Q: How did you both approach the scenes with the mask?

TC: We did a lot of research on reconstructive surgery. Cameron and I thought, “We’re not going to make the picture unless the makeup works, that it’s real and accurate,” so we put a lot of research into finding the physicality and emotionally what happens.

CC: I liked how you always played it from the inside out, as a guy that had nothing to depend on. That was amazing, what you brought to the mask, because it was like the guy was moving his hands more, was a little more needy, and it was riveting. Amazing.

TC: I was just hanging on, he was directing me the whole time [laughs all around].

Q: Was it hard to emote in the mask?

TC: I really just take it off of Cameron. I just started playing the scenes, finding behaviors with that character. Different head turns, and the way that the camera will kind of just watch me. I find when I’m working on a character, I’m always thinking about it, and always trying to find things. But it was tricky. You never think of these things, but how do you mike the mask? We tried inside the mask, we tried booming the mask, and then I got very good at looping the mask [laughs all around]. So it was tricky, but it was fun.

Q: Many people would say that you’re taking a commercial risk, masking and scarring one of People’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World.”

CC: I’m working my way up the list [laughs all around]. I started at the top, what can I say?

Q: Cameron, how important was the music to the making of the film?

CC: We played a lot of that music while we were making it. That’s when the movie starts to get a feel. We listened to Radiohead and “Kid A” constantly, especially here in New York. And then the band Sigur Ros, from Iceland. Sigur Ros had never given their music to a movie, except I think a small movie in Iceland, and they let us use their music. That really influenced the movie. We couldn’t find the right piece of music to end the movie with, and I went to see Sigur Ros in LA. They played a song called the Nothing Song, and it was like, “We gotta get it!”

Q: What are your thoughts on music and rock and roll as a universal language in the film?