We drop f-bombs with Sam Worthington

Monday, 17 October 2011 09:40

Sam Worthington may breeze through blockbusters like Avatar, Terminator and Titans, but his latest movie, this month’s crime thriller Texas Killing Fields, touched him in a deeper and different way.

With huge amounts of cursing and at times, weirdly expressed rage, the sword-and-sandals stud griped about the ups and downs of stardom, his hyper-macho appeal to women (or lack of it), and not quite bonding in a bar with his hairy body double, Zach Galifianakis.

Story by Praire Miller

What lured you into a movie about the gruesome murders of women in Texas Killing Fields? It’s a full-on thing that happened in Texas, and it’s still happening. And no one knows about it. So that was the responsibility that I felt I had with this movie. You know, it’s a true story. Or rather it’s a fictionalized version of true events. So it’s got a lot of weight. And the movie had an effect on me, because I never knew this road existed. You know, I never knew that all these women had been slaughtered and dumped there. And it’s still a dumping ground for women and murders. And when you see a table filled with photos of missing people, and you know that half of those people are still in the fields, it’s quite touching. And you want to do a movie that sheds light on this situation so that someone like myself or someone else can go look it up and say, “I actually remember that girl.” And then maybe they can go find her in that field. Or it may spark someone’s memory about things and those murders can get solved, and those families can find some peace. So I never knew about this highway, this stretch of road, where so many women have been dumped. And it's not a dumping ground for like one serial killer. It's a dumping ground for fucking anybody.

Did you meet the real cop you play? I hung out with the cop, yeah. He's retired now, he's about sixty. He's built like this six-foot-eight massive dude. I'm obviously six-foot-two, according to my bio. Or with stilts on! But his attitude is the attitude I had in Texas Killing Fields—let-loose, redneck racist.

What do women think of your macho moves on screen? My friends think I’m f****** nuts, and relationships are hard. But that’s my job. And that’s the part of my job that I love.

How have you been handling fame and being recognized in any corner of the planet? You try to handle it with some sense of sensitivity. So it doesn’t really bother me. If people want autographs and stuff like that because, f*** it, they’re the ones seeing your movies, it’s actually quite nice and humbling. You just do it. It’s not that hard to write your name. So I can’t see why you would get grumpy about it. It doesn’t really bother me. It’s very nice, though I go under the radar quite well. Especially when I look like Zach Galifianakis.

Hey, your hairy look isn't bad. But Zach gets recognized a lot. I’m f****d then!

What if people bug you for Zach’s autograph? I actually got a photo with him. I saw him in a bar, and I asked him for a photo. And he was like, who the f*** are you?

How about dealing with reporters? The Australian press f****** hates me. They give me a hard time, but about dumb things. Stupid things. About your weight, your beard, about f****** crap that has nothing to do with your job. I don't do much press. I do press for movies, but you don't get to know what my favorite food is.

How strange was it playing a spy in The Debt? It’s not necessarily about Nazi hunters, but about actually harboring a secret for so long that you know is wrong. And it made me question everything. I used to hold a lot in, especially with loved ones. Now, I’m pretty damn honest, whether it hurts them or not. I would rather it hurt them straight up than 30 years down. So it made me more honest.

Do you always take stuff from your movies into your own life? Yeah, I think it permeates into your system. In Clash 2, I’m playing a dad. So I’m obviously dealing with some f****** issues there, to suggest I could be a father. But characters are in your fiber. And you’re bringing stuff out of your own personality to infuse into a character. Sometimes it doesn’t work, and you end up with a two-dimensional, wooden character—which I’ve been accused of. That’s fine, that I like. But I hate it, because it’s hard to scrub off the character sometimes.

What's it like for you, jumping in and out of different movies all the time? It's hard. You come out of something, and you just want to get rid of that world and step into another world. But other times you go, “F*** it. I need some money! Let's go and do a job.”

You’re an English-born Australian. Where do you live now? I'm still nomadic. I'm still figuring out where I want to live.

Could you seriously kick ass now with all that physical training for your movies? No man, I'm jelly!

What's the high of being a big star? I'm extremely lucky, man, I love it. I'm the f****** luckiest guy in the world, dude. I get to go and make movies that I would see. But I’ve got to push myself, or there’s no point. If I don’t believe I’m growing and I believe I’m just coasting, then I’ve got to get off the train.

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