Exclusive Video Interview with ‘Sweet Dreams’ Stars Bobby Lee and GaTa

Sweet Dreams” is one of those movies coming out underneath the radar, and it deserves more attention than it is currently getting. Johnny Knoxville stars as Morris, a music video director who, as the movie opens, has hit rock bottom and wakes up in a park almost completely nude and with a bloody face. Next day, he enrolls at Sweet Dreams, a recovery center which cannot be mistaken for Promises or the Betty Ford Center, where he meets up with a group of misfits struggling to maintain their sobriety. In the process, Morris becomes the coach of the center’s softball team, and he gets another chance at life as well as the opportunity to be the dad his daughter deserves.

I got to talk with two of the stars of “Sweet Dreams,” Bobby Lee and Davionte Ganter, better known professionally as GaTa. Both play fellow patients who quickly bond with Morris and share their pasts and philosophies on life to him. Bobby is a stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster who was a cast member of “MADtv” and co-hosts the podcasts “Bad Friends” and “TigerBelly.” GaTa is an actor and rapper best known for playing a fictional version of himself on the FXX series “Dave.”

I was especially interested in talking to Lee and GaTa about their own experiences with drug addiction and mental health issues and how they informed their roles as Cruise and Jake in this film. Lee was introduced to drugs when he was just 12 years old, and it took him several trips through drug rehab before he got sober. GaTa has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he has become a big mental health advocate.

I really want to thank them for being so open about their struggles as it proves how “Sweet Dreams” has such a big heart, and that, for these two, doing this movie felt like an extension of the things they work hard for in life. Anyone with addiction issues may very well benefit from watching this movie.

“Sweet Dreams” opens in theaters on April 12, and will be available on digital platforms on April 16. Check out the interview below.

Kelly Reilly on Portraying the Ravages of Addiction in ‘Flight’

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written back in 2012.

Robert Zemeckis’ “Flight” ended up surprising us all by being a riveting character driven film as opposed to your average Hollywood action movie. It is filled with a number of great performances from very talented actors, and one of the most notable is Kelly Reilly’s as former photographer Nicole Maggen. When we first meet Nicole, she is in the throes of a nasty heroin addiction that almost claims her life. While in the hospital, she meets airline pilot William “Whip” Whitaker (Denzel Washington) who is going through his own substance abuse issues and becomes a kindred spirit of sorts as they both look for ways to escape their demons.

For Reilly, “Flight” marks the first American movie she has appeared in. Before this, she was best known for playing Mary Watson in the “Sherlock Holmes” movies, and she starred opposite Michael Fassbender in the unnerving horror film “Eden Lake.” When it came to playing Nicole in “Flight,” she explained to Christopher Rosen of the Huffington Post how she goes about preparing for a role.

“If it’s there in the script it makes your life a lot easier,” Reilly said. “You’re not searching for something. You’re not trying to figure out how to make this character believable or real. You’re not trying to skirt around bad writing. This character, to me, just jumped out. I already felt a kinship to her; I wanted to play her. I knew that this sort of addiction that got hold of her so tightly was a symptom of this woman’s heartbreak. I knew there was somebody underneath worth fighting for. There are all these stereotypes of heroin addicts being junkies or dropouts or people who we shouldn’t care about. I just thought that can’t be true. They’re somebody’s son or daughter; they’re human beings. They’re just lost. That is something John Gatins got in his script. I really wanted to play that rather than the stereotype of the heroin addict.”

When it came to playing a heroin addict, Reilly explained to Rosen the amount of research she did to better understand her character. She spent a lot of time on Google learning about those addicted to this particular drug, but that only gave her so much information. But while I was at “Flight’s” press conference at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, Reilly went more into depth about who gave her the answers she needed to know the most.

“I did consult a wonderful guy called Mitch in Atlanta who helped me understand the inner life of a heroin addict as much as one can without experiencing it, and he really did open up his story to me,” Reilly said. “There was a technical side of it as well as he taught me how to inject heroin without really injecting heroin. I wanted to honor the truth of somebody in that situation, and I think that was the most difficult part without ever having experienced that.”

But despite “Flight” gaining strong critical praise for its direction and performances, Reilly doesn’t see herself being nominated for an Academy Award. When it comes to the Oscars, they tend to honor the showiest performances above all others. Reilly’s performance as Nicole is powerful largely because it is an understated one which does not draw too much attention to itself. She explained this in more detail to Rosen.

