avenues and thought processes with the guy, and we were always going to be in it together.
We Got This Covered: Did you work closely at all with James Patterson?
Matthew Fox: No. I met James during the shooting and he had seen some rushes pretty early on and he was kind enough to stop by with his wife and son. He was very positive in reinforcing what I was doing with this guy and I appreciated that at the time.
We Got This Covered: A lot of actors talk about how much fun it is to play the villain, but watching you in this movie make it seem almost painful. Why did you decide to go in the direction you did, and what was it like going back to your family after you played that character? Could you use any of your character’s faces on your children to make sure they did their homework?
Matthew Fox: Part of that process was pretty painful. There’s a lot of jobs out there in the world that require an enormous amount of sacrifice, far more sacrifice than what I put into this film. But within the context of being an actor, it did require some sacrifice and a lot of energy and focus. I would be hard pressed to say it was fun, but it definitely was very interesting to me to play a villain and one that was really unique. You do hear that clichéd phrase of how the villains are much more fun to play than the heroes, and I would agree. I really enjoyed it in sort of a masochistic way.
My mother is Italian and when I started losing all this weight, she would see me and it was really hard for her. Everytime she saw me she would just take a gasp and say “oh my god you should eat something!” My daughter who is fifteen saw me and said “you’re kind of looking hideous dad!”
We Got This Covered: Can you talk about the tattoos? Were they supposed to be the character’s artwork that he then had transferred to his body, and did you have any input in that?
Matthew Fox: Those were actually all mine. Rob and I discussed that early on and you have the option of spending an extra forty-five minutes in the makeup trailer in the morning and having all that stuff covered, or you have the option of saying these are going to be “The Butcher’s” and that was the option we took.
I didn’t feel like it was too far of a stretch in the guy we were creating that at some point he had gotten into a place where he has this obsession with pain, and early on tattooing would have been an early manifestation of his obsession with pain; not just inflicting it on other people but he really enjoys it on himself.
That concludes our interview but we’d like to thank Matthew for talking with us. Be sure to check out Alex Cross, now in theatres.