Over the past 20 years Tobin Bell has played nearly every kind of villain. From big budget studio pictures like The Firm to playing the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski in a made for television film. But it wasn’t until Australian filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell cast Bell as the cancerous serial killer Jigsaw in 2004’s SAW that Bell became a cult movie figure. Bell’s short, but indelible performance in that film firmly ensconced him as a villain for the 21st century.

Now Bell has taken up the mantle of Jigsaw again in the sequel SAW II. This time Jigsaw has created a trap filled house, which has confined seven people including the son of Detective Eric Mason [Donnie Wahlberg]. With the spotlight directly on Jigsaw in the Saw sequel, we were definitely psyched to sit down with the man himself, Tobin Bell.

Really Scary: At the SAW 2 junket they passed out a SAW comic book which detailed Jigsaw’s origin. Did you contribute to that?

Tobin Bell: I contributed to the extent that they passed me some early drafts and I helped them. I said, “That one doesn’t quite look like me, but this one really does. Maybe you could improve this one or that one or this one.” Some of the original sketches about 50 to 70 percent of them were spot on. Whoever the artist is [Renato Guedes] did a great job.

Really Scary: Both Leigh [Whannell] and James [Wan] have told me that you prepared extensively for the Saw role...to the point where you probably know more about Jigsaw than even them.

Bell: That’s probably the case because you’d go a little wacky if you didn’t do your homework. For example everything that you’ve done today since you got out of bed. It’s filed away inside your head. You went to the bathroom and you had some cereal and your boss called you and then you realized, “Oh my god. I’ve got to move the car. I’m going to get a ticket.” That happens automatically in life. But when you create a character, he says things you have to say in the film so you have to know what you mean. If you don’t know what you mean, then you’re going to go nuts after awhile. It’s the same as if somebody calls you up and says “Dan, how are you doing today?” And you say, “Oh, man, I’m tired.” Well, you know what you mean by that because you were up late last night, you didn’t sleep well, you have a toothache, your wife’s been on your case, all that stuff’s is inside you. But when you’re an actor you don’t have the benefit of any of that unless you create it because often that is not even in the film. So if Jigsaw says something like, “Darwin’s theory of evolution no longer applies on this planet” what does he mean by that? You could fill up a book just on that one statement. You can imagine how many statements like that there are in the film.

Really Scary: I liked SAW 2 and it was cool to see that you play such a large part in it. You had some really wonderful scenes with [Donnie Wahlberg].

Bell: I thought so too. Donnie and I worked very hard. The script had some information there so we tried to take that information and reorganize it to some extent so that it was more relationship and stakes driven. The information becomes the weapons and tools in the game. I say to Donnie “All you have to do is sit here and listen to me. If you can do that, you’ll find your son in a safe and secure place.”

Really Scary: One interesting aspect of your character is that Jigsaw doesn't lie.

Bell: No, he doesn’t. All Donnie would have to do is sit there and talk to me and not revert to his basic character which is a cop who uses excessive force. I know stuff about him he doesn’t even know I know. When you say Jigsaw doesn’t lie, he doesn’t, but he plays games with the truth. I think the film is smart in a certain way. If you track it there’s all kinds of fun stuff to discover in it, clues that have been given to you all along that you never even noticed.

Really Scary: For the first SAW did you prepare as much as you would for any role?

Bell: I certainly had to know what I was doing and why I was doing it and how it came about and all of that. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got one line, two lines or 12 lines. What matters is what you have to do. If you want to do it in a way that is both convincing and feels right organically, then you need to do your homework.

Really Scary: Unfortunately there are a lot of actors out there who probably don’t.

Bell: That’s fine. If they can get away with that, that’s okay. Everybody has a different way of working. It’s like life. It just depends on what your standard is for yourself and what feels right to you. Not everybody has to do the same. There are some actors who would listen to me and laugh. I was trained at the Actor’s Studio in New York. I studied with Lee Strasberg, Ellen Burstyn and Estelle Parsons. People who are method trained.

Years ago I was doing an episode of The Equalizer when Robert Mitchum had taken over for Edward Woodward. In that episode I opened up a door and some guys with machine guns blew me across a table. Robert Mitchum had a fabulous career and was a fabulous actor. I’m laying on this table, doing my work and Mitchum was just talking to someone. I don’t even know what they were talking about but the one guy said something about Lee Strasberg. Mitchum turned to him and said, “Lee Strasberg, what a fucking charlatan.” So there you go. Some guys like Spencer Tracy said, “Acting lessons! Come on. You show up on time and you don’t bump into the furniture.” So a lot of people don’t take it very seriously and sometimes they do it very well. Some guys will show up at the baseball stadium two or three hours early to work on some part of their game. Other guys will float in 15 minutes before the game.

Really Scary: Would you have done Saw II if your part hadn’t advanced as much as it did?

