Michael Sheen: Playing Prodigal Son serial killer is tough, especially since I can't leave the role at work

The New York Times

"When I was doing the Green River Killer stuff, I remember getting to the last page of the first draft and I sort of fell apart for a little while after," the Welsh actor tells The New York Times. "And that was just from working on the script. In a lot of our representations of that kind of world, it seems sort of exciting and exhilarating and frightening and titillating. But the real world of it is just depressing." Asked how he avoids carrying any of the negativity home, Sheen adds: "I don’t think you can, really. I think that’s what you sign up for. I’ve found that if the subject matter has an innate risk to it, it doesn’t matter how you approach it. It will affect you. It works on you. On an unconscious level, it just makes things happen. So you can either go with that and accept that and embrace that or not. But if you don’t embrace it, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to affect you in some way."