CONTENDER Q&A

Casey Affleck gives us the willies -- and we like it

Ben's little brother talks about his kills in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," adapted by writer-director Andrew Dominik from the novel by Ron Hansen, tips its intentions straight from the title.

Behind the antiquated formality of the language lies a strangely off-balance mystification as to who the story is really about. Does it follow the gunslinging exploits of the legendary early American outlaw? Or does it place unexpected emphasis on the man who shot him down, the sidekick who trusts his way into history books?

Casey Affleck's performance as Robert Ford, which shifts from sniveling creepiness to unlikely empathy and understanding, is really one of the year's true marvels, perhaps all the more so simply because it is such a surprise. The Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes and a number of critics groups have blessed the performance to date.

On the one hand, the film places an unexpected emphasis on what would usually be a secondary character. Further revelation stems from Affleck's astoundingly vibrant portrayal of that character's inner life, which is both hypnotic and spellbinding.

Few actors would probably even want to attempt to steal the screen from Brad Pitt, who plays Jesse James as a quixotic mystic. Fewer still could do it with Affleck's seemingly offhanded ease and quiet grace.

Though Casey Affleck also appeared recently in "Gone Baby Gone," the directing debut of older brother Ben, that film has largely become an awards-season vehicle for actress Amy Ryan. Affleck's fine and nuanced performance, albeit in a tracksuit and with a gun in his hand, nevertheless proves him to be a more-than-capable leading man.

Even as his "Jesse James" performance has picked up numerous prizes and nominations (and a solid place on The Envelope's Buzzmeter), Affleck has kept the awards-circuit hustle somewhat at arm's length. On the day before the announcement of his Globe nomination for best supporting actor, Affleck let The Envelope tag along as he walked down and back to the gas station for cigarettes.

Considering the lackluster box-office returns for "Jesse James," as the film and your performance have been picking up awards momentum, it must be gratifying just to know that people have been seeing it after all.

I've been surprised. It made next to nothing, so when it turns out that there's a group of people in more than two cities who've even seen it, I think, "Hey, that's good."

It's nice the movie is showing up on top 10 lists, because I think it is a good movie. When it came out and it didn't do that well I thought, Well this will be one of those movies that in five or 10 years people will think, "You know what, that was a really good movie." So that that's starting to happen a little bit now is reassuring and comforting.

Have you been getting involved much in the awards push for either "Jesse James" or "Gone Baby Gone," Q-and-A screenings and all that?

Not that much. I've heard stories, like someone told me they did 20 screenings in a month for their movie. And I've done, like, four total. But I like both movies and I feel like in both cases there were a lot of people who were willing to put me in the movie when I wasn't someone who had been the lead in a movie before or quote-unquote proven himself at the box office. So there was a certain amount of risk involved, so I feel obligated to do whatever they ask to help.

With "Jesse James," why do you think people are responding so strongly to you, to your performance? Do you know what it is?

[Long pause. Two cars pass.]

Context, maybe. It's a great movie, it's well directed. It's a great part, I guess, more than anything. So people follow the story and the story is well told, and they really feel something for the character and they sort of ascribe the success of these elements, the storytelling and the emotions they're feeling, to my performance. So they think, "God, he's great," when I think, and I'm not being falsely modest or anything, I just think if you had put that performance in a movie that didn't work at all, that wasn't that good, I don't think we would be talking about it.

One of my favorite lines in the movie is right at the start, when Sam Shepard's character says you give him the willies. Did you realize that Bob Ford was coming across so creepy?

No, he didn't strike me as creepy at all.

That was a bit of a surprise, the way people reacted to him. I could really relate to him; I was kind of rooting for him. I like Bob. But maybe that's just essential to playing the part. I thought he was just kind of a kid who made a mistake and had very common dreams and really can't so much be faulted for what he wanted. I think a lot of people, if they were being honest, would say, "I want that too."

People just aren't as adept at getting it as he was -- he was really driven and actually really smart.

