Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

This may be a first for me, but I'm kind of hoping it won't be the last. This interview with actor Jim Sturgess--best know for his leading-man work in ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and last year's card-counting flick 21--may be the first I've ever done for an actor whose work and abilities I haven't regarded highly in the past. I believe when Quint interviewed Sturgess at SXSW last year, he summed up my feeling on the man by saying I thought he was "a black hole of charisma." I said of his previous work that he has the personality and looks of the guy who had just gotten kicked out of the band.

So when someone representing the distributors of his latest film, the indie drama FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING, contacted me about doing a post-screening Q&A with him last week and interviewing him for AICN, I was hesitant but willing to watch the film and make my decision based on that. Two hours later, I was soundly on board. Sturgess' performance in this movie set during the "troubles" in Ireland is astonishingly good, and playing a man who sold information on the IRA to the British, saving the lives of at least 50 people, is harrowing and based on true events.

Sturgess plays Martin McGartland, who to this day remains in hiding after several attempts on his life for betraying the IRA. Martin certainly is no hero, and Sturgess plays him as a man who is driven as much (if not more) by his desire to make money and save his own skin as he is by his need to help others. It's a wonderfully layered performance, and I'm now officially looking forward to anything Sturgess has coming up on the horizon, including voice work on Zack Snyder's animated GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE and a co-starring role in Peter Weir's latest THE WAY BACK, opposite Colin Farrell, Mark Strong, and Ed Harris. I got to spend nearly a half an hour chatting with Sturgess last week. FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING is playing in a couple cities now and will open wider in the coming week. You should absolutely look for it.

And I would be remiss if I didn't add that Jim Sturgess is an immensely nice guy that is easy to talk to whether the recorder is going or not. We had a bout 20 minutes to talk before the Q&A began, and we just talked about the movies whose posters were on the wall at the theater. He'd seen none of the films and was looking for recommendations. He also mentioned upon seeing the poster for NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU that he was supposed to be in one of the shorts featured in that film--the one written by the late Anthony Minghella and directed by Shekhar Kapur (ELIZABETH; ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE), which would mean Shia LaBeouf is played the part that Sturgess had to back out of because of scheduling conflicts. Anyway, enjoy Jim Sturgess…

Capone: Hey, how are you? You actually talked to one of our guys at SXSW last year.

Jim Sturgess: I did, yeah! Well, my friend is such a huge fan of Ain’t It Cool News.

Capone: Really?

JS: Yeah. It’s like his gospel or his Bible. He will definitely know you, a hundred percent.

Capone: Are you still new enough at this thing that you can still sort of be in a film with Ben Kingsley or Kevin Spacey or Lawrence Fishburne and still kind of be in awe of those guys? Do you still go “Wow, I can’t believe I’m making a movie with this person.”

JS: Totally man, yeah. Certainly Ben Kingsley, I’m a huge fan of some of the films he has done and the characters that he has played, so yeah I was pretty scared when I met him for the first time. I was just pleased that he was such a nice guy. He put me on an equal playing field pretty quickly. You grow up and you get into acting, because you are a fan of movies, and so you see all of these guys in all of these films and then suddenly they are right in front of you and not only that, but you are acting with them too! It’s cool.

Capone: With your initial exchange, did he say something to put you at ease or did he do something to jokingly intimidate you or anything like that? Do you remember?

JS: When I first met him, [FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING director] Kari [Skogland] had me meet him at a hotel, and then she wanted us to drive around Belfast in a car. And I remember he was jetlagged out of his mind, because he had just arrived from some other country and was thrown into the streets of Belfast, and I was just really nervous, so we kind of just sat in this car for ages just kind of looking out of the window talking, but you know it wasn’t anything in particular, it was just his way, you know? He cracked a few jokes and asked a few questions and was interested in me and just put me at ease pretty quickly.

Capone: He might actually have some direct memories of some of these times in Ireland, did he have any stories like that about living at that time?

JS: He told me about when he went to a film festival and had to go to the gates and the peace wall, that was one of the stories that he told. I think it was a film festival, and he couldn’t believe that Belfast held this film festival with these helicopters going around and soldiers just hanging around outside.

Capone: So he went to a film festival in Belfast?

JS: Yeah, in the troubles, yeah when it was all going on in the '80s.

Capone: Unlike a lot of the other films you have been doing lately, you aren’t surrounded by a lot of actors your own age. Do you like the idea of working with people your own age, or does the idea of working with a sort of older group of actors influence you in any way?

