Yeah. I’m really excited to know that Beware Of A Holy W***e was an influence on your new film.
Yeah, it wouldn’t be evident necessarily. I changed the film and the one I’m working on now and there are aspects that are strongly influenced from that.
“I’m finding that it’s just best for me to continue doing the things I’m most interested in doing. Whether that’s the place where money goes or not.”
You appear to have the distinct pleasure to be able to do all of these different things like you act, you direct, you write books and everything. What would you say to someone who wants to follow a similar career path? Like what kind of advice would you give?
You know, I just do keep doing the things that you’re generally, genuinely interested in doing. Yeah. Like there’s no need to do something just because you’re supposed to do it. If you genuinely are interested in doing something and have a need for doing it, then you should do it. And if an opportunity comes that might be of interest, you can follow that. I’m finding that it’s just best for me to continue doing the things I’m most interested in doing. Whether that’s the place where money goes or not. It’s like I’ve always heard, I think (Werner) Herzog has said something similar, but it’s also something I’ve seen Joseph Campbell says “If you go towards the thing that you’re really fascinated by the money will follow up.” But there’s so much emphasis on money in the culture, which I don’t think is a good thing. It becomes necessary of course. But being focused on that is not healthy. It’s not good for the mind.
I feel like you follow that pretty well. I don’t think that I’ve seen you in anything that you wouldn’t have wanted to do.
No, that’s not true. I mean, definitely, there are times where I’ve opened up a script and before I opened it up I said, “Whatever this is, I’m going to make this work.” That’s because I fund my own films. But, in a certain way, I actually think there’s something healthy about that. It’s kind of like you’ve just got to do it. And sometimes they’re very nice stuff. I like this material (We Have Always Lived In The Castle). I like the material for American Gods. I’m talking about the source material and these things are very interrelated too because I was in the middle of shooting the first season of American Gods when I shot this and then I came back and finished shooting the first season of American Gods. And then Stacie Passon, the director of this also directed an episode of season two….and I’ve seen Neil Gaiman list Shirley Jackson is either one of his influences or writers that he admires. These are both beautiful and uniquely written books. So I like things that come from good literary sources.
Yeah, when I saw this film and you were in it, I thought that I can’t imagine anybody else playing this part. And I know that there were other people that were up for it, but I’m glad that it was you who got it.
Yeah, I’m pleased. I’m grateful that it worked that way. I wouldn’t even necessarily have had myself in my mind’s eye of reading the character. But at the same time, age-wise, I actually am, have the correct age for the character but I pictured kind of older, more decrepit looking person in a way that than myself.
When you were first starting your career, um, I know your father was an actor but was there something kind of that you saw a specific film or a play or something that made you think that that’s what you want to do?
Well, my father is an actor in the film that I’m working on now, it’s the first time he and I have acted together.
