It's always been my dream to do a dance scene with Anthony Hopkins 
An original founder of the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Gary Sinise directed Richard Gere in 1988's Miles From Home before appearing in front of the camera in WW2 drama A Midnight Clear. That same year he directed and acted in Of Mice And Men. He received an Oscar nod for his performance as a legless Vietnam vet in Forrest Gump, before reuniting with Tom Hanks in Apollo 13. Now he's palling up with Anthony Hopkins for The Human Stain.
Did you have any concerns at the start that your character in The Human Stain, Nathan Zuckerman, was little more than a narrator?
Initially when I first read the script, it was thin. So it was our job to flesh that out and figure out what Nathan's story is in the movie. Why does he need to be in this film other than to observe? Robert Benton's tremendously encouraging and collaborative, and really gave me a lot of room to bring in ideas of how to help make that part have its own story. I think he is definitely a different person at the end of the film than he is at the beginning. And that's what we were looking for - what happens to him during the course of the film.
How was dancing with Anthony Hopkins?
It's always been my dream to do a dance scene with Anthony Hopkins. So what more can I say? I begged to be in this movie so I could outtap him in that scene. But I think he kind of stole it with his twinkle-toes.
Have you read any of Philip Roth's other books?
The ones that Zuckerman's in, yes. American Pastoral is the one that they have and they're thinking of making a movie about. But, you know, I was always a Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Faulkner fan, the classic guys from the first part of the last century. Since I've had kids I haven't read a huge lot of classics. I've been too busy. It now takes me about a year to read a book. About one page a night.
Several recent high profile adaptations of novels have been disappointing. Were you apprehensive about how this one might work?
Yeah, but I guess it depends on who's making it and how it all falls together. This one, I think, is a successful adaptation. Or a successful adaptation of some of the ideas in the book. What they were successful at doing, I think, is taking two central issues and stories - Coleman Silk's backstory and Faunia Farley - and weaving the story around those. When I did Of Mice And Men, it was an easier adaptation, because it's got a beginning, a middle, and an end. It starts at the river and it goes back to the river. It's a linear adaptation. This one is much, much harder.