“I know there is a lot of buzz around Denzel and the film. A few people have kind of suggested that it could be a possibility for me. I don’t see it myself,” Reilly said. “That’s just not me being humble or anything. I genuinely don’t imagine that to be the case. Mine is more of a quiet performance and I don’t think it’s an award winner. I still feel incredibly flattered to have people even suggest that. As much as it was never a dream of mine — a dream of mine would be to be on stage in New York — it would still be a mind-blowing thing to happen especially for something you feel proud of.”

Michael Caine once said that in the theater you play a character, but in television and film you are the character. Some of the greatest performances I see from actors in movies come from those who inhabit their characters more than play them, and Kelly Reilly’s performance in “Flight” is no exception. While we all love the showiest of performances, it is those subtle ones which deserve the most credit. My hope is that the Oscars will prove Reilly wrong and give her the credit she deserves for her work here. It’s one of the best portrayals of an addict I have seen ever since Michael Keaton played one in “Clean and Sober.”

SOURCES:

Christopher Rosen, “Kelly Reilly, ‘Flight’ Star, On Why She Probably Won’t Win an Oscar,” The Huffington Post, November 26, 2012.

Ben Kenber, “Interview with The Cast and Crew of Flight,” We Got This Covered, October 30, 2012.

‘Remote Area Medical’ Exclusive Interview with Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman

Remote Area Medical” focuses on the non-profit medical provider of the same name, better known as RAM, when they opened a three-day clinic held at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, and we watch as hundreds wait by their cars in the hopes of getting the kind of health care they never have any easy access to. While there has been an endless debate in the United States about how to handle health care, this documentary chooses to focus on people instead of policy. We get a close up look at how this clinic starts off with a 3:30 a.m. ticket distribution which determines who will get seen for routine check-ups, and the patients tell us about themselves through stories which prove to be both vivid and heartbreaking. In addition, we also get to meet those who volunteer their time at the clinic like the organization’s founder, Stan Brock, a doctor who happens to drive a refurbished 18-wheeler truck, and a denture maker who also works as a jeweler. From start to finish, “Remote Area Medical” puts a human face on what it means to not have access to health care, and it makes for one of the most unforgettable documentaries of 2014.

I got the opportunity to speak with its directors, Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman, while they were in Los Angeles back in 2014. They are married to each other and actually volunteered at a RAM clinic back in Pikesville, Kentucky in 2011 where they were overwhelmed by stories they heard of patients in need and volunteer doctors working overtime to provide care. Reichert and Zaman also directed the documentaries “Gerrymandering” and “This Time Next Year.” They discussed what stunned them most as volunteers at RAM, what they learned about people who live in the Appalachian community, and they talked more about the conversations they had with Stan Brock.

Please check out the exclusive interview down below, and I have also included a trailer for “Remote Area Medical” as well for you to check out. This documentary is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.

To learn more about Remote Area Medical (RAM), please feel free to visit their website at ramusa.org.

Bernardo Ruiz and Oscar Hagelsieb Talk About ‘Kingdom of Shadows’

WRITER’S NOTE: This interview took place back in 2015.

The U.S.-Mexico drug war is one many of us watch from a distance, but the documentary “Kingdom of Shadows” forces you to look at the war more closely than usual as it puts a human face on the damage left in its path. Director Bernardo Ruiz observes the ongoing conflict through the perspectives of three individuals: activist nun Sister Consuelo Morales who prods government officials to take action against the drug cartels who have kidnapped many people, Texas rancher and former drug smuggler Don Henry Ford Jr. who offers a descriptive context for the evolution of drug trafficking, and undercover agent turned Homeland Security officer Oscar Hagelsieb who offers a unique perspective on America’s role in the drug war. The majority of what we see takes place in Monterrey, a devastated and violence scarred town in Mexico that Oscar felt less safe to be in than when he was a soldier in the Middle East.

Watching “Kingdom of Shadows” is deeply moving and unsettling as we see how vicious the war on drugs has become, and it makes the intense thriller “Sicario” feel all the more real and unnerving in retrospect. Bernardo takes a real close look at the cost of this war from both the U.S. and Mexico sides, and he gives us an unflinching look at the human rights crisis it has generated and which only recently made international headlines.

