Ron Perlman is a bad mother… Shut your mouth. So when it comes to playing a bad guy, he’s probably the perfect dude for the job.
In comes his latest role of Hannibal Chau in the Pacific Rim. Ron plays a Kaiju smuggler who sells spare monster parts in the world of this new movie from Warner Bros.
In the clip below, you get to see Chau during one of the key business transactions in the flick.
We caught up with Perlman to find out exactly where he gets his swag! Check out our exclusive interview below.
GlobalGrind: For our readers who don’t know anything about this movie, could you introduce Hannibal Chau?
Ron: Ladies and Gentleman, Hannibal Chau.
Tell just a little bit about the movie.
Hannibal Chau is a war profiteer. Hannibal Chau is a for profit only guy. He has absolutely no idealistic allegiances. He has no political affiliations. He has no moral compass whatsoever. He is a slave to his unending infinite appetites.
Ron, I traced you back on stage doing Shakespeare, Chekhov and even Pal Joey. How did that all come about?
I was on the swimming team in high school. The whistle blew, the coach said, ‘Perlman get out of the pool.’ I said, ‘What did I do coach?’ He said, ‘You’re going with this guy.’ I said, ‘Who’s this guy?’ He said, ‘He’s the drama teacher, he’s putting on a play and 35 girls auditioned and no boys.’ I said, ‘So why you picking on me for?’ He said, ‘Maybe you could do the drama department a little bit more good than you could do the swimming team.’
You got that person to thank I guess?
I got him to thank.
Did you take to it right away?
I loved it.
35 girls?
35 girls and one guy. I think they rounded up like two other guys in the whole high school.
Costars Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi listen to a lot of Kanye West. What do you listen to?
I listen to Frank Sinatra, I listen to Aretha Franklin, I listen to Stevie Wonder, I listen to Miles, Coltrane and Dizzy. I throw some classical in there every once in a while, a couple of Broadway shows. I listen to Les Miserables, West Side Story, I got very eclectic taste in music. I was never a rock and roll guy. My kids turn me on a little bit to hip-hop. My son turned me on to a couple of things that resonate with me.
Which are?
Wu-Tang, Jeremih, Wyclef, stuff like that.
Is that where you get some of your swag from?
Director Guillermo (Del Toro) gave me all that swag. (laughter). Everything that you see about Hannibal was brought out of Guillermo’s imagination – including the wardrobe, the accessories, the gold shoes, the earring, the dark classes, the tats, the scars, this was a character. All I had to do was memorize the lines and not trip over the furniture.
How about your own personal style, your own personal charm? How do you channel that? What makes you happy?
It’s down to three things. I love, love, love working as an actor, I love working on movie sets, I love the people I work with. I met some amazing people, I’ve seen the world. I’ve worked on six and half continents. My family, if I’m spending time with my family I’m the happiest. My wife, I got two great kids.
How old are they?
29 and 23. And when I want to recreate, the only thing that kind of floats my boat is I play some golf. Get some sunshine and hang out with the boys, drink beer. I play like shit, but you know…
It’s four and a half hours of no cell phones and camaraderie.
What about Sons Of Anarchy?
We’re a third of the way through Season 6.
I trust we have a lot to look forward to?
He (creator Kurt Sutter) doesn’t stand still, he continues to reinvent the parameters of the show. He never leaves it where you’re comfortable as an audience member. And Season 6 will not disappoint, you will be very uncomfortable.
With so many great shows on television like Sons Of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, do you pay attention to the chatter between fans of your show versus other shows?
No, I only just started. My very first exposure to social media was I started tweeting about 4-5 months ago. I never had a Facebook or a MySpace page and I never really was interested in getting down to the nitty gritty and finding out what people were saying about me. I really feel like that’s not my business. My business is to keep trying to be creative, keep trying to put shit out there and if you can use it, if you can dig it, great, if you can’t, no problem, I’m doing this for me. But since I’ve been tweeting, I know a little bit more about stuff I wish I didn’t.
I’m following a lot of really cool interesting people.
Who are some of your favorite people to follow on Twitter?
I love following Rob Delaney. He’s really funny. I love following Albert Brooks. I love following James Brooks. Who else? I love following my boys from Sons: Theo Rossi, Kim Coates. Guillermo doesn’t tweet; he would probably be the best tweeter in the world. I’m trying to talk him into it. I’m following 250 people, I can’t remember off the top of my head.
What’s your psyche like coming into a press day like today for Pacific Rim?
I’m having a lot of fun discussing Pacific Rim. I’ve said to Charlie (Hunnam) that I don’t know if it’s because I dig the cast so much, or if it’s because I dig the idea of the movie so much, or whether it’s because I didn’t have to do any of the heavy lifting on the movie. I could come in here and you know, act like I’m one of the leads, even though I’m only in the movie for a few minutes. I’m having a ball talking about Pacific Rim.