JS: I haven’t really thought about it really. Yeah, it doesn’t go either way. When you work with someone who is good at acting… It’s amazing to get in there with people your own age and it sort of feels like you are all sort of in it together, and then you can work with older actors and there is always this slight sense of “I’m a younger, fresher guy here…” [Laughs] Yeah, not particularly. It’s not something that I have been conscious of.

Capone: I wondered if you had sort of an outsider feeling on this film, if that would have lent itself to the character that you are playing, who doesn’t quite fit in with anybody.

JS: I don’t know if I would have survived the film without Kevin Zegers being around, because we both took it on to sort of get in there with the people of Belfast, and so we did all kinds of stuff and I don’t think I would have had the balls to do it had he not been there with me to do it together, you know.

Capone: Is that the actor who plays Sean?

JS: Yeah. So, we sort of both stuck in the accent for the whole time we were there filming, on and off screen and speaking to our own families. We really sort of went for it, and having him there doing it with me was a real help. We joined a boxing gym together, and all the while trying to make out that we were these kids from Belfast. I think I would have been too scared to have done it on my own.

Capone: What was it like there shooting a film like this in some of these locations where a lot of this was going on? Did you get a strange vibe from the community or did it seem that you were maybe stirring things up that maybe some would rather forget?

JS: It was both. There were times when I was amazed at how welcoming people were and how willing they were to help with information and we even met people who were ex-IRA, and we spent time with those guys. And spent time with people from the Special Branch and people on the streets, and they would all gather around when we were filming. So my sort of general feeling was that people were very welcoming and very willing to make sure we got the story right. I think they would rather help and help tell the story right, than to just shun it away and then it became something else. Then saying that, there was a time when a kid threw a stone at my head, and I got just this crack at the back of my head, and I spun around and there was this 16-, 17-year old kid shouting obscenities at me, telling me I was a “fucking tout” and “get the fuck out of here” and all of this shit.

Capone: What was the word? A fucking what?

JS: A tout, which is the Irish slang for an informer. So yeah and then you realize “Wow, I guess someone like Martin McGartland, one of these informers could have put this kid’s dad in jail. You just don’t know, so you felt like you were treading on thin ice.

Capone: I guess that’s what I’m wondering, like with this particular story, maybe they don’t care so much about having it told right, or maybe they don’t want it told at all. I wonder if there is any of that.

JS: I think there was probably more than I was aware of. I think I was kept away from a lot of the problems that sort of happened. I think afterwards, Kari, the director, and producers were at times pretty worried about me, but I didn’t really know much about that while it was happening, you know? We were certainly filming in areas where he was not a liked man.

Capone: Has the film played there yet? What has the response been?

JS: Yeah. I think people have really liked it. The response that I got was, you know everyone is like “Not another fucking film about the IRA” and coming out going “That was actually a really good one.” It didn’t take sides and it wasn’t pro or anti. It didn’t glamorize it really and just showed these real people struggling in this mass grey area between right and wrong I think.

Capone: Yeah, there are no clear cut heroes and villains, that’s for sure… Not even your character.

JS: There are a lot of people like that in Belfast, who aren’t particularly political. They are politically minded, but not activists. There are just a lot of people who live in Belfast, with troubles just kind of going on around them and I think a lot of those people can respond to the film.

Capone: Did you get to meet with or speak with Martin at all before you started the film or since?

JS: No.

Capone: I feel like he’s been fairly vocal about a) He likes your performance and b) He’s concerned about the historical inaccuracies. Do you take any of that into account, or do you understand where he is coming from?

JS: I don’t. It was all a bit of a shock to us really, because we kept him in the loop the whole time we were filming. Any rewrite was sent to him, and he was completely aware of what we were making. My personal take on it was that he got scared. I think he had to make that statement, because there was a lot of sort of personal agendas going around, and it was a shame because I really think we made a film that showed him in a very real and heroic light. At the end of the day, he stepped up to the plate and he saved people’s lives, so I think that’s the bottom line. It’s a sad story and shows what he was willing to sacrifice with what he did. I don’t know why he suddenly went… I don’t know.

Capone: I wasn’t aware that he was so well informed on the screenplay and production.

JS: Kari spoke to him on the phone a lot. He was very much a part of what we were doing.

Capone: This film and 21, your characters are pulled into these very dangerous situations by an older, I’ll call it a “father figure,” is that a fair thing to say?

JS: I think so. Somebody else put it up like that. I hadn’t even thought about it like that, but I mean it’s true yeah. Fatherless people, which is not my life at all…[laughs]

Capone: So aside from the screenplay, how much self-schooling did you do on Martin in particular and the troubles in general before you started shooting this?

