LD: It’s like The Shining in here. Just me and you.

GQ: It is. Wait—The Shining is in your top five movies of all time, right? By definition, then, that’s your favorite Kubrick film?
By definition, you’re very correct, but I think it’s hard to… I don’t even define 2001 as a film; it’s more of a religious experience.

Do I have it right that The Bicycle Thief is also near the top of your list?
Top three! That’s one of the purest movies I have ever seen.

Talking of pure movies, have you ever seen the Ealing Studios movies—Alec Guinness, late 1940s?
I haven’t seen much of Alec Guinness’s younger work. I have seen Brian Atene on YouTube refer to himself as “a young Alec Guinness.” Have you seen that Brian Atene clip? It was the taped audition that he did for Stanley Kubrick, and he begins [intoning with mind-bending pretentiousness], “Good day, Mr. Kubrick.…” It was a YouTube sensation.

I’ve seen that. Horrifying!
[still in the ludicrous Juilliard haughtiness of Atene] “I like to think of myself as a young Alec Guinness.… Since I am saying whatever I want to Mr. Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest directors in the world, though not quite as good as Michael Curtiz, the director of The Sea Hawk…” Brilliant. He’s actually kind of a genius.

Don’t. Please stop that.
You know, Brian Atene also really did go to Juilliard!

I’m begging you.
Okay. But how great is YouTube? Endless entertainment. Endless! Every day.
What the hell? You can type in anything, like “frogs getting laid,” and they have, like, seventy clips. It’s fabulous.

I’m going to avoid spoilers, but I was thinking of your love of The Shining when I watched Revolutionary Road. There’s Frank Wheeler, your character, saying, “I have the backbone not to run away from my responsibilities”—and you remember Jack’s speech to Wendy in The Shining.
Yes, yes!

“Have you ever thought about my responsibilities?” Anyway. This movie has you again co-starring with Kate Winslet. How much has your working relationship changed?
It felt like no time had passed in the way that we’re so comfortable with each other personally and professionally. We’ve been friends for such a long time, and we knew what boundaries we have with
each other professionally, and we knew that we could get great stuff out of each other. She’s one of my best friends. But was this different? It was, in that we were a part of every nuance of this movie. There was a different level of intimacy. It was a much more hands-on approach, and we were both more responsible for our characters and the tone of the film. That’s just something that comes with age and experience. After all, we were barely 20, 21 years old in Titanic.

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