The Blacklist's James Spader is also known for hit films like Pretty In Pink, Less than Zero, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape. These are some of the films that received wide applause from critics. However, according to James, movies like these might be scarce in the future. He even thinks that classic films are starting to get erased from history with the new generation having limited access to them.
"There is no legacy in film anymore," he told the Observer during an interview last weekend. "I am not so sure that even classic films really live on now - and that means ultimately that maybe film is really an entertainment, or a provocation, just for a specific time."
Spader also thinks that the closure of video rental houses is not helping in preserving films shown in theaters way way back. Also, he thinks that older films inspired him to in picking better roles for TV and cinema.
"People don't have access to classic films," Spader said, "but it is worse than that. A few channels on television still play classic films, but with the closure of revival picture houses and the closure of video stores with classic film sections, there is no film heritage."
"I grew up on a boarding school campus and there was a guy there who ran a film club that was available to students on campus and to faculty children of a certain age. Every other week he would rent a print of a film and screen it. So I was able to watch a broad spectrum of films from different eras, from an English film like Hobson's Choice to a western like Hud. It was fantastic and completely informed my film-watching experience."
On Raymond Reddington
The Blacklist-James Spader tandem is a big hit in its first season. However, up to now, it remains a mystery to fans whether Raymond Reddington is doing what he does for himself, for the world, or for Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). According to Spader himself, Reddington as a good guy or bad guy has no pattern.
"He is either a good guy who is capable of very bad things or a bad guy who is capable of good things, and that depends on the day," said Spader, who is closely involved with the writing of the show and prepared to defend its violence.
"There are times that I have suggested a level of ruthlessness, or a certain form of decisive action that might be jarring, because I feel that is the world in which this show exists, but there are times when we change something because we feel it is gratuitous."
Read more the Blacklist Season 2 spoilers by click here.
