CHRIS NEUMER: I’d asked you how you enjoyed your first press junket, and you hadn’t quite done the round table, and you hadn’t done the photo shoots and all that. So I thought I’d ask, now that you’ve sort of completed most of your first press junket, are your thoughts and feelings on it still the same as before, when you said it was surreal?

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Yes and no. It’s definitely a surreal experience. It seems like it’s just all kind of thrown together and you go through so much with all the interviews and such. When I first met you it was at the beginning of the tour, and now that it’s finished and, in retrospect, it’s still surreal, just the intensity of going through the tour is overwhelming, and it’s been straining. It’s great still talking to different journalists, but after a while you just feel so run down, and you don’t want to rob the journalist or interviewer of the interview, of any emotions and feelings and your personal insight and such, but, after a while I don’t want to seem monotonous, but it does get routine.

CHRIS NEUMER: You can just hand them the transcript and say "Here, I’m sure you can make something with this."

DAMIEN NGUYEN: I wish I could, but I guess there’s a certain amount of professionalism that still needs to be in play. But definitely, going through it all, you can see the workings of what an actor goes through in a press junket, and I can definitely appreciate that.

CHRIS NEUMER: That you haven’t done anything since, which you’d have to promote in the future?

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Yeah, exactly.

CHRIS NEUMER: Were there any questions you were asked that surprised you, or -- I’m going to ask a twofold question -- what question were you asked the most, and was there anything that was so inappropriate or outrageous that you couldn’t believe it was being asked?

DAMIEN NGUYEN: One question I got a lot was "What was it like working with such big stars, especially being my first project and all?" And that was one that came back a lot, specifically working with Nick Nolte and Tim Roth, and such. That was one question I got a lot, that it became an answer you just kind of threw back, and I didn’t want to, you know, take away from that question, because it was a great experience and all. But after a while, it’s like, yeah that would become an obvious question to be asked, seeing as how this is my first really big project, to be able to work with such great talents. So yeah, I can see there being an interest in that. And as far as the questions I was asked, sometimes people did ask me to volunteer anything that was going on with those people, that I saw, that would heighten the negative press on them, and that was out of place. I thought some journalists crossed the line, expecting me, I don’t know if they thought I was really green, or really naïve, that I would volunteer anything that was negative against my co-stars. That was crossing the line, I thought.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: I think if anything, there were kind of some trappings that were set up, for me to walk in and start bad-mouthing them in any way. And I thought that was out of line, crossing a line a bit.

CHRIS NEUMER: Yes.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: But I guess that’s part of the journalistic endeavor, to try to make stories a little more interesting or whatever.

CHRIS NEUMER: I think actually it’s the opposite: you don’t really have very much ability on your own to make the story interesting, so you need dirt in order to spice it up.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Yeah, and I thought, "Wow." You know if this was a different movie, with a big Hollywood budget and a lot of press on it, maybe they’d be digging for something, but for a story of this nature and caliber, you’d think it would be more important to stay with that theme, but it just kind of caught me off guard, especially the first few times. After talking to a journalist, and it just seems like standard questions, almost baiting me to let my guard down, and then "Bam!" You know there’s been a lot of bad press, on this and this and this, and you know, certain actors have reputations of being this way, did you see any of that, or did you see anything that might’ve something that was wild, or whatever the case may be? That kind of caught me off guard. And after while, it didn’t happen all the time, but there were definitely some journalists out there who would bait the issue a little bit.

