Raúl Castillo never liked his voice. It was loud and clown-like as a child, and he thought the deep, gravelly mutter he developed as a teenager was too unpolished for the screen.

And yet, after captivating audiences as Richie on HBO's Looking, Castillo is bound for the kind of Hollywood clout he once considered inconceivable. This year, the 40-year-old Manhattan-based actor's roles --&nbsp;a psych ward patient in Steven Soderbergh's thriller,&nbsp;Unsane; narcotics detective Felix Osorio on&nbsp;Netflix's racial drama,&nbsp;Seven Seconds&nbsp;--&nbsp;emanate grit, range and his own passionate convictions.

Castillo’s latest is the compelling, rough-hewn drama <a href="https://www.wetheanimals.film/" target="_blank">We the Animals</a>, which opens in theaters on Aug. 17 and has garnered acclaim and comparisons to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.etonline.com/moonlight-writer-tarell-alvin-mccraney-meeting-oprah-and-new-tv-series-86715" target="_blank">Moonlight</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;Beasts of the Southern Wild since premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Innovator Award. Based on author Justin Torres' 2011 debut novel, director Jeremiah Zagar's coming-of-age drama illuminates the heartbreaking effects of a fraught love on three siblings (portrayed by Josiah Gabriel, Isaiah Kristian and Evan Rosado) with a dreamy sense of escapist serenity amid familial havoc. Castillo plays the flawed father figure, Paps, with <a href="https://www.etonline.com/we-the-animals-and-snowpiercer-actress-sheila-vand-is-one-to-watch-exclusive-101221">Sheila Vand</a> starring as Ma.

The film's surrealist interpretation of parental complexities adheres to Castillo's longstanding proclivity for stimulating and meaningful storytelling. "That was the most important script that I had come across,” he tells ET of Zagar and Daniel Kitrosser's screenplay. Certain they’d pass on him, the actor&nbsp;says that "once they showed interest in me for the role, there was no looking back.”

To inhabit Paps, an abusive, working-class man with a hot temper and a tender heart, Castillo reflected deeply and personally on fatherhood. He thought about his own father, Raúl H. Castillo, Sr., who died in 2014, and his dad's dad, who, like Paps, was known to be complicated. Castillo drew upon those personal relationships, and his own desire to become a father, to create what is a complex portrait of a troubled but loving father.

"Empathy is one of our greatest assets as actors," he says. "People are capable of doing horrific and benevolent things, but at the same time, we're all complicated, so I think it's my job not to judge this character."

Growing up in the Texas bordertown of&nbsp;McAllen, Castillo hoped to be an actor one day. It was during high school that he befriended <a href="https://www.etonline.com/vida-is-tanya-sarachos-love-letter-to-brown-queerness-and-latinx-community-exclusive-103923" target="_blank">Tanya Saracho</a>, who is now a TV writer (Looking, How to Get Away With Murder) and creator of the Starz drama Vida. Teachers "never pushed me like Tanya did," Castillo says, recalling she was "a boss before she was a boss.” Saracho encouraged him to pursue playwriting at Boston University College of Fine Arts.

As an Off-Broadway playwright and stage actor --&nbsp;his sonorous voice particularly well-suited for a large theater, he notes --&nbsp;Castillo regularly wrote plays for student-run playwright festivals and later produced work that explored his cultural background as a Mexican-American, including two personal plays focused on life at the U.S.-Mexican border: Border Stories and a 2015 dark comedy called Between You, Me and Lampshade.

Castillo never planned on acting off-stage, at least not with that voice, which made him "very insecure.” Furthermore, he didn’t think there was a place in Hollywood for a Mexican-American immigrant, until other Latinx storytellers, such as John Leguizamo, George Lopez and playwright-actor Miguel Piñero, demonstrated otherwise.

“When I heard George Lopez’s comedy, it meant something to me, because he was talking about a family like mine,” he says. “It gave me --&nbsp;and us as a family --&nbsp;something to rally around, and a real hope and a sense that we belonged, and that we are part of the fabric of this country.”

<div class="ctd-shortcode" data-ctd-caption="Raul Castillo with Josiah Gabriel, Isaiah Kristian and Evan Rosado in &amp;#039;We the Animals.&amp;#039;" data-ctd-entity-type="media" data-ctd-entity-uuid="6d4d7c04-231d-4351-afd5-0b4b540b215a" data-ctd-shortcode-id="image" data-ctd-view-mode="content_full">&nbsp;</div>

His breakthrough came in 2014 on HBO’s short-lived gay dramedy, <a href="https://www.etonline.com/features/193700_looking_the_movie_after_orlando" target="_blank">Looking</a>. For two seasons and a TV movie, Castillo played the love interest of Patrick (Jonathan Groff) on the show about a group of friends in San Francisco. Castillo's character, which introduced the actor to a larger audience and LGBTQ icon status, eschewed stereotypical media portrayals of gay Latinos and “revealed me to the industry in a really wonderful way,” he says.

In the years since, he’s become a recurring player on Netflix series --&nbsp;Atypical and Seven Seconds&nbsp;--&nbsp;and appeared in the films&nbsp;Special Correspondents and Permission. Originally slated to <a href="https://deadline.com/2018/07/one-day-at-a-time-sheridan-pierce-raul-castillo-set-recur-1202419992/" target="_blank">join the third season</a> of Netflix’s reboot of <a href="https://www.etonline.com/rita-moreno-is-playing-a-dream-role-70-years-into-her-career-exclusive-95885" target="_blank">On</a><a href="https://www.etonline.com/rita-moreno-is-playing-a-dream-role-70-years-into-her-career-exclusive-95885" target="_blank">e Day at a Time</a>, Castillo confirms without explanation that he’ll no longer be joining the Latinx-led comedy.

“Bigger and better things are coming is the only thing I can probably say about that,” he says. One such example is joining Vida season two as Baco, a handyman with a questionable past, allowing the actor to reunite with Saracho on her hit Starz series.

The biggest and best --&nbsp;and, for the actor, the most groundbreaking of his purposeful career --&nbsp;just might be El Chicano, featuring an all-Latinx cast including Emilio Rivera, Aimee Garcia and Castillo’s childhood hero, George Lopez. Set to premiere at the L.A. Film Festival in September, the brooding, urban-inspired noir, is stuntman and TV director Ben Hernandez Bray's feature directorial debut.

