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Q: So what's your fascination with Jack the Ripper?

JD: Uhmmm... my fascination started when I was very, very young. I think... I think it's basically just... the idea that something so horrific could go... unsolved... and that there're so many possibilities of who it might have been... who it could have been... and SOLID theories, you know? Uhmmmm... this one in particular, the one from... that's in the film... is one that I think is... MOST right because it's... it's not only very possible, you know, but highly probable... that this kind of... coverup... would have needed to have been... been done back then, you know.

Q: So you like playing these kind of brooding characters?

JD: Kind of...? What kind of characters?

Q: Brooding?

[JD smiles]

JD: Well, I think Abberline is... is a guy who... feels a lot... feels too much, sometimes. And... and I think he's a guy who... uhhh... needed self-medication to some degree, you know. I think he's a guy with a lot of... a lot of demons and... and... and a need to escape from those demons.

[JD is rolling a cigarette]

Q: Did you roll that same cigarette in the movie?

JD: Yeah, I did, yeah.

[both laugh]

Q: What's up with this hat? I'm just curious.

JD: What's up with it? He's just an... he's an old friend, you know? I've had him for a long, long time, and then I... I missed him for years, he... he was in a... I found him in a box at my house, [chuckles] so I just pulled him out and...

Q: Yeah, I like it. So I read this little thing that you talked to Hunter Thompson the other day after the attacks?

JD: Uhmmm-hummmm. (lights his cigarette.)

Q: Are you still keeping in touch with him?

JD: With Hunter? Oh yeah! Yeah, I... I spoke to him, I suppose it was about... uhhh... a week or 10 days after the... the event, and uhhh... and then a couple of days later Hunter sent me his... the rough cut... the rough draft of what he was writing. I wouldn't say that our phone conversation went exactly like that, but, you know, Hunter's...Hunter's sense of...of... [laughs]... well, his imagination, you know... that's what makes him who he is.

Q: Were you in France?

JD: I was in France, yeah.

Q: And what was that like, I mean, I'm just curious. I mean, like, you being in another country, but you're an American. Does it kind of feel like you're almost like a [unintelligible]...what was it like?

JD: It felt...uhhmm...[long pause]... I mean... as everyone who watched the events happen, whether you were in America, or whether you were in New York, or whether... wherever you were... this desperate sense of uhhh... helplessness, just... you know... just helpless! I felt... it's the most... ah, it's... it's devastating! I felt... I never felt more patriotic in my life... until after I saw all that happen... I've never felt more American, and... and I... all I could think is that I wanted to be here, you know? I wanted to be here, I wanted to help, I wanted anything, you know? Just to do something, just to see what I... you know... because your first instinct is to want to be able to rewind, and... and make it not happen, you know. Uhhhh, no, it's changed the world. I mean, it's changed the world forever. Nothing will ever be the same.

Q: Do you think you'll ever come back here? Do you feel "safer" over there?

JD: Oh, I mean, I live...I still live in the states, you know, I mean... I still live... I live between Los Angeles and also in France. Uhmmm... I don't know if you... you know... I don't know if you're safe anywhere, if anybody's safe anywhere, any time, you know. The only thing we can do is just live our lives, you know... to the best... in the best way you can... raise your kids not to be... you know... try and hide... hide their... their eyes from this... that kind of ignorance, you know.

Q: Your little girl's pretty young.

JD: 2 1/2, yeah.

Q: Oh, so she doesn't get it at all.

JD: No, no. But I mean, you know it's... what I found amazing is, after all that happened, you know... looking at my daughter, you know... a 2 1/2 year old child... innocent, pure thing, you know.

Q: I've got two little ones, I know.

JD: It's... uhhhhh... it's harsh.

Q: Now, what's this little secret that Heather told me? You have music playing in your ear while you're acting?

JD: Oh, yeah, I use... I always... I always used music in my work. I mean, I always listened to music right up until it was time to... you know... step in front of the... the camera, and now I can... I can actually just listen to it as I'm working... as I'm doing the work. So music is... for me, I mean... helps to keep me in my own world... in my own little place. And it certainly helps emotionally, and... yeah, it keeps you consistent, you know.

Q: Do you think that you're going to change choices you make, like whether it's in your acting or in your personal life as far as traveling, because of what happened? Or what do you think?

JD: Well, uhmmmmm... I mean, in my personal life... I mean, being... being a parent, you know, it's... after something like this happens... I mean, the last thing you want to do is... is put your child on a plane, because you can't... I mean, just... just trying to imagine what those poor people on those planes were going through, you know... what they witnessed before... impact...I mean, the devastation. So yeah, I mean, I... I don't want to put my daughter on a plane. I don't want to put my "girl" on a plane.

Q: Quick last question, right or no? You've been with a lot of different, like, leading ladies lately. Any favorites?

JD: Any favorites?

Q: Yeah.

JD: Oh, I've been real lucky, you know, they are all pretty... pretty great. Juliette Binoche was a lot of fun. Juliette was very impressive. Oh, they're all great, you know. Heather...Penelope. Oh, I've been... I've had some... I've been very lucky.

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