Danny Strong
Interview By: Dan Deevy
'We think you'd be perfect for the role of one of the 'Dorks!'
- Not perhaps the sentence that most actors long to hear, but for actor Danny Strong it was a sentiment that led to one of the most positive filming experiences he's had to date.
'I got a call from my agent telling me that I had an audition for Sydney White,' he explains. 'They were interested in me for a couple of different parts, they weren't quite sure which one of the 'dorks' they wanted me to play. So, I read it and thought it was really charming and really funny and I was excited about it instantly,' he admits. 'I felt like it succeeded at everything it was trying to be. A sweet, funny, charming movie for a younger audience but would also play to an adult audience too.'
For anyone not in the know, Sydney White is a modern day retelling of the classic fairy tale of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs; only this time around it's Sydney White and the Seven Dorks and it's set on the familiar social battle ground of collegiate America where the evil queen ruling the kingdom is of course, the president of a Sorority. Fortunately, the story doesn't rely solely on this association to tell its tale.
'They didn't make the movie work by doing parallels. They just had kind of a, 'nudge, nudge' wink, wink,' type of thing now and then just to sort of keep the concept alive,' he says. 'I think that was the right approach to it because if the whole thing was about parallels it would get boring after about 20 minutes.'
Boring is definitely not the word I'd use when describing this movie, and for Danny it's the furthest thing from the experience he had on set filming it. 'It was a really great shoot because the six other guys were really great,' he begins. 'They were funny and fun to be around and Amanda Bynes is everything that her screen image portrays. She just is that sweet, that charming and that much fun to be around so we had a blast! I mean, it was a really good time, I had a lot of fun on this shoot.'
Living up to on screen expectations is great and all, but part of me was curious if Danny had any secret latent desire to see the exact opposite in his costar and see Bynes go nuts and just throw a Latt' at someone or something. Sadly, the answer was no. 'I've worked with Latte throwers and believe me, its not fun; it's always a drag.'
So the gorgeous sweeter than sweet Amanda Bynes was the real deal, but what about her hotter than hot on screen love interest, Matt Long, he had to be an ass right'
Nope. 'Matt is a really friendly down to earth guy. He's the cool guy in the room who's never acting cool, he's just naturally cool. I think partly it is because he's so friendly and so approachable that makes him a good guy to have around.'
'It was weird how nice the set was because normally there's got to be one diva right''
So it turns out on the set of this movie of geeks vs. the cool kids, everyone got a long and no battle lines were drawn. Danny attributes this to the leadership of his director and star.
'I've found that the tone of the set is determined by the director and the star and when they're both really nice, then no one else can even come close to throwing a temper tantrum or being difficult because if the leaders of the ship are such great people, then it sort of sets a standard for everyone else.'
Danny's played a lot of different roles in his career including a recurring character on the long running shows, Gilmore Girls and Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well as the mysterious Video store clerk, Vincent on Seinfeld; so he may not be all the rage for playing the buff hot Prince Charming types but that's OK with him. He's had a great time with the parts he's landed.
'For me it's a blast,' he says. 'The roles are usually very funny and they usually have a lot to do. And I try to make each and everyone of them their own individuals. I never try to play into any kind of stereotype. [In fact,] I usually try to play away from it and just bring as much reality to the part as possible. I've been fortunate,' he admits, 'I've gotten to do a lot of fun things on some really, really amazing TV shows and some not so good TV shows; but in both cases I treat the work the same and I usually have a pretty good time with it.'
The word on the street is that Geek is the new Chic; and that is certainly the message of Sydney White, so does Danny agree'
'That's what they say,' he laughs. 'I don't know. It is so different from what it used to be. I think that being a geek or being a dork was so identified with the 'Saved By The Bell stereotype' of those nerd characters they'd have on and now people like Joss Whedon have really flushed out what is considered a dorky subculture and what has come out is that there are a lot more people than just anti social nerds with tapped glasses who sit in the corner and read comic books; some pretty damn hip people read comic books too! And I think that its' gotten people to embrace that side of themselves instead of being embarrassed by it; which I think is not only positive, but ya know, to be embarrassed by individuality is just boorish and dull.'
As a Star Trek fan I have to agree. Some of us are tragic individuals, but some of us are cool as hell!
Next up for our newly minted chic geek is a project that he isn't appearing in, but has actually written.
'I wrote a movie called Recount for HBO which was shot and will be airing at the end of May. It stars Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson, Laura Dern, Dennis Leary, John Hurt and Bob Balaban and it's the story of the Florida recount in the 2000 election. It's what happened on the streets of Florida on those 36 days. I've been totally consumed with this project pretty much since the day Sydney White ended.'
Our next Presidential election is of course paramount on most peoples minds these days praying that we get it right this time, so there couldn't be a more opportune time for Danny's film to premiere.
'I think people will be pretty fascinated at what happened,' he says. 'I don't think people really know what went down on the streets of Florida. It was a war. There was literally a war on the streets of Florida and America without guns but with pencils. At times there were protests and there was small riot ' but things did happen and I think people are going to be pretty amazed.'
We definitely wish him luck with this next project and hope that he will continue to give 'Dork' a good name!