I was among a group of reporters who got to sit in on an interview with Bernardo Ruiz and Oscar Hagelsieb while they were in Los Angeles to promote “Kingdom of Shadows.” Bernardo also directed the documentary “Reportero” which chronicled a veteran reporter and his colleagues at a weekly newspaper challenging drug cartels and corrupt local officials during an unprecedented wave of violence against journalists in Mexico. Oscar’s life began in a drug infested neighborhood where he was raised by undocumented parents, and despite having been an undercover officer for several years, he explained why he was more than willing to show his face in this documentary.

Bernardo talked about the kind of resistance and challenges he faced in making “Kingdom of Shadows,” and he explained why he introduced Oscar the way he did. Oscar was asked how he manages not to take his work home with him, and he explained why the legalization of marijuana will cause the drug war to become even more violent.

Please check out the interview below, and you can also check out the trailer as well. “Kingdom of Shadows” is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.

Exclusive Interview with Salome Breziner about ‘Helicopter Mom’

Back in 2014, I got to speak with filmmaker Salome Breziner about her film “Helicopter Mom.” It stars “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” creator Nia Vardalos as Maggie, a completely overbearing single mother who is about to see her only son, Lloyd (Jason Dolley), finish up high school and then move on to college. Maggie feels ever so close to Lloyd, and she quickly proves to be much too close to him. While Lloyd does love his mom, he cannot help but be constantly annoyed at her being more of a best friend to him than a parent as she is almost completely unable to leave him alone for a second.

Maggie’s relationship with Lloyd then enters another plateau when she discovers that gays can get scholarships for college. Constantly worries about she will pay for Lloyd’s college tuition, Maggie decides to tell the whole world that her son is a homosexual in the hopes of securing a scholarship. The problem is, Lloyd is not really gay or, at least, doesn’t think he is. In fact, he finds himself very confused about his sexuality to where life is not about to give him an easy answer to who he really is.

What results is a motion picture which deals with the confusion teenagers typically experience about life and themselves during their formative years, and it promotes a message of acceptance for people of all kinds. Deep down, we are only so different from one another.

Breziner previously directed the 2013 independent comedy “The Secret Lives of Dorks,” and her other directorial efforts include “Fast Sofa,” “An Occasional Hell,” “Tollbooth” and “Lift.” During my interview, she talked about how she went about director the comedic powerhouse that is Nia Vardalos, her own experience as a single mother, the luck she had in being able to shoot the film in Los Angeles and Venice Beach, and of how she got to cast Mark Boone Junior in a role which allows him to go completely against type.

Please check out my exclusive interview below, and be sure to also check out the movie’s trailer.

Joe Swanberg on the Making of ‘Drinking Buddies’

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written back in 2013.

Filmmaker Joe Swanberg has been a major figure in the Mumblecore movement, a subgenre of American independent film which is characterized by low budget production values and naturalistic dialogue. Among his films is “Hannah Takes the Stairs” which stars Greta Gerwig and was actually shot without a script. The way Swanberg works, he gives his actors an outline of the plot of what he wants to film, and they improvise their scenes from there. This way of filmmaking offers actors the opportunity to take a lot of risks and make the kind of movie Hollywood studios do not want to right now.

Swanberg’s latest film, “Drinking Buddies,” stars Olivia Wilde as Kate, an employee at a Chicago craft brewery who spends her days flirting with her co-worker, Luke (Jake Johnson). They would make the perfect couple, but Kate is already going out with Chris (Ron Livingston) while Luke is seeing Jill (Anna Kendrick). But when their significant others are out of town one weekend, both Luke and Kate begin to wonder if the feelings they have for one another will eventually come to the surface.

As with “Hannah Takes the Stairs,” “Drinking Buddies” was shot without a script, and the actors improvised all their scenes. Swanberg took the time to talk with us about the experience of making the movie while at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, California as well as the fascinating world of craft beers.

What would you say is the difference between a microbrew and craft beer?

Joe Swanberg: Same thing, different terminology. The way that the world is soused out is basically in terms of how many barrels a year that places are outputting between micro-breweries and macro breweries. I would argue that you’re either there because you’re passionate about it, or you’re there because it’s a job, and that’s the difference between the two.

You mentioned “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” as one of your influences on this film, and that was a studio comedy with an adult point of view. Your films always have that great point of view and you keep going back to that well time and time again. What keeps you going back there, and what was your motivation to do this film?