"I'm really proud to be a part of a project that is hopefully gonna be at the forefront of that change,” Castillo says, adding that the expansion of minority-driven TV and film “needs to happen more.”

&nbsp;

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Chris Azzopardi

field_byline

Features

Raúl Castillo Is Building a Career on Breaking Barriers for the Latinx Community (Exclusive)

Dan Levydelivered one of <a href="https://www.etonline.com/emmys-2018-the-best-performances-on-tv-103746" target="_blank">ET's Standout Performances</a> of the 2017-18 season. 
&nbsp;

Co-created by Dan Levy and his father, Eugene, Schitt’s Creek was presented as a fish-out-of-water sitcom about a snobbish, rich family -- the Roses -- stripped of their opulence and forced to rebuild their lives in a small town when it first premiered in February 2016 on Pop. While they bemoan their new existence, Johnny (Eugene Levy) and Moira (Catherine O'Hara), and their two kids Alexis (Annie Murphy) and David (Dan Levy) -- the very definition of narcissism and privilege -- soon discover alternative lives that may not be as bad as they once seemed.

Initially, while bitingly funny, any fondness or empathy for the Roses didn’t seem possible. But over the course of the series, something’s changed. Schitt's Creek got softer and sweeter. In the show's third and fourth seasons, David finds the courage to hug Alexis, Moira tries to be a caring mom to a sick Alexis, and David lets his walls come tumbling down after being serenaded by his boyfriend, Patrick (Noah Reid).

Now, this word-of-mouth comedy is making its fans both cry and laugh and cry again as it continues to gain more fans in the U.S. -- yes, even Carol Burnett -- and earn its first nomination in an American awards show.

In a conversation with ET, Dan Levy talked about full-circle moments (including a <a href="https://twitter.com/danjlevy/status/985252616656404480">Mariah Carey retweet</a>), writing for his dad and what's to come for the Roses as he looks ahead to their upcoming Christmas special and season five.

&nbsp;

ET: When did you know that Americans had finally discovered what Canadians and gays already knew as TV’s best-kept secret? 

Dan Levy: I do feel like we've been building toward this, and the intention of the show from the very beginning was to have the audience grow with these people. We've been peeling back the layers [of these characters], and I think by the time we got to our fourth season, which I think was the fuzziest in terms of the sentimentality marrying with comedy, we were in a place culturally where people were ready to accept that kind of humor. I do feel like the fan base has grown in a very organic way, and it's a very rewarding feeling as a storyteller because it means that what we're doing is working and that we're not just sustaining people, we're actually continuing to excite, which is wonderful.

Even though it's won 13 Canadian Screen Awards, your MTV Movie &amp; TV Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance is the first time the show has been honored by any U.S. awards show. What did that feel like?

I was floored. Does Catherine O'Hara deserve an Emmy? Absolutely. Is the show big enough to get people's attention? Who knows. But I think the work is there for her. But [the MTV nomination] is a wonderful thing -- and I've worked at MTV. I was a VJ at MTV and actually hosted the Movie Awards red carpet one year about 10 years ago. I was such a bad red carpet host.

I don't believe you!

Oh, no, it was so bad. Because you have to ask people like, "Hey, Sienna Miller, what are you wearing?" And I knew in my head, this is not my job. I have the utmost respect for red carpet interviewers; it is such a hard job. It was at that moment when I was like, I think I have something else to do. And to have this full-circle moment where I'm now being recognized by MTV at the same sort of award show that I started out as a host, I mean, it's just the most rewarding.

Was it then that you began developing Schitt's Creek? 

I left the year after, so I would say it was about a year and a half later when we started working on the show. But I will say I will not expect to win in any way. I'm pretty sure people are looking at me on that list being like, "Who is this person?"

How has the cast dynamic changed since the pilot episode? Is there a different rhythm to the way you and your co-stars interact on set?

For us, we were lucky enough to start right off the bat with a cast who just were these people, and we didn't have to find voices because our cast was so strong and was so deeply embedded into the characters to begin with. Comedy is not easy to begin with, but comedy that also dances with drama, it's so hard. And with a team of actors young and old who have inspired me on the daily -- they make it look so easy, and it's really not. We've really grown as a family.

Is that same comedy-drama dance one that will carry into the next season?

I think so. Inherently, there will be a little more weight to everything because the audience cares about these people and they're rooting for them. And that's what life is, I think.

<div class="ctd-shortcode" data-ctd-caption="The cast of &amp;#039;Schitt&amp;#039;s Creek&amp;#039; in a scene from season four." data-ctd-entity-type="media" data-ctd-entity-uuid="e665d0b5-c76b-4154-bf05-78bc8a1206de" data-ctd-shortcode-id="image" data-ctd-view-mode="content_full">&nbsp;</div>

Does art imitate life? Are these storylines taken from your life with your dad and the rest of your family? 

There are a few moments. Like any writing team, everyone puts their own experiences into it. I think my dad is closer to the character of Johnny than I am to David, which makes it fun for us to write for him because I'm so aware of what he will be excited by in terms of just comedy. The more you work with any cast, the more you're able to write little isms into the dialogue that speak on a slightly more intimate level to the actual actor playing the part. That's been really fun. The more I get to know Annie, the more I get to write about her in ways that, as a brother and sister duo outside of the show now -- we feel like that as friends now -- I'm able to put in a jab here and there. She'll be like, "So, talking about my natural deodorant? Is that a personal thing or is that a character thing?" And I'm like, "Well, we'll never know, now will we?"

Who gets to take jabs at you then? 

Well, I'm the most self-deprecating person on the whole show! Everything from David's tendency to overeat to his complete self-deprecation, I mean, all those things come from my own little well. I think if you can't make fun of yourself, then what are you doing? I don't think I am quite as boldly confident as David is. I question things a little bit more. You can't constantly live at a 10.

David has such stilted, dramatic speech affectation, and his many facial contortions; how did you go about creating those David characteristics? 

I can only describe it as: If there were no rules in terms of social etiquette, what would I look like? How would we all manifest how we feel on our faces if social etiquette or manners or any kind of social norms were never in place? That was sort of the jumping-off point for David, a person who has absolutely no filter over how he reacts to situations. Everything is dramatic. Every sort of problem is a monstrous catastrophe. Nothing is ever easy, nothing is ever peaceful. And this is a character that, in sort of his own way, thrives in chaos. The physicality of it, despite my constant fear that I'm just mugging for the camera.

