Henry Rollins recently did an extensive interview with Dan Solomon of FastCompany about his acting role in the indie comedic horror film He Never Died, which was directed by Jason Krawczyk, and screened at South By Southwest. Rollins plays the character Jack, which is his first lead role in a movie.
Some of the highlights from the interview include:
On acting in his first lead role in a movie:
“I felt no pressure—I just couldn’t wait to get in there every day and do it.”
“If I’m prepared, if I’ve really put the time in, I can’t wait to show you the work I’ve done. I don’t like being nervous about stuff—life’s too short—so I just burn hours and hours of time in preparation. I saw this script at the end of 2012, and we started shooting at the end of 2013, so I had a year to prepare. By the time we hit it, I was just telling the director, Jason, how I think my guy should be. ‘Man, you’ve done your work—go. Don’t ask me, just hit it.’ I had really worked my ass off to prepare, so I’m not dragging the team. It was a joy.”
He added:
“I memorize the whole page, so I just act in the totality of that moment. I want to be aware of everything that’s going to happen—how I’m sitting, where my shoulders are going to go. If you watch a film, you can tell if the actors aren’t familiar with these lines because they’re telegraphing. ‘You’re not at ease with your character! You just did that with your head, you don’t know what you’re doing!’ I don’t want to be that guy, so I go in trying to know every tree in the forest.”
On his future beyond acting:
“I’m 54, and I’ve been winging it for dinner since I was 20.”
“It’s all until the deal is up—I’ve never had a sure thing except my audience, and they can leave at any time. If they see something brighter, shinier, younger, they can be like, ‘Hey man, love ya!’ And I hear you—thanks for everything. My life is a big maybe, and you have to be looking up for the next vine to grab and swing from.”
On his current life:
“I like moving around, what I don’t like is another day at the office. Another day of ‘I’m going to the grocery store again, Starbucks every Friday night to write something for LA Weekly.’ It’s a rut. I might as well work at Staples. I’m not putting that down, but also—just get a cubicle, start breeding, get all normal? I don’t wanna. If I can’t do anything else, I get my passport and I leave. I travel. I’ve been to 86 countries. Last year, Thanksgiving, the whole entertainment industry is all going to a sunny beach, so I can get up and go, no one wants me for anything. I write for LA Weekly, I can dial that in from anywhere. The radio shows are done in advance. I went to Central Asia and kicked it in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan for a month and a half, saw a million mosques, and froze my ass off. But I’m on the move and I’m taking photos, I’m talking to people, I’m interviewing people about arranged marriages and Stalin and Islam and how all that comes together, and it was fascinating, amazing. It’s not sitting at home. ‘One more episode of Scandal!’ That, to me, is like—” Rollins simulates a barf sound.
On what motivates him:
“Showing up on a set at some obscene hour of the morning and getting your ass kicked by Ron Perlman, like having to really burn lean tissue? That’s as good as being on tour or traveling, because you’re engaged every day in burning lean mineral tissue making something, and that’s what I truly crave.”
“I love those moments. If I had a Sons of Anarchy-like TV thing, I’d take it. Maybe 20 years ago, I would have said, ‘I’m rock and roll, man, fuck you.’ But I did rock and roll. I murdered it. I can’t do it anymore. I did as much as I could with it, and now I want to do some other things. I like something where I can keep coming back to build something—it would be great to have done parts two and three of a film, or three seasons of a TV show, where you’re like, ‘I did that, man.’ It took three years to realize that.”
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Watch the movie trailer below.
