Tim Robbins star of Code 46
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

From talking with Tim Robbins about his latest film, Code 46, it seems like he did not have the easiest time acting in this film. But I think he would do it all over because he has great respect for the director, Michael Winterbottom. But then again Robbins gets to respect his directors because many of them are some of the most brilliant ones ever. From The Hudsucker Proxy with the Coen Brothers to Frank Darabont on The Shawshank Redemption to of course his Oscar winning role in Mystic River. With his choice of roles it is obvious that Robbins is an intelligent and charismatic person. Meeting him in person can be intimidating because he must be 6 foot 5 with the loud booming voice of a director.

Code 46 is a very interesting film with strong science fiction themes done on a low budget. Robbins plays an official who is investigating a woman [Samantha Morton] who creates fake passports but he soon falls in love with her without realizing she has the same genetic code as his mother.

Check out the official website for Code 46

Daniel Robert Epstein: So did you read much science fiction in preparation for this?

Tim Robbins: Yeah, months of research [laughs].

DRE: Somehow I get the feeling that you’re being facetious

TR: No. I didn’t.

DRE: Had you read anything that your thought the film was like?

TR: I didn’t approach it from a futuristic or science fiction kind of point. I approached it as a classic love story. Two people fall in love and then forces conspire to keep them apart and prevent them from coming back together.

I love the concept that there is just something about these two people that would let them just fall in love again and again and again, regardless of whether memory is restored or not. The fact that when he goes back the second time and she doesn’t know who he is, just that pre-destiny, that fate that two souls are meant for each other. Of course there is that genetic element that does draw them together to.

TR: That complicates things a little bit.

DRE: I read one quote where you said about, "I met some guerilla filmmakers in my time, but you guys really take the biscuit."

TR: Take the biscuit? I’ve never said that before in my life. Are you doing internet research? [laughs]I don’t know, that takes the biscuit. No, I’ve never said that before in my life. But, they’re definitely guerilla film makers.

DRE: What was it like shooting such a low budget film?

TR: Well, we went to China, Dubai, The United Arab Emirates, and India, and I don’t know how many times we actually had permits because often times we’d be out in Shanghai on the streets. First of all, there’s actually no control in the film. The point was to just go there and just grab shots and I assume that they were going to get the permits. I don’t think they had permits to shoot in this communist country [laughs].

When you’re working in that way, a lot can go right. Things can go wrong too. I’ll say that this is only movie I’ve ever been on that I’ve been close to death, and once that happened, my attitude changed a bit.

DRE: What happened?

TR: We were filming in a car, and I was driving. There was absolutely no trailer car, no lead car and I was driving at the speed the filmmaker wanted me to drive. A bus pulled across 6 lanes of traffic and I swerved to avoid it and almost got into a serious car accident. There is a lot to be said for chaos and there is a lot to be said for guerilla filmmaking but when you cross the line into safety issues, I won’t go there.

DRE: What was your journey to this movie, was it working with Michael or the script?

TR: Both, I like his work a lot. I think this movie is very good. I’m a big fan of Michael Winterbottom and the material. I wish that someone at MGM liked the film as much as I do.

DRE: What’s the MGM comment?

TR: Well, it’s only being released in two theaters.

DRE: Which of his movies are the ones that you liked?

TR: 24 Hour Part People and The Claim. He’s really talented.

DRE: Was the film all scripted or did you get to improvise?

TR: Yeah, there was some improvisation, but the script is pretty much there without a lot of improvisation.

DRE: This film is kind of a noir, in that The Player is kind of noir, but it’s a whole different spin on it. Are you a fan of the noir film?

TR: I am, yeah.

DRE: What were some of your favorites?

TR: Well, I don’t know if you would call it noir, but I love the Sam Fuller movies, Pickup on South Street [released in 1953] and some other ones I can’t remember.

DRE: As far as the cloning issue of the movie, do you think this movie is a warning about the implication of cloning or do you think it’s a possibility with some sort of regulation of it?

TR: I think it’s a little dangerous when you talk about cloning; first of all, it fucks with nature. Not a good idea. Never has been and never will be. To fuck with the creation of a human being, there is too much room for error.

DRE: Is it worse for them to regulate it, if someone does it?

TR: Regulations, how are we going to regulate the nuclear waste, a thousand years from now? Regulation is relying on the intelligence and longevity of man. I’m not assured that there’s going to be people that I would trust to regulate any kind of thing as radical as cloning.

DRE: How has winning the Oscar changed the amount of scripts that come to you or has it given you even more opportunities to direct?

TR: I have plenty of opportunities to direct, I always have. I just haven’t wanted to direct film for the last five years or so. I’m just not interested. I’ve been directing theater, so I’ve gotten that creativity out of my system. But I’ve been reading a lot of scripts and I’m being very picky.

DRE: Were you happy with the results with the way people reacted to The Embedded?

