Post by Erika on May 20, 2008 15:16:53 GMT -5
11/05: Interview: EXCLUSIVE 1 on 1 with Thomas Dekker (From Within)
Source: www.moviepicturefilm.com/sw.php?itemid=1907
2008 started off with a bang for Thomas Dekker. His starring role as John Conner in the hit Fox TV series "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles" has brought him millions of fans. His face is seen everywhere the show is advertised. From Times Square billboards to full page ads in Entertainment Weekly and People, in the month of January when the show premiered, you couldn't walk a block, change a channel or turn a page in a magazine without seeing the face of this young actor or his co-star Lena Headey.
But who is Thomas Dekker and why does everyone have such a strong opinion of him? On his short stint on "Heroes" fans buzzed about his sudden departure. On his MySpace profile members of all ages swoon over his obvious good looks, while others viciously attack him. What does the twenty year old actor think of his new found fame and the celebrity madness that comes with it? I spoke to Dekker over the phone a week ago in an EXCLUSIVE 1 on 1 to talk about his new film screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, a horror movie co-starring Rumer Willis titled "From Within". Sure Dekker might look like just another pretty face, but did you know he's also a director, editor, singer, writer and lyricist? There might be more to him than your first impression. Read on for more with Thomas Dekker...
MPF: Brad Keene the writer of “From Within” wrote a movie that played Tribeca a few years back called “The Gravedancers” and is also writing the third “Grudge” movie. Is that one of the reasons you chose to do this film?
TD: Brad’s a really great guy and I like his body of work but it wasn’t his work that got me interested in doing the film. It was more Phedon Papamichael and talking with him about it. Also it was the role. I thought it would be a challenge. I usually approach the characters I play very much not as characters but as real people. I think that if you approach a role like you’re going to play just a character it can become very one dimensional. What I liked about Aidan is that when I read the script he didn’t seem like a person to me, he was like a walking fist of rage. We don’t know much about him except that obviously he’s really unhappy, so some days I would just go off and cry because I wanted my eyes to be incredibly red all the time. He doesn’t cry at all in the film till the last scene but I wanted to it to look like he was upset.
MPF: It’s funny you say that because in the production stills from the film he looks like a bad ass.
TD: (laughs) Yeah, it’s funny. In that one shot I just pointed the gun at the photographer as a joke and they ended up using it.
MPF: Based on just that still, it has gotten a lot of people I know to check out the film- probably because it looks exciting and they recognize you from “Terminator”.
TD: Yeah but I really wanted Aidan to be different from John Conner and I hope people don’t see any real similarity. Sometimes I think it’s real easy to just say ‘oh look there’s his long hair and he’s grumpy and young’ I really tried for it to be different. And don’t get me wrong I’m proud of “Terminator” but there are some other really great actors in the film and I hope people go see it because of them too.
MPF: How well do you know Rumer Willis who co-stars with you in “From Within”?
*spoilers* TD: I met her while we were shooting. I had never met her before that. We shot the film in this isolated part of Maryland for a month and a half and there was just nothing there. So we really bonded, we spent a lot of time together. At the same time while we were filming, I was writing my film “Whore” and a lot of the time when I was writing she would come and just hang out in the hotel room. Eventually she ended up in it as well but she doesn’t have any dialogue, it’s a cameo role. In “Whore” I purposely made it so that everyone that is well known in the public eye has very tiny roles, it’s kind of comment on (pauses) well at the premiere of “From Within” is an example. All the reporters cared about was Rumer and course she dies in the first five minutes of the film. But it’s hard, because of who she is suddenly she feels guilty that all of her friends in the film are being trumped. None of us feel that way but that’s why “Whore” is an attack on the way Hollywood and everything that goes with it is looked at.
MPF: Let’s talk more about “Whore”. Megan Fox is in it?
TD: That’s true- she also doesn’t have a real big role. The only person who has a big role in it is Lena Headey (also on “Terminator”) it’s an important part.
MPF: In terms of writing and editing along with directing and starring in “Whore”, how do you manage to have the control of being in charge of something as demanding as that?
