Avatar's Stephen Lang: 'It Only Took Me 35 Years to Get Here!'

You've also worked with Michael Mann twice. Do the two men resemble each other at all?

There are common characteristics between the two of them that have to do with vision, ferocity, and placing tremendous demands on themselves, which create an atmosphere of intense focus on a set. Having said that, there are immense differences that almost emerge from the different worldviews that they have, and by that I mean that if you look at Michael's work, there is a huge amount of moral ambiguity in his films, whether it's Heat, The Insider, Crime Story, certainly Public Enemies. The people on the right side of the law have elements of corruption, just as the people on the wrong side of the law have elements of dignity and goodness. In Jim's view, though, when there's a villain, you know he's a villain. Look at Billy Zane's character in Titanic, right? There's really nothing redeeming about that guy, it seems to me. Look at Bobby Patrick in T2. It's a much more classical view of storytelling, I think, than maybe Michael has. Of course, there are variations on that -- in my own case, I don't think I'm giving anything away to say that Quaritch is the "villain" of the piece.

Do you see him as a villain, or as something more complicated?

I don't know that the two are necessarily mutually exclusive. I think he would recognize himself as the spoiler in the Na'vi situation and doesn't really give a damn what you call him. From his perspective, the reason that he's hired to be there is to make the real estate under his jurisdiction a secure area, and to keep his people alive. From our perspective, we understand what a complex and worthwhile world it is on Pandora, and clearly Quaritch doesn't see that at all. His vision is limited by his experiences, and however twisted or stunted his vision is, it comes from his experience fighting on Earth. What he's left behind there is a series of dirty little wars, and when he entered the Marines -- and I think this is implicit in the way he carries himself -- he did it for the right reasons. Somewhere along the line, the rules of engagement changed.

You've had a great year of showy parts coming your way. In fact, I heard that your great opening scene in Men Who Stare at Goats originally belonged to another actor.

Originally, my character Hopgood appeared 15 to 20 pages into the script, and it was another character who did that opening scene. I think that it was kind of redundant in a way -- it made more sense for Hopgood to do it, and I was happy to do it when they asked me, because I think it was a hilarious scene.

Was it a surreal thing to shoot, running into this wall over and over?

No more bizarre than anything else I've done. [Laughs] Listen, I was standing there thinking, "This is a metaphor for my entire carer."

Do you feel like the theater community sees you in a different way than Hollywood does -- or has?

I'm not sure that they do, actually. In the theater, I tend to get approached for very hard guy roles, and there's an awful lot of things I can do. I don't really know how I'm viewed by almost any community, to tell you the truth. My criteria for doing theater has always been slightly different than my criteria with movies, in that there are a lot of reasons to do films, having to do with location, money, and first and foremost having to do with script and role and director. Theater, because of the commitment, it has to be a great role and a great play to me. It takes a lot out of you.

Did each of your big roles this year help you get the next one, or was it just serendipity?

I don't know...I think one thing leads to another. Since I spend the bulk of my time on the East Coast, I feel a little bit displaced from the buzz, and I'm just sort of taking it as it comes. I've been around for a long time, so I temper expectations, you know? I certainly feel like I caught a good wave. My philosophy is, "Show up, shut up, and do your job," and if you do it to the satisfaction of your director and the public, you're likely to be able to do it again.

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