This veteran actor has worked with Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino. He still worries he’ll never work again.

But in regards to my part in that film, I have to give a lot of credit to obviously Mari [Heller], the filmmaker, who I had extensive conversations with about parenthood and relationships and children, as well as with Amy. I got so much insight from them as mothers on their experiences.

But I have to give a lot of credit to my lovely, amazing partner Sosie, who really broke down why all this is so infuriating for a mom or a woman. She helped me with being kind with the character, being aloof with the character, being genuine with the character, but also teeing up Amy for these certain scenes or certain lines where you can say something that just makes a mom go, “Oh, how could you?”

And those things, as a man, you can’t see the humor in it as much. I had a different approach to this character, and Sosie sat me down and was like, “No, no, no, no. I’m telling you, you need to pay attention to these things.” I think that led to the performance being the way that it was.

On why he wasn’t bothered that no one watched ‘Halt and Catch Fire’ and why he loves character acting

“Halt and Catch Fire” is one of the most underrated shows of all time. Did it ever frustrate you that it didn’t get more recognition when it was airing?

No, no. Look, I loved [creators] Chris Rogers and Chris Cantwell. They were two or three years younger than me. They’re incredibly smart. I loved these guys. I loved working with them. I loved the show so much.

People were like, “No one’s watching.” Our ratings were down so low that we were like the lowest-rated show to ever get picked up for another season. And I knew the ratings were bad, but there was a sense on set too that’s like, “Well, let’s try this, or let’s do that. No one’s watching. We can have some more freedom with it.”

But no. That part of it’s out of my control — the box office, the general public. It’s so out of my control. I hope that it turns out great, but I don’t give it a lot of thought or a lot of time.

You’ve spoken in the past about being unsure which path you wanted to take with your career: character actor or leading man. Was there ever a time that you felt particularly at that crossroads? Kind of like, “If I had taken that role or done that audition or turned down this thing, my career would’ve been completely different”?

That’s a great question, and I don’t know. We’ll never know. I know that what’s best for me, or what I was going after, is I love being number two or three on the call sheet. I love it.

That being said, leading man roles, I’ve done some, I love them, all based on what that story is or what that lead character is doing.

But I like playing number three or four just because you have a little bit more room to stretch a character, make them a little bit more outlandish, push the envelope a little bit more. Like in “12 Years a Slave,” I really threw that character at the wall, and I couldn’t believe that it stuck. I couldn’t believe that they liked it and they wanted it.

A lot of these auditions I went into earlier, I never thought I would get them. I had a long period of time of the studio saying no to me. When a filmmaker wanted me, the studio would be like, “No, bring this to somebody else.” That went on for a really long time.

So around this time period, I started throwing stuff at the wall. That role in “Killing Them Softly,” I was just messing around and playing. And then they wanted a callback, and I was like, “I have no idea what I did! I never thought I was going to come back for this.”

Those types of characters and character acting are definitely something I’d much more lean into, and I’m hoping in the future to get deeper character roles that allow me to really challenge myself and stretch myself to more uncomfortable places. Because it’s really comfortable knowing you can lay something down in an audition with the thought of, “I’m never going to get it anyways. No one’s ever going to see this. Who cares?”

But to do it on something that you know that people are going to see can take you outside of your comfort zone. And I like to be outside of my comfort zone. I don’t like being comfortable when I’m working.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

“Speak No Evil” is in theaters now.