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Web Exclusive Close-Up: Matthew Marsden

Alternative Press - Rachel Lux on 5/5/09 @ 4:30 PM - altpress.com

If you're like us, than you're already counting down the days until the sequel to 2007's action-packed blockbuster, Transformers hits theaters. To tide you over until June 24, we checked in with one of the actors portraying a new character. British-born MATTHEW MARSDEN grew up with the hopes of being of soldier, but when asthma kept him out of the military, he found a new career: playing a soldier on this silver screen. AP caught up with Marsden to get the scoop on the tightly guarded Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen secrets, along with some acting tips and what songs are on his playlist. -Jennifer Grathwol

We know there's a lot you can't divulge, but what can you tell us about Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen?
It's under a great deal of secrecy, and we're obviously limited as to what we can say, but what I can tell you is that I'm basically the leader of the British Special Forces, which is part of a multi-national taskforce that are fighting the Decepticons. This always sounds so crazy when I talk like that--[Laughs.]--but that's what I am. Myself, Josh [Duhamel] and Tyrese are the leaders of the military element, or certainly of the taskforce that's specifically designed to fight the Decepticons.

You've kicked ass in action movies before, like in 2001's Black Hawk Down. What do you love about action flicks?
Every single role brings with it a different challenge. When I did Black Hawk Down, I got some excellent training in weaponry and tactics from an ex-Navy Seal called Harry Humphreys. I don't know if you've seen him; he's been on the news a lot recently commenting on the Seals that took out the Somali pirates. But he basically put us through a very punishing regime when we did Black Hawk Down. Since then I've played quite a few soldiers, and that all comes down to basically his training. And I'm very thorough in my research on different roles... I love the physiciality of those roles, and I love action movies. I always have; since I was a kid, I've loved it. I'm just very, very lucky to have been a part of those kinds of films.

When you're on set filming these intense action sequences, does it ever feel real?
When we did Transformers and we were moving forward as a unit, the rest of the guys are Navy--well the majority of them were Navy Seals, we had two Rangers and a cop--and they're the real deal. [Director] Michael Bay is very keen on getting everything absolutely correct; that's why he employs the real deal on the movies.

So when you move forward and you're moving like a platoon or like a unit, these other guys snap into it immediately, so you've got to be a part of it. It does feel real. I guess as real as it can, because I've never experienced what it is like to be in war. The guys [who have] say that with the explosions, it feels pretty real. Going up in the helicopters and all that kind of stuff like I did on Transformers, all the hardware is there.

So where will we see you next?
Straight after Transformers, I did kind of a TV movie that hopefully will be going into a series called Madso's War. It was shot by Walter Hill; and it's about the Irish mafia in Boston. Walter Hill is obviously a legend in the business. It was just a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to work with him and work on an amazing script. So we've just been waiting. I've basically been tied down to a contract, so I haven't been able to do anything else. If you do a pilot or something like that, you're not allowed to do anything else until you get either the "yay" or "nay" for the series.

What have you been doing in the meantime?
Since then, I've been doing a lot of writing. I sold my first script last year. So I've been writing and I've been training very hard.

We hear you're quite the musician, as well.
I love my music. I did have a recording deal with Columbia Records about 10 years ago.

Do you still play?
When I left [Columbia], I kind of put the music on the back burner because I got a little bit jaded by the recording industry. So I still play for myself, but I don't go out there and do gigs or anything like that. I have been sorely tempted recently. A couple of my friends have bands, and they've asked me to go and sing with them. I've been tempted, but to be honest with you, I've been too busy.

What's on your playlist these days?
I'm kind of obsessed with Linkin Park at the moment. There are so many [great songs]; I like "By Myself," I think that's a brilliant track. I like "Papercut" and "In The End." I think they are such good songwriters. I actually started listening [to them] at my Tai Kwon Do class, and I was like, "What is this song?" It was really rocking and it was something really great to work out to it; it was [the song] "Points Of Authority." And then you know what it's like: You hear one song and you kind of get dragged into listening to more and more. I always work out to Linkin Park. And also I listen to a lot of the classics, I'm a big Led Zeppelin fan, and I listen to the Beatles and the Stones and Marvin Gaye.

Did you always want to become an actor?
No, no. I wanted to either join the military or be a soccer player. In the U.K., most kids want to be soccer players when they grow up. Being an actor was so far away from me, because no one in my area did that. I was in a single-parent [home], [in a] working-class state in the middle of England. People just didn't do that. But I always, in the back of my mind, aspired to that. It was always something that I watched on TV and in movies, and I just loved the world that they were in.

I was a big reader when I was a little boy. I had an insatiable appetite for reading, so I guess it was a natural progression to go into playing roles. I couldn't join the military because I had asthma, so physically, I couldn't do it and I wasn't a good enough football player. Luckily, I've been very fortunate to play a lot of soldiers, which has been the highlight of my career really. Being able to portray them in hopefully the right light, you know, they're real heroes.

What actors do you look to for inspiration?
I love Steve McQueen; he's the king of cool. He was a fantastic actor, but he was a real guy. He didn't suffer fools gladly. He was just very real. In fact, Walter Hill said to me, "Steve McQueen was always Steve McQueen. He never changed for anybody or anything." Also, obviously the great actors; I love Marlon Brando, Daniel Day Lewis, Gary Oldman. Those are the guys that professionally, you'd like to be able to do work like. Whether I'd actually be able to do that, whether I have the talent for that, I don't know. [Laughs.] But they're certainly the ones I look to as real inspirations, because they do things that are just extraordinary.

What was your toughest audition so far?
They're all tough in different ways. Like where I had to learn 15 pages of lines and do a Louisiana accent the next day, well, that's pretty tough because it's very technically demanding to get it right.

I was only in the States for two weeks when I got Black Hawk Down. I auditioned for the casting director and the next day they said, "You've got to go and meet Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer." That was a terrifying experience for me.

Do you have any advice for people who want to get into acting?
You just have to have determination and perseverance. A lot of the great actors came to it later in life or got their breaks later in life, the ones who are still around now, like Gene Hackman and those kind of guys. It's a strange situation with the acting business, because usually the people who go into acting are insecure in some way, shape or form. No sane person goes into acting, let me tell you that. [Laughs.] And it's the worst business to go into for that because you're constantly getting rejected, whoever you are.

The main thing is just to keep your own counsel and forge forward, and be determined and know where you want to be and what you want to be, because you'll get there in the end. alt

Check out Matthew Marsden in action alongside Josh Duhamel and Tyrese when Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen comes to theaters on June 24.

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