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| Sundance Channel Interview |
Jeffrey Donovan makes his impressive film debut as novice con man PETE GULLEY in Lawrence O'Neil's THROWING DOWN. Sundancechannel.com found Jeff hanging around in the Raleigh parking lot after the LAIFF screening.
sundancechannel.com: You mentioned that you came out of traditional theater, and that this was your first brush with film acting. How did the experience compare?
Jeffrey Donovan: It was a lot easier. In school, doing Chekhov and Shaw and Shakespeare, it takes you six weeks to just break into the material and get settled. With a screenplay, you read it and the first time you kind of get a sense. And the dialog is contemporary.
The only thing I had to adjust to was not having to sustain some kind of performance level energy. In theater you get on and you don't get off. In film, it's fifteen seconds and cut; you sit around; they change the lights around and hour later you're doing the same exact scene but it's an hour later and it's supposed to be happening again in the fifteen seconds -- from a different angle. So that I had to adjust to. It wasn't hard like "oh my god I'm going through incredible pain to do this performance." It was just very technical. More technical than the stage.
sundancechannel.com: You had a great rapport with the A.J. character. Did you guys improv at all, riff on stuff when you were shooting the film?
Jeffrey Donovan: No. Ninety-five percent of what you hear was scripted. Larry writes extremely raw right-in-the-moment dialogue, and as long as you work at it, it can look like it's been improvised and spontaneous.
sundancechannel.com: In terms of your classical training, you mentioned that you didn't actually go down and study kids on the Lower East Side. How did your training impact on the way you prepared for the role?
Jeffrey Donovan: I think training just fine-tunes your instincts. If you don't have those instincts to begin with you're just fine tuning a dull instrument. It's not going to get any better, it's just going to look shinier. (Rueful chuckle) Terrible analogy.
I just love listening to the people and when I hear the rhythms of someone, I usually will follow that. That's all I did: just listen to the rhythms of the street and try to mimic that. But as far as getting into somebody else's body and head, I don't know. That kind of method stuff...I just kind of try to act really hard and hope I'm believable.
sundancechannel.com: The film won the Hampton's Film Festival last fall. I imagine it brought you some attention. What's the future look like?
Jeffrey Donovan: The next thing I did Barry Levinson's SLEEPERS. I'm in that alongside some wonderful actors, Kevin Bacon, Terry Kinney, Robert Deniro. Just a small role; they wouldn't trust me with a large role.
sundancechannel.com: Ah, Hollywood. Do you want to do some more independent film?
Jeffrey Donovan: I would love to. I think the energy and the creativity in independent film is remarkable. You're trusted as an integral part of the whole process, whereas in big budgeted studio movies you're just a hired gun. You walk in; you shoot your ammunition. You're paid for that, and you leave. It's nothing creative except for your work. Whereas with Larry, he'd actually say, "what do you think of the scene?" And you'd go: "Oh, what I think? Well I think this and this and this." And he'd say: "Well, I disagree with most of it but I'll take this one last thing." So it's a great experience working in independent film because of the freedom and creativity you get, the rein you're given.
END
April, 1997 - article courtesy of sundancechannel.com
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THURSDAYS