Is that really a fear of yours?

Yeah. I think it's a tricky thing, because you don't ever want to make a character feel like a caricature. For me, it's always making sure that we don't get into cartoon land. I'm always sort of running to the director being like, "Was it too big?" because it can get a bit crazy at times.

Did you know from the beginning it'd be a boyfriend who would expose David's heart to us? 

Yeah. I knew he was going to get a boyfriend, and this person was going to be the perfect counterbalance to his sort of neurotic, anxiety-ridden self.

How many takes did you do <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxFNzh3CJZU">for your version</a> of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzCKi7NGg4U">how many did Noah do</a>? 

What Noah did for that song was so brilliant. He could just keep singing it and I would just keep crying [laughs]. He just knocked it out of the park. For me, I showed up to set not knowing anything about what I was going to do with it. All I did was learn the lyrics to the song. I hadn't choreographed anything. I had no real plan. I didn't know how it would even look. I was in the process of doing my writing job, and it was only at lunch that I thought, Oh, I have this after lunch. So, I had my assistant run out and get a bottle of prosecco, and Noah and I consumed a bottle of prosecco at lunch and then went in there. I would say 90 percent of what you saw was the very first take that I did. But it was also easy because I'd found the gesture of the character itself so liberating for him. This is someone who had never experienced love before. I sort of sat in that character for a minute and thought, This is what you have to do: You have to wear a leather Givenchy sweater and dance around in a room and show this person that you mean business.

In the season four finale, Patrick professed his love to David, telling him, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-RIuSAlh9s">You're my Mariah Carey</a>." So, when is Mariah Carey getting her cameo on Schitt's Creek?

[Laughs] Um, listen, you never know. It's a strange thing. I think everyone has their people that sort of trigger an emotional, full-circle-moment response. I have been a Mariah Carey fan -- hers was one of the first CDs I ever bought. As a little gay kid, I was obsessed with Mariah Carey, and then this moment [when she <a href="https://twitter.com/MariahCarey/status/985231762488950784">tweeted about the show</a>], it triggered a very excited, emotional response in me, because not only does it mean she's aware of the show, but she's aware of that scene. She's aware of that relationship! Or, she could've just retweeted it or someone else could've done it for her. But either way it came from her account, and yeah, I'm running with it.

<div class="ctd-shortcode" data-ctd-caption="Noah Reid and Dan Levy in a scene from &amp;#039;Schitt&amp;#039;s Creek.&amp;#039;" data-ctd-entity-type="media" data-ctd-entity-uuid="2bf16d1e-b8cb-4297-bb50-2938e51f9cfc" data-ctd-shortcode-id="image" data-ctd-view-mode="content_full">&nbsp;</div>

I bet you could work Mariah into the Jazzagals, the town's all-female a capella group, at some point. 

Or she'll just be stopping by Rose Apothecary and picking up a few things some time soon.

But you better get the plungers out of the front. Mariah would not find that acceptable. 

I'll be laying down a red carpet for that one. It'll be her and Carol Burnett in the same episode, and we'll just see what happens.

About Carol: What went through your mind when she told Jimmy Kimmel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5wGmAHCHHw">she binges your show</a>? 

First of all, I immediately just started picturing Carol Burnett flipping through Netflix, which brought me a lot of joy. You know, it's a small show. We shoot it in Canada, it's very tiny, and we don't ever imagine the scope of it. But these unsolicited endorsements? It's great. So, you know, Carol singing your praises, I mean, who is bigger than that in comedy? I don't know where you go from there.

Do you think we will ever see the Roses back in the poshness of their natural habitat?

I can't say either way. I will say that we have a holiday episode that is coming out in December and there are things that happen in that episode that we've never seen before. It's a longer episode than normal. I ended up directing it with a very close friend of mine from film school, actually. And we may or may not see a little bit of their past. Who knows. But I've always been a big fan of the Downton Abbey Christmas special. I love a good holiday special. So it was a dream to make one. I think a Schitt's Creek Holiday is a very special episode and the first episode that I directed.

What are the Roses like at Christmas? 

They don't handle the holidays well, is what I'll say.

What are you most looking forward to about season five?

Like anything, we try to build and expand the show. We try to continue to push our characters and excite our actors by throwing them into situations that we haven't seen before. I think there's some big life stuff that happens this year that is really exciting.

Exciting or sad?

Exciting!

I'm looking for reasons to cry.

There will be! I think at this point there will always be that emotional undercurrent. There's an episode I wrote this season that I think is my favorite episode we've ever done. It's certainly an incredibly meaningful episode for me on a personal level, and I just wept through the whole thing. You weep for a bunch of reasons, but I think as a showrunner I take such pride in our team -- not just our actors, [but] in our writing team, in our art department -- that to watch something come together with that kind of synergy and have it sing to me is an incredibly moving experience. And when you couple that with a storyline that I have waited a long time to tell, it's a gift. Not a day goes by that I'm not totally grateful for the opportunity.

&nbsp;

This interview has been edited and condensed. 

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For most of his TV career, T.R. Knight has looked like, well, T.R. Knight.

On five seasons of Grey's Anatomy, it took only the slightest embellishment -- shaggy hair, scrubs, a white lab coat -- to physically transform the actor into Dr. George O'Malley, a Seattle Grace Hospital surgical intern-turned-resident.

In fact, most of Knight’s TV roles have purely depended on the actor’s ability to fully embody characters, ranging from Jordan Karahalios, Peter Florrick's campaign manager and Eli Gold's rival on season four of The Good Wife, to an abusive husband on Hulu's Stephen King adaptation 11.22.63; or as Alice’s (Mireille Enos) unbearable brother, Tommy Vaughan, on season two of ABC's dramedy The Catch. The latter marked his <a href="https://www.etonline.com/tv/193603_tr_knight_back_the_shonda_rhimes_universe" target="_blank">return to Shonda Rhimes’ TGIT lineup</a>, which was “surprising and fantastic” for Knight to get that call “because, obviously, for Shonda, working with her again,” he tells ET, “but also because I had been a fan of Mireille's for 13 years since I first saw her on Broadway” in the 2005 revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

But it’s Knight’s chameleonic transformations for National Geographic Channel’s Genius anthology series that’s earned him attention and critical praise. Sometimes spending up to seven hours in a makeup trailer, the actor was unrecognizable as J. Edgar Hoover in 2017's Einstein and now in Picasso as French poet and painter Max Jacob, Pablo Picasso's confidant harboring an unrequited romantic love for the famous Spanish artist.