JS: The minute I found out that I got the part, I flew out to Belfast as soon as possible and just kind of soaked it up, not really studying it so much, but just being there and speaking to people and just getting an idea of what was going on in those times and what’s going on now, so just being around the people of Belfast. Kari even spent a lot of time there previously, so she was able to sort of get us in touch with people from the IRA, and we spent time with them, real time with them… and people from the Special Branch. So by the time it came to shooting, I really had a strong sense of… actually I was more confused than I was before I went in [laughs], but it was amazing growing up n England and having an idea of the IRA, while I was pretty young, but I had some idea. But meeting some of these people was confusing and heartbreaking, because it’s easy to go “They are just thugs, just terrorists,” and of course violence is not acceptable in any situation, but when they don’t come across like that and you meet their families and the children, it just makes it all the more heartbreaking and confusing that they can be drawn to such violent acts for what they believe in.

Capone: I don't know if they mentioned, but I’m the one doing the Q and A with you tonight, and I’m sure the accent issue will come up tonight, but it must be pretty authentic, because I just heard that all of the prints are going to have subtitles. That must be pretty gratifying to know that you have been rendered incomprehensible by your hard work.

JS: [laughs] Even to myself. I listen back to it now, and I'm strangely kind of proud of that.

Capone: The version I saw did not have subtitles and I understood it fine. Did Martin really have that mustache, because I’m big into how facial hair informs an actor's performance If someone has got some interesting facial hair, I will always ask about it.

JS: The truth is that I didn’t know that he had a mustache, and I asked to have a mustache, and I fought for a mustache against the producers who were not sure whether their leading man should walk the entire film with a mustache. I didn’t know and it wasn’t until much, much later on when there was an article about him in the paper and he had a mustache in a photo and I was like, "Yes!"

Capone: You just felt it.

JS: For me it was about the period and looking as authentic as possible and making sure you had this Hollywood sheen could effect what we were doing.

Capone: It’s a great porn star mustache. That’s what I was thinking, he would think that was looking good.

JS: That's right, he would think it was cool, with the white socks and the knock-off Gucci shoes! I was there, right.

Capone: And the leather jacket and the whole thing. Talk a little bit about the two women in Martin’s life at least in this film version. I had forgotten Rose McGowan was in it. I didn’t even recognize her with that hair, which when I saw her name in the end credits it blew my mind. I had seen Natalie [Press] in MY SUMMER OF LOVE a couple of years ago. I thought she was great in that. Were these two women real people or were they composites?

JS: Obviously one of them was his long term girlfriend that he did have children with that he hinted at what… I think she was aware of what he was going with the IRA, but she wasn’t aware of the fact that he was an informer, and I think it destroyed him everyday that he was putting his family in so much danger. As far as Rose’s character…

Capone: Was there a Mata Hari kind of woman in the IRA who used her body as part of her job What was her name? Grace?

JS: Grace, yeah. I'm trying to remember the book. I think there was. I think in the book he mentions about someone.

Capone: It wouldn’t be a proper war unless there was one.

JS: [laughs] Exactly right! I’ll have to think about that, because I don’t know.

Capone: You mentioned that he was putting his family in danger. I got a real sense in the film that he always knew at some point it would all fall apart. I don’t believe for one second that he thought he would get away with it forever and walk away from it clean. That makes it almost harder for me to understand why he would do what he did.

JS: Yeah, that's true. It's like any addiction--smoking, a heroin addiction, I don’t know. I guess he was addicted to it. I guess it was his life and it sort of gave him purpose and paid his bills.

Capone: Survival, too, was a part of it, yeah.

JS: Yeah, a huge part of it was survival. I guess there was always that thinking of like “I’m going to stop doing this. This year I’m not going to go there…” and he would see something or he would know something and once you are caught up, you are caught up. Once you are in the IRA it’s hard. I can imagine it’s like the mafia, you know, you are in there. While he was getting this information, I guess he might have well have put it to some use, but I’m sure he wanted to get out of it all the time.

Capone: Are you still playing music? Are you still doing that in a band still or just on your own?

JS: Not so much in a band. I write music with… My girlfriend is a musician, so we write music together and all of my friends are from a musical background, so we sort of mess around and record stuff and play music a lot.

Capone: I was curious if there was a particular musician that you thought had a story that should be told in a movie that you might be a part of?

JS: People have tried to write stories about Nick Drake.

