[Interview] Steve West

Interview

Publié le 27/01/2015 à 14h23 par Grégory

Steve West

Crédits photos : Steve West

Acteur

Filmographie sélective :
"Dark Space" (Cinéma - 2013)
"E.V.J.F Party: Enterrement de vie de jeune fille" (Cinéma - 2013)
"Sex Chronicles" (Série - 2009)
"Hollyoaks" (Série - 2005)
"Le fils de Chucky" (Cinéma - 2004)

Connu, en outre, pour avoir joué le rôle du chauffeur Stan dans le film "Le Fils de Chucky" au côté de Jennifer Tilly en 2004, d'avoir interprété un rôle le temps d'un épisode pour la série "Mad Men" ou encore plus récemment d'avoir fait partie du casting du long métrage de science-fiction "Dark Space" en 2013, l'acteur Steve West nous a accordé un petit moment pour répondre à nos questions.

How did you start your career in cinema ?

My career actually began in theatre. I started in movies about 4 or 5 years later with Seed of Chucky. I was working away in Cape Town, South Africa and when I came back to London in the Spring my agent sent me straight in to audition for it. They'd already had two rounds of castings but hadn't found anyone they liked. I guess I was lucky to come back in time for their final try and I got the part and flew to Romania where we filmed a week later.

Why you wanted to become an actor ?

I became interested in acting in High School. Before that funnily enough I had no real interest and avoided public shows and school productions. I started a drama class and just fell in love with writing sketches and taking scenes from television and re-doing them for class. I loved to do comedy sketches and I guess it grew from there. I started going to theatre class outside of school and I think I just loved enveloping myself in a character, being different and immersing in this different person. I also loved creating scenarios and funny situations to play around with.

Telling us about your experience in Seed of Chucky and your meeting with Jennifer Tilly ?

Seed of Chucky was my first experience of Hollywood and of a big studio set. I guess it was daunting at first and I was away from home in Bucharest and the studio lot was an hour drive everyday so it was exciting and yet weirdly isolating at times. We were on the same lot where they had filmed Cold Mountain which starred Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger, so I would walk around and be on their exterior sets a-lot. I also remember how amazed I was at our set because they built Jennifer's mansion and gardens all on one of the sound stages. It was enormous and would unfold into all these different rooms once you went through the front door (or around the side), then you would see all the inner workings and cameras and holes in the floor for the puppeteers etc.
It was also an eye opener into how filming actually works and the statements I've heard from actors about how most of the time on a film set is taken up waiting around. I would go to set and the schedule would change or things would take longer than expected and they'd have to rethink the rest of the scenes. When I did film scenes the actual work for us on screen seemed to be over fairly quickly. It was all the technical things that took up time.
And meeting Jennifer was great. I'd seen some of her work and knew she'd been Oscar nominated for Bullets Over Broadway with Woody Allen so to be honest I did wonder if she'd be rather starry or above it all but she was lovely. At my first lunch she came over at sat with me and chatted for the lunch hour. It was very nice since I didn't know anyone on set and had just arrived. She was good friends with the director and creator Don Mancini, so it was an easy and relaxed environment.

Which director would you like to work ? And why ?

Interesting question. I've read about Clint Eastwood and how as a director he's very quiet and unassuming and will film actors when they don't realise it and use the take. I think he'd be fascinating to work with since he's been on both sides of the camera in a very successful way.

Which actor or actress would you like to work ? And why ?

I just read a biography on Judi Dench, so I'm rather fascinated by her at the moment. I was also mesmerized by her in the film Philomena so I think she would be amazing to work with and learn from. She's also one of the few actors left out of the old repertory theatre scene in England which I think was such an amazing way of learning the craft. I'd love to see that work up close.

If we gave you the opportunity to play the role of your choice (movie or series), which it would be and why ?

Hard question! There's so much to do and part of what I love about acting is the variety !
However I have always wanted to play a very dark, supernatural character like Dracula. I don't have a specific role in a specific movie or show to point to but I've always wanted to play that kind of evil, dark creature. One who's been around for a 1000 years and has seen it all and the blood in his veins runs cold. I just think that would be fascinating, so much fun and is so far removed from real life and a huge part of the joy of acting is getting to do stuff like that.

What are your future projects ?

I have a big motion capture project for Sony coming out. I can't say much about it at the moment as they are keeping everything quiet until they do their big press releases but so far it looks amazing and I'm very excited for it to release in the Spring as we've been filming for two years. I also do a lot of voice over work in general, so if you google my name there's always audiobooks and games coming out. I'd like to do some theatre again this year so I'll be looking into that as well.

What would you like to leave as a message to all your fans ?

For whoever follows me and my work I'm just very grateful. It is a hard business so its always such a gift when people enjoy what you do, follow you and encourage you. I love being in touch with people as much as time permits. I started Twitter for just that reason so people can find me @SteveWestActor and fans of my audiobooks go to my page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/SteveWestAudiobooks). I'm also updating my website in the next few months, so please keep watching / listening and drop me a line !

Nous remercions Steve pour avoir pris le temps de réaliser cette interview.

Lien IMDB de Steve West : http://www.imdb.me/stevewest

Fanpage facebook des livres audio de Steve West : http://www.facebook.com/SteveWestFanpage

Traduit de l'anglais par Greg.

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