Jai Courtney: We were really interested in finding the vulnerability w...

A person can't know what happiness is without experiencing sadness. And I think that's healthy.

Jai Courtney

sadness healthy thinking

I was a bit of a show-off in school and loved playing dress-up, and my passion for it just grew as I got older.

Jai Courtney

playing-dress-up passion school

I was too young to be an avid enthusiast for the franchise, but like billions of people I remember as a child sitting around with the family on a Friday night with pizza and popcorn and a 'Die Hard' movie on.

Jai Courtney

friday night children

I went to the Avengers: Age of Ultron and I'm like, "These guys are Olympians now." There's no place for a Walter Matthau in a movie anymore.

Jai Courtney

olympian guy age

The news business is simple but it's not easy to do well. You know the story, you have to cover it, you need pictures, you need good writers, you have to get it to the screen but it's obviously not easy to do well.

Jai Courtney

news simple needs

I've always played sport. I played rugby, I was involved in athletics, I played cricket... I'm an outdoors kind of guy.

Jai Courtney

rugby guy sports

I'm not someone who has a lengthy attention span, and that applies to my exercise routine as well.

Jai Courtney

routine exercise attention

I was a show-off as a kid and loved to dress up. I was constantly in costume, drawing mustaches on with eyeliner and letting my sister plait my hair and all that.

Jai Courtney

mustache my-sister kids

I don't know if I'm an action star or if that's just how things are shaping up. I would hate to be boxed into that forever, but it's probably just a strength as far as my type goes, and I'm fine with that.

Jai Courtney

hate stars forever

I was always realistic about the fact I wanted to be involved with big films.

Jai Courtney

realistic film facts

When you're working with people you've seen in hundreds of films... it's a bit crazy to step outside yourself for a minute and think, 'This is surreal.' But I try not to get too bogged down in that.

Jai Courtney

crazy people thinking

I love that about filmmaking - seeing final product and getting to see everyone else that you don't necessarily engage with on set every day and getting them to showcase their talents. Whether it's effects, music, the edit, the rhythm of a film is driven by that, so it's cool to see it come together. It's great to be standing in front of something you're genuinely proud of.

Jai Courtney

talent proud together

I started coming to L.A. as often as I could, for three months on and three months off, because immigration kicks you out after 90 days.

Jai Courtney

immigration three months

My mum is a school teacher and my dad is an electrician.

Jai Courtney

dad teacher school

Some people have this really clear memory of making that decision, and I don't. My earliest memories of being involved with drama or acting were in elementary school. My sister and I got dropped off at an after-school improvisation class, a time-killer for kids while parents were doing the groceries. I'm 6 years old, and I remember running amok and playing these games.

Jai Courtney

running drama memories

I was always trying to perform, but never with some dream to be on the stage. The stage was wherever I was standing at the time. I was lucky that the department of education in Sydney had a program where you could try out for these ensembles - kind of like extra-curricular sports, but for little drama kids. I got into that system, and it took me right through high school.

Jai Courtney

dream sports drama

And as you got older, the training became more developed and precise. We did plays, we had voice classes with great dialect coaches. But I was never into it on a school level; it was this kind of private little thing I did. At school I was a rugby guy. At school I was a rugby guy. I was causing trouble with my mates and skating and tagging buildings, and smoking bongs.

Jai Courtney

guy smoking school

I had this alter ego where I would go to the theater with mom. I wasn't embarrassed by it; it was separate for me.

Jai Courtney

embarrassed ego mom

If I had the chance to spend a day with Werner Herzog, I would want there to be a canoe involved. I want to be down in Patagonia or something, and kill some kind of wild beast and skin it and gut it and cook it. And then turn its fur into some kind of layer of warmth. And then trek through the hills.

Jai Courtney

skins chance kind

There are roles out there I want to play that I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to. But I'm not going to waste time waiting for those phone calls, passing up the chance to do these sorts of things. I'm more likely to go see a smaller, darker indie film, like Felony for instance, than I am to see an Avengers or perhaps even a Terminator.

Jai Courtney

wasting-time chance waiting

We were really interested in finding the vulnerability with that character, and there's great relationships to explore, not only with his fascination with regards to Sarah and his responsibility to her, you've got this very interesting, twisted family world.