CHRIS NEUMER: Finally, proof that there is such a thing as a stupid question. You bring up the stars and the searching for dirt. One of the questions I have, and I don’t want to ask it if it’s impertinent, but after we spoke the last time, I had an opportunity to speak with both Nick and Bai about the project, and the thing that impressed me was how different both their approaches were. I asked Bai how she got into character, and I have the quote here, I wanted to read it to you, and it’s so interesting because I’ve never heard anyone say this. She said, "I don’t prepare, I don’t think of anything, my mind is literally empty." And I thought, well, that’s one way to do it. And she went on to say, [when she’s on set], "When I’m there, the set will speak to me, or the earth will speak to me, or the character, whatever. Something will help me." And I thought wow, that’s living the moment, but I wonder how you’d act opposite that, since she was adamantly against rehearsal. And so then Nick was talking about some of the stuff and how he prepared, and he prepared by sort of immersing himself within the -- I don’t want to say the culture -- but the culture of the Vietnam War, and he sort of looked at this from a really reconciliatory nature. And so it was sort of like the things he did to prepare for this role actually had nothing to do with his character or the role, it just happened to do with the time period. And I thought, that’s the exact opposite. And well, I know he and Bai never worked together, but as the common link between the two, I was curious if these two such different preparations and styles affected you in any way. And again, I’m not sure if that’s a leading, baiting question, but I was curious.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: No, not at all. That’s just professional work ethics; people have different approaches. For me, definitely, being so green, I was in awe of the whole situation. Bai, being the first recognizable actor I’ve worked with, the first night we went out to dinner, she had just flown into Vietnam. We did a really, really light rehearsal that day, and she’d just gotten off the plane. If anything it was more just setting up the scene, talking about the situation, and we read through a couple scenes together, and afterwards we went out to dinner, just myself and Bai Ling, and we were able to talk, and I volunteered how nervous I was to work with her, and I admired her work, and I felt like I had this huge responsibility on my shoulders, and insecure about my abilities, so I wondered if she had some words of wisdom to share with me. What you just quoted there was pretty much her approach to acting, that when she’s in the moment she just kind of feels it out, and allows her mind, body and spirit to go to its own place, and she just kind of goes with it from there. Which kind of threw me off, because for me, I always thought actors are so prepared and really professional, and they go to great lengths to research characters and such, and when she told me that she does no research, or very little, it definitely caught me off guard, but eased my hesitations about my preparedness. When she told me that she did none to very little, where I felt like I’d done a fair amount, I felt, if anything, that I gained a bit more preparedness. From working with her, when she feels the moment she definitely goes with it, and sometimes there wasn’t a happy medium from what her interpretation of the character was and what the director felt, and they would just deal with it. I just kind of rolled with the blows; my character was so opposite hers in certain ways, that it allowed me to go down my path, and how she reacted off of that was more her choices. I think that Hans and I discussed the character well enough that it didn’t waver my choices so much, as opposed to what she’d decide to do, because with Han’s restraint and the dignity he has, it just seems that’s pretty much solidified, so regardless of what she would do, it may or may not work, and it was more the director’s call, as opposed to anything I’d say about it.

CHRIS NEUMER: Now, I wasn’t quite sure, but she would talk about going with things, I think she talked about eating a maggot once, because she was going with it.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Yeah.

CHRIS NEUMER: She kept looking to Hans to yell cut, and he didn’t, so she ate the maggot. And as you’ve said, this was some of the first real acting work you’d done, and I don’t think you were around for that scene, I don’t think you were on camera for that scene.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: No, no I was not.

CHRIS NEUMER: Were there any things like that, which she would do? I’m more interested in your reaction to what she would do, than what she’s doing, but were there any situations like that where she would do something and you were like, ok, she just kicked me in the leg with a shoe, now how do I go with this? Was there anything like that?

DAMIEN NGUYEN: No, I think if anything there weren’t any situations that caught me so off guard that I couldn’t just roll with the punches. I think it’s also over a period of time working with her that you kind of understand how she works, and you kind of adapt to that. I don’t really want to say adapt, because there was no adapting involved --

CHRIS NEUMER: You understand where she’s coming from.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Exactly, I kind of understand where she’s coming from, that allows her to make her choices. And the director was very diplomatic about it. He was able to try not to step on anyone’s toes, and allowed her to make her choices, and then come back and say now that was good, now let’s try it this way, so we can have a variation. And, you know, whether she agreed with those choices, she still would go with it, and I think that had a lot to do with more Hans stepping in and saying "You know what, the direction she’s going in isn’t exactly following the pace or the beat of the film." So that was more with them. For me, I definitely felt hesitant to say anything, working with her, especially towards the beginning, but towards the end I think we had more of an open rapport, and we could talk and discuss different things, and she’d come to me and talk about certain scenes, and how I was going to approach it, and I’d talk to her a little bit, and for the most part we came to an agreeable place.

