Nick Nolte has enjoyed a long and colourful career, although it's his offscreen antics that have made the biggest headlines in recent years. He was last seen in Neil Jordan's acclaimed thriller "The Good Thief", and he's up to no good, again, in Ang Lee's "Hulk".

How did Ang Lee convince you to take the role?
"It's a Greek tragedy" - that's what Ang told me. He came out to the house and he said, "I don't know how to make a comic book film. I know how to make a Greek tragedy." And he knew that I would know what was asked of me and that was to create the Greek tragedy side of it, the father-son relationship. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think there was something I could really contribute. I wouldn't have done it.

So what is it about the father-son relationship that is so important?
It's all about rites of passage. At some point, I think, the father has to let the son win. At the end of the film, there's this confrontation between father and son. It's part Shakespearian, part "Paradise Lost". But, you know, who puts a four page scene of dramatic dialogue at the end of an action piece? Ang Lee does.