THE DEADBOLT: You hear about people writing roles for actors but he almost wrote this one WITH you.

HIAM: Yeah, but it's not really true to say WITH me because I wasn't there next to him when he was writing but I think he needed that kind of, let's say, honesty about whatever he was talking about. He's someone who really doesn't like to work with stereotypes and not with cliches. So he didn't want this woman to be out of his control. He wanted to get to know her. I just helped him know who this woman would be.

THE DEADBOLT: He clearly has a different style as both a writer and director. What makes him a different director than others you've worked with?

RICHARD: I've worked with a lot of wonderful directors - people who really understand actors. The thing about Tom that I love is that every time he rewrote it got better. That's not an easy thing to do. A lot of people rewrite and it gets worse. I've been in those. "Wait a minute. Let's go back to the original." Often, they'll try and explain something or clarify too much. He used that time to really hear these characters through our voices and shape the script to the people speaking. He would change to fit the personalities that were in the room and yet we also had to bend and change and fit into the script. I found it really helpful - the whole process. And I'm not crazy about rehearsals. Maybe it's because he's from the stage. He knew how to use that time.

THE DEADBOLT: Why are you not crazy about rehearsals?

RICHARD: Because once you put the camera there everything changes. If you use rehearsal to try and define something and solve the problem, then it doesn't work. Once you make a decision, the creative process stops. Once you say "This is it" then you're not open for anything. When the camera comes you start going "This is different."

HIAM: The process of rehearsal helps you very much know your character and where you come from. All the thinking process that you should do happens there because, once you're in front of the camera, you're there or you're not. You can't take time to think. The way Tom works is "I listen. I take. But I close nothing." So these kind of rehearsals were different from others where the director would tell you "Okay, let's see how you move in this space." That's great but, with him, it was more about a duet, taking and giving. "I take from you but if it doesn't suit me, I will tell you, and we will find something else."

THE DEADBOLT: I always find it interesting to see how a studio or filmmaker first represents their work in the production notes and in the ones for The Visitor, Tom says that the film is about "The little decisions that people make and how they affect their life." So, if you can, what's a little decision that you made that a big impact on your life?

HIAM: To be an actress. When I was young, it was a really little decision. This is one of the things that lived with me since I was a child. I always really wanted to be in theater school, an after-school program. I started doing it because something was urging me to do it. At the age of eight, I played in a small piece in front of the people in my village where my son dies and my son was one of the guys in my class. So, I was holding my buddy and I was really into it and he died and I got really emotional and, once I stopped, I looked around and everyone was crying. And I said, "Whoa. This is magic." You don't know what decision you're making but it's there and you're seeking for it. There's no small decisions.

RICHARD: At the time, they may seem small. I think about a time when I almost didn't do a play. I was tired. I had a long day and I wanted just to go home. I decided I would do it and my manager, who wasn't my manager at the time, happened to come and see it that night. That's how I got into film. But I came really close to not doing it. I was really tired. If I hadn't? At the time, t seemed like a small decision.

THE DEADBOLT: And what if he hadn't come that night? Which is another theme of the movie, for me, the "music of chance" for lack of a better phrase. So, what if he hadn't come that night? What would you be doing?

RICHARD: I'd still be looking for a piano teacher. I'd have been acting in regional theater. You don't know what would have happened but that was my future.

THE DEADBOLT: What would you be doing if you hadn't had that acting experience?

HIAM: Married with ten kids in some village in the North of Israel.

RICHARD: And one of those kids would play a mother in a play and think "I really want to be an actress." [Laughs.]

HIAM: It's really very tricky what you're saying about decisions. For example, I know my life is saved because of a decision I made for a weekend. It's a very sad story. My uncle got killed with his wife and daughter and I was supposed to sleep in their house that night. So, is it a big or a small decision?

THE DEADBOLT: Both.

HIAM: Exactly. It's that moment of acting, as well. Did I really know I was making a big decision? At the age of eight or nine, do you really know? My life seems to be really only about this. Leaving Israel and Palestine and look where I am now. The distance is so enormous.

RICHARD: You look back on your life when you get older, as I am, and it's really incredible how the small things add up. Every actor that you talk to has a different story. Not one has the same. People ask me "How do you do it?" I have NO idea. It's not like Law School or Dental School. Everybody's got a different story. I'm sure that in my life, not just with acting but also with my family and kids, there's SO many small decisions that I made that were the wrong ones or the right ones, but I've just washed them out of my memory.