ALPHA DOG PRESS CONFERENCE
Interviews with Justin Timberlake, Emile Hirsch, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Foster, Anton Yelchin
Posted by Wilson Morales

January 10, 2007

What can you say about your involvement in this, by virtue of the fact that you are all entertainers? You can talk about rap and this and that, but it's not all 50 Cent… it's some of us too…

Timberlake: I find that every conversation I've had after anyone's seen this film, it's sort of this group therapy discussion, and rightfully so. I think it's all in there, but I think what this film does… it's fun, it's fun, it's fun and then it's not and that's the way this story ended. That was the responsibility of us. Yes, we are entertainers but this served a different theme. What I like about the film is that it doesn't treat you like a dumb-ass, so to speak, it lets you feel what really happened. 100% of the people I've brought to
screenings, they have to talk about it, talk it through. It's not all just rap. What I took away from the film is how just a little perspective on things can change a humongous outcome in someone's life. But Ben, I think I interrupted you…

Foster: Everybody keeps bringing up rap, it's not rap…

Hirsch: It's hip-hop

Foster: [Laughs] Got it. It's a violent culture and this is not a film saying rap is makes kids pull triggers. It's just that it's a vacuum of culture. It's prioritizing things that don't actually have value. The idea of fast cars and fast lifestyle and bitches, is not solely
rap, it's a hollowness of the culture. We've always had violent images in our society, we've always had violence, this is nothing new. I don't think it's getting worse because we have it, it's because we don't have the moral guidelines to guide us along to process these
images in these entertainments. I just wanted to say that it's not an attack about rap.

Hirsch: It's a short change on the film to say how rap music created this, it's not rap. I mean, I would think movies, even more so than music, would…

Foster: We've always had violent films, be it lions attacking gladiators, we've always had a form of violent entertainment, people are drawn to that, but hat's lacking in society is people guiding us along with our own morals and ethics and there's just a vacuum right
now. Teens know this film, this isn't like an education to teenagers. Young people know this lifestyle, this is not an exaggeration, this is what it is and I think this is what drew us all to the film. The script is so authentic, Nick did such an incredible job documenting and interviewing and spending time with kids in these sequences. When you watch it, it feels legit. I was shocked. I know these kids, I grew up in Southern California, I know these guys and the fact that it escalated was a lack of guidance and it's not movies, it's not video games, it's certainly not hip-hop.

Justin, can you talk about the differences in preparation for you as an actor, versus you as a musician?

Timberlake: There are a lot of differences. In creating music, you are the writer, director, producer, you sort of create it from scratch. Obviously with a role in a film you take guidance, you put your trust in the director, the writer and also, I find it even more
collaborative, especially on a project like this. You come into it, you really trust the people you're in front of the camera with. Which was very easy. I can't speak enough about how amazing the other four actors are here. I was a sponge, watching all of them well, except for Emile. It's sort of like you feel you're playing a position on a team. Sort of like, "Today, we need you to play small forward, we don't need you at point guard." That's probably a really crappy analogy, but it's the closest thing I can think of off the top of my head. You play a role and you're part of a collaborative movement. Obviously with music, you are solely responsible for the creation of it. So to wrap your mind around those two things, you definitely approach it differently.

This is obviously an emotionally-charged film. Can you talk briefly about what was the most challenging for you?

Yelchin: I think the most physically challenging for me was the scene in the pool.

Timberlake: It was challenging for us to watch! That was just not fair.

Hatosy: It was crazy driving Anton's character up the hill, up to the final scene, actually doing it, walking him up the hill. It's one thing to do it as an actor, but it's a whole other thing to realize that it happened. I remember going through it and thinking "this really happened." People were walking by and could have stopped it.

Timberlake: I found the hilltop scene, if that's what you want to call it, wasn't the most challenging for me because I could relate to so many times when you might have been intoxicated or whatever and something happens and all of the sudden you're not in control of the situation Their reactions to that, I didn't find that difficult. The most difficult scene for me was the scene at the hotel between Shawn and me, where we were sitting on the steps and he's talking me through why this should happen. For my character to accept that, that was the toughest thing for me to wrap my mind around. For me to accept that his decision was based solely on fear. You're afraid of the moment. You either don't take control of the situation or you let the wrong thing happen and by doing that you don't do the right thing.

Ben, how about you?

Foster: It took along time to cool down after this project. Probably with Sharon, when she's really missing her boy and doesn't know how to deal with that, and starts hitting Jake. The hits are real and that's a lot of pain to absorb. I got a fantastic bloody nose from it.

ALPHA DOG opens on January 12, 2007

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