Capone:There’s not a lot known about Nick Drake.

JS: Not a lot known about him at all. Whether that would make an interesting story or not, I don’t know since he was kind of a recluse, but he’s an interesting guy and amazing musician and died under circumstances that no one was quite sure of, but whether I would have the balls to play him, I don’t know.

Capone: I read about this a while ago and now it has just come up again, but the SPIDER-MAN musical, was it that you recorded some demos for it with Evan Rachel Wood and the U2 guys and now it’s sort of on hold for right now it sounds like?

JS: I was just asked to help out at a workshop, which we did for like two weeks.

Capone: How long ago was this?

JS: It was nearly two years ago. After ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, after 21. Yeah, I just went to New York and we sort of hung out. It was crazy. We worked on the dialogue and the scenes, and Bono and Edge would bring in some songs and be like “Try this out. How does this sound?” and work on the music, and I was really there as a singer and a guy playing Peter Parker, and how the songs sounded not coming out of Bono’s mouth, but coming out of the character’s mouth as well. We just workshopped it and played around with it and then at the end of the two weeks, we gave an entire read-through performance with a full band to Marvel Comics and Sony and all of the people that were putting money into it. I never really sort of planned to be in the final production and Julie [Taymor, who is directing the musical and directed Sturgess in ACROSS THE UNIVERSE] asked me if I would do it. For me, it’s such a huge commitment to be in a Broadway show, it’s not like making a film; you are in it for a long, long period of time and unfortunately it just clashed with other projects that I have got going on, so yeah I’m not going to play Peter Parker. Evan is doing it [playing Mary Jane], yeah.

Capone: Speaking of just blowing your mind, it must have been incredible to hear this music, even in a rough form to just have access to that music.

JS: I have this amazing recording of me and Bono just sort of singing it together while he’s teaching me the song while Edge is playing the guitar and he’s there are these moments where he's in there talking in my ear giving me the lyrics, because I keep forgetting them.

Capone: I’ll give you my email address, so you can just send that to me…

JS: [laughs] And we keep laughing, because I keep fucking it up. It’s a great recording, yeah.

Capone: I read an interview with them where Bono said he wants that to be the next U2 album, that soundtrack or whatever you would call it and the other guys are like “I don’t know about that.” But there’s this body of music out there by them that I hope we get to hear at some point.

JS: Oh you will, I’m sure. The show is going to be amazing. They're U2 songs man. They sound like U2 songs and it’s pretty amazing!

Capone: I honestly can’t even image what it sounds like, especially put in the context of that particular story. Tell me about some of the stuff you have got coming up. I know you have a couple of things already done, like HEARTLESS… Who do you play in that?

JS: HEARTLESS is a bizarre incredible film directed by a guy called Philip Ridley, who is this London-based artist really as far as he is a filmmaker and a playwright and a children’s story writer and a painter and an illustrator and photographer, so he is just this incredible sort of character and he’s an amazing man, but he’s a total recluse. He lives in this little flat in Bethnal Green in east London, which is where he was born. He’s a real fascinating guy, and he wrote this bizarre and highly imaginative script called HEARTLESS, which is really about the violence of the modern world that we sort of live in, just a fellow you can open of a newspaper of his head, it’s just filled with so much madness. “How did the world become so fucking mad?” Religious wars…gang fighting… The story isn’t about that at all, but that’s not what it’s sort of about. It’s about this poor guy’s struggle, which is the character I play, a guy called Jaime, who has a port wine birth mark all across the side of his face. He’s a sensitive soul, as I guess Phil Ridley is, and it’s really about his struggle to make sense of the world that is impossible to make sense of and he starts seeing these street gangs as these demonic animals on the street creating all of this violence.

Capone: Does it have that fantastical quality to it at times?

JS: Yeah, because his madness is… To me, it’s such a hard film to describe. It’s a nightmare when someone is like “Tell me what that is about” and you are like “Oh God, how can you explain that?” It’s a dark urban fairy tale. I know Phil would hate me describing it like that, but that’s what it is. It ticks all of the boxes of any classic fairy tale, like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and all of those things. It’s about this kid who sort of just lives in the shadows and has all of this weight on his soul.

Capone: I’ll ask about the other stuff you've got coming up, because I know there are a couple of really interesting things.

JS: Please don’t ask me that one! [Laughs]

Capone: OK, well somebody else might.

JS: It will take me half an hour to describe it.

Capone: Anyway, it was good to meet you.

JS: You too, man.

Capone: See you later.

JS: Thanks.

-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
Follow Me On Twitter