Joe Swanberg: Well, a lot of it has to do with operating in a space where I can carve out a little area for myself to play in. Sadly, complex contemporary adult movies, there aren’t many of them. I’ve always been allergic to just doing what everybody else was doing, so it’s kind of just remained a place where there aren’t that many other things happening. I don’t have to be nervous that we’re sort of recycling the zeitgeist or anything like that, then it’s also just one I’m fascinated by. I think if you were to catch me most days of the week and asked me what I was thinking about, it would be a conversation my wife and I had about making time for each other to both be able to do our creative things, or some friend of mine who’s going through a breakup or something. I’m interested in people in that way, how we interact with each other. It’s very easy for me to continue to generate stories that are based around that because it’s kind of always on my mind anyway.

What would you say was your favorite scene in “Drinking Buddies?”

Joe Swanberg: My favorite sequence in the movie is Jake and Olivia playing cards, he’s playing blackjack with her, and Ron and Anna are hiking in the woods. Just the start of the back-and-forth of seeing these two couples we’ve established in terms of each other sort of swapping a little bit and feeling out how to flirt with someone else. I feel like I have this experience in my own life within the context of my relationship with my wife where I’ll just be with another woman and you just sort of get to play make-believe for 45 minutes or something of “oh this is what it would be like if we were together and we went to get lunch or something. This is how we would relate to each other,” and it’s different than the relationship you’re in. These little daydream scenarios, that scene in particular is really fun to me to see play out. I also love listening to Jake and Olivia on the porch. Anna has fallen asleep and they sneak out. I’ve had a lot of those nights in my life where the floodgates open and you just start being really honest and it starts feeding into the other person’s honesty. Before you know it, you’re just talking about things you’ve never told anybody with someone you hardly know. It was fun to try get something like that into the movie and to let them share stories with each other, and I just get to bear witness to it.

Did you have this great cast in mind from the beginning?

Joe Swanberg: No. Usually I’m working with friends of mine so I do know exactly who is going to play the parts before I gear the thing up, but this was one where I just sort of had broad stroke ideas about who the characters were. It’s the first time I’ve ever done a casting process where I met with a lot of actors and try to think about chemistry and placing different people in different roles.

Why did you film in Chicago? Why not Boulder, Colorado?

Joe Swanberg: Well, I live in Chicago, so that’s a big reason. Also, there’s a specificity that I can give the movie because I know what kinds of apartments these people live in and what bars they would drink at. So, every choice gets be a real choice because I know them and I’m friends with them. I’ve been to places I’ve never been to before and done the same process, but then I either have to take somebody else’s word for it like where the hipsters drink, or where it’s just not specific at all. I’m just like choosing places that look nicer something. It was fun to do something at home where I could use the city is an indicator of certain things. Also, I have a kid now so traveling is way less appealing than it used to be. Going to sleep in my bed every night was a huge bonus.

Was the backpack scene in the woods between Ron and Anna when they have that awkward moment completely improvised?

Joe Swanberg: Yeah. It’s the first film that I’ve done where I had an art department and a props master and all these people, so it was really fun as a director to show up to the production office every day and have somebody bring in four different backpacks that I could choose from. It was just too funny to pass up. It says a lot about her (Anna Kendrick). It’s a really great use of a prop.

Beer wise, what are you drinking now especially after you’ve had this little bit of education?

Joe Swanberg: I’m still leaning on the hoppy IPA side of things, but it’s interesting because I didn’t drink at all until I was 25. On my honeymoon I had a beer. I guess I must’ve felt like “alright, I’m here,” so it’s new to me. It’s really been something that I’ve just gotten into in the last five years. It’s interesting because I remember drinking a really hoppy beer early on and just thinking it tasted disgusting, and now I really like the flavor so I’m really curious as to where my taste buds will lead me in terms of the stuff. I find that I go through cycles with it. There was a period of time where I just wanted to drink stouts and dark beers, and then I got into Belgian stuff and then went to the hoppy stuff so I don’t know what the next wave will be.

Any brands you like?

Joe Swanberg: Sure, but too many to even name. I’ll stick to the Midwest: Revolution Bar where we shot, Three Floyds, and Half Acre. We are very spoiled in Chicago. I think twelve new breweries opened this year. It’s a nice time to be in Chicago right now.

Drinking Buddies” is available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.

Adam Scott on Acting in ‘A.C.O.D.’

WRITER’S NOTE: The following interview took place on September 26, 2013.

