Mike Vogel
Interview By: Dan Deevy
I first met Mike Vogel almost five years ago during his very first feature film press junket for the skateboarding flick, Grind and I made the following prediction;
'If the movie [referring to the then upcoming, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre] has even half the promise and potential that this young actor does, it should be a quite film! Mike has all the makings of a highly sought after Hollywood star; he's got the looks, the familiar boy next door quality and the natural charisma that audiences look for. My guess is we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the near future!'
Damn' I love being right! Since that interview Mike Vogel has gone on to star in film after film including what I still consider to be one of the scariest horror films ever, the afore mentioned 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the star studded follow up to The Graduate, Rumor Has It' with Jennifer Aniston, Shirley MacLaine and Kevin Costner and the blockbuster Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas led Ocean Epic Poseidon. As I suspected, there's no stopping this boy. He's in it for the long haul.
The then boy, now matured married man with baby to prove it, is currently starring in one of the most highly anticipated, most talked about films of 2008, J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield. Not only were we the fans kept in seemingly unending suspense as to what exactly he was working on, the auditioning actors were equally clueless!
'We all thought it was Star Trek,' he admits. 'We thought it was something completely different. When they told us it was a monster film I think panic set in; a very vaguely veiled panic. I'm sitting in the room with J.J. [Abrams] and Matt Reeves and Brain Burke and all the Bad Robot powerhouses and they're talking about a monster film and I'm just wetting myself at this point because I'm thinking, 'I'm never going to work again,' 'This is awful!' But then you slap yourself and say, 'OK wait a minute. This is J.J. Abrams. This is the Bad Robot team; these guys know what they're doing.' You then start to realize if there is anyone to take a ride with right now, it's J.J. Abrams. The guy has the 'Midas Touch.''
Aside from the reputation and impressive track record of the group assembled, Mike was also assured that this was not going to be a career wrecking ball of a monster film. 'They told us in the room, 'we're doing this from a different stand point,'' he begins. ''The monster is going to be barely visible if ever, this is about a bunch of 20-soemthings trying to get out of Manhattan.' The interesting thing is that none of us knew the parts we were playing. I had no clue where I fit into the picture when I signed on. It was a blind faith move to follow J.J. Abrams and his vision. So there was definitely that moment of, 'what is this thing going to look like'' And even as we were filming, we were two days into filming the main movie when the first trailer came out in front of Transformers and we had just found out a week before then who we were playing!"
An odd way to make a movie to be sure, but luckily it all paid off in the end. Fortunately, not only was he right about the creative team and the end result film, but he also came to learn a lot about the man himself.
'I came to respect him [J.J. Abrams] so much as a person,' he says. 'When you think of a guy that's had as much success as he has, you expect this big Hollywood persona, but he's just a gentle kind family man who is so passionate and enthralled about film that it spills out into everything he does. I loved working with him.'
Of course the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that teaser trailer nearly a year ago was that the film was going to be a clear exploitation of the horrific events of September 11, 2001. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one who thought that. Mike and the rest of the team working on the film held a very unique position as being one of the very few people who knew what the film was really going to be about. That doesn't mean though that he wasn't very well aware of the publics growing discomfort with this as yet unseen film.
'When the trailer first came out in front of Transformers, already the 9/11 comparisons began and you're thinking to yourself, 'but wait a minute I'm here I'm doing this thing' this isn't 9/11.' The film quickly distinguishes itself as a monster film,' he declares. "Of course we want to be sensitive to what happened; it affected all of us deeply on that day. The truth of the film is that the city is interchangeable; it could be Paris, it could be Philadelphia it could be Los Angeles it could be anywhere, it's just that New York is one of the most iconic cities in the world. It's familiar the world over and this is the reality of what would happen if a massive 150 - 200 foot beast goes slauking through midtown Manhattan. There's going to be objects that get in its way, i.e. buildings, things like that, and there's going to be an all out assault on it to try and take it down. It just so happens that if you're trying to make a film as best you can, as realistic as you can, you're going to get into imagery that of course I'm sure mimics what a lot of us have seen. However,' he continues, 'I think anyone that goes to see the film if they step back for a second, they'll realize this is a fantasy. It's not truthful in any way shape or form except in its context. That's what I came to see about it, that it's its own thing, which is what attracted all of us to it.'
Around that same time it wasn't just Cloverfield that had the Mike Vogel internet buzz machine jammed into over time; his supposed casting as legendary Captain James T. Kirk for that other J.J. Abrams project was everywhere' including here on TCS.
Never afraid to address a subject head on, Vogel has no trouble explaining that whole fiasco. 'As far as that's concerned,' he tells us, 'those are the biggest shoes in Hollywood to fill, it's a life changer. Me personally, my sense was I don't know in what way. I wanna do this until the day I die. Until the day they have to wheel me onto the set with an oxygen tank and I'm drooling on myself! I'm in love with it; to get up every morning and do what you love. When it came out on the internet that I was Captain Kirk, which for a second was a very real possibility, I was being stopped on the street and I hadn't even [been cast]. This was an internet rumor. People were asking all sorts of questions. I got a little snippet of what it must really be like and it just didn't feel right. I think things work out for the best, in his case [Chris Pine] and in mine. What an incredible ride that would have been, and what an incredible ride this is going to be having it gone a different way and I'm happy for the way it went.'
Star Trek vs. Cloverfield wasn't the first time this Hollywood heartthrob has been put in the precarious position of choosing one amazing role over another. 'I was offered Poseidon and X-Men 3 on the same day,' he recalls. 'It's every actors dream; I mean we should have such problems to have to decide between such things. At the end of the day the enticement of working with a filmmaker like Wolfgang Peterson and also [the fact that] there was more 'actorie' stuff to do in Poseidon than in X-Men 3 led me to choose that route and Ben Foster, who is an incredible actor, took X-Men 3. X-Men 3 came out and made a killing Poseidon didn't; did I make the wrong choice' I don't think so. It was an experience that will never be taken away from me and it was a decision that I made that for the acting was the right one for me. I believe it all happens like it's supposed to for a reason.'
It's hard to argue with someone who's managed to work steadily in a business where the majority is very unhappily unemployed most of the time. 'I don't by any means have it licked,' he admits. 'I've been very fortunate to continue working and I hope to continue doing that.'
One might assume that he's hiding some amazing secret as to how he's managed to stand out amidst the crowd that is Young Hollywood, but the truth is it's all about commitment.
'I tell anyone that says they want to be an actor, 'you better make sure there is nothing else that you want to do in life and I mean nothing because this will break your heart eight days from Sunday,' and where most people interview for a job maybe ten times in their life, I do that in a week with as much passion, with as much involvement and throwing my heart and soul into it just as much to have it stepped on; but it's worth it for that pay off to step onto set and to create. I just hope to be able to keep doing it.'
And continue to do it he shall. Next up for Mike is a movie called 'Ye Old Times' with Jack Black, Tim Robbins and Anne Margaret to name a few. A The Princess Bride meets Robin Hood type of film.
With all the spectacle, hype and glamour now surrounding him, Vogel finds it comforting to remember back to some valuable advice from a former co-star that always helps to keep things in perspective for him.
'Richard Dreyfuss said to me one time on Poseidon, 'Kid, you gotta just shut up and just fuckin' act. OK' Because you don't matter in this, we don't matter, it's a boat!''
And with those words of wisdom Mike Vogel is no doubt ensured of years more success in the Hollywood machine and thanks to his talent as an actor and still omnipresent charm he is certain to continue to climb that ladder of success to greater, more challenging and even more rewarding films artistically as he grows.
