On whether he's the modern-day incarnation of Clint Eastwood
"You've gotta be careful about mentioning people as great as Clint Eastwood. He's one of my favorite actors. You can't put me in the same sentence as that man. If could have a career 25 percent as great as he's had, I'd be very happy. I'm doing what I'm doing and I'm chugging away. In terms of being a man of few words in my movies, it's what's on the page -- you can't say more than what they write! If they have a few words to say, that's what you end up getting."

On performing and choreographing the fight sequences in his movies
"I have a sensitive feel for what feels right in the physical action. I have a lot of input with that. It's tough to rank the difficulty of the action sequences, but in this case, the director really wanted to have these extended takes and there's no room for error. So if there's one punch you miss, you have to do it again. It can be very tiring. We got some good sequences in this. I like the subway fight; that was very inventive and quite painful for a few of my fellow stuntmen. This ranks in a good spot."

On working with a child actor
"Catherine was tremendous. I love it when they have a really young girl who acts really grown-up. I think that's where the chemistry comes. You have to talk to them like a grown-up and they talk to you like a grown-up. There's something odd about it and it works. I think the protection aspect of it is interesting. It's perfectly put together for some great action."

On playing a darker version of his usual hero
"I like the clarity of good vs. evil, because people can see the clear definition between the two and they can get behind the right people. This guy has a dark backstory, but in the end [his actions] have wholesome reasons. He left the position he was in because he didn't like the corruption around him and then had to do things to make a living that he wasn't really proud of. So I don't think he was as dark as any of the people he ends up straightening out. But he is dark in the fact that he was in a place where he was ready to kill himself by throwing himself in front of a train. Everything he loved was taken away from him and that left him in a very dark place. I never get to go there normally; I'm on the safe side of the fence."

On shooting on location in Philadelphia
"When you're on location, you can never absorb the real place. When we were shooting there, we had so little time to enjoy the city. You're there, you work, you go home, you get up. It's work, work, work, work. One of the things people overlook about making movies is that you can't just take in the city where you're at. You're so exhausted, you end up crawling into bed and crawling out of bed and going to work all day. But going to Philly and New York is a great part of the world to be in."

On his preparation process
"The preparation comes from the communication with the director and talking about what he's going to want from the character and the different points that you're going to have to get stuck into and the dialogue and how that works for you, if there are things you want to take out that don't work for you. The good thing is, Safe's script was pretty decent so there wasn't a lot of stuff that had to be changed from the page. And obviously, there's the physical choreography that has to take place. For that, you have to be in shape, because injuries happen and your body has to be resilient to those injuries. The stronger you are, the less chance they have of affecting you. You really have to concentrate and throw some dedication into the mix. Don't go out, stop boozing, get to the gym, do some training and get ready. I work with a stunt crew called the 8711 and [their routine] varies so much, which is good because if you do the same thing all the time, it leads to boredom."

On the difference between making an action movie like Safe versus The Expendables 2
"With Expendables 2, you've got such a mess of brilliant action stars who have made some of the best action films of all time, so you're along for the ride with those people. And when you make a movie like Safe I'm on my own, so if it doesn't work... [Laughs] I don't know how many chances you get, but if they don't work, you've got to find another job. Sly [Stallone] had a great time shooting Expendables 2 -- he was very relaxed. Simon West directed this one [instead of Sly], so I'm sure [that helped]. There's so much a director has to give in terms of the amount of months he has to give to a film. As an actor, you can give a certain amount of weeks and you're done. For a director, it's a year and a half or two years of their lives. It's a real big gig."

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