When you're a major part of two of the most influential movies of the '90s, people tend to pigeonhole you. But Tim Roth's career has been anything but typecast. Since his riveting turns in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Roth has played everything from a gangster to an apeman to Tupac's junkie pal-and now, in Francis Ford Coppola's intricate Youth Without Youth (out this month), he's an eternally young time-travelling schizophrenic professor...we think. With upcoming roles in the disturbing Funny Games and the much-hyped Hulk sequel, Roth remains one of the most wide-ranging and compelling actors working today.

Francis Ford Coppola hasn’t made a movie in 10 years. Was that why you signed on for Youth Without Youth?
Tim Roth: My first thought when I read it was, I don’t know how the hell you’re going to do this. How do you make a film like this? But I thought it was an extraordinary chance to get back into acting, which I’ve been missing for a long time. A lot of stuff that you do, it doesn’t require any acting. It’s just behavior.

You’ve been working steadily for the past 15 years, but did you ever feel like you were dropping off of the radar?
Tim Roth: I didn’t pay any attention to it, really. I had the experience of directing once [1999’s The War Zone], and I just really wanted to get back to that, but I couldn’t afford to because the nature of film itself changed. What you got paid to be in a film, except if you’re in the top five on the A-list, really dropped. Consequently, what you were doing as an actor was just trying to pay the rent. You weren’t really thinking about the content, you were thinking about how to keep the roof over your family’s head.

Is that an artistic compromise for you?
Tim Roth: It’s a complete compromise. It’s what every actor has to do. You have to do so many crap films so that you can afford to do one or two good ones. And that’s more of what actors have to do than it used to be—they’re foolish if they don’t. As soon as you get big businesses taking over the so-called independent film industry, you’re screwed! Any kind of artistic integrity is scrapped because it’s sales, you know, it’s advertising. And you’re lucky if you get a weekend in the box office [at all] if you’re a film that has a different story line. You’re trying to rent the space in the cinema when the “Action Movie 23” sequel is playing.

Funny you should bring that up, since you’re playing the Abomination in The Incredible Hulk.
Tim Roth: Well, it was kind of presented to me in a different way: “Let’s get some actors in.” And there was a chance to do something my kids could see-they rarely see anything that I’m in-and also to pay the rent. It all came in the same package. It’s quite a big decision to be in one of these movies because if it’s successful-and that’s a very big if-but if it is successful, then it’s on lunch boxes, and you become known for that. If it’s unsuccessful, then that carries another curse with it as well: the uncool movie, the uncool character. I mean, I know what we’re shooting, and my kids think it’s pretty cool [laughs]. That, believe me, is my standard on set.