The Verge: Édgar Ramírez Brings the Jackal to Life in Carlos

Édgar Ramírez isn't exactly what you'd call a stranger to American audiences, having delivered supporting performances in Stateside releases from Domino (2005) to The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). But no one has seen the 33-year-old Venezuelan native in a part quite as significant as the title role in Carlos, Olivier Assayas's sprawling, acclaimed biopic about notorious terrorist Carlos the Jackal. "Role of a lifetime" might be an understatement.

The film follows Carlos (a.k.a. Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) through his years-long reign of terror on five continents, capturing both the wired political spirit of his times and the existential turbulence that came with being one of the world's most wanted (and elusive) men. Carlos's ambition is reflected by both Assayas and Ramírez themselves, with the latter telling Movieline during his recent trip to the New York Film Festival how the antihero became something of a way of life for the better part of a year. That'll happen, apparently, with a character this rich -- especially when you move into a stage of everyday existence "beyond jet lag."

[Carlos premieres this week on Sundance Channel; the full, 330-minute "roadshow edition" of the film runs Oct. 15 - Nov. 2 at New York's IFC Center before venturing to other cities.]

This is obviously a very unique film, and one you took to Cannes before bringing it to New York. Filmmakers and actors always want to get an audience's reaction, but how is that sense affected by being stretched over five-and-a-half hours?

Well, first it's very flattering to begin with. One of the most interesting things about festivals is that people who come to them normally are people who care about movies, who care moviemaking, who are open to new concepts, who want to be surprised, who want to be shocked, who want to be touched. It's like a trained audience who are looking for a thrill, and it's exciting because the energy is different. I don't know. It's like any other specific gathering of people who come together to discuss or enjoy something that is coming to all of them. It's great. It's like an agora kind of thing; we hear all these changing opinions, this debating. It's beautiful, and also very enriching. Telluride was also the same thing. Cannes, Telluride and New York Film Festival. For me as a young filmmaker, it's great to be surrounded by such talented people. In all areas, too -- not just the filmmakers themselves, but also the critics and intellectuals and general public who have amazing takes on the movies.

When you're making a film like this, what is you sense of it when you're in it? In a 90-minute or two-hour feature, I'd think you can actually get your head around the scope in a way that five hours-plus makes impossible? Do you know where you're headed?

No. But because of the way this movie was conceived and the way this movie was made... This movie was like an extreme happening. We didn't have a specific idea of what the movie was going to be when we started the movie. We discovered the movie -- we discovered the characters -- along the way. I think that feeling of that adrenaline rush -- of dealing with the unknown -- gave an interesting quality to the movie.

Did you feel like you were taking even more of a risk?

Absolutely. And you have no choice. This movie is very particular in many ways -- the way it was conceived, the way it is, the subject matter, the amount of languages, the way those languages were played in such an organic way... like life itself. It was very organic that way. And also the locations. And just the way the movie came together. It was all very unique.

In a role this massive, what kind of support are you looking for from your director?

You know, I couldn't say enough nice things about Olivier in that regard. He's such a sensitive director. He knows exactly what he wants, but at the same time he's so open to different proposals. He's so open to let himself be surprised by what the actors bring to the set and to the story. He's like the curious, avid kid who hides somewhere and watches you with that inner feeling, but all the while making you feel like you're totally protected. Olivier is more like a sculptor who gathers the right elements for his story to be told, and then he just shapes his story, you know? He would never tell you if this is a good choice or a bad choice. He would just invite you to try again. Not even, "Try something else," but just, "Do it again."

The same way?

Yeah. Or... I don't know. Just, "Do it again." He would never give any restricting quality to any of his comments, and that, to me, was really interesting. I can't remember Olivier ever telling me, "Do it differently." Or telling anyone, 'Do it differently." He would just say, "Do it again" -- meaning that, "OK, let's get into this moment and let's bring something fresh out of it, whatever way you're working in your mind." Which means that he has a lot of trust and a lot of respect for his actors, and it's something we all really appreciated.

Is that a style you grew to prefer -- or that you would prefer to pursue in future films?

No, it was just the way the film is and the way Olivier is. He never gives you restrictive instructions. He trusts you. It's very flattering. I always felt protected by him, though he was not hand-holding me, or us, through the movie. He has this amazing ability to describe human beings and human nature without explaining or justifying it. He has this ability to tell specifics about characters without being explicit or getting introspective.

That's fascinating. I do imagine when you approach a guy like Carlos the Jackal, you need to approach those details without judgment -- but without internalizing too much, either.

Yeah, that's true. That's the way I hope and I wish to approach all my characters. At the end of the day it's not about me -- it's about them. I've said before that our craft as actors must be at the service of our characters, not the other way around. You should embrace your characters if you're going to take them on. You should embrace them with all their light, all their darkness, and not try to impose your own perception or ideas or judgments about the world on your characters. That would be like reassuring yourself in front of everybody, and I don't think that's what acting is about.

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