Matt Dillon Biography

On ‘Little Darlings’ (1980) and if it could be made today:
“Oh, watch The Bad News Bears. It is so politically incorrect, you cannot even believe. It could never be made now. Walter Matthau driving drunk, the kids drinking beer, smoking cigarettes. Using racial slurs.”

On himself as a character actor:
“I didn’t used to know how to do melodrama. I didn’t have enough confidence in my technique when I was younger. I had a hard time acting in scenes where I didn’t necessarily believe what was going on. I had to believe everything the character was doing all the time, or I couldn’t bring conviction to it. Now, I feel confident that I can do that. Gene Hackman gave me the best acting tip. He said, ‘Before you do a scene: Fill up!’ Two words. I totally understood! It’s just about being conscious in an emotional way.”

On his involvement in Refugees International:
“Refugees International is something I’m doing more on a personal level to get involved, to look outside my minuscule universe. Actors, we get so self-obsessed. We are human ‘beings,’ not human ‘doings.’”

On ‘Factotum’ and Henry Chinaski:
“I think he's very human. I think in spite of all those demons, there's something very deep down. I think you can identify with him, and I think the thing about Charles Bukowski is in his novels, the female characters are just as interesting as he is. So, and it was a terrific cast. Marissa Tomei, Lili Taylor were great. And I think often, you see a film, the male character, protagonist, is interesting. The female characters aren't as interesting, or vice versa. But that isn't the case here. It's just that they're just as dysfunctional as each other.”

On a scene in ‘Factotum’, where Dillon’s character Henry Chinaski has been overmedicated for an infestation of crabs:
“I wrapped a towel around my bloody cock, and called the doctor…Parts of the script were coming directly from the book, lines like ‘Jan looks at Hank’s cock and it’s inflamed red.’ There’s no way they’re going to be able to film that! I was wearing a jockstrap.”

On himself:
“I'm not a laugher. I have a sense of humour, but I don't laugh. I'm amused by people.”

On Los Angeles and ‘Crash’:
“It’s so spread out that you don’t really have a sense of a center like most cities. There’s a sense of segregation here. It is a melting pot but it’s spread out. It’s not like Chicago, NY or London where people are more integrated somehow. It really is designed for LA, the story…There’s something about this story that makes particular sense for LA. The fact that people are isolated from each other breeds fear and ignorance in a certain way. Certainly for my character.”

On setting ‘City of Ghosts’ in Cambodia:
“You can't get a place more conflicted than Cambodia…This one goes back to ‘93 when I went to Phnom Penh…What really opened my eyes and surprised me was how beautiful the country was. Phnom Penh was this partially destroyed city but a lot of it had been preserved…There was also this palpable sense of danger. There were a number of ex-pats I met too and these people were as interesting as the places. Guys that had opened bars and felt like they couldn't go back. About a year later I read an article in the Tribune that Cambodia was being used as a fugitive haven. It sort of presented itself to me as an opportunity to do something really interesting.”