A.C.O.D.” is an abbreviation for Adult Children of Divorce and the movie stars Adam Scott as Carter, a man who suffered through his parents’ bitter divorce as a child. Now as an adult, he owns a restaurant and appears to be a well-adjusted person despite what he has been through. But then his younger brother Trey (Clark Duke) informs him that he has just gotten engaged, he asks Carter to see if they can get their parents, Hugh (Richard Jenkins) and Melissa (Catherine O’Hara), to come to the wedding. This proves to be quite a challenge as neither Hugh nor Melissa can stand to be in the same room with one another, and this leads to a number of surprises that no one sees coming.

Scott started off as a dramatic actor, but in recent years he has proven to be quite adept at doing comedy. He starred in the movie “Friends with Kids” opposite Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig, and he has given memorable performances in “The Aviator,” “Knocked Up” and “Torque.” Many still remember him best for his roles on the television series “Party Down” as failed actor Henry Pollard who rejoins a catering company and on “Parks and Recreation” where he plays the competent but socially awkward government official Ben Wyatt. The star of that show, Amy Poehler, also appears in “A.C.O.D.” as Carter’s stepmother Sondra.

I got to participate in a roundtable interview with Scott when he was at the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles, California for the “A.C.O.D.” press conference, and he talked about working with Clark Duke and Amy Poehler, and he also gave us an update on Ben Stiller’s upcoming adaptation of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”

Question: Adam you were terrific in this movie as the exasperated older brother. What was it like working with Amy Poehler who plays your bitchy stepmother?

Adam Scott: Thank you. It was really, really fun because usually we’re just making googly eyes at each other on “Parks and Recreation,” so it was just fun to hate each other’s guts. I remember when I asked her to do it. I just said, “Would you like to come play my stepmother? Don’t worry, we’re the same age” (we are the same age in real life). Luckily, she said yeah. It was really, really exciting that she would even consider doing it. It’s just always fun working with Amy in whatever capacity. Sometimes I do yard work for her (laughs).

Question: How much of this movie was improvised and how much of it was scripted?

Adam Scott: The movie is pretty much all scripted. There’s not much improvisation at all in the movie. It was just a really strong script. There was no need for improvisation and there wasn’t much time to mess around just because we had to shoot the whole thing so quickly.

Question: When you are playing a character like Carter, how do you keep him grounded in reality?

Adam Scott: I think the script is very grounded in reality. We could all relate to certain bits of it so I think it all starts with that. And the atmosphere and tone that Stu Zicherman (the co-writer and director) was setting with the movie was a very real and grounded one.

Question: There is a lot of family dysfunction to be found in this movie, but the relationship your character has with Trey is one of the more tame, genuine relationships of brotherly love. How did you go about establishing that chemistry and working together?

Adam Scott: We never even talked about it, but I think that Clark and I just sort of get along in regular life so that just kind of carries over.

Question: And does Clark also help out with Amy Poehler’s yard work?

Adam Scott: Yes, we all work full-time for Amy at her mansion. Clark and I are in charge of all of her wigs (laughs).

Question: How did this project come to you and what was it about it that spoke to you?

Adam Scott: I just read it and immediately wanted to do it back I guess it was now a couple of years ago. I just thought it was really funny. It reminded me of “Flirting with Disaster” which is one of my favorite movies. I thought it was really smart and really funny, and I was already a fan of Ben Karlin (the movie’s co-writer) and Stu. I didn’t even hesitate. I just tried to get the job immediately and at that point there was no cast signed on to it, so it was sort of a steady stream of these wonderful surprises of amazing people they were getting to fill out the rest of the roles.

Question: Ken Howard plays Melissa’s current husband, Gary, in the movie. What was it like having the President of the Screen Actors Guild on set?

Adam Scott: Super scary. He carries a pistol (laughs). He deputized Clark and I during filming and we each got a firearm.

Question: What are you working on next?

Adam Scott: I’m doing “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” with Clark, “Parks and Recreation” starts this month, and then I’m in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” which comes out on Christmas.

Question: Regarding “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” have you seen the original movie before coming into this one?

Adam Scott: Yeah, I saw it years ago and loved it. This is very, very different from the original for sure. The story itself (written by James Thurber) is so short that any movie that’s made out of it is going to have to wildly extrapolate from what it was. It’s a really, really, really good movie.

“A.C.O.D.” is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.

