I Play Saxophone, I Play

I Stayed In Baghdad Every Summer Until I Was 14. My Dad's Sister Is Still There, But Many Of My Relatives Have Managed To Get Out. People Forget That There Are Still People There Who Are Not Radicalized In Any Particular Direction, Trying To Live Normal Lives In A Very Difficult Situation.

I Love The Whole Kind Of Notion Of Transformation For Me Is (what) Excites Me About Not Only Acting, But Storytelling. I Love, I Love That Notion Of A Slightly Larger-than-life Artistic Truth, You Know, Magnifying Real Emotional Truth (or) Finding Something About Human Condition (which), You Wouldn't Necessarily Think You Can Learn From Characters Such As Kong Or Gollum, But Actually They Are, You Know, These Huge Amplifications Of A Human Psyche And I Suppose Those Kind Of Roles Have Always Attracted Me Definitely.

When I Was In Theater I Was Forever Trying To Inhabit A Space Which Puts Yourself Under The Microscope As An Actor And Your Personality And Your Take On Life, But Actually Through Another Portal Of A Character.

A Lot Of Actors On Film Sets... Very Often They're Not Paying Attention To The Physical World Around Them. I Think Through Studying Art, I've Always Had That Awareness And That's Something That I've Wanted To Bring In To Go Beyond Acting... As A Form Of Expression, They Are Intrinsically Linked.

My Agent Told Me They Were Casting For The Voice Of Gollum. I Hadnt Read The Lord Of The Rings, But I Read The Script And Realized What An Amazing Role It Was. I Developed A Voice For The Audition Tape, Then Met Peter Jackson And Fran Walsh At The Auditions And Fell In Love With Them Both.