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Its an interesting morning in my country, Eric Bana is telling me over Zoom from Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne is where pandemic restrictions primarily hit Australia throughout 2020, and this setback is clearly very frustrating.
Were all a bit scarred, he says.
Thats how it feels today.
How does one get the lead role in a Steven Spielberg movie likeMunich?
Does he, like, call you?
Hes shooting a film out in the desert.
He was shootingThe Terminalwith Tom Hanks and I drove out there.
I had some intel that there were a few different projects that he was working on.
But no one knew what the specifics were.
Fortunately, by sheer coincidence, I had readVengeance.
So I was able to respond and tell him how much I knew about the events and the story.
At the end of it hes like, Id love you to come and join me and play Avner.
I was trying to keep cool and absorb the information.
And I said, I think he asked me to be in the film!
Im pretty sure thats what he said.
And then it was quite a while.
The film eventually got put into turnaround the following year.
Thesex sceneinMunichwas much talked about.
Some found it dramatic, some found it ridiculous.
I just understood it as a metaphor for a lot of things.
I actually found it quite beautiful.
Was I surprised by peoples reaction to it?
It was a really bold choice.
It certainly sets it apart from a lot of other films.
I was just completely trusting of Steven.
Theres an interesting formal journey in the film.
In early scenes, you guys are out in the sun and its warm and collegial.
Its an interesting way of showing …Descent.
Was the film shot in sequence?
But it never felt jarring to me, so maybe it was relatively sympathetic.
I remember them always putting on makeup to make me look haunted and tired and stuff.
Im like, Wheres the black …?
This is where were at now.
So there must have been some kind of chronological, gradual wearing down.
It was quitea controversial film.
Did you get to witness any of that?I was pretty much protected.
I was back here in Australia.
I was aware of the amount of turbulence in terms of the way people were reporting on the film.
That was a little frustrating because I felt the film was being overlooked.
Had Daniel Craig alreadygotten Bondby that point?No, he was considering it whilst we were shooting.
Steven and I were right in his ear about, Youve got to do it, man.
Youre crazy if you dont.
He was really, really on the fence.
He was trying to get his head around it.
What was he concerned about?
Was it just giving over his life to a franchise?Yeah, hes a very private person.
My reading of it was exactly that.
Im assuming thats what he was coming to terms with.
Hes a really smart, funny guy.
Hes got a great sense of humor.
I dont think it fully comes out in his Bond roles.
Youve always been very good at conveying thought onscreen.
My script was just white with black pop in and hardly any ballpoint pen.
I hate the idea of being locked into one specific idea.
I think it may come from my sketch-comedy background.
You cant turn up to a sketch having decided exactly how youre going to deliver every line.
What led you into comedy?Necessity!
Necessity is the mother of all invention, right?
When I was 21, 22, we were going througha really bad recessionhere in Australia.
Our interest rates were 17 percent.
I emerged from high school with just passing grades and had no intention of going to university.
I didnt have a clear pathway.
Folded clothes in my parents jeans store.
Because I was working at a bar and making the staff laugh doing impressions and fucking around after work.
Id never been to see live stand-up.
Im like, Give me some of that!
You progressed fairly quickly in your comedy career.
It would take us out of the moment to hear an Australian accent in the middle of a porn.
I just found the audiences really pay attention the minute you become a character.
I was not into that aggressive heckler bullshit backwards and forwards stuff.
Thats not writing; thats just relying on an idiot to get you through the night.
Some people did that really well.
I was trying to come up with structures that were like five or ten minutes long that would hold.
I had to really concentrate.
I would be dead if there was a joke-telling competition.
I had none, man.
I got really lucky with my timing.
Early nineties, a lot of the pub scene here in Victoria was geared around live entertainment, bands.
We didnt have poker machines back then.
You drew people [to venues] with entertainment with guitarists, with duos, with stand-up comedy.
But then it all changed.
The laws around slot machines changed.
The venues started to disappear.
These people did not pay their money exclusively to come and see a stand-up comedian.
Once they murmur, once they stop listening, youre not getting them back.
Theres 300 of them and theyve all had half a dozen beers.
You noted that you were good at impressions, and you started doing them at a very young age.
And being indulged by my grandparents who thought it was hilarious.
I did grow up in an unusual urban area, because it was on an industrial fringe.
One side of my street was houses that were built in the 70s.
And then at the end of my street were factories.
And then I had the international airport there.
I was always outdoors, always wanting to go somewhere.
I read somewhere that you were really into CB Radio as a kid.I was, yeah.
Because they couldnt see you, they didnt know where you were.
It sounds like the leap to sketch comedy was fairly organic for you.
How did you make the leap to drama?
As small as my part was in that, I took it really seriously.
I didnt really see the leap as being as dramatic as it was.
In sketch comedy, I was surrounded by a lot of serious actors.
Theyd come in and just nail it.
And [Full Frontal] was a great sketch-comedy show at a really high standard.
Its what we did well in Australia.
We werent great at sitcoms, but we were really good at sketch comedy.
I dont know that I could have made the leap from stand-up to acting.
Still,Chopperrequires so much of you.
Youre going full De Niro inRaging Bull, with the weight gain and everything.
Many actors work an entire career and dont get a part like that.I wasnt naive about that.
I did understand that it was a rare opportunity.
Becausehe was so unique.
Whens another character like that going to come around for anyone?
So it was a case of just, Well shit, Id better be good.
I better be as real as possible, otherwise thats it from me.
Ill never work again.
You have to remember, I thought 100 people would see [Chopper].
And it took a long, long time for a number of people to see it.
I was working on other things by the time the film was released.
I was working on a serial drama at the ABC here in Australia playing a farmer.
I had just come back from Morocco.
I remember thinking,This might be my last gig for a while.
What do you think Ang Lee saw in you forHulk?I dont know.
I met with Ang and a few people from the production in New York.
It was a sort of a slow burn.
It wasnt like, one phone call.
You go fromBlack Hawk Downwhere youre shooting mainly daytime, exteriors, natural light.
Boom: out in the world.
To suddenly, Im playing a scientist and Im in a lab or a house, indoors.
Its the other actors that are playing in that space.
I dont like working indoors.
From an energy point of view, its not the sort of stuff I like to do.
I love natural light.
It sounds likeHulkwas a difficult shoot for you.It was always going to be a frustrating character to play.
The challenge is to convey all that pent-up, repressed energy, emotion.
But I was aware that it was going to challenge people.
I assumed you were signed on to do sequels, so your career could have gone very differently.
Ive been able to bounce around and do different things and choose different pathways.
Is that what that actually means?
Does that mean that if something happens and I need to get home I cant?
Im very happy to say no to stuff.
I dont have regrets about stuff that Ive said no to thats worked.
A friend of mine gave me a really great piece of advice one day.
Whats the best possible thing that can come out of this if you say yes?
I think its the creative thing.
And this was before Id even made the film.
That was part of the appeal of not doing a nine-to-five job.
So Ive always erred towards wanting to feel free.
Id never done any sword fighting before.
Id ridden a horse, but not really, and suddenly Im bareback and Im galloping on sand.
By the time I got my skirt on, I felt like I was Hector.
It was like the final piece of the puzzle.
Again, so much of the performance is in your reactions.
Hes so practical.A lot of it is just intrinsic in the character.
And who is it youll most like to play?
And I was like, Dude, I want Hector.
How did you and Brad Pitt work on your fight scenes?
Then, when we got to a certain level, they brought us together.
I knew every move.
So I had to fly back to Australia and wait for the set to be rebuilt.
I remember being at the local park with a stick just practicing and practicing and practicing this fight scene.
It was just like it was in my body, it had been months and months and months.
Im able to be quite forensic and honest.
I felt like people were overestimating how interesting poker was.
Not everyones into it.
I really believe if somethings not on the page, its not on the page.
And if its not on the page, its not going to be in the film.
Ive learnt that its only atinypercentage that can be elevated from the page.
Is this a bit slow?
Is this as interesting as we think it is?
That was a real buzz.
To me,Hannais one of those movies that should have been a massive hit.
Saoirse Ronan, Joe Wright, the score, the visuals.
How is that not one of the great female-driven characters in cinema?
How does Saoirse Ronan compare to Brad Pitt as a fight partner?Theyre both pretty good.
Im pursuing the work and Im pinching myself every day that Im doing it.
The thing about stand-up is your mental well-being is at the mercy of how people respond to your material.
Hey, so-and-so has got a bigger career than you!
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Were not going down that road.
You know how lucky you have to be to be inanyfilm?
I think thats the preferred model.
Also around that time, the industry seemed to change.
You hit right around that pivot point.
How does young talent get discovered now?
1 standout of a young talent making the most incredible career choices.
Her pathway is the hardest one to choose.
Thats hard, man.
Its harder now than its ever been.
And its harder for those films to be seen.
You hope that people find them through streaming services and so forth.
But theyre certainly not finding them when theyve been originally released.
Unless a bunch of people really take it upon themselves to yell and scream from the rooftops.
Are you surprised you havent done more films in Australia?Not really.
I dont have this Aussie quota that I feel I have to meet.
I live here, I pay my taxes, I raised my children here.
