Jim Caviezel Scolds TAFs: "I'm not the Villain!"

We continue our coverage of the red carpet premiere of Escape Plan with our interview with a fantastic actor who brings a lot to his role as the warden: Jim Caviezel! I admire this guy a lot and can't think of a role he hasn't been great in, from Frequency to Deja Vu, and of course as Jesus in Passion of the Christ. The role of the antagonist, or villain, is a key role in any movie like this, and Caviezel goes all in, portraying the warden as meticulous, calculated, obsessed, ambitious, and eventually batshit crazy! However, I quickly found out that this man gets into his character so much, he takes umbrage with being called a villain! Here's what he had to say.

(First Jim admires my Last Action Hero Tony Nowak jacket and asks if I'm from Germany. I think he heard my Arnold accent slipping in. I say no, just Ohio, and proceed.)

Gillinator: It's good to see you here. We're excited to see you as the villain in this latest Arnold and Sly movie...

Jim (grabbing my shoulder): They're the villains. I am the good guy- I play the warden. They're the prisoners, understand? 

Gillinator: Oh, yes that's right, my mistake! Well, Arnold is always the hero to me! It looks like you bring a serious intensity to this role. Do you carry that intensity when you're not filming or are there more lighthearted moments on the set that come about?

Jim: It's more a respect and I have respect for them as athletic actors that I have seen for years as a boy, and they inspired me to get to this level. Even though I didn't know anything about acting growing up, when I saw the first Rocky movie, I actually thought that he was a world champion fighter! I was 12 years old. But my part, I had to bring it. So I kept much to myself. Forget all conversations, and at that point, I'm doing my job. I'm a little bit more of a method actor that way. And they were very smart...

Gillinator: Any favorite Arnold movie and Sly movie?

Jim: Different moments in Conan for Arnold, but I would say True Lies for sure, Rocky 3, 4, and the first Rambo- First Blood because that was my hometown.

There you have it, no goofing around on set for Caviezel! Whatever his technique, it definitely worked because even though he's not physically intimidating, he commands every scene he is in and does not take non-compliance lightly!

More interviews on the way including producer Mark Canton and the beautiful Amy Ryan.