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What is the film
about?
I was involved in a
few of the scenes as an actor, and probably just as many others behind the
camera. In addition, I spoke with Rich (writer, director, producer)
many times over the years about various parts of the movie.
However, I haven’t seen the full film yet and I wasn’t privy to
the whole script. As such, I
am not qualified to comment on the film as a whole.
Maybe, if (considering all of the effort I put forth to help make
this movie) I were given a copy of the movie to view, I could give you a
better idea of what the movie is about.
The movie is about
gambling, and its effects on people’s lives.
One of the final candidates for the name of this film was “Fuck
Yourself,” if that gives you any idea as to the type of movie it is.
What was it like
working with the director?
Working with Rich was
OK. During the time that the
bulk of the film was shot, I worked near where he lived.
I didn’t know too many people out that way, so he was really just
somebody I used for lunch.
The
joke was on me, though. He
basically didn’t talk about anything else except the fucking movie.
If you asked him how his kids were, or about his mom, or something
to the effect of normal conversation, he would respond by asking you if
you thought he should shove a bowling trophy or a baseball trophy up some
character’s ass. Then
he’d make me pick up the check.
Doing the scenes was
usually a good time. They
were either with people you’d be going out and doing something with
anyway, or with people you hadn’t seen in a while and wouldn’t
otherwise get a chance to see.
How did you get
the role and did you do any research?
Rich asked me to play
a lawyer and said that he had sort of written a lawyer part with me in
mind. Acting in movies
isn’t really an aspiration of mine.
I was initially hesitant to get involved in this movie.
However, Rich had been talking about it for years, I knew he was
serious about it, and I was somewhat flattered that he asked me, so I
agreed. In appreciation for
my cooperation, he pulled the a fast one on me, in the form of a classic
bait and switch. After I told
him I would be in the movie, he said he was going to have me play a cop
instead of a lawyer.
This all came about because Rich asked Joe Pensanti, who plays my
cop partner (and who eventually bailed out on the movie and left me
hanging), to pick his partner. He
picked me. Again, flattering,
but a fuck job nonetheless.
I didn’t do any
research; I never even really reviewed the lines until we were at the
scene. Even then, many of the
lines were changed or improvised. Before we ever got started, Rich told me in a left-handed,
complimentary way, that the cop character (like the lawyer character) was
basically an arrogant, cocky, belligerent prick - and then he told me to
just be myself. Again, I
haven’t been deemed as enough of an important contributor to the film by
Mr. Scorcese to be allowed to see the final cut, so I don’t know if I
came off like the asshole that he obviously thinks I am.
Did you ever do
any acting before?
No.
The
Director said that he thought you had one of the best performances in the
film, any comment?
Oh, yeah?
Whose was better? Again,
Mr. Speilberg hasn’t gotten around to sending me a copy of the final
cut, so I can’t really say.
You can tell my
character and his scenes were crucial and compelling, though, by my
character’s monopolization of the Sorelosers movie trailer.
If you don’t blink, you might see me in my cop uniform, or, if
you look real close in one of the gambling scenes, you might catch a
glimpse of me in the background behind one of the extras at a table.
From all of the footage I’ve seen so far, which consists of the
trailer, the only performance I did well was as the Invisible Man.
The Headless Horseman got more face time in his movie than I did in
that trailer.
I remember when the
trailer first went on the website and people started to watch it.
“I thought you were in the movie,” was probably the most common
comment to me. Runner’s up
were, “Where were you?” and “I think I saw you…wait…play it
again.”
Any future
projects?
Rich is writing
another script, and he said he has a part that he is writing with me in
mind…sound familiar? I am sure he will entice me by saying I be playing some
desirable role and then, after things get going, relegate me to something
like a guy who shovels horse shit in a stable for a living and who gets
beat up and spit on by his co-workers regularly.
Do you have
anything to say about Rich, the director/writer/producer?
All the stuff I said
before is (hopefully, obviously) in a joking manner – particularly
screening the movie. I’ll see it at a film festival (one of the many that
will surely accept it) like everyone else.
Rich is a good person and a good friend (and he’s not cheap as
alluded to before). He is
very insightful about people and what makes them tick, which, I believe,
contributed to his ability to organize all of the people involved in the
film. He also has some
obvious natural talent - not just creative talent for writing (and
rewriting and reworking) the script, but talent for staying focused and
finishing in spite of numerous obstacles.
What he set out to do was very ambitious. That he accomplished it deserves praise.
I wish him the best.
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