TD: A lot of hard work. When I was six years old I did a film called “Village of the Damned” with John Carpenter and he kind of became my mentor. Ever since that age I knew I had to direct. Eventually I think I’ll take a long break from acting and just direct films full time. There are things I can’t escape, from a passion point of view. I took all the money I had earned when I was sixteen and I made a Dogme 95 picture that really didn’t go anywhere but it was a learning curve. I also made a short film with Brad Rowe that went to a bunch of festivals and did well. Finally when I presented a very loose script of “Whore” to a bunch of people, they gave me some money and I had investments of my own- luckily the big names that came on board were people that I knew personally. Everyone did it virtually free which was a plus.
MPF: Is it done?
TD: It will be completed in a few weeks. It’s a very culty underground, difficult art film. Don’t get me wrong, it has a story, it has a narrative. Hopefully we’ll find some festivals that are interested. The plus is from all the attention on “Terminator” and the great cast I got people are interested, my DP even won at the Venice Film Festival. It also got a lot more expensive than I first anticipated so it looks great. It went from partially an experiment to a fully fledged film. Hopefully one day I can meet you again at a festival for that film.
MPF: People know you from “Terminator” and some people also know you from “Heroes” but they go on your music MySpace page your quote is “Don’t frak With Me”-
TD: (laughs)
MPF: People must go ‘Who is this Thomas Dekker and why is he saying not to frak with him?’ Why say that, is it a defense?
TD: You’re alright, you can frak with me.
MPF: (laughs) Ok.
TD: It’s just a joke. I guess what it is really is I’m trying to show that I’d rather be criticized than pretend to be me. I don’t like this attitude that young Hollywood has had painted on it. We’re not allowed to have opinions, we’re not allowed to have feelings, we’re supposed to smile everywhere we go and say everything that is told to us by our agents, managers, lawyers etc and I don’t like that…A lot of the time I say stuff on purpose that I know is going to get me in trouble. You should always speak your mind. I’m not interested in being one of those petulant, frak you, eat the birds, punk rock, Avril Lavigne kids. I don’t have angst or anger, I don’t have any defense. It’s almost an intellectual attack on perception. I’m a friend of Rumer’s and I read some of the stuff they write about her and they’re just heinous things. I don’t know why we have the desire to be so mean to people we don’t even know. I think if you’re clever you can make a double edged sword and point it right back at them.
MPF: Ok here come the “Terminator” questions…
TD: (laughs) ok.
MPF: So how many seasons are you officially signed for now? Can we expect you to be on the show for a long time?
TD: I think I’m signed on for six seasons if we go that long. I’ve managed in the last season to start up a couple of things so that if we keep on going we can continue with that.
MPF: Are you worried about being typecast as a John Conner type character?
TD: That’s a hard question. Some people say ‘oh look, its John Conner kid!’ and there is a part of me that doesn’t mind that because I love the role and I love the show and I love being in it. I’m not going to be one of those people that say: ‘This is so annoying, I’m on a great show but I hate that people associate me with this.’ I don’t like when an actor becomes a character. I’m happy to be known as John and happy to not be known as John.
MPF: Let’s talk about your music career. You have a ton of songs available to listen to now and I got a very rebellious, metal kind of punk vibe from all of them. How would you describe it?
TD: Wow, you have such good questions! My music is tough to define because I was raised very classical, working with Orchestras. I wasn’t planning to be a songwriter I was planning on being a composer, but my skills got very strong (pauses) the album and the things that are online are more catchy, beat driven, electronic, mainstream, accessible kind of stuff. One song “Red Hot Fantasy” which has been out for a week has been getting a lot of criticism from women saying it’s aggressive. The funny thing about me is I’m always getting in trouble for doing and saying things because people aren’t seeing the irony or sarcasm. I wrote that song to show up male chauvinism and misogyny. It’s an attack in a way on my own sex and that’s why it’s called “Red Hot Fantasy”. It’s what we’d like to be but really we don’t because we don’t have the balls. People aren’t taking the obvious route and that’s the biggest frustration I have with things. I’m infuriated right now with the whole Miley Cyrus thing, it really bothers me man (pauses) But the album- is about fourteen tracks that runs on everything from ambient to rap, to death metal, to 50’s to folk- it’s all over the place. The whole album has a lot of very different stuff on it. I made it so every song is a completely different genre. It’s basically a comment on a society of restrictions we put on ourselves that we basically have to be one thing and I really don’t think we are.
MPF: Thanks Thomas, all my best to you!
