CINEMATIC REVELATIONS: INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR DW BROWN

Friday, October 9, 2020

INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR DW BROWN

Today I have the great pleasure of welcoming a very special guest, actor DW Brown, to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS for an interview. DW has acted in various motion pictures over the years, most notably in feature films such as FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, I’M GOING TO BE FAMOUS, MISCHIEF [my review of the film can be found here] WEEKEND PASS, and AMERICAN COWSLIP, to name a few examples. DW will be discussing his role in MISCHIEF, acting, his films as director, and his teaching position in Baron Brown Studio, an acting school for performers. Welcome to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS DW!

Athan: When did you first realize that you wanted to be an actor?

DW: Oh, I was but a wee lad. I played Aladdin in Aladdin and His Lamp in Tucson Arizona and caught the bug. It’s completely impractical, of course, so I was studying to be a doctor, like my father, but then I had an epiphany about how this was my one and only life, and I thought about which path I would be more likely to regret or not, so I decided to go for my first love.

Athan: Where did you study acting?

DW: I studied with Lee Strasberg and some of his teachers. I did a lot of plays, which I think is the best way to get your acting chops. I got involved romantically with Joanne Baron... we just celebrated recently 35 years of marriage by the way... after we met acting together on a silly movie called “ The National Lampoon’s The Joy of Sex”. After that she taught me in a class she was teaching. She was already at her tender age famous for being one of the world's greatest Meisner teachers.

Athan: Your performance in MISCHIEF was a memorable interpretation of a complex villain with definite shades of gray. How did you become involved in this project?

DW: Standard simple stuff. I auditioned and I was in the running for what seemed like a long time, and then they told me I had the part.

Athan: Yourself and Chris Nash, and alternately with Doug McKeon, participated in some heated scenes in MISCHIEF. How did you find filming these intense, often physically challenging sequences?

DW: That fight scene at the drive-up restaurant was very challenging. I’ve pulled my back out bad maybe only four times in my life, and it had happened less than a week before we shot that scene. There’s a moment where he shoves me against the door handle of the car, and by the way those old time cars, they didn’t have recessed door handles, so it was like “Yowza!” I think the physicality came off pretty well, though. Pretty realistic. It bothers me a little that the only part of the scene where a stunt guy doubled for me was when my character was punching Chris’s character in the stomach, and that’s the only part that looks phony.

Athan: What did you most enjoy about the experience of filming MISCHIEF?

DW: The overall adventure of making a film on location is pretty great. Sometimes you can get stir crazy living in a hotel room for over a month. I remember understanding how it was rock stars might tear apart a hotel room. But mostly it’s tremendous fun.

Athan: What for you was the most demanding, but emotionally satisfying segment of making MISCHIEF?

DW: You asked about scenes being heated earlier: I will always remember that scene at the drive-in movie theater. When they called for me to come to the set, I was walking down where all the period cars were and all the extras in their costumes, everybody waiting for me to do my scene and I started to get extreme stage fright. Really bad. Like rubbery knees bad. But then I thought, “Wait a minute. Eugene is going to be there. I hate this guy. Even if he’s off camera and it’s my close up, he’s making a move on my girlfriend and if I just keep my attention on him, I’ll do whatever he makes me do and it’s going to be fine.” My nerves feel away immediately.

Athan: MISCHIEF had excellent attention to period detail in terms of costuming, scoring, production design, and locations. What was it like seeing the transformation of a modern-day town in the mid-1980s to one in Nelsonville, Ohio, of 1956?

DW: Very cool. It just really typifies the lark that acting is. Entering this fantasy world and having permission to play pretend.

Athan: Have you kept in contact with any cast members and crew from MISCHIEF?

DW: Not consistently. I’m on Facebook with Catherine Mary Stewart. I ran into Kelly Preston a couple times. What a heartbreak that is. When I heard the news of her passing it knocked my breath away.. that I would never be in her spirited presence again... so crushing. She really was a great gal.

Athan: What was it like being directed by Mel Damski in MISCHIEF?

DW: Mel was very solid. You knew there was a steady guy at the helm. He’s got a good sense of humor, too, which is essential.

Athan: After acting in MISCHIEF, did you have an increased interest in the cultural history of 1950s America?

DW: I love history, but I can’t really say, that specifically happened to me. The truth is I spent some time in the little town where my dad came from, Columbus, Indiana, so I had my familiarity with that little town and it didn’t seem like things had really changed that much.

Athan: Together with your wife, actress Joanne Baron, you have been teaching acting at the Baron Brown Studio to students for many years. What gives you the most satisfaction about teaching the art of acting to students?

DW: Oh Lord, that would really require a deep and long answer to do it justice. I’ll just say, being exposed to the spirit of youth is great. And then, on top of that, the passion people bring to this undertaking. Their vulnerability. The art itself, like all the arts, is miraculous.

Athan: The Meisner technique is the basis for your teachings at Baron Brown Studio. What is it about the Meisner technique that sets it apart from other acting methods?

DW: Like all techniques, it’s an effort to look natural and authentic, and to be an internal actor, doing the work based on Stanislowski‘s work, is to emotionally connect to the circumstances of the scene. But with Meisner acting, there is more emphasis on truly seeking an objective in a scene with the sensibility that you’re not sure whether you’ll get it or not. It is to be as closely connected as possible to the specificity of the moment and allow yourself to be available to be affected by that. Living like an animal lives. Mindless. Responsive.

Athan: You have written two books about acting thus far. What is it about acting that you find so fascinating?

DW: As I said, it’s art, it’s a miracle. Think about it: any short list of the most important human beings who have ever lived would include Shakespeare. There’s something there and it’s so great we can’t describe it.

Athan: Short film ONE CLEAN MOVE marked your debut as a director, followed by another short, CHLOE and, most recently, full-length feature film ON THE INSIDE. What is the attraction in making short films versus longer motion pictures?

DW: Oh, you only really make short films because you can’t make long films. It’s incredibly hard. So many moving parts.

Athan: Do you have any upcoming projects of which you would like to tell readers?

DW: Nothing on the immediate horizon. Of course, the pandemic knocked the legs out from underneath show business, so everybody’s staggering unsteadily to get things back to anywhere close to what they were like. I have an adaptation of a Ibsen play I wrote that I would very much like to put up, but, again, with the pandemic, theater is pretty much impossible right now.

Thank you so much today for your time DW, and for the insight you have provided into the art of acting, the Meisner technique, film direction, and MISCHIEF. It has been wonderful to have you on CINEMATIC REVELATIONS. You are welcome to return whenever you wish.

DW: Thank you, Athan, and you’re quite welcome. Keep at it!

DW Brown links