With some hard work I'm sure you'll be able to walk again.
The devil is a cross between a really good used-car salesman and a game-show host, but with a lot more style and charm.There's a little Cary Grant thrown in there too.
I'm a big fan of all the great movie devils, from Walter Huston to Ray Walston to Al Pacino to Jack Nicholson.
The thought of a man being the murderer of his own daughter in the Twin Peaks was anathema to me. At the time, I had a 2-year-old daughter of my own, and that possibility really turned me off. I was praying that I wouldn't be the one.
Some of my fondest and most impressionable movie memories are from those early sci-fi and horror films. I've always been a Dracula/vampire aficionado, being half-Romanian myself. Dracula has always been close to my heart - in fact, I have a first edition of Bram Stoker's book. I read it over and over again as a young kid.
Every job, once you get there and start doing it, you approach it the same way. And it does become a serious thing, because it's not easy to do, even something silly. You still have to be professional and perform.
A lot of shows where I'm playing a senator or a congressman or a doctor or a high-priced attorney, I do a number on myself. "I am a powerful attorney, or a doctor." It's a little convincing job I do on myself first to know I can walk out on the set and know that I can be this guy.
When I go down to Comic-Con in San Diego, people remember me for some of the strangest things. They go on and on about it, and I reminisce about it, and it's great fun. It's interesting to see what people remember me for.
I'm interested in directing, but it's a real headache. Directing can be a real pain in the ass, because you not only have to worry about yourself, but all these other people coming to you with their problems. I like just worrying about myself.
I came in rather late in the casting process of Reaper. I believe they had all the other roles cast. They were having trouble finding the devil. They had seen almost 100 actors for the role. I got the script and I liked it - it was clever and witty and very, very funny, and a nice, fresh take on an old story. I went in and did a scene for the producers, the kitchen scene from the pilot where I'm cooking a chicken-fried steak. At the end of it, they all had a smile on their face, and they realized they had found their devil.
When I first started out on the soap, I was more theatrical, like a stage actor, a little bigger than life. As I did more and more Love Of Life, I became more natural. I learned the value of underplaying. It was a great training ground for me. There was a big difference in my style of acting from where I started with that show and where I ended, and where I ended was a good jumping-off point for doing nighttime television and movies.
