Eric Bana talks his career, his roles and his upcoming films

From LATimes.com:

How he got started:
He knew he wanted to act but had no idea how to get into it, so he wound up performing stand-up. Discovered quickly, he worked on sketch comedy television shows in Australia. After a few years he started feeling burned out, just at the time he was offered the lead role in the drama “Chopper,” a film about Mark “Chopper” Read, a legendary criminal in Australia. His intense performance resounded thousands of miles away in Hollywood.

On past roles:
He likens his roles to tattoos: “They all leave a little bit behind.”

On career strategy:
He employs no career strategy in choosing parts. “Just because I’ve been given the opportunity to play leading roles doesn’t mean I have to feel the pressure to always take them,” Bana says. He finds supporting roles like Nero and Clarke liberating. Working on a film for a short time is a much different ride than being on set every day.

On Playing Nero in Star Trek:
“As crazy as it all seems, to be a Romulan and be on a spaceship and all that, you do have to take the time to tell yourself, ‘Well, hang on, this doesn’t work dramatically if I don’t actually take him seriously,’ ” Bana explains. “You’re in the middle of a completely ridiculous set trying to also give it the weight that it needs and deserves in the appropriate parts.”

Funny People:
“I was expecting the ‘Munich’ guy,” says [Leslie] Mann of her costar, but she got something else. On his first day, “He couldn’t stop giggling during the takes, like a goofy little boy. It made me feel much more comfortable because I thought, Oh, he’s not some hot Jewish murderer.”

[Judd] Apatow says that much of the material Bana generated in rehearsals ended up in the film, including one hilarious scene in which he tries to explain Aussie rules football to a baffled Sandler and Seth Rogen.

The Time Travelers Wife:
The director was convinced that Bana’s personality would pay off in other ways. “You have a character who, for all intents and purposes, suffers from an affliction that defines him in a way, but I felt that Eric would never be regarded as a victim.”

Bana was grateful for Schwentke’s guidance and the weeks given to rehearsal. “It was a really difficult character and story line to keep mapped out,” Bana notes. At the same time, he had a blast playing a man at so many points in his life. He adds that his costar, Rachel McAdams, was one of the greatest people he’s ever worked with, and goes on to describe her as generous, kind, patient, old-fashioned, well-mannered and immensely talented.