A drink or two with Iron Man’s nemesis

By Nick Bradshaw

Sam Rockwell sits in the cozy oak-panelled private residents’ bar of The Landmark Hotel in London weighing a glass of Armagnac in his right hand. It’s a Sunday night at the end of a rare day off, and Sam’s been observing the goings on in the bar for the last hour or so.

“There are a lot of weird characters in here, really weird,” he says. He subtly nods to a table in the corner. A group of heavy-set middle-aged men in dark Italian suits are huddled conspiratorially. They look like extras from an early Guy Ritchie film but sound like they’re originally from much further east than London’s East End. “I guarantee that would be an interesting conversation to be a part of… although probably a little frightening.”

One of the men lifts his head from the huddle and beckons over to a waitress for more drinks speaking in what sounds like Russian. Sam concurs, “Maybe Russian, or maybe Ukrainian. Maybe they’re selling depleted Uranium. Maybe we should join them for a night out?”

He’s joking. At least I think he is. What he’s not joking about it sharing his Armagnac. He calls over the pretty waitress and gets her to reach up to the top shelf. “I’m gonna try that one next, I think,” he says, pointing to a dusty bottle that’s older than the combined ages of the three staff on duty. “They’ve been good so far. You should try one.”

He may or may not want to go out drinking with the Ruskies in the corner, but he’s certainly interested in watching them. Actors are like that – always observing and storing information that can be called upon when immersed in a role at some later date.

The dodgy megalomaniacs in the corner (after a couple of glasses of the syrupy amber stuff we’ve started adding the megalomaniac tag) would have been perfect study material for Sam’s most recent role, that of Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2.

Sam as Iron Man baddie Justin Hammer

For those who are not au fait with Marvel comics’ roster of baddies, Hammer is the classic megalomaniacal foe. You cheer for Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, you boo Sam’s Justin Hammer. In the original cartoon version, Hammer is an ageing, snarling, white-haired Monaco-based Englishman. Not so in the new film.

“They wanted to go with a rival for Tony Stark who is closer to his age, and make him American,” Sam says. “The one in the cartoons looks like Jeremy Irons. I guess they couldn’t get Jeremy Irons for it.

“My character is the brain not the brawn, I don’t get to do the flying and fighting but I did get to do a fair bit of improv.”

Despite appearing in such films as The Green Mile, where he played the repulsive Wild Bill, and starring in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and last year’s BAFTA award-winning Moon, Sam still says he rarely gets recognised, which is handy when he’s in observational mode.

“I don’t get noticed too much, which is just how I like it. Just a bit here and there,” he says. “It’s just the right level to be pleasant without being intrusive. Fame is completely contrary to the creative process.

“I was taught in acting class to observe everyone and be a sponge, taking in what you see and experience. But fame means everyone is focusing on you.”

His choice of acting roles is a testament to the fact that he’s not afraid to journey into the realms of the weird, or the disturbing. “I do roles where I embrace my vanity, and then I do roles where I really have to abandon it. I liken it to what Toni Colette does: she can be really sexy, or be homely and ordinary. And that’s brilliant. It’s something I aspire to.

“A guy recognised me from The Green Mile this morning in a coffee shop. There’s a version of me in the character Wild Bill from that movie, after five tequilas, maybe. It’s really just a case of giving yourself permission to be that guy. There’s a Hannibal Lector in all of us, but there’s also a Cary Grant in all of us.”

He’s played some seedy, unpleasant characters, but away from the set he’s good company – affable, warm and animated – and that’s before he’s worked his way through the Armagnac (fortunately, given his previous comment, he’s not on the Tequila tonight). Despite his bonhomie he claims that deep down he’s incredibly shy.

“I’m aware that I sometimes draw attention to myself in a way that I probably shouldn’t,” he confesses. “I’m actually kind of shy and I overcompensate by being socially bold. I can be a bit ostentatious with my clothes and my glasses. I can slightly overdo things. It’s my nature to sometimes be a bit flamboyant. I think I’m a shy flamboyant, if that’s possible. I’m an ambivalent alpha male.”

In the blood

Sam’s enthusiasm when talking about his craft is immense. But then, acting is in his blood. He was born on 6 November 1968 in Daly City, California, the only child of thespian parents who separated when he was five.

“I got to see things as a child that most children don’t see,” he says. “I got into a little bit of trouble and I daydreamed a lot. I did a play with my mother when I was ten, so I’d be hanging out late at night with adults: drinking, that kind of thing. So I was ahead of the game a little bit. Part of you grows up quickly and part of you doesn’t grow up at all.”

Acting has been all consuming – tellingly he has no hobbies to speak of. “You know, I wish I did. I think I need to get some. Actually, I’d like to just sit down and read a book. I haven’t had time to do that for a while. That said, life’s great. I’ve great friends, I’m pretty blessed.”

He takes a sip of the Armagnac that’s been swirling and warming in his hand. “I’m starting to get less precious about my work and I’m trying to have a bit of a life outside of work because you can never tell if a film will do well or not. I aspire to do good work – I’m desperate to make great movies – but the truth is that, as an actor, you don’t really have any control over that.

“It’s depressing when you work really hard on something day in and day out and it flops. I did a movie with Tom Wilkinson, Brenda Blethyn and Tom Hollander – all great actors – called Piccadilly Jim, and it just sunk, but what can you do? You just do your best and that’s it.”

With Samuel L Jackson at the Iron Man 2 premiere

He’s recently turned 40, so is it time for a new challenge? Having performed in front of stellar actor-turned-directors including George Clooney and Ron Howard he admits that he’s coming around to the idea of directing, but for now he’s happy enough to stay in front of the cameras. “I heard Sean Penn say that he hates acting,” Sam says. “I’ve said that I hate it myself, usually on opening night when I’ve got the dry heaves, but at the end of the day it’s a great way to make a living.”

“I’m very happy about being in my 40s. I think it was Jack Nicholson who said it was his favourite age. When I was 30, I decided I wasn’t going to take shit any more. I used to think I needed to be more famous. I now think it wouldn’t be good for me. I just want to pay my mortgage and do some good parts.

“I have no interest in putting myself into the domain of the tabloids. It really helps you as an actor if you’re not always out there, or else people have a hard time taking you seriously. To get them to believe you in a role they have to first off-load all the baggage that comes from people thinking they know about you from what they’ve read in the tabloids. I don’t think it’s fair, but it’s just how it is.”

One thing he’s keen to do some time soon is visit Ireland. “I’d love to come over as a tourist and just kick back,” he says. “but I’d also like to work in Ireland, either in a film or in the Dublin theatre. You’ve got such great literary heritage. Being in a play on the Dublin stage would be amazing.”

Future projects mean that it may be a while before he makes it here. In the meantime we’ll just have to make do with his sinister on-screen antics in Iron Man 2.