“As an actor, so much of your time is spent unemployed, so when you get to work and when you get challenged, it gets to be the cherry on top of the cherry on top of the cherry,” Knight says. “Having that challenge is so exciting, and it's rare.”

Unlike Picasso, who is portrayed by Alex Rich and <a href="https://www.etonline.com/antonio-banderas-reflects-on-genius-and-what-salma-hayek-told-him-about-harvey-weinstein-exclusive" target="_blank">Antonio Banderas</a> at varying ages, Knight -- still blessed with a baby face at 45 years old -- embodies the full range of Jacob’s life on the series, sometimes shooting the painter as a young man and a sexagenarian in the same day.

Younger Jacob relied on nose, lip and hair alterations to transform the actor, while the older version of the character required Knight to wear full facial prosthetics to get into the wrinkled skin of advanced age. Peeling off the jelly goop affixed to his face at the end of the day was like “coming out of a cocoon.” It’s a process, he admits, that “makes me a little nauseous, I’m not gonna lie. It’s fascinating, but it’s a little gross.” Bringing Jacob to life was a collaborative effort between the actor and the makeup team, who are “building the character with you,” Knight says, “so when you’re they’re done, they hand you the baton and you carry that on set.”

<div class="ctd-shortcode" data-ctd-caption="T.R. Knight as Max Jacob in episode four of &amp;quot;Genius: Picasso.&amp;quot;" data-ctd-entity-type="media" data-ctd-entity-uuid="6aa8f894-2da5-48b2-bbea-bb0940a1a5f0" data-ctd-shortcode-id="image" data-ctd-view-mode="content_full">&nbsp;</div>

The stakes on Genius were higher, too.

“Even if this was, say, a fictional character, not a real talking, walking, breathing human being, there would still be a respect due,” Knight says, “but it intensifies tenfold when it's a real person and you have to honor that.” It's a new challenge, he says, to portray real historical figures like Hoover and Jacob on Genius, and LGBT advocate Chad Griffin on ABC’s When We Rise.

However, feeling buoyed by the Genius cast and crew, Knight found himself taking more acting risks. They pay off, especially during one affecting scene where Jacob expresses his affection for Picasso only to have Picasso, as gently as he possibly can, affirm he loves him back -- just not romantically. “It’s painful, it’s honest, it’s raw and it’s difficult,” the actor says. "And, you know, it’s something I can’t take credit for because they don’t let me write it -- and they should not let me write it.”

Knight laughs, though the actor certainly deserves credit for the glazed look in his eyes, conveying the sunken feeling of a heart that's been smashed to smithereens. He relished getting to explore the depths of Jacob: his sexuality, his heartbreak and his tremendous artistic influence on Picasso. Of Jacob's sexuality, Knight, also gay, says, “It was a very shared expression. The sad part is, that was a long time ago, but times have not changed enough.”

Just before he was to be sent to a Nazi concentration camp, Jacob died of pneumonia in 1944 at the age of 67, but Genius maintains focus on his enduring friendship with Picasso. “Especially in the story we tell, it wasn't easy and it was very fraught, but there was no denying the love they had for each other,” Knight says. “It teaches by example in the kind of generosity that they had for each other. There's an honesty there that they constantly go back to, no matter how hard their friendship gets.”

Ultimately, playing someone -- especially the likes of Jacob -- who is so far from O’Malley is a “very uncommon experience,” says Knight, who grew up watching actors at the Guthrie Theater regularly slip into new personas in a single day, during the matinee and evening shows, while growing up in Minneapolis. “That gets my acting nerd going. So, to be able to do that in a film setting for a film performance, it's so rare and so incredibly exciting.”

&nbsp;

<a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/genius/" target="_blank">Genius</a> airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on the National Geographic Channel.

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How T.R. Knight Transformed into Artist Max Jacob for ‘Genius: Picasso’ (Exclusive)

Antonio Banderas was in New York City when his TV addiction started. He was performing in the 2003 Broadway revival of Nine&nbsp;and his demanding lead role made him "totally paranoid about preserving my vocal cords."

So, Banderas quietly slipped back into his hotel room at Trump Tower after each performance and watched HBO's lauded drama about a family of caretakers, Six Feet Under, on DVD. That show, and the dawn of Netflix original programming, enhanced Banderas' TV experience, which transformed from "B-movie" fare, he says, to "reflecting real problems in the world and the complexity of the human spirit."

Even now, he agrees binge-watching is a "drug," and he's embarrassed to confess to ET that he and his girlfriend, Nicole Kimpel, will spend their off-time watching "25 episodes in three days" of whatever show they happen to stumble upon. "We are just attached to the television, like pathologically." Which is why Banderas says, laughing, "I just wanted to see that drug from the other side of the mirror."

The actor has finally made it to that side as Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, his boyhood idol. It was fear that stopped him from playing the role twice before: fear of the story not being done right; fear of it being too soon in his career. Though "time, age, experience" quieted most of the 57-year-old actor's worries when he decided to portray the Guernica painter for National Geographic Channel's anthology series, <a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/u/kctSfmKWRb-agVhYxQkvp0sXXTU5q15lkKW4Y0IwuxK6tjQd902ZcFq8aM3cYw/" target="_blank">Genius: Picasso</a>, premiering tonight, he says it still felt like he was jumping off a cliff. "I hoped there was water down there," he says.

Throughout his four-decade career in America and Spain, Banderas has scaled the pantheon of film genre, proving nothing is out of reach. Not Spanish art films (he's been in seven of famed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's features), not family fare (the four Shrek films, and its spinoff, Puss in Boots), not swashbuckling action flicks (Zorro), not movie musicals with Madonna (Evita) or spaghetti Westerns (Desperado) or groundbreaking AIDS dramas (1993's Philadelphia, his first American film). His goal, always: “I try just to be very factual,” and in Picasso's case, "as a human being, he's not thinking, 'I am good or I am bad.’”

Genius lets you know the kind of complicated genius Picasso was, mining the complexities and controversies of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and the convergence of global and personal affairs -- his relationships with many, many women, whom he once referred to as “goddesses or doormats” -- that influenced his radical works of art. “Solitude is the only thing he gets at the end -- not his kids, not his women, not his friend. Just a man, alone,” Banderas says.

