It was awesome and liberating to play a Russian spy.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I always wanted to play characters, and that was definitely one - a Russian spy.
So I started to learn Russian and I was one of those probably way too eager, annoying young actor kids who was trying to change all my lines to Russian, much to the dismay of the director and Nic Cage.
I had studied Russian in college. I had gotten into it first through literature and then just really found it kind of fascinating; of course, this was during the Cold War. So they were kind of the other great enemy that you grew up hearing about.
I grew up reading the classic novels of Cold War espionage, and I studied Russian history and Soviet foreign policy.
My biggest entertainment in Moscow was to go to the subway and watch people. When American students visited, I watched them; I learned English from them.
My notion of the KGB came from romantic spy stories. I was a pure and utterly successful product of Soviet patriotic education.
I had such a good time working with Paul Feig on 'Spy.'
I was friends with Russians who said I should see Russia. I went there in '93 and it was so exciting, and I went to Siberia and had a great time.
I was not extremely patriotic about Mother Russia. I played their game, pretending. You have to deal with, you know, party people, KGB. Horrifying.
I have no spy stories to tell, because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest.