\n<\/p>\n
The kookiest characters onscreen this season may be the ones played by Dan Stevens.<\/p>\n
This batch of charismatic weirdos joins the collection of peculiar roles he has amassed since the 2014 thriller \u201cThe Guest<\/a>,\u201d his post-\u201cDownton Abbey\u201d breakthrough. Stevens, 41, lands somewhere between leading man and character actor, and he revels in the mischievous tone required for these offbeat parts, some of which he describes as \u201cfuncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n Right now in theaters he can be seen as a winning monster veterinarian in \u201cGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire<\/a>\u201d and as a corrupt cop turned bloodsucker in the horror comedy \u201cAbigail<\/a>.\u201d This summer, he will appear in \u201cCuckoo,\u201d a sci-fi horror mash-up set in the Alps, in which he plays a German scientist whose welcoming facade hides a fascination with a bizarre endangered species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Stevens, who is British, recently spoke with The New York Times over coffee in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. He wore a long-sleeved T-shirt bearing the defining image of \u201cThe Holy Mountain,\u201d Alejandro Jodorowsky\u2019s 1973 cult classic: a man seated and wearing a pointed hat, framed by two women. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n During the interview, Stevens talked about his interest in genre movies and why his goal is always to make a director laugh. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n I have to ask about your \u201cHoly Mountain\u201d shirt. That\u2019s a great, trippy midnight movie.<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m a huge fan of Jodorowsky. He\u2019s a true visionary dreamer. I absolutely love filmmakers who present you with unforgettable imagery. He\u2019s a common touchstone with a lot of great filmmakers I admire. <\/p>\n What were you watching growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was somewhere between Amblin movies [like \u201cThe Goonies\u201d and \u201cE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial\u201d] and John Carpenter. But I also watched a lot of British comedy. I\u2019ve always had very mixed tastes.<\/p>\n Do you consider yourself a horror fan?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, but I\u2019ve met real horror fans and I wouldn\u2019t go toe-to-toe with them in a quiz. Horror shares something with comedy, which I love just as much, in that you instantly know if it\u2019s working in a crowd. The audience feedback tells you. Filmmakers in both are actively looking to poke the audience and evoke a reaction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Have you always been a fan of genre films or is that the impression we get from your body of work?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve done more horror than any other genre, although one could say period drama is a genre as well. I\u2019ve always been attracted to horror. Mainly because they\u2019re such playful films and usually the filmmakers are themselves very playful people. I like being part of that game-playing aspect of filmmaking, with the audience and sometimes with the actors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Would you say weird characters are inherently more enjoyable to play?<\/strong><\/p>\n From the output this year, that seems to be what I enjoy doing. [Laughs] I\u2019m looking to continue that trend. But it can be all sorts of different kinds of characters within that remit. Straight leading men don\u2019t tend to be that interesting. It\u2019s rare that they\u2019re written as the most interesting role in the script. [Laughs].<\/p>\n How do you know when a peculiar character, like the ones you play in \u201cCuckoo\u201d or \u201cGodzilla x Kong,\u201d is working?<\/strong><\/p>\n It has to be something that makes the filmmaker smile, that gives them the right kind of laugh that\u2019s going to see them through the making of this thing. That usually transmits through the screen. Audiences tend to enjoy something we\u2019ve mischievously enjoyed creating.<\/p>\n How would you describe the vampires in \u201cAbigail\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n It seems that when people get turned into vampires in the world of \u201cAbigail,\u201d they just become worse versions of themselves. [Laughs] There are certain vampire movies where the vampires become very sultry, or sexy or have superpowers, but in ours they just become [expletive].<\/p>\n They are also criminals. They don\u2019t come from a wealthy lineage of vampires.<\/strong><\/p>\n No. These are new-money vampires.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For Trapper, the vet who treats Kong, were you channeling any specific personality?<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s probably a bit of Kurt Russell\u2019s Jack Burton [from \u201cBig Trouble in Little China\u201d] in there. A smattering of Ace Ventura and a lot of those \u201980s action figure guys. But also, a bit of a British pop star that emerged in the last few years called Sam Ryder.<\/a> He was in the Eurovision Song contest. He\u2019s such a sweet, optimistic, happy chap. I thought it would be lovely to see a British character like that.<\/p>\n You recently voiced a character in the English dub of \u201cThe Boy and the Heron.\u201d Is voice acting for animation something you are actively pursuing?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have had ambitions to get involved for a while. Since I was a kid, I\u2019ve always enjoyed doing voices. It\u2019s some of the earliest evidence that I was into this at all, making cassette tapes and doing silly made-up radio shows with different voices. There are characters you can play in animation, in voice-over, that you could never play in live action.<\/p>\n Did you ever intend to pursue a more traditional leading-man career?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I had my sights set on that. Other people assumed that\u2019s what I wanted and maybe put those things in front of me. It just didn\u2019t quite click. \u201cCharacter leads\u201d are my sweet spot, whether they\u2019re actual lead roles or just fun parts within an ensemble. That\u2019s the stuff that tends to light me up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Growing up, were there any actors whose path you hope to emulate one day?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve always admired any actor who is able to be in a family fantasy epic, and then in a weird, creepy horror, like Robin Williams. He was in something as sweet and innocent as \u201cHook,\u201d and then years later in \u201cOne Hour Photo.\u201d The fact that this performer was allowed to do that was so exciting to me.<\/p>\n Do you use the word \u201callowed\u201d because you feel the industry restricts actors?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the challenges, particularly if you make it big in something specific when you\u2019re young and people want to see that forever. \u201cDownton Abbey\u201d was on TV. You\u2019re in people\u2019s homes on a Sunday night. There\u2019s a peculiar ownership people feel over your character. And they just want more of it. Audiences can get greedy, and I want to serve up something different. That\u2019s not going to be to everyone\u2019s taste.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n