I was the guy who had been bouncing around the film industry for years, and I'd been lucky if five or 10 people would see my movies, so Captain Jack did a big flip for my career.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I'd done about 10 movies before I decided I wanted to make acting the main thrust of my career.
The great privilege it has been to work with some of the most talented people on the face of the earth. My first scene in a movie was with James Cagney, for goodness sakes. There I was, just out of the U.S. Navy without an acting lesson to my name.
As the captain, I was going to be having the dominant role in most of the episodes, and that was appealing. I wasn't interested in coming to Hollywood to sit around.
I'm a Jack of all trades character actor, really.
I'd done a ton of movies here in Hollywood, and I realized that every movie I'd done was somebody's else's work and someone else's vision.
I was never really a character actor - I was a leading man who was always cast as a character. I wanted to be Jack Nicholson or Jean Gabin.
I always admired Hugh Jackman as an actor in movies but also in theatre because I'm a big fan of Broadway musicals.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack in 'Titanic' was my childhood crush!
I thought Jack's directing job was the best thing about the film.
I met Jack Nicholson when I was about 10 at a party of my uncle's, and it wasn't so much that I knew his films because I was small, but he wore sunglasses inside at night and I thought that must mean he was very important and was suitably star struck by his charismatic presence.