Exclusive Interview with Ashley Rickards about ‘A Haunted House 2’

I got to attend the press day for “A Haunted House 2” back in 2014. This satirical horror comedy sequel was released one year after the original, and it catches up with Malcolm Johnson (Marlon Wayans) as he moves into a new home with his girlfriend Megan (Jamie Pressly) and her two children, Becky (Ashley Rickards) and Wyatt (Steele Stebbins). As you can imagine, Malcolm and company are soon met by a bizarre series of paranormal events, and the sequel goes out of its way to spoof such horror hits as “The Conjuring,” “Sinister,” “Paranormal Activity” and “Annabelle” among others.

In addition to speaking with Marlon Wayans and Jamie Pressly, I also did get to sit down with Ashley Rickards to talk about her role as Becky. For various reasons, this interview was not published at the time of this film’s release, but I present to you now after rediscovering all these years later.

Rickards is best known for playing Jenna Hamilton on the MTV comedy-drama series “Awkward,” and as the troubled Samantha Walker on “One Tree Hill.” She graduated from high school at the age of 15, and is currently a member of MENSA. In addition, she also published a book entitled “A Guide to Getting it Together Once and For All” which we did talk a bit about during this interview (although she did have a different title for it back then), and she helped to launch the Project Futures Somaly Mam Foundation which works to prevent and end human trafficking and sexual slavery in Southeast Asia.

Please check out my interview with Ashley Rickards down below, and you can also watch the interviews I conducted with Marlon Wayans and Jamie Pressly which I did for We Got This Covered.

Exclusive Interview with the Cast of ‘The Gallows’

Looking through my vast collection of movie interviews, I came across this one which I did with the cast of “The Gallows.” Released back in 2015, it is a found footage horror film written and directed by Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff, and it opens up on a production of a play called, coincidentally, “The Gallows” which was done at Beatrice High School back in 1993. Everything looks to be going smoothly, but then an actor named Charlie Grimille is accidentally hanged and killed when the prop noose around his neck ends up malfunctioning, and the students and parents look on in horror.

The film then moves forward twenty years later to 2013 when the school attempts to put on a new performance of “The Gallows” in honor of Charlie’s memory. But, as you can expect, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and the young adults who are part of this production soon find that they are not alone as something ominous is hiding in the shadows. Suffice to say, they find themselves in fear for their lives, and some learn in the worst way how certain things are better left alone.

This interview took place at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, California, and it quickly proved to be one of the most cinematic press days I have ever been a part of. “The Gallows” stars Cassidy Gifford (the daughter of Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford), Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown who would go on to appear in “The Gallows Part II,” and Ryan Shoos who co-starred in “The Red Tie Massacre.” We had fun talking about the improvisation they did on set, working with the video cameras given to them, and of the advantage of playing characters with the same first names as theirs.

Please check out the interview below. “The Gallows” is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital. Watch it if you dare…

Exclusive Interview with Tye Sheridan on ‘Last Days in the Desert’

Credit: François Duhamel / Broad Green Pictures

Continuing my explorations of interviews I have conducted in the past, I came across this one with Tye Sheridan and his performance in “Last Days in the Desert.” Written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, it focuses on an imagined chapter of when Jesus (played by Ewan McGregor) went on a fasting and praying journey for forty days in the desert. Among the people he encounters on his travels is a character known as The Boy who is portrayed by Sheridan. The Boy is taking care of his ailing mother and building a house for her and his father to live in. But while he is eager to help his parents, he really wants to visit Jerusalem and hopes Jesus can lead the way for him.

I got to talk with Sheridan back in 2015 when he was promoting “Last Days in the Desert.” These days he is best known for playing the young Scott Summers/Cyclops in some of the “X-Men” movies and the lead role in Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One.” When I talked with him all those years ago, he was coming off of “The Tree of Life” in which he made his film debut, Jeff Nichols’ “Mud,” “The Stanford Prison Experiment” and “Entertainment” where he played an actor doing an unorthodox clown act.

While talking with Sheridan, I discussed how interesting his resume was in how it led up to him playing his character in “Last Days in the Desert.” We also talked about how he prepared for this role and how his costume helped to inform his performance. In addition, we discussed the challenges of filming in the California desert, and it gave me a strong appreciation of those who have experienced the hottest of summers Texas has to offer.

Please check out this exclusive interview below. “Last Days in the Desert” is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.