On October 11th, we had the opportunity to interview Tim Robbins about his new film Catch a Fire, which hits theaters on October 27th.

Question: The research in the film was obviously scrupulous for all of you, what element of your research really brokered the project for each of you?

Tim Robbins: Discovering what the white South African culture was, as a heritage. Coming to understand that they had gone through their own struggles, their own journey. Being on the ground in Africa, and talking to them, understanding what their journey was and how they wound up where they wound up. The sense of fear that was in that culture. And that fear can lead to bad policy. I definitely couldn't judge the way I judged before. I had to understand the people and all their complexities. Though I've had my opinions from afar. I rallied to free (Nelson) Mandela. But I had no idea of either side's complexity. When you stand in the museum in Johannesburg and you understand the amount of laws that were passed, and the degree of oppression that was involved - multi-layed, much more so that the blacks in America were dealing with. It was an eye opening experience.

Question: Loosely following your career and your vocal opinions about American politics, this certainly is a political hot bed for South Africa and the continent. How did you embrace your character? Considering he was not a nice person, to put it mildly.

Tim Robbins: Well, the job of an actor is to not judge, to try to find the humanity in whoever you play. Also, the idea that I was playing a police officer, a man whose job it was to protect his country. It's a tough enough job in a civil society, you're the first to a scene of a murder and you see moral depravity in your daily work. Then to be a police officer in a state where the rule of law has been thrown out, due process doesn't exist and torture is encouraged. And then to take that moral burden on your shoulder out of a sense of duty and patriotism, to know probably somewhere in your heart that what you're doing is wrong but to shoulder that burden because you feel it's a necessary job to do. The real fear that existed in these men was that communism was going to take over, that South Africa was going to go the way of other countries. The real tangible fear doesn't justify or rationalize what they did, it's just simply trying to understand how a good man could be lead into a morally reprehensible measure.

Question: Tim, the final scene was mentioned and I wonder for you, what was your interior monologue - looking at South Africa with the benefit of time, what you've done. What were you thinking?

Tim Robbins: Based on some of the people we were looking at, there is a bitterness still there, a sense of betrayal. These guys were just doing their jobs. They were made out to be the bad guys, like I was talking about before, they had to take that moral weight on their shoulders for participating. I asked some of them 'why didn't you leave?' And they said, 'We couldn't, we were at war, it would be like going AWOL, like abandoning your unit. It would bring shame upon your family, you would never be able to go back to South Africa if you left.' That guy's sitting by that dam, by that lake - I think reflects that Africana special branch officer who was made out to be the bad guy, but in fact, the people who set the policy wound up in mansions with really large pensions, not shouldering the blame, not having to before the truth and reconciliation commission, not being blamed as being the bad guy.And not to justify or rationalize it, but to find the humanity in the character.

Catch A Fire director Phillip Noyce: There seems to be a lot of self hatred in that man too, when he's sitting there. You know he loathes himself.

Tim Robbins: Their wives left them when they found out... They had to keep it secret all these years. One of the guys I talked to, his brother is now in the university, learning what he did and him having to deal with that whole other level.

Question: Has your ability to choose projects and take on projects of this weight been changed since winning the oscar?

Phillip Noyce: Certainly helped us, I can tell you. When we said we had the Oscar winner they said it's a go picture.

Tim Robbins: I don't know how the industry works, it baffles me sometimes. I live in New York, so I stay away from Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

Phillip Noyce: It's all perception is how it works. When we were able to land you, you were up man.

Question: Looking over your filmography, I've notices you have taken on more than a couple films which deal with government or corporate control. Can you explain why you are attracted to that story, and give us an update on 1984?

Tim Robbins: Well, I'm not sure exactly which films you're talking about but I certainly am interested in compelling stories. Dating back to the greeks, great drama is built on great struggle. At first theater at it's conception was about the struggle man and god, and man position in the universe. What happens if he messes with the order of things. Great stories have large canvases. And I'm attracted to that. 1984 is touring, they're probably in Melbourne right now. The stage production of it. As for a film version, I don't think that's really going to happen.

Question: Is there any plan at all to make that into a feature film?

Tim Robbins: I filmed it actually, with nine cameras. The last four performances in New York, the public theater. I edited it, pretty much had to self finance it. We got distribution: Netflix and it premiered on the Sundance Channel. It's available online, so there is a film version.