"challenging my abilities as an actor"

Film In this wide-ranging interview, Matthew Modine talks about all kinds of things, working with Kubrick, working with Oliver Reed, Bye Bye Love and generally comes across as an intelligent, self-deprecating type who understanding his place in the Broadway/Hollywood hierarchy. So much so that when he asked Chris Nolan about appearing The Dark Knight Rises:

"Actually, this time I contacted Chris myself and he said he was interested, so he said that I could put myself on tape if I wanted to and send it to him - and, of course, that was not about Christopher Nolan challenging my abilities as an actor, it was about me getting on an airplane and flying out to meet Christopher Nolan and look at what the opportunity was like to work with him on a film. You know, that’s what is really necessary sometimes - is to go and tell somebody that you want to work with them; so, that’s what I wanted and that’s what I did and that resulted in me getting to work with arguably one of the greatest directors making movies today on what I think is one of the greatest franchises in the business today."

There are probably a few actors who've been in the business as long as Modine, with his experience (Kubrick, Reed, Reiser) who would have baulked at a taped audition.  It's to his credit that he put the job first.  Hmm ...