William Fichtner
You know him when you see him -- William Fichtner. He's been in everything from Go, The Perfect Storm and Black Hawk Down, to his TV roles in "Invasion," "Prison Break" and "Entourage." We recently spoke to with him to discuss his new movie, Drive Angry 3D, where stars alongside Nicolas Cage. Here he discusses his supernatural character, The Accountant, the Grindhouse feel to the movie and his own 1970 muscle car, a Roadrunner.
Q: You play The Accountant. Tell us a little bit about who The Accountant is?
Fichtner: The Accountant is a gentleman that works in hell. And everybody that goes to hell has to stay there. That's his responsibility. The accountability is everybody there, it's up to him to make sure that they don't leave. So that's who he is. Somebody went to hell years ago, a guy named Milton who Nic Cage plays in the film, and Milton, for reasons that we find out in the movie, figured out a way how to get out of hell. The Accountant can't have that happen. He's got to go get him.
Q: When you first heard about this part, before you even read it, did you think, 'Oh, it's called The Accountant. He wears a suit for the entire movie. He seems kind of boring.'
Fichtner: No, because I don't read too much into character descriptions and things like that before I read a script. I just like to read it straight out and have the experience of it. I'm one of these guys that, you know… I think I've walked out of maybe one movie in my whole life. I can find something in there. I'm not a real critiquer. I just like to experience something, and it was good or it wasn't. I try to lose myself in it, and that's the same thing with reading a script. In particular, when I read this script, I finished the script and I thought, 'Wow. What a story.'
Q: Did you base The Accountant character on anyone you know or who was he based on?
Fichtner: You know, I don't really base any character on any particular person that I know. Good characters in good scripts – find the guy they were thinking about when they wrote it. Because good characters in good scripts, it's all in there. Just keep reading it. I guess I'm a little old school in that way. You'll get your cues and a thought might come to your head and lead you to a couple of other ones. The bottom line is this, who are you gonna call? Who are you gonna call to talk about, 'Hey man, how was [the] job in hell for the last ten years?' It's not like there's a lot of reference points. You really could kind of go where you wanted to go.
Q: In the movie you say to Nicolas Cage's character that if you weren't able to bring him back, someone else would. So, is there more than one accountant in hell and if so, are you the 'head' accountant?
Fichtner: Interesting question. The bottom line is this – you can't leave. Hell's a big machine. A lot of people have visited there over the years. It works for a reason. People don't get out for a reason. I work there. I'm very good. I come back. Something happens to me. You don't get a free ride, buddy. I think the line is about as far as you need to go. At least I felt that when I was shooting it. Once you say that, it's pretty clear.
Q: You have a lot of funny lines in the movie – some of the best dry funny lines. Was that all scripted or did you get to improv at all?
Fichtner: All scripted. If there's something in there that's funny that wasn't scripted, I don't know. I think when you've got a really good script, find the guy that they were writing. Find the right rhythm for the guy. If it's funny, it's funny. You know, it's not sitcom funny. But it's probably funny because [it's] that guy in this circumstance in this place. And that to me is real humor and it's everywhere in all scripts, even in dramas…You can find it. There's a rhythm.
Q: The movie is called Drive Angry 3D and we know Nicolas Cage's character gets to drive a lot of cool American-made muscle cars in the movie. Did you get to drive any of them? Were you jealous of him?!
Fichtner: I'm sitting in my office right now that's attached to my garage and I'm looking out into my three-car garage and in the left-hand bay from my view right now sits a 44,000 original mile, 1970, vitamin c, 4-seat, pistol grip, Roadrunner. So, did I miss driving them? No, I'm ok! I got one sitting right here. People ask me to see a picture of my kids and I pull my phone out and show them a picture of my car as my screensaver.
Q: Your character is supernatural, from hell, he's very strong and he can fight without really doing much. On 'Prison Break,' you had a few hand-to-hand scraps, a few fistfights. Did you enjoy how The Accountant fights more or how Alex Mahone fights?
Fichtner: Oh, The Accountant by far. He can [do] that little shape-shift thing all of a sudden. I'd rather do that than hanging around with Dominic Purcell trying to kill me.
Q: Do you see this movie as a 1970's throwback, Grindhouse type of movie?
Fichtner: That's what they say. I do think it's that more now because people have been talking about it, but I didn't necessarily think that when we were shooting it. It has all the elements of it, but you never know. You never know where something's going to go. Or how the direction's going to be. Where they're going to pull it. What Patrick wants to say. And how he's going to do it. And how he's shooting it. You just trust it. The more I've seen of it as we finished it, I do think that's true and I think that is so cool. And maybe that was a lot more obvious to everyone else when they were doing it, but I had a different rhythm going on thinking about chasing Milton and being The Accountant. But I hear that now and I love hearing that 'cause that's my generation of college and high school and all the 70's and I hear that and I'm thinking, 'Yeah! I know that! Yeah!'
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