<div class="ctd-shortcode" data-ctd-caption="Malaga, Spain - Antonio Banderas (Pablo Picasso) with Samantha Colley (Dora Maar) in a scene from &amp;quot;Genius.&amp;quot;" data-ctd-entity-type="media" data-ctd-entity-uuid="24509da8-285c-4892-a246-46d954d5a82b" data-ctd-shortcode-id="image" data-ctd-view-mode="content_full">&nbsp;</div>

Nearly a century later, as the Me Too movement and subsequent Time's Up initiative have revealed the abuses and harassment of women in Hollywood, these consequences are resurfacing. In December 2017, Banderas was one of the first people to call Salma Hayek, his co-star in Desperado, Frida and Puss in Boots, after the actress published her essay, "Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too," in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/13/opinion/contributors/salma-hayek-harvey-weinstein.html">The New York Times</a>.

“It was important to reach out to her because she’s my dear friend,” Banderas says. “We are very good friends, and” -- his voice drops, signaling disbelief -- ”I didn’t know. I wanted to know. That’s why I immediately called her and said, ‘Salma, why didn’t you tell me?’ And she almost got into tears and she said, ‘Because I wanted to protect you guys. I didn’t want to put you in that position of having to confront a guy who was so powerful. That’s the reason: I didn’t want to damage my friends.’”

Banderas recognizes the wave of necessary change currently sweeping through Hollywood, causing men to rethink their behavior, and causing Banderas to reflect on his own. “It's on everybody's mind,” he says. “I think I’ve always been proper with my fellow actors and with people on sets. I think men in this profession became very reflective about their behavior, and that is a good thing.”

When asked if he, like Picasso, ever faced pressure to create films based on what others thought he should be creating, Banderas demurs. “No, my Spanish story in America is almost like a human personal adventure, not only the movies.” Referring to his marriage of 19 years to Melanie Griffith (the couple divorced in 2005 and have one daughter, Stella Banderas), the actor continues: “It is visiting here [in New York City], being married to an American woman, being on Broadway, visiting Hollywood. You know, it’s not so much about the movies that I did, but about the personal endeavor.”

As he approaches 60, Banderas calls this life juncture a "new adventure." He's played Picasso, at last. He's recovered from last year's <a href="http://www.etonline.com/news/213778_antonio_banderas_reveals_he_had_a_heart_attack_january" target="_blank">heart attack</a>, thankfully. And soon, he'll go full-circle with the auteur who discovered him, Pedro Almodóvar, who cast him in 1982’s Labyrinth of Passion. In July, Banderas teams with co-star Penélope Cruz to begin shooting his eighth Almodóvar film, Dolor y Gloria, which the actor describes as "easy, calm" and "very minimalist," the antithesis of Almodóvar's baroque style.

"I think it’s going to be a moment of introspection," Banderas says, "and that we are going to reflect about our own lives together and about our own lives in relationship with art and movies and life, and with everything that happened that was painful and glorious."

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Antonio Banderas Reflects on ‘Genius’ and What Salma Hayek Told Him About Harvey Weinstein (Exclusive)

In Alan Cumming's latest film, <a href="http://afterlouie.com/" target="_blank">After Louie</a>, the celebrated screen and theater actor, who is back on <a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/instinct/about/" target="_blank">CBS with&nbsp;Instinct</a>, portrays grief-stricken LGBTQ activist Sam Cooper, still mourning the loss of his lover to an AIDS-related death over two decades ago. Enter a carefree, 20-something Braeden Devries (Zachary Booth), who ends up at Sam’s place after the two meet at a bar. Cocktails lead to rough, hand-slapping sex -- and, yes, Cumming watched that very scene with his mom and mother-in-law.

"Can you imagine having your mom there?" Cumming asks ET, laughing as he recalls sitting with both women at Frameline, San Francisco's long-running LGBTQ film festival, in June of last year.

“Grant's mom said, 'I love the sex scenes! I thought they were great!'" he says, referring to Grant Shaffer, his husband of six years. "I was like, ‘Please stop talking about the sex scenes. I do not want to have a discussion with my mother-in-law about me, you know, having my hand over the mouth of someone as I'm penetrating him."

However, plenty of people do want to talk about Cumming being nearly nude in the film, which is now streaming VOD. To appear older for the role, the 53-year-old actor packed on a few additional pounds and grew a beard.

"It's like people dancing -- someone's sexy when they're dancing, when they're comfortable in their own skin and comfortable with their own body, and they can be any size or shape," Cumming says. "So, I'm glad people are thinking, 'Oh, there's a middle-aged man naked.' If that inspires or helps them, you're welcome.”

But After Louie reaches beyond sexual desire, tackling the generational divide that exists between two gay men: Sam, who lived through the AIDS crisis but can't shake its lingering trauma; and Braeden, who's only ever known HIV as a manageable disease.

"As someone who lived through the AIDS crisis and identifies as queer, I can remember feeling scared of AIDS; I can remember feeling angry about the way that people who had HIV were stigmatized," Cumming says, recalling AIDS as "literally a plague."

<div class="ctd-shortcode" data-ctd-caption="Alan Cumming as Sam Cooper in &amp;quot;After Louie.&amp;quot;" data-ctd-entity-type="media" data-ctd-entity-uuid="4f3f779a-43c5-4f61-9315-55b805b9ca6c" data-ctd-shortcode-id="image" data-ctd-view-mode="content_full">&nbsp;</div>

Cumming was struck by first-time director and longtime gay activist Vincent Gagliostro's unique vision, this "schism between these two generations," and believes its queer niche-ness has universal appeal. "Why do we think our stories aren't important enough for a mainstream audience to witness and enjoy? In all sorts of ways we pigeonhole ourselves," he says about LGBTQ-themed cinema.

Cumming understands why, of course: The Scotland-born actor, whose first U.S. feature was 1997's cult comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion opposite Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino and has recently appeared in The Battle of the Sexes and on&nbsp;The Good Wife, had doubts that his personality and sense of humor would be understood in America. But, Cumming says&nbsp;people should be concerned about hearing everybody's story.

"It's actually a great time for this film," he says. "Even the Me Too movement is essentially a kind of treatise on how the older generation has let down their younger peers because they have allowed a behavioral pattern to be unchecked."

