Do you see The Road as a cautionary tale? As in: Here’s a glimpse of the price we could pay for ignoring global warming/nuclear proliferation/fill in the blank?
Let’s not look past the fact that in this country and around the world many places already look that way, owing to natural as well as human-generated destruction of the environment, and many people are living lives of desperation, barely surviving and understandably falling prey to their worst impulses out of fear and hopelessness. Many places and many people are ALREADY THERE. By the end of the story the characters come to understand, as we potentially do, the truth of what is written in the Talmud—words to which can be found in most any spiritual teaching text: “The highest wisdom is kindness.”
Did inhabiting this bleak world change your perspective on life?
Just as “The Boy” reminds “The Man” to follow the lessons he himself has tried to impart with regard to kindness, I was reminded many times in the telling of this story that this world and all of the life in it are precious. As my character says, “If I were God, I would have made the world just so.” In other words, even if I could, I would not trade this world or this life for any other.
Some people have described The Road as a horror movie. How do you react to that?
It does not really make sense to me. I do not think it will be in that section at the video store.
You agreed to do The Road at a time when you were worn out and ready for a break. Was there any way in which being exhausted was an advantage going into this extreme role? Did it make rawness more accessible?
Yes. Just as being a father gave me an initial way in, a shortcut if you will, to understanding the story and my character, being a bit tired to begin with gave me a start on that aspect of the role.
How much did you draw on your relationship with your own son, Henry, for inspiration?
He was always there with me in some way. I did not have to think about it. The wisdom of “The Boy,” and of Kodi, the instinct for kindness, are very present and always have been in my son.
You’ve said that you learned a lot about acting from Smit-McPhee. In the film’s production notes you’re quoted as saying, “I have never had a better acting partner, ever.” What is it about Smit-McPhee that leaves Al Pacino, Ed Harris, and Ian McKellen in the dust?
I did not say he was better than them, but rather that none of them was better than Kodi. He was every bit as alive to the potential of any scene and as technically equipped to make the most of every moment as Robert Duvall was in his fine work as “Ely” [also in The Road]. Kodi is an unusually mature and inventive actor and had moments of brilliance each and every day that most fine actors can only dream of having once in a great while. There is a purity, a degree of focus in his work, that allows his natural intelligence and goodness to make themselves evident.
More than once during the film, Smit-McPhee’s character asks you, “Are we the good guys?” The idea that there is a line that good people will not cross is something your character holds dear. Are you a Rousseau man (man is basically good) or do you side with Hobbes (man is naturally wicked)?
I am an optimist.
A while back you were quoted as saying that you were listening to a lot of conservative talk radio. How can monitoring that make you anything but a pessimist?
I sometimes feel sorry for them and their families, and for the people who might be swayed to choose contempt over compassion by the hateful and often deliberately misleading words of these reactionary pontificators. Sometimes I am upset over the influence their hate speech seems to have. However, as I say, I am an optimist and believe that historical facts and genuine, selfless courtesy eventually rise to the surface. I continue to listen to these poisonous blowhards now and then in order to be informed, to “know thine enemy,” as they say, know the potential enemy that lurks in myself, the enemy of kindness. It’s never over until it is over, and we can always do something good.
