The Watchmen‘s Jackie Earle Haley (Walter Kovacs aka Rorschach) on making a comeback, wearing a mask and worrying about a living a life of obscurity.
On his Rorschach mask.
“What they did with the blots I thought was incredible. I mean it just looks really cool. But it was kind of a challenge or concern, like ‘Wow, how am I going to go about this, kind of acting with the sock on my head?’ At first you’re kind of nervous, cause you’re taking away your main tool, which is your face as an actor. But at the same time, you’re playing this character Rorschach, so there was something incredibly motivating by putting this thing on, so I think I struggled with it for a little while, just internally, and then I think as time went on all of that was just kind of reconciled in here and becoming Rorschach was a much easier process as time went on.”
On making a comeback.
“It’s just been incredible. To have been a child actor and to kind of watch that stuff slowly drift away and to struggle for a few years and kind of find my way in this world and then to have this kind of comeback, when Steven Zaillian called to put me in All The King’s Men, it just opened up this door again, and I was invited back into this world. It really seemed like an impossibility.”
On worrying about going back into the black hole.
“I think there’s always that fear. But I can never tell whether that fear is like a deep-seeded child actor fear, from my experiences, so I always have to temper that with trying to find that balance of being overly freaked out, cause I’ve got a long past of scary career stuff … you never know, the other shoe can always drop [laughs].”
On his black belt moves.
“I know everybody kind of went into fight training, and then into choreography. So I got to skip all of the fight training and just go into choreography. And then I also had the additional help that my character was covered so I had a kick ass stunt guy … [I have a black belt in] Kempo. And Tae Kwon Do. I’m a little rusty now, though. I haven’t been stretching. But I think I can break this table [laughs].”
On Rorschach vs. Walter Kovacs.
“Walter is long gone, and I think he’s Rorschach, with or without the mask. So I’ve pretty much kept it in the same world. I don’t think that he throws on his mask, and he completely changes his identity. But I think when he’s in the middle of an interrogation or something, it might pump up his adrenaline and his syntax … just like I think anybody would.”
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