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It’s likely you’ve seen Clifton Collins Jr. but haven’t known it. He took on Captain Kirk and company as Ayel, Nero’s right hand man in Star Trek as well as making Chev Chelios’ life more of a living hell as El Huron in Crank: High Voltage. Entertainment has spanned his family for generations, notably with his grandfather Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez who did a number of roles in the 1950s and 60s, the best known being his take as an innkeeper in Rio Bravo. Likely Pedro would be proud of his grandson, who’s coming into his own with projects like Boondock Saints II, a new Mike Judge film, and even taking a turn behind the camera.

I was fortunate enough to catch up with Mr. Collins Jr. and discuss his recent turns in blockbusters, his grandfather, and his hand in directing. The interview was conducted around the time of his birthday so that’s why there’s well wishes at the start.

First of all, this isn’t a question but happy birthday to you!

Thank you for the birthday wishes! I was planning on skipping it this year,
but then I got invited to go to the CMT awards with my Zac Brown family to
partake it the celebration of The Zac Brown Band double CMT nomination! A
bit surreal I must confess!

You’ve directed two music videos for the Zac Brown Band (“Chicken Fried” and
“Whatever It Is”.) Do you plan to jump into features sometime in the future
or strictly keeping it to acting for now?

I am already in a deep collaboration with producers on a film that I am very
passionate about. I believe that a love of story telling can be explored in
many different avenues. That’s one of the reasons why I like country music
so much, the stories. However, to answer your question, yes, I am moving on
to directing movies.

How did you land the gig directing the two music videos?

It all started with a phone call about the writer’s strike. My manager, Kim
Callahan, told me that it was gonna start to get slow. Needing a creative
outlet, I called John Black from the “Soul of John Black”, and asked if he
had a video to a particular song that I really liked. He said “No’ and then
I told him that  I had this fun idea for a video where I could also Tap
dance to, which is something that my grandfather got me doing at the age of
7, but I’ve never done in front of the camera. John Black was down. After
that I did another video for him and with those two videos my managers at
ROAR were able to show Zac Brown, who they also represented. Zac was in
between labels and their song “CHICKEN FRIED” was burning up the charts. He
said I loved your dance video (can be viewed here) on the stoop and then he began to meticulously
take apart my 2nd video like a master mechanic it was then that I realized I
was dealing with a full blown artist in every definition of the word! Zac is
a badass! Collaborating with him was an artists dream. The rest is history
as they say.

I know in order to film the videos you had five days off of Extract, a new
Mike Judge comedy. What’s your role in that flick and could you provide any
insight to what it’s about?

In the GENIUS Mike Judge’s film EXTRACT, I play a simple guy named STEP. I
have a little accident at work, that would be most men’s greatest fears next
to dating Lorena Bobbit, and this extremely beautiful woman named CINDY,
played by the most profoundly talented Mila Kunis finds out about this.
CINDY tries to blind me with her alleged love, all the while trying to get
me to sue this major company that I work for, but all I want to do is to
earn my keep and become a “somebody” in this company.


Your grandfather, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, was a well-known character actor
and for those who don’t know, he was the hotel keeper in Rio Bravo. Did his
style of acting influence yours in any way?

It wasn’t so much Grandpa’s style, so much as it was his love and passion
for entertaining, and his work ethic. He instilled in all his kids and
grandchildren to always be proud of your work, be the best that you can be,
always have confidence in yourself, and to never let the fans down. In the
beginning of my career, most of my friends were all gang bangers and or low
riders. Those being my peers at that time, I had no desire to play other
people. My grandfather kept reminding me that I could do so many different
things if I wanted to because of my light completion.

Do you feel changing your name as you did in 1990 to Clifton Gonzalez
Gonzalez brought any attention to your grandfather’s great work in the 50’s
and 60’s?

