I Origins: Michael Pitt on Eyes, Evolution and Hannibal

I Origins postulates a deep connection between specific science and spiritual themes. Michael Pitt plays Ian, a scientist studying ocular genes as a way to prove we have evolved from organisms that originally could not see. He falls in love with a much more spiritual woman, Sofi (Astrid Berges-Frisbey). Spoiler alert, Ian later ends up with his lab partner Karen continuing the study. I got to meet up with Pitt in Los Angeles, first standing on the balcony of a London Hotel suite, later moving to a couch in the room. Pitt called me the best dressed man at the junket, but I think he’s being modest. I couldn’t have pulled off his paint spattered black jeans and dark blazer. My white summer jacket and pink shirt were more Fred Topel.

Related: Brit Marling on ‘I Origins’ and ‘The Better Angels’

We also had time to talk about his role on TV’s “Hannibal” as Mason Verger, whom Bryan Fuller confirmed would be a part of the third season, even though he hasn’t finished the Red Dragon story, let alone post-Silence of the Lambs.

CraveOnline: Are eyes really important for actors?

Michael Pitt: I think so. I think when you look into someone’s eyes when you’re playing a scene with them, it can validate it. It can make you believe them, it can make you not believe them. I think that they can be a very useful tool. You have interesting eyes.

Thank you.

Can you open them a little more? [I do.] Wow, you have really interesting eyes. It’s almost like yellow-green central heterochromatic eyes. So from the center, they start a different color than the perimeter.

I didn’t know that term.

Me either.

So did learning the science of I Origins deepen your appreciation for eyes?

Yeah, definitely. I mean, one of the great things about being an actor is that you get to research all these cool things. Maybe you have this being a journalist too.

I love it. I love the homework. 

I really get into the research, man. It’s cool. It’s fun and I think that possibly people wouldn’t assume that maybe I’d be into that, but science has been kind of a dirty little secret of mine. It’s just been amazing to be able to set aside some time and be a nerd.

Why would anyone think you wouldn’t be into that? I don’t know of anything in your career that contradicts that.

Oh, I don’t know. In a lot of the interviews, people were saying they were surprised to see me in a character like this, which is great. I mean, I love that. That’s what I’m trying to do always. If I can keep surprising people, I think that that’s so interesting.

People also have a hard time, if you’ve played a number of bad guys, seeing you as a hero, which is a little ridiculous.

Yeah, I think so. I think that in this business, people get pigeonholed and typecast and stuff like that. That’s why I think it’s really important that actors are adamant about being actors, about being true to their craft. If you have the opportunity and the ability to choose your role, choose them wisely. Take some time and put some thought in that. Don’t just accept everything that comes your way.

Was Ian trying to disprove Intelligent Design?

Darwin taught evolution which basically means you get enough animals that aren’t light sensitive, that get consumed by predators. Survival of the fittest, they start sensing light and the animals that sense light can sense shadows, so they can see when a predator is going to advance on them. So those animals flourish and the ones without the light sensitive cells don’t. What he was trying to prove was evolution.

In those conversations, the biggest point that creationists use to disprove evolution is in particular the eye, because the eye is such a complex organ. I forget exactly how many working parts but without one, it’s useless. What Ian is trying to prove is we don’t have the steps. There’s huge gaps. In other words there’s an animal without an eye and then there’s an animal with an eye. Even Darwin had said it was something that was fairly difficult for him to find evidence and proof that the eye evolved. A lot of scientists just sort of adopt that, assume that it’s true, but the actual data is not there.

What he’s trying to do in his pursuit of truth, he’s trying to find those gaps. By doing that, he can end that debate. When you end that debate, you end all these political, religious and spiritual roadblocks that science will hit along the way, because people sometimes in organized religion are afraid about what scientists are doing.

Is Ian’s philosophy about love and relationships at odds with his science?

Yes, it is. I think that Sofi, one of the reasons her character I believe haunted him so much, is the fact that she shook his tree a little bit. She does it in a couple ways but there’s a scene where she says, “Your door is open. There’s a little bit of light shining through of that sixth sense, or the seventh, eighth or 12th sense that you’re not able to realize yet, that may be metaphysical and might be intuitive, that you can’t explain, that comes from a higher being.”

Do you think his love for Karen began is a rebound?

No, I think that it was ignited in a very desperate and hard place for him when he was going through something. That was the spark that set it aflame but the way that I was playing it was that this love for Karen was sort of growing and evolving throughout, without him realizing it. And so when you see that scene when they kiss for the first time, it’s surprising to him, but also very familiar.

Mike Cahill said he wrote this as a prequel to his script I. Is Ian a character in I?

That’s more of a question for him. I believe that he is, but I don’t know. Mike’s constantly being inspired by things. He’s constantly working on his ideas and so the best way to know that for certain is to talk to him.

So did he share the script to I with you? 

He’s so gracious and talks to me about everything that’s in his head. He’s an amazing artist. He’s got so many ideas. He’s going to do some really amazing things. It was really fun to be a part of this and also I’m trying to take a more active role in supporting the future of cinema, the new generation of filmmakers. I’ve been really blessed to work with a lot of great filmmakers with huge resumes, so what I’m trying to do is really try and support the young filmmakers that are going to go on and do amazing things. He’s one of them.

Could you see at all out of the eye bandages?

No, I couldn’t. I was really blind. It was fun.

Did Ian just pick up an Indian girl off the street at the end? That could’ve been risky.

Well, she was an orphan. The person that he was in contact with was Priya so he’s working with the orphanage. Actually, the child was missing so he was returning her to the orphanage. She wasn’t supposed to be on her own in the street.

Bryan Fuller has said he plans to include characters from all the subsequent Hannibal books in season three. Has he talked to you about your availability?

We’re discussing it. He’s kind of similar to Mike Cahill in the sense that he’s just this crazy genius. Whatever he does, I’m not sure about what he’s going to do but what I am sure about is whatever he does is going to be amazing. He’s that type of guy.

Would you be ready to do a full facial prosthetic for Mason Verger?

Yeah, I already did.

I mean to actually show his missing face, not just the mask? 

Yeah, I’m totally down for it. I love gore. Gore is fun.

You’re the first time we’ve actually seen Mason’s original face. How did you feel about the opportunity to portray that?

It was really cool. I took it really seriously. What I tried to do in developing that character is I kind of feel like Gary Oldman did all the work. It was really important to me to incorporate what he did when he created that character. I’m a big fan of his. I think he’s an amazing actor. It was fun, interesting, I’ve never really done it before to try and take what the end point of what an actor has done and put together the prequel to that character. So I really worked on the voice a lot, his mannerisms. Gary really developed that character. I was trying to make the prequel to it. It was interesting.

So you didn’t shy away from the Gary Oldman version. 

Not at all. I based it on him.

If he was a carved away version of Mason Verger, did you want your earlier version to be bigger? 

Yeah, you see a glimpse of it hopefully in the last episode. You see a glimpse of him after he’s mangled and in a wheelchair. The idea was to make him this bigger than life character so that when you see him in the wheelchair you know it’s a huge change.

TV has been so good to you with “Boardwalk Empire” and “Hannibal,” do you watch much TV? What do you like?

I don’t watch as much TV as I would like to, only because it’s a big commitment and I work a lot. But, I love “The Simpsons.”

I have not missed an episode of “The Simpsons” in 25 years.

I knew I liked you for a reason. I’m a huge “Simpsons” fan. It’s a brilliant show.

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Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.