Nicole, Sean, Sydney and Kofi?

(3 of 3)

NICOLE, IN THIS MOVIE YOU SPEAK A MADE-UP LANGUAGE CALLED KU. HOW DOES SPEAKING A FICTIONAL LANGUAGE COMPARE WITH LEARNING A REAL ACCENT?

KIDMAN: Accents you can at least practice with real words. Learning a language that doesn't exist is just learning sounds, and that's a very hard thing to do, as I found out. I would drill it over and over again, but it's very hard to do without any reference. It's not like you can go, "This is the word for table." But then you couldn't speak gibberish either and say, "Ku! I just spoke some Ku!" because there were other actors speaking it, so it had to have a sound that was recognizable. It was not easy.

SEAN, YOU GOT TO GO TO SECRET-SERVICE SCHOOL TO PREP FOR YOUR ROLE. WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

POLLACK: Oh, he was like a kid.

PENN: It wasn't that they were teaching me so much as I was there to see what they get taught. They're very impressive guys. You never know how these things affect a performance. You just try to have it at your service when you need it, if things come up when you're shooting.

COULD YOU PROTECT THE PRESIDENT? WOULD YOU?

PENN: [Laughs] Uh, I would protect the Constitution.

DID YOU FEEL VINDICATED AFTER NO WMD WERE FOUND IN IRAQ?

PENN: Well, we're talking about something that in the end is just really sad. So, no, not vindicated. It should just be pointed out that the information to avoid a war was there--and, by the way, that's because the U.N. people were exactly right. Anybody who was willing to pay attention could have seen it was very unlikely that weapons of mass destruction were still in that country.

YOU MADE TWO TRIPS TO IRAQ BEFORE THE WAR, AND WHEN YOU WERE IN YOUR 20S, YOU VACATIONED IN BELFAST IN THE MIDST OF THE TROUBLES. MIGHT IT BE SAID THAT YOU ENJOY CONFLICT?

PENN: No. It can be said that actors are interested in people, and you will find the warmest, strongest people in places going through conflict. Any war zone--Belfast, Baghdad, anywhere--these are places that can get you over yourself pretty good. And I need a dose of that. I'm probably drawn to it for that reason. •