B.L. Well, congratulations again, another great role.
S.R. Thank you.

B.L. You're welcome. For me, when I was watching you, I thought, "this is so sad." Did you feel that, when you were doing it?
S.R. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is. I didn't have to do any accents or funny wigs, or mustaches. I just kind of did me. I was just really tired from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, so I just flew into this and went.

B.L. So what did you learn about [your character] Frank?
S.R. Well it comes off of everything that Nic (Nicolas Cage) is doing. My character comes off of his stuff. It's really complementing his storyline and I'm Oscar to his Felix. He's the neat guy, I'm the sloppy guy. It's pretty simple. There's an older brother, younger brother kind of relationship. And there's also a caretaker thing; I sort of take care of him a little bit. It's a fun, interesting relationship.

B.L. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that because there is this mentoring thing going on. I wanted to ask you about working with Nic, and if you felt that kind of...
S.R. Yeah, definitely. I've looked up to him for a long time. He's one of the great actors. He's very courageous and I like how brave he is. That's the thing you take away from Nic is how courageous he is. That's his strength. He is a non-linear person, therefore a non-linear actor; he colors outside the lines, he's a little more off-balance. He likes to play and he'll sort of go through this Bermuda Triangle of fear and go to a place and be willing to make a fool of himself, so that he'll find something that a lot of actors won't be able to find. Like that line reading in the pharmacy where he goes 'piss blood,' that's a classic Nic Cage line reading because he's willing to make a fool of himself.

B.L. I understand that the character wasn't necessarily written that the guy had tics, it's something that he added. Is that something that you go with as an actor or does it throw you off?
S.R. I think if they're arbitrary it throws you off, but if it serves the piece, it's okay. I think that the Tourette's thing really served that character well. Because often Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has other elements to it like Tourette's, so it worked. It could have not worked, but it did and he was very consistent it, so it works.

B.L. What impressed you about Alison Lohman?
S.R. Oh, she's amazing. She's amazing. She's very charming. She's a beautiful, beautiful girl and she's got this great emotional depth. I think that's her biggest strength, is that her sincerity, her authenticity is so strong. Her sense of truth is so strong. And that is so essential to being a good actor, your sense of truth. And she is just no-nonsense.

B.L. She's really good in this film.
S.R. She's amazing. She's phenomenal. She's got chops.

B.L. You've worked with some really good directors. Of course, one of my favorites, Tom DiCillo...
S.R. Yeah, Tom.

B.L. And Sir Ridley Scott, hello?
S.R. Yeah, hello?

B.L. What was it like first day on set?
S.R. We were supposed to do some stuff together before and it didn't work out. He's amazing, he's a veteran, he's got such a body of work. And he carries that confidence with him on the set. He's one of the smartest people you'll ever meet. It becomes apparent after talking to him for five seconds. He knows a little bit about everything. He's got this intelligence and this intense creativity that comes out of him. So there's that sort of intensity that you could be intimidated by, and yet, he's such a nice guy. He's such a warm person. That's the one thing surprised me, how warm he is. He's got this bloke sense of humor. He's just like a regular guy. He's a very sweet, sweet man. And I think it comes out in the work too.

B.L. Oh, absolutely and this is different for him too.
S.R. Yeah, it is. He gets this rep for being a visual director and I think that's unfair because all the acting in his films is very detailed and nuanced. Like Alien, there's really good acting in that movie. That's what made that movie special I think, was that it was so real.

B.L. You worked so hard in Confessions. After doing that and coming down off that, was that a hard high to come off of after being so intense working on that film and then bang, it's all over?
S.R. Yeah, it was intense. We were in L.A. and we were just wiped out. I couldn't wait to cut the hair off. It was intense.

B.L. Did you get to keep the hat?
S.R. I think I kept some hats, there were so many hats. Which one?

B.L. That classic one. I love when you do that scene when you do Chuck on The Gong Show stuff. Do you sit back and watch it or are you done with it now?
S.R. No, I saw it again on Pay-per-view. I saw The Gong Show stuff and I was like, "Hey that's pretty good." I'm proud of that Gong Show stuff. We nailed it. George [Clooney] helped with that. Because George was pretty familiar with it.

B.L. Are you going to work with him again?
S.R. I hope so, I would like to. He's doing Ocean's Twelve... he knows how to get a job.

B.L. So what's next?
S.R. Piccadilly Jim is an independent movie in London, possibly end of this year. I hope Kathy Bates and Tom Wilkinson, and hopefully Amanda Peet. But we don't know, it's not for sure. I'd like it to happen.

B.L. I hope so, then we'll see you at next year's film festival; that would be good.
S.R. Yeah, that would be good. Yeah.