He really liked Jesse. I don't think he was like a stalker. People compare him to famous stalkers or people who've killed famous people like Mark David Chapman, but I think he was just a kid who had this really romantic idea of Jesse James, really looked up to him and just got his feelings hurt when he got close to him.

Andrew always said it was the story of answered prayers: He gets what he wants, and it just is not what he thought it would be.

I spoke with Andrew Dominik earlier in the fall, and he said he felt you really connected with the part because you understand what it's like to live in someone else's shadow.

I don't know why he cast me. I'm sure there were a lot of better people, better established or experienced or just better. So I couldn't really say why he cast me.

But was that something that resonated with you?

Not really, because I don't feel like -- that is an observation, or a perception, of somebody that someone else makes.

I don't really know anyone that feels like they live in a shadow. I mean, I kind of always felt like I was living my own life that was the result of who I am and decisions I've made. I guess if I was somebody that really wanted to -- [Affleck's phone rings. It's Dominik. Affleck does not pick up.] -- I guess you're talking about my brother.

Are you talking about my brother? Or friends, people that I know that are famous?

It's just that if I really craved the things that other people had, and set out to get them and couldn't get them, maybe I would have felt that way. But I never have, and that seems like the kind of oversimplification that one uses in an interview to just try to say in one sentence why they cast somebody. I think he cast me because I wouldn't let him not cast me.

So you and Andrew are still in touch, you're friendly?

I love him. I think he's great. He's become a really good friend, and I've learned a lot from him. I feel he's been really patient with me, a little bit of a bully and also willing to let me learn.

A bully? How?

He just had very specific ideas about the movie and they were all really good. Basically, someone asked me recently what my process was as an actor, and I kind of thought, "Jeez, am I supposed to have a process?"

But I thought about it, and what I do is I read the script and look at each scene -- what does this person want, what stands in the way and what tools do they have to get around that obstacle? And then I cobble all those scenes together and all these different ideas, and I've got a path to walk on. And then I usually run that by my wife and she tells me it's all wrong and gives me better ideas, and I go and take those to the director and pass them off as my own. Then he'll take them and make them even better, and then you end up with something that's decent.

But Andrew had these super-specific ideas about what he wanted, and they were all really, really good. When I showed up on set and I'd play a scene one of the ways I thought it could be played, Andrew had already thought of 20 other ways to do it, and 15 of those were a lot better.

So I just want to ask you one more question about awards season. How are you deciding what to do and what not to do, whether to go to a certain event or ceremony and not others?

There are some things people have asked me to do that I haven't done. When the movies were out, I felt I had to do anything I was asked -- that's part of the bargain -- but since they've kind of gone away I've been a bit choosier. If it seems like stuff that's just about getting some award I've just mostly not done it.

It's a little embarrassing. There's no other profession that gives themselves so many awards. Can you imagine the carpenters' awards?

So that points to it being just a commercial thing, to make more money, and that's disappointing. But on the other hand if you spoke to someone's mom about it, they would say, "It's nice to celebrate the work you do," be really mom-ly positive about it.

So I've just tried to follow my gut. If something feels too nakedly opportunistic, I won't do it. But it's hard, too, when someone wants to give you an award -- to pooh-pooh it just seems rude. So it's pretty tricky.

I don't anticipate having to be in this position too much in my life, so I'm just going with the flow and I'm not torturing myself trying to come up with some justifiable position on it all.

This year I'm just trying to see it as an opportunity to go to a bunch of parties and see interesting people. Which it has been so far.

The few things that I've done, like this round table of actors talking, you go there and it's really good actors I've seen in a lot of movies.

There I was sitting with Tom Wilkinson, Javier Bardem, George Clooney, Ryan Gosling and John Travolta. They'd ask me about my process and I'd just think, "Ask Tom -- I want to listen to him." They didn't really ask me too much.

I think Gosling and I were the Kucinich and Gravel of the group. We each got one question and then it was back to Hillary and Obama.