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F: They say you´re afraid of flying. So obviously this movie AgH matters a lot
to you making you come to Germany on purpose and do some interview here...

JP: Yes, it´s a small movie and you ain´t got huge stars like Russel Crowe or
Mel Gibson by your side who create a lot of publicity themselves.
Besides this movie is not really easy to commercialise in present time.

F: You have carried out a black military comedy in Europe again although you
never wanted to get out of the USA anymore after shooting "Gladiator" and
"Quills" in England and Malta...

JP: Right, I was pretty fed up with Europe.
But finally there was one year between and I absolutely wanted to do AgH.
So as the movie plays in a US base in Germany it was self - evident to shoot it
right there.
You just cannot shoot it on a parking area in South California...

F: In the meantime you seem to love Europe. After finishing AgH you worked here
again with the Danish regisseur Thomas Vinterberg...

JP: Yes..that was also amazing !
I enjoyed the time in Copenhagen as well as the time in Germany. It sounds a
little presumptuous to complain about travelling so much because you get to
know many new countries and cities. But if you´re on the road so often you just
get homesick - at least I get.
I just come from Japan to promote "Signs" because Mel Gibson and Night
Shyamalan had no time

F: AgH starts worldwide in Germany first.
The start in other countries is still unclear. Do you think this movie became a
"victim" of Sept. 11th?

JP: Well, somehow Sept. 11th had influence on EVERY movie esp. when it included
violence and aggression. Those marketing people take more time now to release
such a film and we need to confess this time to them.
One year ago AgH had its worldpremiere in Toronto, everyone was enthusiastic
and it got a US distributor right away. Then the regisseur wanted to make some
changes like using my voice as a narrator but I was shooting "Signs" and he was
shooting in Austarlia so we actually completed AgH about two months ago.

F: So, you do believe it´s going to be released in the USA ?

JP: At the moment it´s planned for March / April next year. It will also depend
on the reactions in Europe and this again will depend on the reaction of the
German audience. I also think that the differences in reactions are quite
interesting, not only between Germany and the USA but also between Germany and
England. Do you have the feeling this humour could work here ?

F: I believe so. But in the USA where people want to see the army as a
community of courage and bravery and not like a horde of fools and junkies it
might be more difficult.
Relating to President Bush´s statement "Everyone whó´s not in in favour of us
is against us" you could nearly feel like an enemy...

JP: No,no,no ( laughing )! I don´t believe this movie might be taken as an act
of terrorism. It deals with the specific time and place in 1989. After that the
army had been shook up. AgH is not even a critic, it just watches a specific
occurence through a certain window. So nobody has to be afraid of being hurt or
insulted.

F: But right at the moment it would be attacked by the US government as a
sabotage on the war mood against Irac...?

JP: I don´t know. I´m no marketing expert and I ain´t got a clue on those
things. I don´t understand either why a movie is successful or not. Maybe this
is why I´m an actor.

F: Your parents were Hippies, then they joined a christian sect. So you didn´t
want to have anything to do with military, right ?

JP: I´ve never been a soldier and I´d do call myself a pacifist.

F: Didn´t it cause any problems with this movie ?

JP: Not at all. This is my role. It has nothing to do with me. I totally divide
that. Imagine I´d be like the characters I´ve played..oh..oh.. ( laughing ).
I´d even play a hunter although I´m a strict vegan.

F: You´ve played dark, sick persons most of the time. Do you feel like an
outlaw among those young beauties in Hollywood ?

JP: To be honest I don´t really rack my braiin over my position in Hollywood -
otherwise I´d probably become depressive. When I had thought about all
adversity running into me while trying to achieve something in this business I
would have already given up for al long time...
So I just do what challenges and enthusiates me. And this is where most of the
people say: This is nothing for you ! Media pretends that all the roles fly
into my arms but in fact it was the 1st time that the regisseur really wanted
ME for the part in AgH

F: You´ve said once that if a regisseur came to you saying "You´re amazing! I
want you!" you´d probably feel so unsure that you´d refuse this role..

JP: Right, I always need a certain resistance. But in this case the script
convinced me and everyone who read it was enthusiastic and confirmed to it
right away. But when I came to Germany for the shooting without talking with
the regisseur about the exact shaping of the character I was pretty nervous and
unsure again - just like I need it !

F: For your character in "The Yards" you hit your head against the walls to
get into the right mood. For "Gladiator" you locked yourself up in the camping
van. What did you do for AgH ?

JP: Nothing at all ( grinning). That was also new and exciting being able to
welcome the world with open arms and staying in a good mood. Normally I´m more
of a cynical type but there I could naively cultivate pleasant life. My theory
has even confirmed me in this case: The character dictates my lifestyle during
the shooting time. And I would have never thought that this could work hand in
hand in such an amusing way...

F: You have a little harc - lip scar. Did you ever suffer from this during
childhood or now being an actor ?

JP: No, being a kid I had no problems. And later my girlfriends liked it very
much. As an actor I was never aware of my scar because I have been worn it
during my whole life. Just once I was quite surprised. After "To die for" the
critics said this scar would be something I´d probably have to fight with in
the next years...( laughing )

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