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Tell me a little about yourself and how
you got involved in Circle.
Well, I’ve been living in LA for about fifteen years now, and I worked
on a show called ‘Prison Break’ for about two and a half years – and there was a guy working on that show
called Michael Watkins – I was actually trying to get away from the roles that Circle casted me as, but I really liked
working with Michael. So I said I would do it – and I had a great time, but I am trying to change
the perception.
Yeah, you don’t want to be typecast as the crazy guy in everything that you
do… especially since doing ‘My Name is Earl’, ‘Prison Break’ and Circle.
Oh,
boy there’s a lot more than those three too. A lot of characters… they’re crazy in one
way or another, and once people get that in their head… it’s like trying to turn around an ocean liner…
it takes a long time.
Did you do any sort of research to prepare
yourself for your role in Circle?
No, not in Circle. Actually, I did do some research on
Greek – some pronunciation research. One of the producers spoke Greek, and so he helped me out with
some of that. But as far as the… being in a mental ward… that’s all just imagination
and the story. But I didn’t visit any mental wards…
And you didn’t
kill anybody.
Right, I didn’t visit a mental ward… I didn’t commit any serial murders.
It’s all in the story, if its good writing then it should be in the story… you shouldn’t have to
do too much research. Unless you’re playing a cop in 1974, then you’re going to want to drive
around with cops.
What can you tell me about the movie and your character?
Well,
it was so long ago that not much is the answer to that. I really don’t remember too much about it;
I only worked on the show for about five days. It was a compressed schedule to begin with and it’s
a small --- I mean, I’m surprised they put me on the poster. Basically, what I remember about it
is – it’s a serial murderer who is interested in capturing people’s souls when they die. It
always reminded me of that scene in Caligula – when John Gielgud’s character is dying. He’s
in a big clear tub of water and Caligula is played by Malcolm McDowell – desperately asking him what its like, and that
was something that sort of reminded me of the curiosity of someone who wants to know answers to the unknowable… like
what death is, and that’ll drive somebody crazy. But I also like the fact that he’s one of
those crazy, but sort of genius crazy… even though it’s basically utter madness. The character,
he was driven mad by a search for a human soul, and I think that was kind of an interesting idea.
I don’t want to give away the ending at all, but do you think there’s a possibility of making a second one?
I think
they wanted to – I think they had an idea. We shot this three or four years ago; I can’t believe…
I think it’s an amazing testament that it’s finally coming out, but honestly I don’t remember it that well.
But yeah, they were talking at the time about a sequel – about the possibility of what these guys are really
after, and what they hell they’re doing.
Maybe in another three or four
years they’ll come out with that one.
[laughs] Yeah, exactly.
Do you know the reason behind the holdup? Why there was a three or four year gap
in releasing the movie?
At the beginning I thought it had to do with maybe not having shot everything they wanted
to shoot. Because with these low budgets and compressed schedules – you don’t always get what
you need. So that’s what I thought at first, and I think there was some of that. I
also think the editing process was pretty laborious because the story, I think, changed somewhat from what it was written…
to when it was shot… to what it was edited to be. I think that’s standard, all of those things
are part of the course, but when you’ve got tons of money you can do all of that in ten weeks. When
you don’t have the money it takes ten months or more.
From what
you can remember, does a certain scene stick out as one of your favorites to shoot?
I remember shooting the
scene – this was really fun – I was shooting the scene in the shed. Just trying to kind of
figure out – we’re shooting it in a real shed with real rusty tools – my character gets stabbed in the shoulder
with a pitchfork or something, and I remember trying to work that out – we were all just trying to figure out how hard
they were going to hit me, how do they hit me, and how do they get it in there? I just remember finally
looking at the image of me sitting up behind her when she thinks she’s got me, I don’t even know if it’s
in the movie, but I really enjoyed shooting that scene because I felt it was an homage of that scene in Halloween.
Which is one of my favorite things ever in a horror movie, the image of him sitting in the background… I remember
that scared the crap out of me. So I was happy to homage something that as a child I found terrifying.
So what’s next for you?
At the moment, there’s a couple of things that I’m
waiting to hear from, but nothing is in works right now. I directed a short film, and that’s going
to a lot of festivals.
Nice, what’s it called?
It’s called Song
in a Convenience Store, it’s about a young woman who runs into a Sikh who works behind a counter at a store, and they
have a wonderful connection that is sort of unspoken and powerful. I didn’t write it, but I was asked
to direct it – and it was a real great experience doing that. So, that’s what I’m trying
to promote right now. As far as acting goes, it’s been pretty slow lately – I’d hate
to say that, but it’s just that the business is changing – and when you try to change people’s attitudes
about who you are and what kind of work you want to do… but there’s been some good interviews for some projects.
As long as it keeps interesting you… you keep doing it.
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