Julia Melim talks to Wes Bentley about his new film "The Time Being", his goals in life, and his career choices looking back at all his characters. Wes Bentley became well-known to the general public for his role in "American Beauty," and most recently portrayed Seneca Crane in "The Hunger Games." Now he takes on the more personal role of Daniel, a painter commissioned to film bizarre assignments by a recluse millionaire Warner (Frank Langella).

StageBuddy: In the film "The Time Being" you play a professional painter: did you have experience painting before this film?

Bentley: No. I've never been a good visual artist. I couldn't draw as a kid, so I thought I couldn't do anything with that, so I didn't even try. In this film though, I learned you don't have to be a good drawer to be a good painter. It's something I think I'll do later in life, but I had no real experience. In the film, I worked with the artists who helped us on the film, and I had half a day to learn how to finish a painting. [I would] look back, have the palette there, and what really worked great for us is that they would be there on set, so they would show me how they would do it, and then I would pick up the brush immediately and do exactly as they did, because really that's where my skill lies: to look like a painter.

StageBuddy: You've played a few characters that were videographers, do you feel there's a parallel with your character in "The Time Being," and your character in "American Beauty" as far as visual arts, shooting random images on a camera?

Bentley: Well, this character is really forced to use a camera, he doesn't really want to use a camera as a videographer. It's a little different, because Ricky ["American Beauty"] used it as a connection to people, in a way to remember life, but Daniel ["The Time Being"] almost uses it in a resentful way. But I do see a parallel, I continue to get that... I did another one, too, where I'm also a documentary filmmaker.

StageBuddy: Do you do that in your free time?

Bentley: Yeah, I just walk around and I film stuff. [laughs] No, I'm joking I don't pick up a camera at all. My wife complains because there's a bunch of pictures of me, and I never take pictures of her. I don't ever use my camera or my phone or anything.

StageBuddy: This film "The Time Being" goes deep into the meaning of life and what you want to leave behind. Do you ever feel that your outlook changes through life, looking back when you feel you don't have much time left?

Bentley: I do mostly in an athletic way, because I started playing soccer. My entire 20s I just partied too much, so I wasn't athletic at all, I didn't do anything. Now that I'm in my 30s, I look back at that time and I feel the clock ticking away, so I won't be able to play that much longer, even in a recreational way.

StageBuddy: Speaking of soccer, you were in the film "The Game of Their Lives", where you portrayed a soccer player. How did you become interested in soccer?

Bentley: I started as a little kid as they all do, but it was the 1994 World Cup that we had in the U.S. that got me into it again, and I got a team started in my high school. We didn't get to watch a whole lot, but now I'm playing again too and I just got obsessed with it.

StageBuddy: I'm from Brazil too, so I'm crazy about soccer.

Bentley: Are you? We shot part of that film in Brazil. We shot at the Fluminense stadium, and we were in Rio for a month. That was one of the best months of my life, I loved it there.

StageBuddy: Are you planning to go back for the 2014 World Cup? We're getting ready for that now.

Bentley: I wanted to, now I don't think I'll be able to, but I was really hoping to go at least for a game.

StageBuddy: I feel that soccer doesn't get that much attention in the U.S., but maybe that's changing?

Bentley: It's changing slowly, but there was a poll recently, and it's actually the second most popular sport outside of football [American Football], and it's currently the most popular sport to be played as a kid.

StageBuddy: Back to the film, your character struggles with family and career, how do you balance it with your family life?

Bentley: I worked a lot the last year and a half, I've been gone a lot, so it's very difficult and it's also due to money circumstances. I wasn't getting paid much on the film, so I really had to find the next one quickly. So we struggled, but now things are a bit easier, and I'm able to take more time off. I'm trying to find stuff to shoot here in LA, because I'm in a place in life now that I'm just trying to be a great dad and a great husband. I work on it every day, and I know I have to be present for that in my opinion. So I'm just finding stuff to shoot here.

StageBuddy: Talking about your acting training, you went to Juilliard, but then you decided to go off on your own. What do you think helped you the most as an actor when you were starting out?

Bentley: I think what was great about Juilliard in that first year is that they lay out your tricks and tear down what you think you are as an actor, and what you think that acting is, and they replace that with a sense that you want to discover what that is. I just didn't think it suited me to stay at Juilliard at the time the way the school was, and what I wanted to do with my career. One thing I learned there was to really be open to the character, and depend on the character, and not so much on yourself to be interesting.

StageBuddy: What are some of the things that you set out as your goals, or you wanted to go in a different direction, and have you achieved the things you set out to do?

Bentley: Yeah, I mean I wanted to be successful at acting, and that happened almost too quickly. I didn't have much else, outside of that as far as life goals, because I'm just starting to get those now. I want to make sure I'm a great dad, I want to live with some security, I don't ever want to settle as an actor...I always want to continue to try to grow, and I also want to do more things, besides acting. Maybe directing one day, or writing, or be good at something else entirely. So we'll see if I actually make it.

StageBuddy: Those are all great goals. Now tell me about struggling with fame and drugs, you also worked with Heath Ledger, what would you say to people who had to deal with that and lost their life at such a young age?

Bentley: Gosh. [Pause.] Sorry. There's no real answer, mostly you just have to stay close to people you love, and don't take everything so seriously or make it too precious. Most of all, just stay close to people that you love and you trust.

StageBuddy: Looking back at all the characters you played, do you have a particular character you enjoy or a particular genre?

Bentley: I do, it's actually a film that's not out yet, it's called "Things People Do" [comes out in 2014]. I had a great time playing that character, but I enjoy them all. I have no particular genre, I always like the ones with a sense of humor the most, some kind of sense of humor.

For more on Wes Bentley click HERE!

THE TIME BEING opens in theaters on July 26th!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yLGgNheu7Q[/youtube]

Featuring:

Wes Bentley, Frank Langella, Sarah Paulson, Ahna O’Reilly, Corey Stoll, Gina Gallego

Director:

Nenad Cicin-Sain

Writers:

Nenad Cicin-Sain

Richard N. Gladstein

Producer:

Richard N. Gladstein

Daniel (Wes Bentley) is a struggling young artist whose ambitions have pushed his marriage to the brink. When a reclusive millionaire named Warner (Frank Langella) purchases one of his pieces, he hopes for additional commissions from a new benefactor.  Instead, Warner offers him a series of increasingly bizarre surveillance assignments.  As Daniel starts to unravel the secrets behind the requests, he must determine if Warner is out to further his career or ruin his life.