Interview: Sam Rockwell Talks Way, Way Back

Sam Rockwell is an agile actor in virtually every sense, from the way he carries himself on screen to his increasingly flexible range (stand the lunar explorer from Moon next to the sex addict from Choke and you’ll see two drastically different men). Even in Rockwell’s voice, there’s a certain spry, throwaway looseness. To my greeting of “Hi, how are you?,” he offers, “Doin’ good, man, doin’ good,” with the kind of unbound cool you’d expect from a guy who’s made it his trademark. Rockwell, 44, is one of the great screen actors of his generation, having evolved from a go-to supporting oddball to a seasoned pro at equally hard-hitting comedy (Matchstick Men, Seven Psychopaths) and drama (Conviction). More often than not, Rockwell emerges as one of his movies’ best ingredients, and such is the case with The Way, Way Back, a film that, to be frank, benefits from every iota of its fine ensemble’s heavy lifting.

Also featuring standout work from Allison Janney and Toni Collette, the seaside coming-of-age tale, which marks the directorial debut of The Descendants scribes Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, focuses on 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) and the summer he’s spending with his divorced mom (Collette) and her douchey boyfriend (Steve Carell), neither of whom understand Duncan’s isolating angst. Enter Owen (Rockwell), a motor-mouthed man-child who runs the local water park, and gives Duncan a job while slowly becoming his surrogate father figure. For all the off-putting tidbits that come and go in the unwittingly ornery screenplay, Rockwell brings substantial, affecting heart to his wave-pool-monitoring jester, and he fires off his breathless lines like a comic Gatling gun. In our interview, the actor frequently cites his background in theater, and how that’s aided his wicked way with challenging dialogue. Candidly, he also discusses a childhood not unlike what’s shown in the film, a career that’s rife with convincing smooth-talkers, and how working with an ace cast is like playing with the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Way, Way Back focuses on a kid torn between two parents, and I’m guessing it had some personal resonance for you, since I read that your parents separated when you were young, and that you even spent some summer vacations with your mom, like Duncan does. Was that particularly helpful in connecting to the story?

I could definitely relate to the kid, yeah. And I luckily had a lot of great uncle influences growing up who helped me with that period in my life.

And that’s the kind of help Duncan gets from your character, Owen. Did the influence of those uncles provide a good starting point for bringing Owen to life, and for forming a bond with Liam James on set?

Well, there were several adults in my life who were kind of unconventional, as far as how they dealt with kids. And I think that was a big influence on me. There was a guy named John who was a friend of my mom’s, and then a teacher that I had, and my dad’s friend Tom. Also, you know, I’ve worked with Christopher Walken, and we’ve talked about how we were both on stage and in the theater when we were kids. And it does something to you. It definitely changes your perspective on what’s normal and what’s not normal. So, the way someone like me might deal with kids is different, maybe, than some other adults would, because I was treated like I was an adult when I was 10 years old. And I would imagine some other kid actors, like, you know, Christian Bale—they would relate to that kind of oddity about being a child actor.

There’s a point in the film where Owen starts reciting lyrics from “Holding Out for a Hero,” from Footloose, and it made me think of an old New York Times article that, incidentally, described you as having had a “footloose upbringing,” fleeing the West Coast to do New York theater and doing as you pleased. Do you still feel footloose and carefree?

Well, it’s definitely harder now for me to leave town. I find that hard: to pack and unpack. It’s a bit of an emotional process to do that when you’ve come from that upbringing, and you’ve traveled a lot. Going places is tough, and always living out of a suitcase is tough. And yet, that’s the life I chose. So…it makes you think. There’s something attractive about it, and there’s something kind of lonely about it too. There’s a spontaneity to it, and an adventure, but you also always want a little bit of security and a home base. It’s a weird juxtaposition.

We’ve seen you bring a lot of energy to your characters on screen, and with Owen, the energy is primarily verbal. He talks so fast that it’s often tough to keep up with his one-liners. How challenging was it to nail all that rapid dialogue?

It was challenging, especially in the hot sun, you know? I started to get a little spacey. It was really hot sometimes. But, yeah, I really had to know that dialogue backward and forward. It’s very rapid stuff. But I come from the theater, and doing lots of monologues, and shit like that, so I’m used to having things memorized. But you gotta get those things way in advance. At least I do. Some people are better at getting it down with less prep time.

In addition to being directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, you’re the one actor in The Way, Way Back who gets the most screen time with them too, as they both act alongside you as workers at the water park. Did that extra exposure feel like a great benefit to the process?

Yeah, it was fun to work with those guys. I enjoyed it, actually. I think their parts were small enough that they could sort of figure it out, you know? If the parts are too big, I think it’s hard to be actor-director. I’ve seen actor-directors struggle with lines, and it’s tough. So I think it’s better to keep those parts small, and I think Nat and Jim were smart enough to know that.

You’ve played quite a few smooth talkers in your career, whatever their motives might be. Where would you say Owen ranks on the Sam Rockwell Smooth Talk meter?

Ha, I think he’s pretty far up there. You know, we’re channeling Bill Murray here, and Richard Pryor, and Walter Mathau. There are a lot of prototypes for that character to reference. But Bill Murray, he’s the classic homage here—a direct homage.

This is one of those movies that feels like a party, like the cast is having a blast and just happen to be making a movie too. Did that mood just keep continuing when the cameras weren’t rolling?

Yeah, it was real fun. You know, [co-star] Maya Rudolph is really funny, and she knows Jim and Nat from the Groundlings. So that was a whole lot of fun, and she was always a good time around the set. We had a lot of laughs. I didn’t get to spend much time with the other actors [in the film’s separate plot thread], but I’m such a fan of all of those guys: Allison Janney, Amanda Peet, Rob Corddry, Toni Collette, Steve Carell. I mean, what a great cast. But I didn’t really get to hang with those guys. Rob’s a friend of mine, and I’ve known Allison for a long time, and I’d never really met Toni or Steve, but I was thrilled to meet them. And I only get one scene with those two, but man, I love Steve Carell. I think he’s a fuckin’ genius.

You also have Clark Gregg’s Trust Me coming up, which is another ensemble piece that even stars some of your cast mates here, like Allison and Amanda. What are some of the benefits of working with big casts like this?

I think with an ensemble as strong as this one, with theater actors and savvy film actors, you don’t have to carry the whole thing on your shoulders, you know? It’s very much a team effort. And when you’ve got such a strong cast, it’s like being on the Globetrotters or something. Everybody knows how to do a slam dunk. Either that or they’ve got a free-throw shot or a layup at their beck and call.

You mentioned a couple of actors earlier, like Christopher Walken, to whom you’ve been compared from time to time. Any other guys you’ve admired and hoped to emulate in your career?

Well, I like Vince Vaughn a lot. I think he’s pretty great. And there’s all the obvious ones like Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman, you know. Jon Voight. All those guys from the ’70s. Jeff Bridges. Those are amazing actors. Morgan Freeman is a hero of mine, and Sean Penn.

Would you say Owen is closer to you than other characters you’ve played? You seem to run by your own compass, like he does.

Yeah, there are some similarities, but Owen is much cooler than I am. I’m kind of a geek. Owen’s pretty smooth. He’s a pretty cool cat.

Well, that sounds like a close match. I’m guessing that when you got this script, and found out you’d be able to ride water slides, and walk around in the sun in your flip flops all day, it was pretty hard to say no.

Yeah, it was a pretty easy job to say yes to, and it was a good part. The only downside, like I said, was the heat. It got really hot sometimes. But other than that, it was pretty fuckin’ cool. And you could always grab a slushie.