Sam Rockwell has been acting since the age of 10. With break through roles in movies such as The Green Mile and Charlie’s Angels, he is no stranger to the big screen.

In Rockwell’s newest movie, Choke, a book adapted for the screen based on a Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name, he plays Victor Mancini, a sex-addict, con artist and colonial re-enacter trying to get enough money to keep his ailing mother alive.

The Chronicle sat down with Rockwell recently to discuss his influences, his childhood and Chuck Palahniuk.

The Chronicle: Did you feel any pressure going into Choke after all of the hype surrounding Fight Club?

Sam Rockwell: We felt a little of that because the fans of [Chuck] Palahniuk were really waiting for the next installment.

Was Palahniuk there everyday with you?

No, he was very hands-off. He came once in a while near the end. I think he’s a big fan of Anjelica Huston.

Were you a fan of Palahniuk’s books before this?

I loved the film Fight Club and loved it even more the second time I saw it. I read the Choke script, then read the book and then became a Palahniuk fan. Choke’s the only book I’ve read of his, but he’s an amazing writer. He’s very descriptive and it helps as an actor with all of the detail he goes into.

Director Clark Gregg has been adapting the book into a script for almost five years, how long into the process did you become involved with it?

I read it in its entirety about a year to a year-and-a-half ago. So I came on late—I was probably on a long list of actors that they had gone to before. A lot of different actors could have done this role—Robert Downey Jr. or Heath Ledger—but it’s a particular kind of a part though.

Did you find yourself helping Gregg at all during his directoral debut?

We’re about the same age and he’s been an actor for a long time, so he has that experience and he’s a writer. There’s a way with first-time directors to tell them about what you need but because Clark’s an actor he knew a lot more than most first-time directors.

You worked with two actresses, Kelly MacDonald and Anjelica Huston—what was that like?

They’re both really special. Anjelica has such a fresh point of view about acting—she doesn’t seem jaded at all—she seems like she’s still a student and yet she is a veteran and she brings it. With Kelly, you just fall in love with her. She’s so unique and you can’t help but fall in love with her. She’s cast against type in that part, too.

Everyone has talked about how you’ve studied sex addict groups for your role, but did you study any colonial theme parks?

No, I did not have the time to do that. I really wanted to do that but –

Are you regretting it now?

[Laughs] No, we actually saw some of those pictures [colonial theme parks] and all those people looked like hippies with lots of long hair. The stuff in the book is so good – it’s all you need.

Choke is a blend of both comedy and drama and you’ve done your fair share of both. But where do you find yourself stretching your legs?

Drama.

[At this point Rockwell reaches to light his cigarette but the match goes out. He tries three more times with the same result—laughter ensues]

I’m a natural comic without even trying, obviously. You are in hysterics and I haven’t even done anything.

Outside of film, you’ve done some theater work. What aspects of stage life do you find more intriguing than that of film and how is it different?

The simple answer to that is theater is like a gymnasium. You get to work muscles that you don’t get to work in film. If you’re doing a lead role in a play—you get to do the entire arc of that character in two hours. Whereas in film, it’s all picked apart, you only act for five minutes out of a day.

Is there a difference in preparing for leading roles in movies like this when compared to smaller roles?

The big difference for me is supporting roles involve a lot more waiting around, especially in a studio movie. I’ll usually do supporting roles in studio movies and they have more time. They shoot for three months and this kind of movie shoots for 25 days. I like to show up and act. I think that’s the main reason I like to do lead roles because I don’t want to sit around, I want to get up and do s–t. Obviously the lead role is a lot of responsibility. You carry the whole thing on your back.

Are you drawn to darker characters in film roles?

I think I am drawn to them because some of the movies that I was brought up watching like Taxi Driver, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest or The Deerhunter but I also watched movies like Stripes, Animal House and Bustin’ Loose with Richard Pryor. I have a strange group of heroes.

How has your upbringing in an artistic family affected your outlook on things?

I saw things at an early age because my mom was a theater actress so I did a play with her when I was 10. I was back stage with all of these naked people and we would go to bars. I kind of was exposed to things and that’s probably what I identify with in this character, Victor—is that early on certain boundaries—things were more available to me as a kid. I think Chris Walken had a similar upbringing, he was a stage kid. It makes you a little odd, I think. Things aren’t as shocking. I think it would be hard to shock Christopher Walken, he’d be like ‘Oh yea—that old thing.’

After working with veterans in the business, what do you think is the difference between the business then and where it is today?

A lot of the actors came from the theatre—Deniro, Hoffman, Streep—there was an apprenticeship that there really isn’t so much now. I think they have that more in London, Russia or even Chicago—and it teaches you respect for the craft and you play the guy who carries the broad sword and eventually you get to play Romeo or Mercutio.

Do you think that has anything to do with the actor’s strikes they were talking about earlier this summer?

I don’t know. That strike is still looming. It’s just a different time now—it’s all about product, which doesn’t encourage budding film makers who want to experiment. It’s not conducive to creativity.

Are you working on anything right now?

I’m working on a basketball movie.

Like The Bad News Bears?

It’s a movie where I play coach for a girl’s high school basketball team and yes, he’s an alcoholic basketball coach.

You have been in small, independent films and large, blockbusters—what’s the difference from both sides of the spectrum?

Well, I know on the set of Charlie’s Angels, we had to stop the shoot because Lucy Liu and Bill Murray were fighting. We only had 17 writers on Charlie’s Angels and only one of them was a woman and it’s a movie about women, so that tells you a lot. It’s a totally different process but at the end of the day you still have to act in front of the camera—you still have to get loose and do the same thing. It’s funny how that works. At the end of the day is just talk and listen, talk and listen.