Inside The Actors’ Studio

PITT: You knew early on you wanted to act?

LANGELLA: I knew at 7. Because a teacher came in and said, "We need elves for the school pageant." It had something to do with sibling rivalry, because my sister was the lead. So I put my hand up, and I was an elf.

DOWNEY: Rourke, do you mind if I dial it back? When we were talking about things that inspired us, I remember you and Kim Basinger in "9½ Weeks."

ROURKE: You probably remember it much better than I do.

DOWNEY: When you saw that—and I'm way too self-important to blow smoke up your ass right now—that to me was the sexiest, most mysterious, complex, smart, layered man's role I've seen. It kind of screwed me up, because I was like, that's what the people who really know what they are doing do. That's how it comes across.

ROURKE: You see, I didn't really want to do that. I wanted to go beyond "Last Tango in Paris" and so did Adrian [Lyne, the director], but Kim didn't want to. I wanted all hell to break loose.

PITT: You got there in "Angel Heart."

ROURKE: Who told you?

PITT: It's one of the myths. When I started out, trying to figure out acting, I had three gods. It was Penn, it was Oldman, it was Rourke.

ROURKE: "Angel Heart" was a learning experience for me, because I sat across from Robert De Niro. One of my shortcomings as an actor and as a human being was always my attention span and my concentration. Even in sports, that was something I lacked, where I couldn't go any further. Watching De Niro, he would get so goddamned focused. Alan Parker, who did "Angel Heart," would laugh at me. He goes, "Look at that man there, he knows all his lines, and you're out here trying to pick up a girl eating a f–––ing ice-cream cone."

Brad, when you play a complete moron like Chad Feldheimer in "Burn After Reading," is it hard to not judge him?
PITT: I swear, I'm going to die and this is the one I'm going to be known for. This thing spoke to me. It represented the hubris of an America we've experienced in the last few years.

Is it true that Angelina hasn't seen the movie yet?
PITT: She has seen that one. She walked on set, and I was in gym gear and the hair, and she said, "This is the first time I can honestly say I'm not sexually attracted to you."

More often now when we interview actors, they talk about how it's becoming harder to draw the line between public and private, especially with the Internet. Do any of you guys ever Google yourself?
PITT: Dear God, no.

Never?
PITT: Never. First of all, I don't really know how to operate a computer.

Do you have a BlackBerry?
PITT: Oh, yeah, I have a BlackBerry.

Anne, what about you? Do you Google yourself?
HATHAWAY: No.

LANGELLA: It's not a good idea. It can be painful and it can be self-aggrandizing.

HAWKINS: What do they say about don't believe any of it?

DOWNEY: Oh, I love all that s–––, personally. Sorry. I just love it. Because it's a hoot. Some people overstate their support, like they know you. Other people are busy doing something else and just want to go on this chat site and say some despicable character assassination, which I honestly think they kind of nailed it. I do have that shortcoming. It's really fun.

PITT: This publicity machine is out of control. It's everything we didn't sign up for. There's this whole other entity that you get sucked into. You have to go and sell your wares. It's something I never made my peace with. Somehow you're not supporting your film if you don't get on a show and talk about your personal life. It has nothing to do with why I do this.

LANGELLA: I'm a dinosaur. I never had a publicist—until this film, because I had to protect myself. The studio wanted me to do every interview and talk show. I think the greatest thing an actor has is mystery and danger. And you poor guys are being asked to give pieces of yourself. You must fight it every chance you get. The more they know about you personally, the less they believe in you on camera. You want to disappear.

PITT: But I think it's impossible to operate fully from that standpoint. [David Fincher, the director of "Benjamin Button"] has spent five years chiseling away at this thing. I want him to get his day. So there is a strange push and pull.

HATHAWAY: OK, I have a confession. I lied before when you asked if I Googled myself. I do. I'm embarrassed by it because I know how terrible it is.

DOWNEY: Wait a minute, should I feel s–––ty that I Google myself?

HATHAWAY: You should feel s–––ty about other things, Robert. For a while, it cracked me up. I found a ton of humor in it. But recently it's changed. There's a big difference now where information is being reported as news. And I'm very uncomfortable with that. And what you were saying, Brad, and God knows you deal with it worse than anyone, the idea that you blink your eyes and it's all over the Internet. It's a strange thing to be part of.