Sam Rockwell on Conviction, 'Sam Rockwell Movies' and Being Piloted Around by Han Solo

Upon meeting Sam Rockwell for a chat this week, I probably shouldn't have been surprised to find the actor not in his seat, but rather doing a series of stretches in his Soho hotel room. Rockwell has always given the impression of being a guy bursting with energy, whether it be the manic mannerisms of Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind or his dance moves as Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2. Even in his latest film, Conviction, it doesn't take long before there's a scene of Rockwell dancing with frenzied energy onstage -- nude, I should add.

The true-life tale Conviction features Rockwell as Kenny Waters, a man whose wrongful imprisonment for murder inspires his sister Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) to put herself through law school for the purpose of exonerating him. Rockwell plays Kenny over a 20-year period that transforms him, physically, to a man to whom those decades have not been particularly kind. I spoke to Rockwell about this transformation, his affection toward father-son scenes, his favorite roles and what it's like to ride around in a helicopter with Harrison Ford.

Well, I'm sure you're sitting down all day.

I'm just stretching it out so my back doesn't seize up. But, yeah, make yourself at home. These are nice chairs; this is a nice hotel.

Are these chairs pink? Is that considered pink?

That is some kind of something. It's some kind of wonderful is what it is.

Here's the thing I really enjoy about Sam Rockwell movies...

Hey, man, thanks for even calling them "Sam Rockwell movies." I'm in movies, and I'm lucky to be in them.

You always look like you're having fun on-screen, even in a role like this. Put it this way: If you ever make an entire Guy Fleegman [from Galaxy Quest] movie, I would watch that.

[Starts clapping] That's awesome, man. We love Guy! Guy's a lovable loser, yeah.

Admittedly, when I walked into this movie, I wasn't expecting a Sam Rockwell nude scene.

Yeah, yeah. I've done a few of those and I'm getting little old for those. But I keep going to the gym and keep hoping it's going to turn out OK. But I love beer, that's the problem. I can't give up beer. Can't give it up, sorry.

When we first see you in the film, we see you as the older Kenny. I didn't recognize you at first.

It was amazing. Vivian Baker and her protegé, Steve, did Grey Gardens. So they're obviously very good, award-winning makeup artists. Steve did the tattoos and the wrinkling, you know, the eyes and everything. It was very nuanced and very subtle. We couldn't have done it without them. And on the budget we had it was kind of a small miracle.

Kenny didn't always make things easy on himself. He was a bit of a rapscallion.

Yeah, Kenny wasn't a Boy Scout. But he was, essentially, a good-hearted guy and he was not a murderer. I was naïve before this movie, and I thought that a lot of people in prison belong in prison. And it's not true. There are a lot of flaws in the judicial system, and there are a lot of innocent people in prison.

And there's a scene where Kenny gets into a bar fight. I assume it's pretty well documented that this was kind of normal behavior for him?

He has been in bar fights, and he has been in fights with guards. They actually had an instructional film with him in a real fight with the guards that they would show to people on how guards should handle a violent inmate. However, the conflicts that he got into were always on the defense. Always somebody approached him with conflict. He was not someone who looked for conflict, and I really do not believe that he was a murderer. I've known people like that. You know, like your Uncle Lenny: You love him but don't get too many cocktails in him, he might say something crazy. But very charming -- you love that uncle.

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