B.L. It must have been exasperating, thrilling and all encompassing to prepare for this role in The Pianist.
A.B. Exactly, that's my feeling about it. It's kind of hard to explain it to people in words, because it was probably the most difficult thing that I have had to endure but at the same time the most inspiring educational ride. It's made me grow immensely.

B.L. It really is the role of a lifetime.
A.B. I often look back at the preparation that I had to do for this film and during that time I didn't realize how good of a story it made because it sounds like a "story" almost. Before I left home to start shooting I felt that it was important to give up my apartment to better understand loss on a material level, just not to have a safe place to think of as home. It had some impact, but it was probably not necessary and I could have used my apartment when I got back, but it was an interesting journey coming home and finding a new place and everything. But I gave up my apartment, I sold my car, got rid of my phones and I left.

B.L. Tell me a little bit about the actual shoot because I understand once you were in Europe you had a number of hardships.
A.B. We had to shoot the film in reverse chronology so I had to grow a beard and lose a tremendous amount of weight. I went down to about 130 pounds simultaneously, learned to play Chopin, which was extremely difficult and I was also working on the Polish dialect and basically locking myself in my room and just practicing. There was no desire to be out with anyone, plus I wanted to encourage a sense of isolation. Just those experiences alone allowed me to connect to what this individual must have felt on a small level and even though they were optional they were pretty profound for me.

B.L. What an unbelievable experience this must have been.
A.B. There was also this tremendous level of creativity constantly from the set and so much inspiration.

B.L. Especially from your director Roman Polanski, I would imagine. How was it working with him? I heard that he was pretty tough on you while shooting the film.
A.B. Well he's demanding, but he's demanding on himself as well. Obviously this is his most personal film and I respect those demands and within all of them he always had respect for me and for my work. It's good not to have your hand led through things and so it was great, it taught me discipline.

B.L. There is a lot of buzz that you will quite possibly get an Oscar nomination. How does that make you feel?
A.B. Obviously it's quite wonderful for people to talk about you enough in that respect. They could say a lot of other things and I'm sure they will one day but you know at this point it's really nice. It has nothing to do with the process, it has nothing to do with the journey or the motivation so whatever happens, happens. Obviously if I were to be nominated that would be fantastic and I hope that the film gets recognized because it really is a beautiful piece of work and way more profound than most films today.