CHRIS NEUMER: That is certainly good. I think it helped immeasurably that there wasn’t a Stanley Kubrickesque director on the set who was like, "No, you cannot take more than 3 steps, and when you stop you have to turn only your right shoulder."

DAMIEN NGUYEN: (Laughing) Yeah. I think also, just with Hans, his responsibility was, just a huge responsibility he had working with most of the stuff Bai Ling and I were doing in Vietnam, just dealing with the language barrier and working with a huge cast and crew, and such, and so many other problems that plagued the production. It was amazing that he was even able to have such a level head on his shoulders, and make certain calls, and just direct everything when it could be so chaotic at times. He just kind of stepped in; he’s very thorough, banking. He speaks fairly slowly, because he’s just very thorough about the process.

CHRIS NEUMER: And not only that, it actually seemed like he thought about what he was going to say before he said it.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Exactly, and that’s how he does his films for the most part too, he just thinks it through and has a lot of insight; with a lot of things going on, and with all the problems, he was able to still maintain his composure. Step in and say, "You know what, that was great but..." A lot of people at the end would’ve just let loose, started going crazy. But there were definitely times when he was on the brink of that, but I don’t think I ever saw him just lose it. I think anyone else in that situation may have.

CHRIS NEUMER: That’s when you approach [him] and talk about the Jerry Lewis version of the scene you want to shoot.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: (Laughing) exactly, lighten it up a bit.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: No, not so much. The common denominators we had to deal with were from all different parts of the world, but I think if anything it brought us all in there, and some of them had worked with maybe a few other people, but it was kind of like a bunch of a new band of people coming together to work on this project. If anything it made people want to step up their game a little bit, saying ok, it’s not the same old thing, working with the same old people, it was a new environment. And I’m pretty sure, say, 95 percent of the people had never been to this part of the world before. Everything was kind of a heightened experience, everything all coming together, and so many people putting in so much time and effort only enhanced the production and the project. It was great, because so many really great people from all over the world came together and, I don’t want to sound cheesy or anything like that, but definitely, the people that were there were supposed to be there. It just seemed like everyone clicked really well and they had really good working relations, and I was able to work with everyone, from accounting to the photographer and the arts director. Everyone kind of had their own thing, and even though they were always in and out of the office and I would only see them sporadically here and there, if they stopped by the set, everybody really had a good working relationship, and I just think that is really fortunate.

CHRIS NEUMER: Wow, I can’t wait to talk to you after you work on your first Jim Cameron film.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: (Laughs) Yeah thanks, and if you could put in a good word with Jim, that would be great.

CHRIS NEUMER: I’ll tell you this, he’ll appreciate this. I did an interview with Morgan Spurlock, actually I just went out to lunch with him the last time I was in LA, and we were eating at the Beverly Hills Peninsula. So, I had made some comment that the only thing worse than eating at McDonalds for 30 days, the only thing unhealthier, was working for Jim Cameron. And he did an actual spit take, and I thought to myself, Wow, that’s pretty amazing, I got him to do a spit take, and I thought man, I’m getting funny. Turns out Jim Cameron’s agent was sitting behind me and had heard me. And I was like, Oh, I didn’t realize that. I can’t remember if it’s CAA or William Morris that is right across the street, and I was like, "Oh…" And he said, you know, that’s going to be me. And I said, fortunately, you’re a documentarian; screwed him over for that one.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Next time you interview him, or you have the chance to, I think it would be interesting.

CHRIS NEUMER: Yeah. By the way, did you weigh in on how it was working with Nick’s style of preparation?