TD: Thanks, this is the coolest interview I've ever done! Great questions.
"From Within" is playing the festival circuit now.
Source: www.moviepicturefilm.com/sw.php?itemid=1907
2008 started off with a bang for Thomas Dekker. His starring role as John Conner in the hit Fox TV series "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles" has brought him millions of fans. His face is seen everywhere the show is advertised. From Times Square billboards to full page ads in Entertainment Weekly and People, in the month of January when the show premiered, you couldn't walk a block, change a channel or turn a page in a magazine without seeing the face of this young actor or his co-star Lena Headey.
But who is Thomas Dekker and why does everyone have such a strong opinion of him? On his short stint on "Heroes" fans buzzed about his sudden departure. On his MySpace profile members of all ages swoon over his obvious good looks, while others viciously attack him. What does the twenty year old actor think of his new found fame and the celebrity madness that comes with it? I spoke to Dekker over the phone a week ago in an EXCLUSIVE 1 on 1 to talk about his new film screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, a horror movie co-starring Rumer Willis titled "From Within". Sure Dekker might look like just another pretty face, but did you know he's also a director, editor, singer, writer and lyricist? There might be more to him than your first impression. Read on for more with Thomas Dekker...
MPF: Brad Keene the writer of “From Within” wrote a movie that played Tribeca a few years back called “The Gravedancers” and is also writing the third “Grudge” movie. Is that one of the reasons you chose to do this film?
TD: Brad’s a really great guy and I like his body of work but it wasn’t his work that got me interested in doing the film. It was more Phedon Papamichael and talking with him about it. Also it was the role. I thought it would be a challenge. I usually approach the characters I play very much not as characters but as real people. I think that if you approach a role like you’re going to play just a character it can become very one dimensional. What I liked about Aidan is that when I read the script he didn’t seem like a person to me, he was like a walking fist of rage. We don’t know much about him except that obviously he’s really unhappy, so some days I would just go off and cry because I wanted my eyes to be incredibly red all the time. He doesn’t cry at all in the film till the last scene but I wanted to it to look like he was upset.
MPF: It’s funny you say that because in the production stills from the film he looks like a bad ass.
TD: (laughs) Yeah, it’s funny. In that one shot I just pointed the gun at the photographer as a joke and they ended up using it.
MPF: Based on just that still, it has gotten a lot of people I know to check out the film- probably because it looks exciting and they recognize you from “Terminator”.
TD: Yeah but I really wanted Aidan to be different from John Conner and I hope people don’t see any real similarity. Sometimes I think it’s real easy to just say ‘oh look there’s his long hair and he’s grumpy and young’ I really tried for it to be different. And don’t get me wrong I’m proud of “Terminator” but there are some other really great actors in the film and I hope people go see it because of them too.
MPF: How well do you know Rumer Willis who co-stars with you in “From Within”?
*spoilers* TD: I met her while we were shooting. I had never met her before that. We shot the film in this isolated part of Maryland for a month and a half and there was just nothing there. So we really bonded, we spent a lot of time together. At the same time while we were filming, I was writing my film “Whore” and a lot of the time when I was writing she would come and just hang out in the hotel room. Eventually she ended up in it as well but she doesn’t have any dialogue, it’s a cameo role. In “Whore” I purposely made it so that everyone that is well known in the public eye has very tiny roles, it’s kind of comment on (pauses) well at the premiere of “From Within” is an example. All the reporters cared about was Rumer and course she dies in the first five minutes of the film. But it’s hard, because of who she is suddenly she feels guilty that all of her friends in the film are being trumped. None of us feel that way but that’s why “Whore” is an attack on the way Hollywood and everything that goes with it is looked at.
MPF: Let’s talk more about “Whore”. Megan Fox is in it?
TD: That’s true- she also doesn’t have a real big role. The only person who has a big role in it is Lena Headey (also on “Terminator”) it’s an important part.
MPF: In terms of writing and editing along with directing and starring in “Whore”, how do you manage to have the control of being in charge of something as demanding as that?