Bell: Probably not. It ended up having a sufficient amount of interest for me. Jigsaw is an interesting guy whether you agree with him or not. He’s got his perspective and point of view. At least he’s coming from a very specific place. He’s a technician. He’s an engineer. He’s a scientist. I found that the seeds were there to do something interesting.

Really Scary: Yesterday I got to speak with Leigh Whannell. I asked him “What’s it like to have created a character that may become one of the great horror villains of a generation, like a Dracula or Frankenstein, or a Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers.” He had an emotional reaction to that. What is accomplishing something like that mean to you?

Bell: I don’t think of it in those terms. What’s important to me is whether or not there is something playable there. Is there something where you can reveal something about the human condition? There’s a little bit of evil in all of us. I guess what you’re talking about it is more career oriented or more show business oriented, the business part of the business. I tend not to think too much about that because so much of what happens in this business is arbitrary. Am I thrilled if this film is a success? Yes. Am I thrilled that 15 to 25 year olds are drawn to Saw and want to go see it? Yeah, I am. Would I be happy if Jigsaw went on to become a really interesting character who could reveal something about human condition? Yeah, I’d be really happy about that. I guess the reason I don’t think about it is I’m not terribly impressed with the Freddy Kruegers. I’ve never been a big horror guy. Though it’s not that I don’t admire actors or the job that those guys did.

I guess to answer your question, that’s great. Why not? It’s something I have no control over. When I go to work I try to bring as much reality and as much believability to the scenes. If what you’re talking about happens then good.

Really Scary: I got to speak to Robert Englund who has played Freddy Krueger. He loves Freddy because playing that character allowed him to be able to do other things. He liked playing the character and of course he liked the money and fame.

Bell: No question about it. I can’t disagree with any of that. If it helps someone to look at your work in a different light and say, “Wow. I’ve seen Tobin do this and do this. Here he is. This is another shade of him. Another dimension. Another skin.” That’s great. I couldn’t ask for more than that. It’s what we do as actors.

I’ll tell you a little story. Karl Malden was nominated for an Academy Award for On the Waterfront. Before that and since then Karl Malden has had an incredible career. But ultimately he became known as the American Express guy. People didn’t know anything about On the Waterfront. They didn’t even know anything about the TV show Streets of San Francisco, which he did with Michael Douglas. I started working in this business when I did Mississippi Burning and I’ve been working fairly steadily ever since. But you’re always looking for the greatest amount of heat and the greatest amount of success for the projects that you do and if I can ride along on a wonderful piece of material like Saw 2 then so be it. I have really good feeling about Saw 2 and the reason why is that I think it’s a good film. I think the fans of Saw are going to like it. I really have a good feeling because of the work that Donnie and I did together.

Really Scary: You’ve played a good many villains in your career. Would you like it if the Saw franchise put to bed your villainous roles?

Bell: To be honest with you I feel like I have not even begun to accomplish what I’m capable of as an actor. I love playing villains. I’ve always found them to be tremendously interesting. Also in Hollywood they want to see you do the same thing over and over. They like you doing something and they feel safe and secure. For me even if the guy is a bad guy I try to bring something different to each one. Also I’m never going to be the guy next door. The reason that they hire me is because I have a certain edge. I’ve been hired to play a lot of power guys, whether it’s on 24 or an FBI agent in Mississippi Burning or the Nordic in The Firm. Look at Gene Hackman, he started out playing powerful, edgy guys. Kevin Spacey played a lot of bad guys and all of a sudden he’s a lead actor. You’ve got to get the right vehicle so you can demonstrate the multiplicity of what you can do. That’s everybody’s job. If you’re a painter and you’re famous as an expressionist, but you really want to do abstract painting, then you better damn well do some abstract painting and show people you can do it.

Really Scary: Would you be up for a Saw 3 if and when it happens?

Bell: Of course, depending on the writing.

Really Scary: If Leigh and James weren’t involved and the script was still good, would you be interested?

Bell: I think they will be involved. This is their brainchild. I think they’re going to stay. I don’t know what their plans are and I don’t know who has the right to work on this stuff. All I care about is that it be interesting and compelling material. They haven’t written every line. Some of it Donnie would come up with, some I’d come up with and some [SAW 2 director] Darren [Lynn Bousman] would come up with. But we couldn’t have done any of that without Leigh and James. It’s been a real partnership in terms of coming up with a shape that worked.

Really Scary: What are some of your favorite horror films?

Bell: There was a French film that came out in the 50’s called Diabolique that I really liked. Also Ellen Burstyn’s performance in The Exorcist was amazing and even though its not a horror film I love Young Frankenstein.

Links
Check out the official site for SAW 2
http://www.saw2.com/
Buy the Uncut Edition of the SAW DVD
http://www.sawdvd.com/