TR: Yeah, I was very happy with it. As I said to, when we got invited to The Public Theater, I sat the cast down, in LA, and said there was good news and bad new. The good news is we’re going to The Public Theater; the bad news is that we’re not going to get one good review there. They said, "What do you mean, it’s great!" I said, no, just trust me on this. You don’t go into the media’s backyard and do a play that’s critical of the media and expect them to embrace it, that’s just not going to happen. But what we did know from LA, because we didn’t get great reviews there either, is that there is an audience for it and that word of mouth would carry us. We also knew that once those reviews came out, it was only a matter of time before we start selling out. We ran for four months on word of mouth and now we’re going to London to run for 8 week there and I’ve filmed the last four shows and I’ve been editing it for the past month and it’s going to be a film by September. It’s like the little engine that could. We started it in a little, 20 seat experimental space out in LA last July and it’s taken on a life of its own. That’s all due to interest from people that need to see this kind of story and want to see this kind of story and the media establishment has not been any part of its success.

DRE: It’s had its own life. I couldn’t believe how long it sustained itself.

TR: I could. I just know from that very first show that I saw, back in July in that little space, from the audience’s reaction, I knew that was material that needed to be seen by audiences. Not because it was particularly well written or well staged or anything like that, it was just the material itself that propelled it.

DRE: How was your experience on Anchorman?

TR: It was a lot of fun.

DRE: Are you going to be doing more comedies? You used to do a lot of lead roles in comedies.

TR: That’s up to them, you know. It’s funny, you do a dramatic role and for a couple of years after that, people think that’s all you do. I remember, after Shawshank came out, I did a comedy and they said I was really good at comedy, why don’t I do them more often. I said, I’ve been doing nothing but comedies except for Shawshank. People have very limited memories on that kind of stuff.

DRE: Did you know them from Chicago and that’s how you got into Anchorman, or did they call you?

TR: I knew Will, a little bit, from New York and I knew Adam [McKay], the director. His
wife is a friend of mine.

DRE: You’ve worked with a lot of great directors like Robert Altman, the Coen Brothers and Clint Eastwood. Which ones have had the most impact on you as an actor?

TR: All of them have had an impact on me in some way or another. Some in good
ways, some in bad ways. All the ones you mentioned, in good ways.

DRE: Do you think Code 46 provides a commentary on where our country is headed in terms of personal freedoms?

TR: I hadn’t thought of that, but I think the world is headed that way. We’re close to it now, you have to have passports, and certainly that’s ok, but when it gets into fingerprints you’re crossing that line. I mean we’ve already crossed it in this country. In California, you can’t get a license plate without giving your fingerprint. It’s going to be interesting to find out what happens when all this gets put into a big database and people start passing judgment based on genetic evidence and fingerprints. We’ve already had one example of this guy, out in Oregon or something, who was implicated in the Spanish train bombings and he wasn’t even close to the place. They misidentified a fingerprint, but he was in jail for a month based on a semi close fingerprint, and that he was a Muslim. We’ll probably be seeing a lot of that hyper sensitive and paranoid behavior from our government.

DRE: Have you ever been to China before?

TR: No.

DRE: What was your experience of it like?

TR: To be honest with you, I don’t want to disparage an entire country based on my experience in Shanghai.

DRE: Were your preconceptions of China changed in any way?

TR: It’s hard to tell when you’re doing a movie. You’re staying in a hotel then when you’re working, it’s long hours. Michael doesn’t believe in meal breaks either, I guess part of guerilla filmmaking is to work for ten hours without eating.

DRE: Has directing your own movies changed your relationship with directors when you act?

TR: Not really, certainly not with Clint Eastwood, or Altman or the Coen Brothers. If there is an issue, for example, if someone is working on a Monday and we know we have a lot to get done, and we’re in a studio, and it can be done next day then the director starts going into his 17th hour on a Monday, I will say something. I’ll say something to the director about it. But that has nothing to do with his creative vision, it has to do with practical matters and safety and being able to show up for the next day and be good for him.

DRE: What do you have coming next? Do you have anything lined up already or are you looking at any scripts?

TR: Well, I’ve got Embedded in London and I’ve got Embedded the film and I’m acting in a film called Zathura, which is a space adventure for Columbia. It’s a children’s movie, yeah and adventure.

DRE: What do you do in that?

TR: Playing the dad of these kids who get into this adventure.

DRE: Considering your views and all the globe trotting you did for this film, were there any countries that you actually had a problem getting into?

TR: No. Not a problem at all.

DRE: What are the chances of Fox news giving Code 46 a good review?

TR: What’s the chance of them even seeing it? [laughs]

DRE: Do you think it’s going to be harder to get one place to another in the future or do you see that as something now?

TR: I don’t know. I think it’s certainly harder to come to the United States. Are they fingerprinting everyone upon arrival now, or something like?

DRE: If you are from certain countries.

TR: You have to be from certain countries? Does it happen to be countries where people’s skin is darker?

DRE: When you saw the movie, though, did it change any of your ideas about things that you haven’t thought of before, once you saw it all completed and saw all the ideas set in motion?

TR: When I saw it come together, I thought they did a really good job with the minimal amount of money that he had to create a world in the future. I think that was a great example of limitations leading the creativity that is inspired.

DRE: Would you do guerilla filmmaking, would you go out and try it?

TR: I would feed my actors. [laughs]

DRE: What are you doing on the last week of August?

TR: In rehearsal in London, why?

DRE: Because we’re all going to be sitting around fighting traffic and having
a hard time because…

TR: Oh right, the Republican convention. Have fun!

DRE: What was the last political issue that you and Susan disagreed about?

TR: There are not a lot of those. I see eye to eye with her on most things.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Tim+Robbins+star+of+Code+46/