Veteran character actor William Fichtner might be best known for his roles in films like Armageddon and an extended stay on Fox’s hit series Prison Break, but he also plays an important part in Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 follow-up Elysium (on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD tomorrow). Starring Matt Damon, the film is a bleak look at the future through the eyes of someone doing his best to stay hidden in the shadows of life until circumstances force him to come out swinging in a big way. Fichtner’s performance is nuanced and intricate, and helps establish some of Elysium’s world in the first third of the film. You can also mark your calendars for August 8 to see Fichtner as Shredder in Michael Bay’s take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Parade sat down with the actor to discuss his role in Elysium, what we can expect from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and if he ever gets tired of playing the villain.

How did you get involved with Elysium?

Neill [Blomkamp] probably tells this story better than I but I got a call from my representation at that time and they said, “There’s this script Elysium, but you can’t really read it.” And I’m like, “Okay…” [Laughs] It was really pretty secret and private, but the director of it was Neill Blomkamp, who made District 9, of which I was a huge fan. So, already I was interested. They told me, “Neill really likes you for this role, but you have to go to an office to read it because they’re really, really private about the script.” That’s how it all began. Having seen District 9 and, having an idea of what Neill was capable of, I not only couldn’t wait to be in it but I also couldn’t wait to see it.

What was it like working with him?

Neill is great. It’s interesting because some directors are so clear about what it is that they want and how they’re going to get it and the way that they communicate that with everyone. It all seems pretty seamless and sort of calm with Neill. He just wants you to take your time and he’ll tell you things to steer you, but then you see the finished product and you think, “I remember shooting that scene and I liked the experience, but I like what I’m seeing even more.” That’s not by chance. That happens because of a vision of what you want something to be. That’s what he sets out to do and you get what he was thinking about.

William Fichtner in Elysium (Courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Your character has so many little intricacies that make him interesting, from the classical music to the germ aversion. Was a lot of that already written or did it come from you working with Neill?

A lot of it was in the script, but a lot of it was made clearer by what Neill talked to me about. This is probably what I loved most about working with Neill: It’s not the conversations about individual moments and scenes, but it’s the bigger picture of what the world is. All those little things like the germ aversion and things are just part of that world. It’s part of these people that live there.

William Fichtner (Courtesy of William Fichtner)

You’ve worked a lot in both TV and film. Do you prefer one over the other?

Film. It’s not that I don’t love working on television, and that has its own joys and pace and that super element of family when you work on a series. There’s joy in that too. You work on a series and, when you’re on it long enough, and you understand the character people will hand you monologues and you can have it together in about eight minutes because you understand the guy. Television is always, and probably always will be, six pounds of bologna in a two pound bag. It’s a lot. It’s just always a lot. Especially a studio film like Elysium, you have the time to explore a little more. You’re not trying to do nine pages a day. I just find it to be a little more of a creative process.

What project do you get recognized most often for when you’re out?

For a long time, it was Armageddon. There was a time there where you could switch on a cable channel and, at any time of the day, you could find Armageddon playing. I really just think that film worked. It’s a big movie for sure and it’s got Michael’s [Bay] stamp all over it, and I love that about it. Certainly in the last few years, that scene in the opening of The Dark Knight is a big one. It was just a cameo but Batman was a big deal and Heath Ledger gave a performance that’s just incredible. People really love that bank scene.

William Fichtner in Elysium (Courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

You mentioned Michael Bay. You’re playing Shredder on next year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fans were kind of up in arms about this version when it was announced. What can you say about the movie?

I’ll tell you this much: My older son still has his little turtle toys that we used to throw in the tub with him, but he was just on the tail end of the craze. I have a lot of nieces and nephews who all grew up in the ’80s. If you grew up in the 1980s and Turtles wasn’t a part of your life, you must have been living under a rock. It was just a huge part of everybody’s existence, particularly kids. I remember seeing other Turtle films and cartoons, and they were all kind of bouncy and fun. That’s not this movie. [Laughs] This is the new Turtles. I had an awesome time working on it. I think the stamp, from a producer standpoint, that Michael Bay brings and the feel and the look that he wants you to get is going to be unlike any Turtles you’ve ever seen. This is live action. These turtles are out there. They’re incredible looking. It truly is. It’s unlike any Turtles you’ve seen and it’s unlike any Shredder you’ve seen. I think Megan [Fox] is the right woman in the right role at the right time playing April. The first time that I heard about it—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—I was like, “Oh, wow. The Ninja Turtles,” but I certainly finished the project thinking, “Wow! I’m really glad I was a part of that.”

Do you ever get tired of playing the villain?

I have to be honest; I don’t think I play the villain all the time. And I don’t look at it like I’m playing the villain. I think if I looked at every role like, “Oh, this is the villain,” how do you play that? Do you get better at twirling the mustache? I never look at it that way. I need to figure out what a character cares about. I play a gentleman in Turtles named Eric Sachs and we find out who he really is, but he’s a really complicated layered guy in the reasons that he does what he does. That is interesting to find. Is it the villain? I guess, but I don’t really look at it that way.

Elysium arrives on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on December 17.

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