Would you act in this as well?

I wouldn’t want to because I think that directing is just a whole other thing.  It might be presumptuous if I did want to.  It’s a massive undertaking and it would be, probably at that point, a singular job for me.

That great scene where Halle comes out in a dynamite dress and Miles goes “Wow!”.  Was that your reaction or your character’s reaction?

Yeah, I think that was both.  You try to blur that line.  Yeah, that was just something that was out of rehearsals.  I think I did it as a joke in the rehearsals and they’re like ‘yeah, you should… where’s the thing’?

Are you hard on yourself as an actor?  Can you watch yourself on screen?

It depends on what I’ve had for breakfast but, I don’t know. Sometimes, then with this, I felt at ease.  I felt like I was watching a movie and that’s a nod towards the director as well.  But, other times, for instance, Saving Private Ryan, I saw the movie more or less at the premiere because I was nervous about it and I don’t even remember it because there was all the lights and so much going on at that moment that you can’t really concentrate.  It was ten years ago that that movie was made and then I saw it like last week on TV, I was like ‘oh, yeah.  I was in that’ and it’s a great movie.  I’m really proud of that.  It brought back all the memories so I think I need a little bit of time.

Was it tough shooting the lovemaking stills for that subplot with your character?

That was just a closed-down thing, just me and her and the photographer.  It was like ‘wooooooo’, the process.  I was nervous. So many times with sex scenes and sexuality in movies you already have your family back at home and it’s like ‘hi, I’m Giovanni’ and [starts mock unbuttoning his shirt], ‘okay, here we go’.[acts out a tongue kiss].  On The Dead Girl, that was like a four day shoot and it was really intimate.  I don’t know.

What do you think you took away from this movie that will help you when you’re going to direct?

I love to stand next to the monitors and listen to the director’s thoughts in a way and she what they’re doing and why and I feel privileged.  I think it’s the best education, especially with somebody like James Foley and other directors I’ve worked with are so good at what they do and you read the script and sort of envision it yourself and then you see somebody’s take on it.  There was a director I talked to who directed The Alamo, and he was fortunate enough to just sit on a movie set, having read the scripts and direct the movie by himself with a shot list and then go to the set every day and see how the actual director was doing it.  I think that’s great.  Specifics, I don’t know.

What was it like working with Halle Berry?

For me what blew me away about her is how fearless she is. She’s so fucking committed to what she does.  This is a movie where we were shying away from being parochial and she was just so willing to try things and just there.  It created this environment to make you… because I do things that some people might get offended by in the movie and she was just right there with it.  It’s not like acting with somebody who is just naturalistic and dead, it’s somebody who wants to go to the movies. That’s inspiring. 

What is the worst acting job you’ve ever had?

Right now, sweetheart.