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When Cumming revels in the diverse crowd at his New York City nightclub, <a href="https://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipes/26972_alan_cummings_up_and_cumming/" target="_blank">Club Cumming in the East Village</a>, he’s gripped by a sense of kindness as "all genders and sexes and sexualities come and co-mingle, and feel relaxed, safe and happy with each other." Witnessing that melting pot of clubgoers has been his "biggest pride."

Of course, the actor also feels proud that his new procedural, Instinct, debuted on CBS to impressive ratings, spiking during its second episode, which aired after Anderson Cooper’s highly anticipated 60 Minutes interview with adult star Stormy Daniels, who detailed her alleged sexual relationship with the current president. "Our [ratings] went up by a million and a half -- and that, of course, is in part due to the lovely Stormy Daniels, and that's a great thing."

Laughing, Cumming says, "It's the one thing I will ever thank Donald Trump -- for allegedly having sex with Stormy Daniels -- because it made my TV show get better ratings."

Furthermore, the actor praises the sexuality of his character, CIA operative Dylan Reinhart, the first gay lead in a network TV drama, for being "handled really nicely [and] with dignity." "There are millions of people out there in America who have never seen a gay character on TV like this," Cumming adds, "but also have never probably seen a same-sex marriage on their screens, and are seeing one that is happy and supportive and lovely."

For Instinct, the actor shares the same soundstage with fellow CBS legal drama The Good Fight, a spinoff to The Good Wife, on which Cumming spent the series playing crisis manager Eli Gold. In fact, his Instinct dressing room once belonged to Julianna Margulies, while the two shot the CBS drama. As for a cameo on The Good Fight, which stars Sarah Steele as Eli’s daughter, Marissa Gold, who begins work as an investigator for a law firm: "It was in the cards, but it didn't quite work out contractually," Cumming says. "But who knows. It's still a possibility. They just have to cough up, that's all."

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Why Everyone, Including Alan Cumming’s Mother-in-Law, Is Talking About the Actor’s Sex Scenes (Exclusive)

After <a href="http://www.etonline.com/rita-moreno-very-curious-about-west-side-story-remake-says-cameo-moot-question-exclusive-95602" target="_blank">West Side Story</a> won her a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for her lead role as Anita in the 1961 musical, <a href="http://www.etonline.com/people/rita-moreno" target="_blank">Rita Moreno</a> was sure she'd end up in film after film, thwarting Latin stereotypes in Hollywood. But even as the first Hispanic woman to earn an Oscar, the work offered to her was scarce and conventional, leaving the legendary actress crushed when the promising rush of stardom proved not so promising anymore.

Now, at 86, Moreno is having the last laugh, as the adored and very funny abuelita Lydia on Netflix's multicam family comedy <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80095532" target="_blank">One Day at a Time</a>. The timely Latina-led update of the classic sitcom, which premiered in 1975 on CBS, is helmed by Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, while the series' original creator, the now-94-year-old Norman Lear, executive produces.

The show is centered on a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles, the Riera-Alvarez clan, including Lydia's daughter, Penelope, played by <a href="http://www.etonline.com/tv/191821_my_favorite_scene_creator_alan_ball_six_feet_under" target="_blank">Six Feet Under</a> alum Justina Machado, and her grandchildren, Alex (Marcel Ruiz) and Elena (Isabella Gomez) – as they work through a variety of hot-button issues relevant to today's gender paradigm and sociopolitical climate. Penelope is a divorced single mom and Iraq war veteran with PTSD, for one. But with plotlines including Elena's coming out, depression, gender stereotypes, immigration and religion -- and that's just season one -- One Day at a Time isn't afraid to speak its mind with ample heart and humor. Season two furthers its topical commentary by broaching gun control, nonbinary queerness, racism and Lydia's lack of U.S. citizenship.

One of only 12 performers with a coveted EGOT (an Emmy, GRAMMY, Oscar and Tony), Moreno recently opened up to ET about playing the kind of authentic Latina role she could only dream of after West Side Story. During the conversation, Moreno also reflected on how the beginning of her career left her "heartbroken," the current state of Latinx representation on screen, and how One Day at a Time is helping to break ground for Latinx actors.

ET: Why does a Latina-led One Day at a Time feel particularly important right now?

Rita Moreno: Norman Lear seems to have a clock in his head or something. It just seemed the right time. And it’s interesting, because there have been some other Latino-based shows, but there have also been some not-so-good Latino-based shows. Obviously, I'm not gonna mention anyone, because everyone needs their job.

What makes one Latinx show better than another?

Ours is authentic, ours is so respectful of the culture. We don't mess around. And my character could very easily be a Looney Tune and, in fact, we're always very, very mindful of that -- I'm certainly very mindful of that. And she can be theatrical and she can be dramatic, but Looney Tunes is definitely not a part of this series. I think it's extremely important to stick to what Latinos as Latinos recognize and laugh at.

The other great part of this show is that a lot of people who are not Latino are loving it. It's so universal -- that's the word that Norman keeps using. It's a family. And though some problems are strictly related to being Latino, many other issues are not. I mean, in the first season, we had a marvelous show about the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. It really took the VA to task without pointing fingers in any way, and it was hilarious. It was also very serious -- [Penelope] had her shoulder injury from the war and she couldn't get anybody on the phone. I thought it was a tour de force for Justina.

How did this season's racism-centric first episode resonate with you?

Oh, are you kidding? We loved it. One of the most wonderful touches that nobody has ever addressed in these kinds of shows is the fact that Alex is getting picked on because his skin is darker than his sister's, and their mom points out the difference in hue. I don't think anyone has ever even touched that.

The second episode addresses gender neutrality both in terms of the Latinx community and the LGBTQ community. I imagine that's been a lesson for a lot of people the way it was for Lydia. 

Oh, absolutely. And you know, I love that there's just a bit of racist in Lydia. When she says, "Oh, no, no -- we're Spanish," and her granddaughter says, "Mom, we are all colors." But I say, "We're mostly a Spanish." Which to her means white. So, I love that she has this prejudice, because it makes her very real.

What are some of the hot topics covered on the show that have been personally important to you?

Last year, we talked about Lydia’s citizenship and her lack of citizenship, and the whole family was absolutely shocked that she was not a citizen. This time, not only does Lydia become a citizen, but also Schneider [the family’s Canadian landlord, played by Todd Grinnell] has become a citizen, which I thought was kind of neat. And, oh, God -- there are so many hot topics and I can't remember half of them because I'm 86.

