Clifton Collins Jr. plays a bad guy in “Crank: High Voltage” (in theaters April 17, 2009). He also plays a bad guy in “Star Trek” (in theaters May 8, 2009). In fact, he’s played a lot of bad guys, and he’s ok with that. He says it’s kind of fun playing the bad guys.

Read on as he talks about whipping Jason Statham’s ass, being awed by Leonard Nimoy, working with Andre Braugher on “Thief,” and the magic that is “Grand Theft Auto.”

JANE: You play a Mexican mob boss in “Crank” High Voltage.” Did you study other movie mob bosses to get a feel for it?

CLIFTON: I studied the two brothers in the original piece. I watched them attempt to be sort of a modern day “Scarface” imitator, and I say ‘modern day’ because my two younger brothers would have NO knowledge of the Howard Hawks’ “Scarface” [circa 1932].

That said, I turned to tradition. I mentioned to Mark [Neveldine, director/writer] and Brian [Taylor, director/writer] that I would be Old School, from the Motherland of Mexico, not some Cuban hybrid drug dealer from a movie. My influences would be more real, coming from Mayan and Aztec influences, Sinaloa Gangsters, etc.

I discovered the Patron Saint Jesus Malverde through my research, the Saint of all drug traffickers. A Mexican Robin Hood of sorts who … READ MORE