TD: A lot of hard work. When I was six years old I did a film called “Village of the Damned” with John Carpenter and he kind of became my mentor. Ever since that age I knew I had to direct. Eventually I think I’ll take a long break from acting and just direct films full time. There are things I can’t escape, from a passion point of view. I took all the money I had earned when I was sixteen and I made a Dogme 95 picture that really didn’t go anywhere but it was a learning curve. I also made a short film with Brad Rowe that went to a bunch of festivals and did well. Finally when I presented a very loose script of “Whore” to a bunch of people, they gave me some money and I had investments of my own- luckily the big names that came on board were people that I knew personally. Everyone did it virtually free which was a plus.
MPF: Is it done?
TD: It will be completed in a few weeks. It’s a very culty underground, difficult art film. Don’t get me wrong, it has a story, it has a narrative. Hopefully we’ll find some festivals that are interested. The plus is from all the attention on “Terminator” and the great cast I got people are interested, my DP even won at the Venice Film Festival. It also got a lot more expensive than I first anticipated so it looks great. It went from partially an experiment to a fully fledged film. Hopefully one day I can meet you again at a festival for that film.
MPF: People know you from “Terminator” and some people also know you from “Heroes” but they go on your music MySpace page your quote is “Don’t frak With Me”-
TD: (laughs)
MPF: People must go ‘Who is this Thomas Dekker and why is he saying not to frak with him?’ Why say that, is it a defense?
TD: You’re alright, you can frak with me.
MPF: (laughs) Ok.
TD: It’s just a joke. I guess what it is really is I’m trying to show that I’d rather be criticized than pretend to be me. I don’t like this attitude that young Hollywood has had painted on it. We’re not allowed to have opinions, we’re not allowed to have feelings, we’re supposed to smile everywhere we go and say everything that is told to us by our agents, managers, lawyers etc and I don’t like that…A lot of the time I say stuff on purpose that I know is going to get me in trouble. You should always speak your mind. I’m not interested in being one of those petulant, frak you, eat the birds, punk rock, Avril Lavigne kids. I don’t have angst or anger, I don’t have any defense. It’s almost an intellectual attack on perception. I’m a friend of Rumer’s and I read some of the stuff they write about her and they’re just heinous things. I don’t know why we have the desire to be so mean to people we don’t even know. I think if you’re clever you can make a double edged sword and point it right back at them.
MPF: Ok here come the “Terminator” questions…
TD: (laughs) ok.
MPF: So how many seasons are you officially signed for now? Can we expect you to be on the show for a long time?
TD: I think I’m signed on for six seasons if we go that long. I’ve managed in the last season to start up a couple of things so that if we keep on going we can continue with that.
MPF: Are you worried about being typecast as a John Conner type character?
TD: That’s a hard question. Some people say ‘oh look, its John Conner kid!’ and there is a part of me that doesn’t mind that because I love the role and I love the show and I love being in it. I’m not going to be one of those people that say: ‘This is so annoying, I’m on a great show but I hate that people associate me with this.’ I don’t like when an actor becomes a character. I’m happy to be known as John and happy to not be known as John.
MPF: Let’s talk about your music career. You have a ton of songs available to listen to now and I got a very rebellious, metal kind of punk vibe from all of them. How would you describe it?
TD: Wow, you have such good questions! My music is tough to define because I was raised very classical, working with Orchestras. I wasn’t planning to be a songwriter I was planning on being a composer, but my skills got very strong (pauses) the album and the things that are online are more catchy, beat driven, electronic, mainstream, accessible kind of stuff. One song “Red Hot Fantasy” which has been out for a week has been getting a lot of criticism from women saying it’s aggressive. The funny thing about me is I’m always getting in trouble for doing and saying things because people aren’t seeing the irony or sarcasm. I wrote that song to show up male chauvinism and misogyny. It’s an attack in a way on my own sex and that’s why it’s called “Red Hot Fantasy”. It’s what we’d like to be but really we don’t because we don’t have the balls. People aren’t taking the obvious route and that’s the biggest frustration I have with things. I’m infuriated right now with the whole Miley Cyrus thing, it really bothers me man (pauses) But the album- is about fourteen tracks that runs on everything from ambient to rap, to death metal, to 50’s to folk- it’s all over the place. The whole album has a lot of very different stuff on it. I made it so every song is a completely different genre. It’s basically a comment on a society of restrictions we put on ourselves that we basically have to be one thing and I really don’t think we are.
MPF: Thanks Thomas, all my best to you!
TD: Thanks, this is the coolest interview I've ever done! Great questions.
"From Within" is playing the festival circuit now.