The show challenges many stereotypes. After West Side Story, you were seeking to do the same, but studios were offering you a lot of stereotypical Latina roles. 

Actually, I wasn't offered a lot of them -- I was offered some. There was such a dearth of roles. After winning those two awards, I was absolutely heartbroken. I couldn't believe it. I really thought, "Wow, an Oscar and a Golden Globe, what could be bad? My career is made."

The lack of roles -- what do you chalk that up to?

Oh, the same usual kind of thinking: "She's Latina, she played a Latina, and here are some gang movies if you want to do that." And I said, "No, I do not." Nothing came. It was just really, really absolutely devastating. It was hard to believe. I mean, how naive of me, but who knew?

So how did being cast on One Day at a Time feel? 

Oh, my goodness, I can't even find the words for it. I'm so proud to be a part of it. I feel privileged to be working with Norman, whom I dearly love. He and I have a creative love affair going on, in the sense that he just thinks I'm the bee's knees and I thinks he's the cat's meow. We're the two old farts on the show, and I call myself the "fartette."

I wanna be a fartette when I'm 86. 

No -- a fartette is a girl.

Oh, I don't care. We're all about gender-nonconformity here now, aren't we? 

[Laughs] That's great. You've learned from the show!

This season's finale was really emotional. Was it a difficult day for you on set? 

Not at all. No! It wasn't difficult. I did nothing but lay down!

Emotionally, though? 

It was very hard to listen to some of the monologues -- it was hard to listen to Justina. But you know, she always kills me under any circumstances. She's just one hell of an actress and probably the best acting partner I've ever had. She's just sensational. And the granddaughter, Isabella Gomez -- her thing was very sweet and sad and moving.

Do you think this show will hopefully open the doors for more Latinx actors?

I think it will, it absolutely will. Gloria Calderon is doing her own show for a network [the upcoming History of Them on CBS with On Your Feet! star Ana Villafañe]. And you know, we can use two on the air! That would be nice.

We could use Rita Moreno on both, too. 

I'll be sure to tell her that! [Laughs] So, it's terrific. Whenever we can we use Hispanic actors -- not just Hispanic, but black actors, East Indian actors, every kind of nationality, whoever is good for something gets the part, no matter what the nationality.

What are your thoughts on the diversity reflected in this year's Oscar nominations? 

Viola Davis <a href="http://www.etonline.com/news/180549_exclusive_viola_davis_speaks_out_on_oscars_boycott">put it so succinctly</a> when she said as long as there aren't roles for us -- meaning all nationalities -- there will be no awards possible for us. A lot of people say, "Well, why aren't you getting awards?" Well, you have to have the roles first. It's not just one-sided. You have to get the roles. And now I think the Hispanic community has to really start pushing and taking some very much-needed lessons from the black community. They really did it up. They did it up just fine. We have to start doing it, too. We have to unite more and we have to pull for each other more. Did you happen to read the very angry piece that John Leguizamo [creator and star of Latin History for Morons currently on Broadway] wrote for <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7942283/john-leguizamo-essay-latin-underrepresentation-music-movies-vmas-despacito-snub">Billboard</a>? He's one angry Puerto Rican. He was talking to his own people, [saying that it's] nice to say, “Well, I’m lucky to get this part,” but you’ve gotta do more than that as a Hispanic person. So I'm hoping that's gonna start to happen very, very soon.

At the SAG Awards in January, when you presented Morgan Freeman with the Lifetime Achievement honor, you were given a standing ovation.

That was so moving; I started to cry. That was astonishing -- who would expect something like that?

What's it like to be acknowledged in that way by your peers 70 years into your career? 

Oh, that's why I started to cry, because they are my peers. And it was also my peers who helped vote for me when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJOdiMGHGtM">Morgan presented the award to me</a> [in 2014]. It's just fantastic. What went around came around.

&nbsp;

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Rita Moreno Is Playing a Dream Role 70 Years into Her Career (Exclusive)

Nearly 60 years after the original film adaptation of West Side Story hit theaters, Steven Spielberg is reviving the film -- and <a href="http://www.etonline.com/people/rita-moreno" target="_blank">Rita Moreno</a>, star of the 1961 classic, is "very curious about that."

"If it's going to be a contemporary version, then I would imagine that (the music) has to be rap," Moreno, 86, tells ET. "And if there is that, what happens to the songs? What are the dances going to look like? Are we not going to have the (West Side Story choreographer) Jerome Robbins dances? I'm just guessing that it'll be really, completely different."

Directed by Robbins and Robert Wise, Moreno played Anita in the legendary musical about two New York gangs and the tragic love story of a man and a woman caught in the middle. Winner of 10 Academy Awards, more than any other movie musical, the film was groundbreaking for Latina actresses, as Moreno became the first Hispanic woman to win Best Supporting Actress.

"I don't know of any teenagers that sing or dance like beasts," Moreno says, regarding the remake’s casting. "What's most important, I believe, is the dancing ability; you can always loop in someone else's voice, but you really can't fake the dancing."

With Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner penning the script, Spielberg's version is already shaping up to be authentically diverse, as the film's <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkHarrisNYC/status/956695213858279424" target="_blank">recent casting call</a> is specifically <a href="https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Casting-Call-Goes-Out-for-Steven-Spielbergs-WEST-SIDE-STORY-Remake-20180125" target="_blank">seeking Spanish-speaking and Latinx actors</a>. (The original notably cast white actors as members of the Sharks, the Puerto Rican gang.) &nbsp;Moreno is hopeful that one character in particular, Anybodys, originally played by Susan Oakes, will finally be able to live her authentic life onscreen.

"Anybodys can be what she was always meant to be: a lesbian," Moreno says about the tomboy character.&nbsp;"That's really what she was and what she was meant to be, but at the time that was as far as they could go."

Currently starring in the second season of Netflix's One Day at a Time, as Lydia, the family's beloved abuelita, would Moreno be interested in a cameo in Spielberg's West Side Story?

"There are no [older] women in this movie, so it's a moot question," she says. "You hear Maria's mother calling her -- I could do that!"

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Garrett Hedlund is contemplating his hair color: once sandy blond, as a model for L.L. Bean and Teen magazine, now, 15 years into his acting career, a deep brown. As the hair has darkened, so have the roles.