DAMIEN NGUYEN: With Nick, he was the last person I actually had a chance to work with, as far as the actors, and I’ll be honest with you, even though I’ve worked with Tim and Bai Ling, I was really nervous working with Nick. I knew our time together would be fairly short; it was towards the end of production. He was really professional. He went to great lengths to put in his own contact lenses, the blind contact lenses. He spent time by himself, a lot of time in his trailer just familiarizing himself with the room, and he had spent a lot of time talking to Vietnam Vets, and such, and I had even heard a rumor -- that ended up being not true -- that he had spent 3 days in a trailer that was supposed to be his home in Texas. And I was like wow, oh my God, this guy has really gone to extended lengths to get prepared for this role, and he was going to be in the shooting for like 5 days, something like that. Once I met with him, he’s pretty introspective, doesn’t really say a lot, just looked around the trailer a lot, and tried to study me a little bit. But once the initial meeting [was done], and we actually got to spend some time together, It’s like he switched over to a more jovialness, just really easygoing, jokester and such, and I think that’s what really helped working conditions for me, just knowing that he’s a normal guy.

CHRIS NEUMER: Yeah, anytime a hardass A-list movie star shows up I don’t think that makes thing any easier for anybody.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: No, and for me, he could’ve been anything in my mind, I had all these ideas of what he might have been like. But actually, he caught me a little off guard, just really laid back and really funny, and just really joking. I thought he’d be always working, in his head, or going through some type of process, but it wasn’t so much like that. I think a lot of it he had done prior to Texas and once he got there he was just doing final touches and all. But he definitely compares a lot, and when he would have questions he was almost -- I don’t want to say secretive about it -- but he would pull Hans aside and talk about stuff, and you know Nick talks a little low and soft at time, so he would say something and come back and I wasn’t sure if it was something that would affect me, or if it was my performance, or something like that, and I’d be like "Oh well, I definitely have to bring up my game a little bit," but I found out that’s just how he operates. There wasn’t any undermining of my abilities or anything like that. He’s also very apologetic, and if anything goes wrong on set, he’s the first one to apologize whether it has anything to do with him or not. It just seemed like maybe he should’ve done something a little bit more, to have brought up the game a little bit higher or something, but he was very adamant about being very apologetic about everything.

CHRIS NEUMER: I got that from 25 minutes with the man. I couldn’t believe how much he apologized for -- he apologized for 2 things to me and then told the story of how he apologized to Hans for a couple things.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: Yeah, that was one of the things that really came across. Nick has an intensity about him that’s not overbearing, just really a ball of energy, that comes out in subtle ways that you can feel it, like this heat radiating off him. Just being close to him you can really feel that, and I think that helped me.

CHRIS NEUMER: You don’t see that in everyday life very often. You don’t go over to your uncle’s or something, and all of a sudden you just feel that, as you said, a sort of heat, and I’m not sure what it is, but I’ll tell you, usually -- and you know I’ve interviewed 300, 400 people while I’ve been doing the magazine -- and there aren’t too many… You know I’m not star struck, I’m talent struck, I could talk to the DP of Schindler’s List or something and I’d be like, "Oh my god, how are you?!" But if I’m interviewing Jamie Foxx or somebody it’s not like I’m star struck, but with Nick, I thought, he could kill me, he’s probably a big guy. He could kill me, I’m sure. But I thought, he probably won’t kill me, probably won’t.

DAMIEN NGUYEN: More than likely not, yeah. But definitely, he’s got something about him, an energy, especially working with him. It’s one thing being off-set with him, because he has a persona off-set that I think a lot of people just don’t know, because credit speaks for him, and they just assume he’s this really intense person to work on all these great projects, and they turn him into being this really introspective… I can’t seem to find the words, but this really intense person. But in reality he’s really laid back and a joy to be with. But once you get him on-set and actually have the opportunity to work with him, he switches over, and it’s the work that’s all that matters.

CHRIS NEUMER: "Where’s funny Nick? Let’s go back!"

Chris Neumer

(c) Stumped, 1998-2004