Scott Speedman on Barney's Version and Why He's Happy He Was Never Robin

So do you think that will be a problem getting audiences in to see the film when it can't be summed up in two sentences?

Yeah. Like we were talking about with 127 Hours, or something like that. It's just so... you get it. It's also a great director and all that, but that's an easy one. Yeah, this one is... It's not made for people really -- [looks at my recorder] we should turn that off - under 30, really. It's kind of an older-audience movie. And they don't get movies made for them. I feel like if they were marketing bravely, in the right way, if they could do that, there's a way to make money and get people to come, for sure.

OK, so if you're marketing this movie, complete control, what do you do?

[Laughing] It's called Boogie's Version. It's about me. No, I don't know, I think you have to be with people that would be willing to spend money to get people in. The risk is higher with this type of movie with the audience and the demographic. You'd have to swing big. I don't know exactly what you would have to do, but it would have to be smart.

The American poster really tries to sell Dustin Hoffman -- who is great in the film [as Barney's father] -- but it's a stretch to portray him as one of the main characters. It's like they're hoping people will say, "Hey, I know him, let's go see this."

I think we've gotten to that point. I mean, I don't think that it's just this company or anything -- I think this company, Sony Pictures Classics, does a great job. They've been around for f*cking ever. But, yeah, we were joking around about movie titles, what was it? Oh, it was Faster. It's like, Unstoppable, Faster -- it's like right there. I was reading this thing about why True Grit was so successful and it was because they spelled everything out in the previews from beginning to middle to end. It's proven that you have to spoon-feed what it is. So, I don't know, we seem to be going down that road.

Piranha 3D actually shows the final scene of the film in the trailer.

Yeah, but I mean, it's hard when people are going and making money. I guess they have it in their head that that's the way to do it.

To be clear, I'm not comparing Piranha 3D to Barney's Version.

[Laughs] They are very close movies.

There's your marketing tagline...

"If you love Piranha 3D, check out Barney's Version!"

Was there ever a concern with your career not to get pigeonholed in the "teen heartthrob" mold? You were nominated for a few Teen Choice type awards in your Felicity days.

You know, it was weird, I didn't really run with all of that. I should have, obviously, but I was kind of ambivalent about that. I always felt that I was going to do... I mean, yeah, my career was starting in a big way, but I always felt like I was going to do some of my better stuff later on. So I wasn't that worried about all of that stuff. I had, in some ways, a good head on my shoulders. Not always...

Well, you may or may not be happy to know that when your name is typed into Google, the first word to auto fill in is "shirtless."

[Laughing] "Come see Barney's version, hey, it's me... shirtless." That should have been me on the poster.

So, feeling like you would do some of your better stuff later on, looking back, are you happy that you didn't get the role of Robin in Batman Forever?

Um, well... [Pauses] I don't know. I had literally never acted in my life when I auditioned for that. I don't think I was that kind of actor, I just don't think that I would have been able to do it. Yeah, I would have probably been a mess if I had to do that. I was like 18 or 19, so I was nowhere near ready to do anything like that anyway.

And Batman Forever was fine compared to Batman & Robin, which you would now also have on your resume.

It's hard to rebound. I mean, even George Clooney took a little while to come back. I mean, obviously, it didn't kill him. Have you seen The American?

I have.

I liked that! I liked that a lot!

Now there's a movie that was marketed poorly.

What else were they going to do?

The trailer leads you to believe that it's an action movie. Audiences expecting that hated the movie.

Because they weren't honest. Oh, yeah, that director [Anton Corbijn] I love. I loved Control a lot, too. I mean, you want them to get it right, so whenever there's a movie, like an adult kind of movie like that, I mean, I knew when I saw the trailer that that's what they were doing. I knew what the preview was and what it wasn't. You could see that there was something not right about it. It's just not that movie. You knew Anton Corbijn didn't want to do a thriller after Control. He wanted to do some meditation; spy came in from the cold, something interesting.

Speaking of interesting and your film, I do love that a murder mystery is a big part of the plot but, by the end, as a viewer you almost forget about that.

No, I thought that, too. When I was watching the movie, when I was going through my final scene or whatever it is -- my climax. I was like, "Wow, that's early for this big, emotional climax with the music and it's so dramatic." I was like, "Does that work?" But I think it works in a certain kind of way, but there's a lull after. Maybe just because it's me. But I know what you're saying; it's like three different movies.

There's our headline, "Scott Speedman Thought There was a Lull in Barney's Version After He's Gone."

[Laughs] "Oof, that movie really died after I left."

[Top photo: Getty Images]

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