Set in modern-day Los Angeles,Knight of Cupsfollows a melancholy, unemployed screenwriter, played by Christian Bale.
He makes the movie he wants to make and he makes it his own way, Dennehy says.
And thats the way it should be.
Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon
He also chatted with EW about his experience on the film.
Entertainment Weekly: This is your first appearance in a Terrence Malick film.
But had you ever auditioned for one of his films before?
And I missed that chance.
I think I was out of town or something happened.
I dont know how close I would have been to getting it.
My friend Colin [Farrell] did great in the film.
Christian Bale did great in it also.
Its always been one of my big regrets, especially because of that incredible story that the film told.
And because no one ever knows when Terry will work again.
So few people will ever have the experience of meeting or talking to Terrence Malick.
Journalists, definitely not.
What was it like just being with this guy, the most reclusive director in the industry?
It was one of the most exciting lead-ups to a first meeting Ive ever had.
I had no idea what to expect.
I was raised in a home with two preachers in Arkansas and he found that really interesting.
Youve been admirably candid about overcoming your struggle with drugs, including heroin.
Did you talk to to him about that?
My own struggles have been well documented and that was something he was interested in using for the character.
And I had no trouble exploring that with him.
Did he know that about you already?
I mean, I cant imagine him reading it in
InPeoplemagazine?
[laughs] No, me either.
Someone may have mentioned it to him about me.
And that may have piqued his interest.
But I dont think he knew too much.
How did that stuff tie in with the character?
At one point your he tells his brother about living on the streets.
When youre going through this, its not just you.
Its everyone around you.
And they often dont know what to do.
Theyre not professionally equipped.
So that really played into the dynamic between me and Christian Bale onscreen.
Was there ever a script?
But in my opinion, he had one.
We would all be given pages, but the pages wouldnt have any real context.
So you show up in the morning and you wouldnt really know what the plan was for that day.
But were you ever given actual dialogue?
One night I was given about 40 pages of dialogue for the next day.
Terry had typed them up on his typewriter and handed them to me.
Were the other actors given 40 pages too?
Well, I think we all had our own folder, which he kept.
He would hand us all pages at the end of the day.
And he would say, You dont need to know them all in order.
Well find it together.
Its all a discovery process.
He just wants to find these moments.
Malick sounds very low-tech, but his films are very visually sophisticated.
The camera is always moving around the actors.
Yeah, thats hard.
Its always in the back of my mind that I should be pushing forward the narrative with my character.
But with Terry, none of that applies.
And its the same with his filmmaking.
The camera appears, then it goes away.
Sometimes I felt like I found the moment I was searching for, but where would the camera be?
Its way down on the beach.
Sort of like, if a tree falls in the woods but theres no Steadicam to film it?
No, its a thrill.
I loved every day.
I drove away every day feeling very happy.
It was an absolute thrill.
When did you seeKnight of Cupsfor the first time?
And can you describe your reaction to it?
I didnt see it until recently.
It premiered a year ago in Berlin and I think its gone through a few versions since then.
When I know Im going to watch Terrys work, I go in with a different headspace.
And so I let the film just wash over me.
I mean, its closer to going to the symphony than, say,Transformers.
It actually reminded me of how I thought films were made when I was a kid.
I just thought there was a camera that swung around and caught all these natural moments.
I didnt understand the concept of editing or lighting or acting.
I just saw a movie as this magical thing that caught all these great moments of people together.
So this movie kind of allowed you to manifest that childhood memory.
Im sure Malick would love that.
Yeah [laughs].
It also reminded me of the discovery projects we used to do when I was at Juilliard.
It was all about finding moments.
It was hard because of all the on-the-job training Ive had.
But, man, I cant tell you how exciting it was.
To go down a strange road and not think that youre leading the story astray thats exciting.
Youve got to get yourself a writer, baby.
[Laughs]
But do you feel that way at all?
I mean, Cherry Jones is inKnight of Cupsas your mom.
Shes onscreen for maybe 30 seconds.
Im sure much more than 30 seconds was shot.
Oh, yeah, much more was.
But, I have to say, I knew about that when I was shooting.
I knew when I walked in to meet Terry what the situation was.
That was the biggest logistical challenge of my career, bigger than learning any fight scene.
But I didnt care if all my dialogue made it in the film or not.
I wanted the experience of shooting it.
Well, at least youre in the finished movie.
A lot of actors,especially inThe Thin Red Line, werent so lucky.
I didnt even know if Id be in the movie.
Im didnt go into this experience to have my ego fed.
Does it worry you that theres not a huge audience for this kind of film?
It doesnt bother me.
If I thought that the box office grosses meant a lot to Terry, then it might bother me.
But knowing that thats not the aim, it doesnt.
We all did it for the artistic experience.
Knight of Cupsopens in theaters on March 4.