I will do something when I find something great to do.
I hope I get to do more things here.
I hope the pool gets bigger, hope theres more things like this to choose from.
A lot of people were surprised that you didStar Trek.
What was going through your mind in deciding to do that?It was pretty simple.
He reached out and said, Would you consider playing Nero?
And I think I was actually shootingTime Travelers Wifeat the time.
At first I was like, I cant get my head around that.
Then I was like, Just let me read it.
Its very liberating to do supporting roles.
I think its super-dangerous to go, Well, I will only play this kind of character.
Or, It must be this size role.
I always felt like Im a character actor.
If I cant find a character in the lead, Im happy to play a character.
The only time Id been closed off was when I first started, the door to comedy was closed.
Thats the only time where Ive been super-strategic.
I think you have to keep being open as your career goes on so you dont repeat yourself.
It gets harder and harder as you get older and you do more parts.
Its like, Oh, Im back at the frat house.
That part of my brain is still active.
Its not like it just died.
I do sometimes think of the world in sketches and do bits.
But its just my wife that gets to listen to it and no one else.
Im usually at my funniest when Im a bit pissed off.
It comes more out of annoyance and observations of people being dicks.
I dont think its a sustainable model.
Then I saw some clips and was shocked to discover that you were the ham.
You were the guy doing all these crazy, over-the-top impressions.I was an idiot.
I was an idiot.
I was impressed with the level of the mimicry.
And surprised, because I think of you as a very subtle actor.Right.
It was never about just doing an impression and ripping off that movie.
It was, Okay, lets take Tom Cruise and lets do this.
Lets take them out of their setting and have them in a different setting and have fun with that.
Its the most bizarre sketch.
I remember when we performed it on the day, the crew just didnt get it all.
And people just got it.
You do an incredible Columbo impression.Yeah, a good makeup department too.
Sometimes Id be doing four of those characters in a day.
My face would just be wrecked.
We had the most brilliant technical department on that show.
You really feel like there might be a possibility for them to be together.
Were so used to that structure where they end up together.
But then theres this fricking challenge that he throws down, which goes down like a lead balloon.
What is your fondest memory of a shoot?Thats a tricky one.
Its just got everything.
You never felt like you were just going to work.
Every day was like, Holy shit.
It felt like ice hockey every day, you know what I mean?
It was like,Pass, pass, pass, pass, bang.
Everything was in motion, everything had to be in sync.
So that was probably the most thrilling experience.
That and not being attacked by prison guard dogs inThe Forgivenis the other one.
[Were shooting in a] maximum-security prison in Cape Town.
He doesnt know youre an actor.
Of course he doesnt!
Im in a fucking orange jumpsuit like everybody else!
When did you become such agearhead?I just always loved wheels.
From the moment I was born, I just loved bikes, bicycles, cars.
Still to this day I know it sounds ridiculous, Im 52.
I still get the same feeling riding my bicycle as I did when I was 6 or 8.
I do it for fun.
I ride motorcycles, because they just make me feel that freaking good.
Its just been an integral part of my life.
And then as I got older, I started working on cars and building things.
I had friends that did the same.
It was very suburban.
Without a car, you were kind of lost.
There wasnt a great public-transport system where I grew up.
You needed a car and a license, or you just werent going out.
Everything around us is increasingly automated and so much more perfect.
Its a bit different down here in Australia.
The plumber, the electrician, the tradesmen, theyre all pretty expensive down here.
They work hard, they work with their hands, but theyre well-paid.
I think its more respected now than it was 20 years ago.
But there is no doubt that the more we do with our hands, our general well-being benefits.
So I find that outlet in my hobbies.
You gotta have hobbies!
I learnt that off Robert Duvall, man.
Hes got the ranch, right?Yeah.
So for him, itshorses and stuff.
I enjoyed picking his brain onLucky You.
You gotta have hobbies.
You always return to the world of childhood a changed person.
Your character has changed, or the world has changed.
The Dry is all about that: The river has dried up and is now just a wasteland.
Youve said that when youre on your bike, its like youre a kid again.
But what has changed?Maybe thats part of the attraction, because it largely doesnt feel any different.
Thats why I find it so addictive, because its freeing.
It can be think time, but it can also be just empty-thought time.
Its always been a really nice neutralizer and a nice constant.
I guess its like sucking a dummy, man.
So I dont know, I dont know.
It brings back a lot of memories.
But its not like a nostalgia machine.
Its an acting thing as well.
Its still giving me a lot of love, and its still providing great experiences.
Most of my old things dont have radios and stereos and stuff.
I dont listen to music when Im riding.
Theres no buttons to play with.
Theres no choices to make.
Its just off you go.