"The towhead in me is quickly vanishing," he jokes to ET. "You know, there might have been more days prior where I spent a little more time in the sun, and now maybe I'm more of a hermit and that's the result. Also, we had to dye it for a film, Lullaby [2014], and I don't know if it's ever recovered from that."

Nonetheless, the deeper tresses have complemented the darker tones of his captivating work on screen recently, with a haunting turn in Netflix's <a href="http://www.etonline.com/et-obsessions-mudbound-jane-virgin-companion-novel-and-more-91024">Mudbound</a> and now in <a href="https://www.hbo.com/mosaic" target="_blank">Mosaic</a>, a gritty Steven Soderbergh-directed crime drama, premiering Jan. 22 on HBO.

Hedlund plays Joel Hurley, an aspiring artist cast under world-famous children's author Olivia Lake's (<a href="http://www.etonline.com/people/sharon-stone" target="_blank">Sharon Stone</a>) seductive spell, in the twisty, experimental six-part miniseries, which also stars Paul Reubens, Beau Bridges and Frederick Weller. When Olivia goes missing, an investigation finds that Hurley may have been involved with her disappearance -- depending on who you believe.

Hedlund was hooked from the get-go, before the show was a show. Initially designed solely as an interactive app, wherein users navigate the story's wild turns for a unique, individual experience much like a video game, Hedlund's interest in Mosaic was piqued just knowing Soderbergh would be occupying the director's chair.

"I was open to whatever was going to happen," the 33-year-old actor says. "I just always want to work with great directors and learn and grow, and that's exactly what I got to do."

Furthermore, Hedlund relished the three-month break between shooting the present-day and flashback scenes. Is that how long it took Hedlund to grow an as-full-as-he-can-grow beard for the flashbacks? Hedlund unleashes a hearty laugh.

"You know, hereditarily, I'm sort of blessed with horrible facial hair," he says, "but it was funny in terms of, we weren't given that [flashback] script until a week before. It was more exciting than fearful for me."

<div class="ctd-shortcode" data-ctd-caption="Garrett Hedlund and Jennifer Ferrin in a scene from &amp;#039;Mosaic.&amp;#039;" data-ctd-entity-type="media" data-ctd-entity-uuid="8ef275a1-cb76-420c-b38a-f9c33498d3f2" data-ctd-shortcode-id="image" data-ctd-view-mode="content_full">&nbsp;</div>

Then, of course, there's Stone, whom Hedlund met for the first time at the Grey Gardens home in Long Island, New York, right before he shot 2011's Country Strong. "She appeared to not remember," he says, laughing, noting they took a photo together. But Hedlund was still mesmerized by Stone's presence when they teamed up for Mosaic. "It was a similar fascination [to Soderbergh]. I mean, obviously, I looked across the room and was like, Man, that's Sharon Stone, and my character within that views Olivia Lake in that same fashion."

Soderbergh, he says, got a kick out of his personal Stone story and thought "it was just perfect" for nurturing their onscreen chemistry. But Hedlund is a revelation to behold, as Soderbergh showcases the actor's capacity for intensely haunting performance and the capability of his ever-expressive eyes to reveal a story all on their own.

For additional proof, look no further than <a href="http://www.etonline.com/director-dee-rees-stakes-her-claim-mudbound-exclusive-91469">Dee Rees</a>' critically acclaimed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAZWhFI9lLQ" target="_blank">Mudbound</a>, starring Carey Mulligan, Jason Mitchell, Golden Globe nominee Mary J. Blige and Hedlund as World War II soldier Jamie McAllan, who combats his racist father's bigotry upon his return home to rural Mississippi.

Hedlund felt compelled to work with Rees based on her talent alone -- the same reason he worked with director <a href="http://www.etonline.com/movies/154404_the_story_behind_angelina_jolie_passion_project_unbroken">Angelina Jolie</a> for 2014's Unbroken and writer-director Shana Feste on Country Strong. Gender, he says, is not necessarily a consideration when it comes to the filmmakers who interest him. In fact, of three movies he's currently considering for 2018, he confirms two are directed by women.

"People will ask if there's anything different, and I don’t see why the question is even a question, because they're all artists, they're all geniuses and they're passionate, and that passion is infectious," he says. "I would work with a female director any day of the week in comparison [to a male director] if it keeps going the way it's been going for me. There's no boundaries, no divide. And I've never seen it that way or feel it that way, and I'm proud to have been a part of the [films] I've been [a part of]."

Though his awards-caliber performance in Mudbound speaks for itself, Hedlund professes that he now has a keener sense of the kinds of stories that appeal to him as an actor. His criteria: "Has this been seen before? Has it been done before? Do I care to watch this? And I don't want to knock on Hallmark, but is it a TV movie?"

"The films that inspired me to become an actor were ones that moved me emotionally," he explains, "so what I look for is something that I hope would move others or transform my perspective on the world and life and love."

Hedlund's latest drama <a href="http://www.sundance.org/projects/burden#/" target="_blank">Burden</a>, which premiered over the weekend at Sundance, satisfies his desire for rich, affecting filmmaking. Starring alongside Andrea Riseborough, Forest Whitaker and Usher Raymond, the actor leads as real-life clansman Mike Burden, who opened the first KKK memorabilia shop but becomes a changed man thanks to an African-American reverend (Whitaker). Hedlund was first struck by writer-director Andrew Heckler's tale of redemption and love, but moreover, "I was really excited for this side of a love story," he says, cracking up. "This is the first script that had me being with a lady in a long time!"

Now, armed with some of the most buzzy roles of his career, Hedlund says, "I've gained a bravery and a freedom to know that I can possibly do anything that I want to put my mind to." A very different attitude than when he made Troy with Brad Pitt 14 years prior, when he didn’t "know anything about being on set."

Hedlund's newfound fearlessness means that, yes, he's game for taking on James Bond -- that is, if it's directed by Rees, who <a href="http://variety.com/video/dee-rees-mudbound-variety-cover-shoot/">expressed interest</a> in directing a Hedlund-as-Bond movie last year. "With her doing anything, I'd be on her team," he insists. "If she's the captain of the ship, I'd be on that boat any day."

Hedlund the lover? Hedlund the action hero? So much change -- something this former towhead is wholeheartedly embracing.

"At the beginning, I thought I knew what I wanted and didn't want," Hedlund says, "and now I feel like I do know what I do want and don't want, and I know how far I'll go and I know what chances I will and won't take. And, really, what I've found is there are no chances I won't take."

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