But with Bond production company Eon which is in
essence a corporation within a corporation... Thatâs
different. Thatâs why this is really unique. Of course Sony is
a corporation and the film business constitutes I think six per
cent of Sony business. But Broccoli is Broccoli and Bond is Bond
and Bond is Broccoli. Itâs like Ringling Barnum & Bailey. I know
two circus families. One in Switzerland one in Italy. There are
striking similarities [to Eon]. With the Swiss one I travelled for
a while. They gave me a compartment on one of their wagons...
This was for Water For Elephants. Exactly. Thereâs the
matriarch who is the hub and the patriarch who is the engine.
They go out and there are hundreds of people working and
these people know every single person by name. You say âOh itâs
a family.â No itâs not. Itâs a business but they feel responsible
for the welfare of their people and for the success with the
audience... Itâs fantastic. Their father started it and their
children are in it. The fourth generation is just growing up and
theyâll be in it. Thatâs how the Broccolis do it. Michael (G. Wilson)
and Barbara (Broccoli) are always available day and night.
In a previous interview you said you wavered slightly
before accepting the role of Oberhauser. Why? Yo uâr e
asked to do more than play a part when youâre asked to play
in Bond. The higher the bar the higher the responsibility.
Samuel L. Jackson once told us he was a massive Bond
fan but early on reconciled himself to the fact that he
would never be Bond. He settled for being the bad guy. Did
you have a similar experience? I had an absolutely analogue
train of thought. I will never be James Bond. To be the villain? Itâs
not completely out of the world. James Bond is an icon. James
Bond is an English â heâs not even British despite Sean Connery
â heâs an English assassin spy agent. Itâs Her Majestyâs Secret
Service 007. I will never be James Bond because of the icon. What
I thought may be not completely out of the world came to pass.
What does the Bond franchise mean to you? I hate that word
âfranchiseâ. Franchise is something you sell when you have an
idea how to market burger joints. This is not a franchise. This is
Bond movies and they could exist without the others. You donât
need 24 to understand what itâs about. In James Bond you have
a specific character and Sam changed that a little bit. A little
dark a little haunted. Roger Moore was this cynical joker.
Fabulous because of Roger Moore. When Pierce Brosnan tried
the same thing it didnât really work that well did it? Sean
Connery was this mischievous sunny boy. And of course
theyâre a child of their times. Sean Connery was of the â60s the
sexual revolution the new audacity anti-bourgeois. Now
Daniel is retreating more into the darker the haunted the
psychological. Which is difficult.
Letâs talk about the role itself as much as we can. We canât.
In 2009 Quentin said people had asked him to protect you
after Inglourious Basterds came out. He didnât want you
to be the bad guy in Die Hard movies. Were you offered
roles like that? Constantly. I still am. Typecasting is not really
a wrong thing per se. And it needs to be decided from case to
case. I constantly get offers to play stupid Nazis and haunting
villains. Usually people donât know what theyâre after. I have
no interest in working with people who donât know what
theyâre doing and why theyâre doing it. Absolutely none.
I only played one Nazi in my life so far and it looks like Iâll
stick to that.
Was that typecasting why Quentin was so keen to make
Django Unchainedâs King Schultz different from Landa?
No. Quentin writes characters and sets them free and follows
their actions and reports on their evolution and conflicts.
Thatâs his script. He has preferences and Schultz was not
a construction in my direction to do me a favour. Thatâs what
he wanted. Lucky me. I happened to be there as well. But in
that order.Iâm intrigued by how Hans Landa read in the script... you
turned him into someone who takes delight from his
actions. Was that on the page?It was on the page. I donât
know if you would have read the same page had you read it.
That I canât tell. But it is my conviction that an actor cannot
do whatâs not on the page. Itâs a very vain and self-important
thought that an actor can lift a lesser part onto a higher level.Youâve won two Oscars now. With Basterds in the run-up
to the Oscars youâd won every major acting award there
was to win. On the night itself were you devoid of nerves?
The whole thing was an otherworldly experience. It didnât
require my active participation not even on a nervous level.
It really didnât. Of course I was nervous. Everything was so far
beyond my comprehension. I drifted through it in a way. When
I then had the statue there was a young lady standing in the
wings. She said âGive me your hand. Donât worry Iâll guide you
out to your people. You will not remember any of this.â Thatâs
the thing I remember.âYouâre asked to play
more than a part when
you play in Bond.â
Top: Touched by
the hand of Sam: on
the set of Spectre.
Above: Oscar #1:
Inglourious Basterds.
Right: Oscar #2:
Django Unchained.