Caviezel in Deja Vu
Interview: Jim Caviezel on Playing a Villain in Deja Vu
“It’s really about the great role,”
he said. “I look for great roles and great stories. First of all,
it’s the script, then the role and where it fits in. This guy, what
is interesting is I kept thinking he was like the hurricane but the eye
of the storm which is absolutely calm. In him is a massive storm but everything
had to be against the norm which is yelling, screaming, putting all that
out there. Denzel, who obviously is an unbelievable actor, one of the rare
ones that can be both character and leading man, he elevated my work. We
got down to the end of that scene where [he says] ‘There’s a
difference between you and I’ and my character is like, ‘Okay,
fine. You figured all that out but I’m willing to exchange my life.
Are you?’ There you go.”
Director Tony Scott suggested the character was based on Timothy McVeigh,
but Caviezel broadened his research. “I wasn’t very specific.
I picked up several, probably about fifteen different cases that I watched
and read and what I’ve found though is there was a difference between
the serial killer and the Unibomber type. One is more sexual and the other
is more destiny-oriented. The [serial killer] has sexual power of some type
but both are narcissistic none-the-less.”
In bombing a ferry tour full of military veterans
and their families, Caviezel’s character is making a statement against
the government. But he also feels his mission is bigger than politics. “I
felt like he had a sense that there was a time window, a destiny and where
there’s just this much time left and it had to be accomplished and
he had a sixth sense to him. So, if Denzel was the good guy, this guy was
the reverse but still had that gift, a sense. And, a guy like him is not
just a bomber. I thought he was more than that. He had that gift of understanding,
not just the criminal mind but how cops think and, to have that gift, and
when they came up with this Déjà Vu technology, it kind of
backfired on him. I think, in a way, he was aware of something going on
and so that scene plays out in some form where he let’s [Washington]
know. ‘I’m ahead of you. I know what you’re up to. I don’t
really know what it is but I know there’s something there.’”
Playing that character, and in New Orleans no less, took its toll on Caviezel.
“Well, we were in a dark place and we couldn’t help it. When
you are going down to the Ninth Ward and they are pulling bodies out, I
was down there five days after it hit with the 82nd Airborne and I never
smelled that kind of smell in my life, like death. I was just blown away
by the heroes I saw, the firemen coming down. I remember one particular
occasion these guys were really in a bad situation and these L.A. firemen
grabbed boats. No one asked them. They drove four or five days and by the
time we got there, they were just coming in. ‘Hey, we’re from
L.A. We’re here to help’. They pulled a fireman out. It was
amazing.”
Deja Vu opens to theatres on November 22nd.
For the trailers, one-sheet, stills, review, more interviews, synopsis and
more movie info, go to the Deja
Vu Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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