Changing my name to Gonzalez Gonzalez certainly did bring attention to his
work. It’s not everyday that you meet a Mexican named “Clifton”! Also, quite
a few people in Hollywood already knew my birth name to be Collins, so it
came as a surprise when suddenly I’ve got not one Mexican last name but
TWO!! If that’s not a good conversation piece, then I was also allowed to
start auditioning for Mexican roles

With the way you greatly prepare, how did you prep for the Perry Smith role
in Capote? Basically, did you study him directly and try to imitate him or
add your own spin to how he was?

Wanting to do the portrayal of Perry justice, I attempted to obtain footage
and or any type of known audio. I did manage to get some video on him, but
it was with no sound. That said, I wasn’t able to pick up on any kind of
cadence in speech patterns that he may have had. So on one hand I was
jealous that Phillip had so much footage to go off of, which we both enjoyed
watching and then on the other hand it was both liberating and challenging
to be able to go create and just be. I used everything from the book “In
Cold Blood”, to studying Perry’s body posture in the many photo’s that I was
able to obtain, to studying and reading his handwriting from letters I
acquired. I also listened to a lot of Hank Williams Sr., which were many of
the songs that he was able to play. All that compiled on top of a lot of
soul searching and wrestling with my own devils is what brought Perry Smith
to life. And of course Bennet’s meticulous guidance, rehearsals which I am
forever thankful for and the fine company is which I was so honored to be
able to act with.

I just want to go ahead and get this out of the way; you’re slated to be in
The Boondock Saints II as well. Is it actually coming out this year or is it
another eight centuries before we see it? Any details or scoops for us?

My good man and the ever patient BDS Fans wait NO MORE! Comic-con this year,
well, how about NEXT MONTH? Does that sound good? We, meaning most of the
main cast will be there with the ever charming and charismatic Troy Duffy
himself to not only do a Q & A but to also reveal the new Boondock Saint’s 2
trailer. I’ll reveal this much; its super sweet and the BDS fans will
definitely be getting theirs! I’m pretty excited about this myself, even if
I wasn’t in it!

Seeing as how Star Trek is one of the biggest films of the year, I have to ask you
about your experience on it and how did you enjoy whooping up on Kirk for a
minute.

It goes without saying that working with JJ and his staff is always a good
time. His sensitivity and love for actors, story telling etc, is always a
safe haven for any entertainer. Regarding Capt. Kirk, I just love doing my
own fight scenes, having been fighting since I was 15. It’s something that I
always wanted to do, the grandeur of it all not even registering until way
after it was over. Working with Pine was a good time as well, that’s a good
dude.

Was Crank 2 as fun to make as it was to watch?

Yes, Crank 2 was a sheer blast to make. Both Brian and Mark gave me free
range to polish El Huron, and to run amuck. These two guys are constantly
breaking the rules, and what you get when that happens is new stuff to try,
new things that you never thought of before etc. They put the fun back into
film making for me, and for that, I thank them. The entire cast was a blast,
and working with Statham was a joy, not to mention I am also a fan. I only
wish the shoot were longer. As I said earlier today on set, I was living in
a mansion in Malibu and had sexy ass naked women walking around my yard and
pool area every single day, and I thought to myself “man, it doesn’t get
much better than this!” I didn’t want it to end.

You’ve played a vast majority of heroes and villains in your filmography. Do
you prefer playing one over the other?

I like playing complicated complex characters; those are usually the bad
guys.

You said you had a chance to work on Saving Private Ryan as a German (which
by the way, is impressive you learned a German monologue in two days) and
have cited Spielberg as one of your favorites. Has he ever called you back
to work on any thing yet?

The Saving Private Ryan audition is one that I’d like to put on my resume.
Just performing on that level was such a blast and so much fun. To study a
German monologue and making it sound real and not having the sides in my
hand while dropping it on tape is such a rush. I have not worked with
Spielberg as of yet, but my career is still young and growing. One day I
hope to be so lucky.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to do this, but I’d now like to thank Mr. Collins Jr. for donating his time to answer these questions. Looking forward to that Boondock Sains II presentation as well as what he goes on to direct in the future.

“Chicken Fried” can be viewed here while “Whatever It Is” can be viewed here to get sense that Collins Jr. has some pretty good talent as a director.