A Controlled Performance

United 93�s Ben Sliney, as played by an actor who understood the role

A A A Comments (0) By Scott Foundas Wednesday, Jan 31 2007

Self-portrait: Sliney in a scene from United 93 (Jonathan Olley/Universal Studios)

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My point is that Sliney is very, very good, and that he possesses the sort of innate love of performing that cannot be faked. “I liken it to trying a case in a courtroom,” he tells me. “You don’t see or hear anybody behind you. Similarly, with the camera, I didn’t really notice it at all. In fact, on a couple of takes, I whipped around and almost ran into the camera guy. When you try a case, you work out those monologues in your head 100 times before you get there, so no matter what the witness says, you’re ready with a response. You get used to focusing on what you’re required to focus on.”

Of the finished film, Sliney acknowledges that it’s a grueling experience, but also strangely uplifting. “It typifies the finest aspects of the human spirit, which is to take control of your own destiny and to overcome these evildoers or however you want to characterize these people in the cockpit,” he says. And as to the obvious question: Having done it once, has Sliney been bitten by the acting bug? “I’d love to try it again. I didn’t think I did, but now I think it’s a lot of fun. You know what the truly remarkable thing is — second to flying first class on Universal’s ticket? You see the whole scene being shot that you’re in, and you see other scenes being shot. But then to see the final project, how they put it all together — that to me was fascinating. That’s the art.”