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An Interview with Chris Denham of El Camino |
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| Written by Bruce Frigeri | ||||||
| Monday, 13 July 2009 | ||||||
 Chris Denham is one of Hollywood's bright young stars, steadily building a career with memorable roles in some of the most respected studio films of the past few years; Charlie Wilson's War and the soon to be released Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese, foremost among them. Denham moves easily between large studio productions, live theatre and independent productions like El Camino, where he gives an unforgettable performance as the conflicted womanizer, Gray. We caught up with Denham while he was on location. IFC: You've been a working actor for a while now. Why do a "small" indie production like this? Chris Denham: When it comes to choosing projects, I always choose story over budget. Having worked on studio films affords me the luxury of working on independent films. But, whether or not the budget is $200,000 or $200 million, the story is the only essential. Maybe that sounds banal, but it is so easy to forget. It doesn't matter if they offer me forty million dollars, I don't want to be in a movie about exploding robots. IFC: Director Erik Weigel shared about the relief he felt when you walked into the casting session for El Camino. Basically he knew you were the one. What was your reaction the first time you read the script and thought about playing Gray? What was it about the story that appealed to you? CD: The script was novelistic. Its scope and silence was something you don't even see in a screenplay. It was plaintive. It took its time. The story impacted me deeply because it dealt with archetypal truths. The quest for home. The quest for love. The things we all seek and that somehow constantly elude us. I didn't know Erik, obviously, but I knew that this story came from his core. It wasn't some cerebral cinematic exercise. It was sincere. That's rare. IFC: You give the type of detailed performance in El Camino that I usually ascribe to actors with a theatrical background. How important has theatre been to your development as an actor? CD: Theater is a great training ground for film. If nothing else, it teaches an actor the technique of repetition. I recently did a play for six months and every night should be something different, something fresh. Some film actors treat acting like some accidental mystery. As if the "right take" will only happen by some confluence of repressed childhood memory or tears or emotional self-mutilation. In my experience, these people are not theater people. Theater people do the work. Night after night. Just do the work. IFC: Do you have a favorite scene in El Camino?  CD: My favorite scene is with Leo and Lizzy in the car, when Lizzy records Leo for the first time. They are both doing such good work. I learned a lot from both of them about simplicity. I also love Richard Gallagher's scene with Leo. He manages somehow to play a dying man without a trace of self-pity. It's devastating. IFC: What was it like traveling and shooting a film at the same time? CD: A road movie could easily become a scheduling disaster, but the producers actually pulled this off. We were in something like 12 states in 20 days. Break-neck. But the crew was great and ridiculously adaptive. Sal Interlandi, the co-writer, was also a grip, a gaffer, stunt driver, caterer, camera assistant and overall utility man. Everyone went above and beyond. The trip itself was such a great opportunity to see the country.  IFC: Roger Ebert and a few other critics have noted something akin to a generational sensibility that El Camino brings to the traditional road movie genre. There's an absence of melodrama that leaves some older audiences a bit adrift. On the other hand, younger audiences don't seem to have a problem with the way the characters arc and interact. Did you and your fellow actors work with Erik Weigel, the director, to consciously achieve this tone, or did it evolve more organically? CD: What drew me to the material, and why the material resonantes, is its distinct lack of cliche. In a road movie, you'd expect a love triangle. We don't do that. In a road movie, you'd expect some big lesson learned at the end. We don't do that. I don't know if its generational. I just know we all wanted to make something implicit. Something that asks more questions than it answers. IFC: Scenes in El Camino feel so real it's as if we're eavesdropping as an audience. Did you and the other actors have a sense that you were doing some special work during the production or did that come together later for you? CD: Never trust an actor who thinks he is doing "special work". You just have to trust the script. If the story is not special, nothing else will be. That being said, I'm very proud of how the film turned out. IFC: You're now a credited director, with the horror film, Home Movie, under your belt. Did any of your experiences on El Camino influence the way you went about making that film? If so would you share some of them with us? CD: Making my directorial debut, I was definitely influenced by my experience as an actor, particularly on El Camino. It taught me to become malleable. To adapt. To listen to what the actors are telling me. And also to trust the distribution market. We made Home Movie for under a million dollars. Four actors. One location. Not exactly the recipe for commericial success. And, yet, IFC bought the film and distributed. There is a market for intelligent, provocative work. There is an audience. IFC: Any plans to direct again? CD: Yes. Home Movie has opened some doors for me. Hopefully, I will be directing a film within the next year. IFC: You also play bass in a rock and roll band; Ivan And The Terribles. How has that been going for you? CD: I love my band. Hopefully you will, too. Shameless plug: www.myspace.com/ivansandomire IFC: A lot of developing artists tend to classify themselves as only one thing, Writer, Actor, etc. You obviously don't do that. How important has it been for you to direct a film, or play out with your band? CD: For me, acting, writing, directing are all supplemental. They all inform each other. Acting makes me a better writer. Writing makes me a better actor. It's all about telling a story. IFC: El Camino is part of a long tradition of American road movies. What are some of your favorite road movies? CD: It's hard to beat The Last Detail. Ashby has such a singular mixture of humor and drama. I also love Sullivan's Travels. Such a great movie. Some other favorite road movies: Down By Law, It Happened One Night, The Puffy Chair. O Brother ,Where Art Thou?, Vanishing Point. IFC: In the new online world we live with, everybody and anybody can be a critic. We have some fun with this phenomenon with our fictional critic-mensch, Walter Ego, on this site. Do you pay much attention to criticism in general, and do you think it's a good thing for there to be such a free for all of web critics? CD: As an audience member, I love criticism and devour it voraciously. It helps compartmentalize the experience of film-going. As an actor/writer, I ignore criticism entirely. I never read reviews. My colleagues are my critics.  IFC: The unfortunate truth about the state of American independent film is that you and your fellow actors could of all done the same quality work in El Camino, but without your growing name recognition to help get critics' and wholesalers' attention, this film would have most likely disappeared without a trace. It's gotten to the point where even respected film festivals limit their selection of "no name" features. Do you think actorsunderstand how important they are these days to getting a worthwhile film like El Camino made and seen? CD: I've been to several festivals with Home Movie. I'm consistently surprised by what qualifies as an independent film. I saw a $40 million dollar "independent film" with major stars. And there is no guarantee THAT film will be seen theatrically. Distributors are taking fewer risks. And they are right. I'm not an idealist. This is America. This is the free market. The people get what the people want. Which, apparently, is robots exploding. IFC: The promos for Shutter Island are intense, to say the least. What was it like working with Martin Scorsese?  CD: I envy Scorcese's energy. He never seems tired. He loves his job so much, it can't help but be infectious. Marty is the least cynical person I've ever met. He loves movies and he loves talking about movies. For me, it was like going to film school. Except I didn't have to pay. They paid me. IFC: What other projects do you have coming up? Any specific character types you'd like to play? CD: I'm working on a few different films. Hopefully, my plan will be to do another Broadway show sometime this year. I miss the stage. TO WATCH EL CAMINO CLICK HERE
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