Recently I was lucky enough to speak at length, thirty minuets to be exact, with director Jake Scott who’s career is mostly compromised of Music Videos and commercials. His resume includes REM’s Everybody Hurts, which won multiple MTV Video Awards including best director. His resume in commercials is equally impressive with spots for Nike Move, which won an Emmy, AICP and Andy award, as well an Adidas spot, which he has won two Clio’s for the same brand spot. His second feature film Welcome to the Riley’s is an intimate portrait of three individuals who are all struggling to overcome a tragedy the best they know how. The cast includes some of my favorites, James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo and Kristen Stewart.
Q: A fine line to walk on?
Jake: Ya, you really have to walk this fine line and authentically portray these characters and that begins and ends with casting really...the casting is really important…I had battles with casting, because there is always this pressure to cast a name and would you believe it James, Melissa and Kristen, at that time, were not names... and you’re going what the fuck are you talking about? Not a name? …There is this currency that I encountered, this whole sort of price tag on an actors head a dollar sign over their head of what they mean and what they don’t mean and I get it is economics… so I was just determine and I absolutely refused to cast someone that I did not think was right., who was gonna get the film made. I wouldn’t do it… There were times when you think, well just fuck if I just cast that person it would all get made, but I couldn’t do it. It would be disaster if I did that, so I just stuck to my guns… I am really glad I did because for me, the most the important thing, is the performances.
Q: Well I am really glad that you did because all three are just amazing performances.
Jake: Thank you, that is great to hear.
Q: I read that you and Kristen took a kind of field trip to some LA strip clubs for her performance and Melissa Leo has said that Kristen got so into character that when they met before filming she did not recognize her.
Jake: Melissa said that really? I think I remember hearing that.
The strip club thing in LA… I thought it would be a good idea, to go with her and see how she responded and give her a sense of what it was, so that she could start to, you know get it. Kind of get out of the intellectual, the preconceived notion of what it is and actually see it for real…because movies I think..most of the time, portray that world wrongly. They do it badly or they glamorize it…A lot of those girls are really damaged, to be doing that in LA it is one thing, on sunset strip…but when you go to New Orleans, in these back street places, that get very, very dark, very quickly… I thought to take her to the one in LA…I kind of wanted to see how he does… it was like water off of a ducks back, she was really interested actually and I actually had this girl, not because I asked for it, but this girl actually came over where we were sitting and started dancing all over me. Kristen was giggling and I was so embarrassed, it is like shit man, I don’t know that my actors should see me doing this… it was a nice way for us to kind of, to sort of bond this way as well.
Q: I am not sure how you would go about explaining you are there for research.
Jake: They did not know and actually one strip club that we went into…was not open for business. The guy actually said, so listen okay come back later and we will try you out then. He was really like, god she is great we gotta get her in there.
thanks to KstewAngel
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