Welcome to Part IV of DRIVEN’s exclusive interview series on Watchmen (Part I: Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Part II: Malin Akerman. Part III: Zack Snyder. Plus: See the end of this post for a chance to win an exclusive piece of collectible Watchmen memorabilia).

Today: Billy Crudup, the normally press-shy 39-year-old who shot to fame in 2000 as the burgeoning guitar rock god of Almost Famous, breaks down his serious, journalist-weary barriers to joke about his Watchmen roles as both the very human Dr. Jon Osterman, and his glowing dual personality Doctor Manhattan.

Look for plenty of atomic blue weirdness after the jump.

To become Dr. Manhattan, a role Keanu Reeves was once slated to play, Crudup was plugged into the latest, most groundbreaking motion capture/CGI technology available to filmmakers today. However, it required Billy to don a very simple yet restrictive bodysuit the better part of the shoot. It was an obstacle he tackled head on.

“Any time there are special effects involved, especially if they are an actual part of you, your performance can be affected,” explains Crudup (who’ll portray a closeted  FBI chief opposite Johnny Depp as the very butch John Dillinger in this summer’s gangster flick, Public Enemies). “It was like there was a puppet version of me in the computer, but I was manipulating it. It was totally my performance, it was always me emotionally and physically moving that puppet.”

What was it like having to wear a white suit covered in blue LEDs all the time you were playing Dr. Manhattan?
“It was weird, because there were kind of like elaborate pajamas.” [Laughs]

What was the main reason, cinematically, that you had to walk around in those pajamas?
“There were two things they were trying to accomplish. One was motion capture, and the other was to try to light the other characters with the blue light that Dr. Manhattan is supposed to emanate.”

“I had a suit that had a bunch of blue lights on it and a battery pack. It was pretty hot, and I had dots on my face … they shot it all with high definition cameras and then sent it to leprechauns somewhere. I have no idea what happens after that.”

How do they actually track you and your face?
“Leprechauns. [Laughs] Actually, I have another answer prepared if you didn’t like that one. There were about 140 dots on my face and each of those dots corresponded to the exact replica of me that was made in the computer—that was Dr. Manhattan. They made that replica with high definition photographs and a laser scan of my face. Basically, I was just moving the puppet version of me with those dots. For better or worse, it’s still my performance.”

Did you have to work-out a lot to prepare for the role? Do those ripped, six-pack stomach muscles belong to you?
[Lifts shirt] “Take a gander, my friend. As you can see, the six-foot-four, 240-pound ripped version was not me. I think the guy who stood in for it had, like, 48” shoulders.”

Do you think that you were an odd casting choice?
“As soon as I read the material, I knew it was right up my ally. Listen, I typically gravitate towards people I don’t fully understand, characters in the midst of a transition. They’re often morally ambiguous and there are things for me to learn about people and life, in the process of learning about these projects. I was flabbergasted that there was something out there that so suited my taste as Watchmen.”

Did you refer to any other material than Alan Moore’s graphic novel when you were developing your two characters, especially Dr. Manhattan?
“I’m not an actor who consciously references other material. Some actors are really good at using other source material to shrewdly or intelligently fold an ancient reference into their character. I use the script and my imagination. What would a person in the form of a human be like in the absence of their own humanity? Alan Moore was quite cheeky about giving the guy with all the power in the world no humanity for the vast part of his journey.”

Is Dr. Manhattan’s main issue the fact that he has been removed from humanity?
“His issue is he has more important things on his mind, like the creation of matter. He was not too interested in the conversations that were happening around him. He was interested in watching particles interact. He’s interested in things that are irrelevent to us. We need to eat, be connected and stay warm, none of those motivations mean anything to him. He’s distracted. The discovery of it is when he finds love.”

Speaking of love, you had a sex scene and you appeared to be naked a lot of the time in Watchmen. How did you feel about bearing your willy all across the big screen?
“I thought it was a little diminished because it was cold on Mars. [Laughs] That’s the glib response. I don’t know what to say about this. In the graphic novel, he’s nude, so I assumed he’d be nude, here’s the superhero again, but nude. It’s based on the Greek archetype.

What were your feelings when you saw the final cut of the film?
“I am not the most objective viewer of my own work, so I have different thoughts about my work, but I was very pleased with the way the whole thing came together.”

WATCHMEN WEEK CONTEST

To win an exclusive, collectible Watchmen prize, send an e-mail to talkback@DRIVENmag.com by 11:59p.m. E.S.T (Eastern Standard Time) on Thurdsday, March 5. One winner, chosen by random draw, will be the recipient of a rare, limited Watchmen collectible. Thanks for your participation and good luck!

Watchmen opens in North America on March 6.