Chad Faust
Interview By: Dan Deevy
You have to ask yourself, what type of actor would be willing to walk into an independent project for basically no money and play a character that not only horribly brutalizes a woman, but then ultimately becomes the victim of a man on man ass rape' An incredibly courageous, smart one, that's who!
At the young age of 27, Canadian born actor Chad Faust has enjoyed a steady career working in film and television appearing in movies like Mandy Moore's hit film Saved!, Nearing Grace with Everwood's Gregory Smith and Jordana Brewster and on television in favorites like Smallville, CSI: Miami and his regular role on the sci-fi channel's The 4400. As good as his work was on all of these projects, none of them could have possibly prepared viewers for his most recent turn in Rosario Dawson's intense drama, Descent--available on DVD February 5th.
'I think I've always taken some kind of pride in the fact that I feel I'll do anything if it's to tell a meaningful story,' he explains. 'In acting class I've always been the first one to get naked or whatever the challenge is; I feel you've just gotta do it. And this was one venue where it told me to step up and prove that.'
Beyond the obvious challenge that tackling this role entailed there was also a deeper meaning that drew the actor in. 'The reason I was so drawn to it was I immediately understood the character and that frightened me,' he admits. 'It frightened me how much I understood his motivations and it wasn't that I have the inclination to be a serial rapist or anything of that nature, but I understood his need to get his power this way. He felt completely disempowered by everyone in his life and I just understood that this was how he dealt with it. He was not even aware of it himself that that's what he was doing or why he was doing it. But I immediately understood it and so I felt like that was a story I had to be a part of.'
Deciding to accept a challenge is one thing, but jumping into it can be a completely different affair. 'I kind of took it on in sort of a numb fashion I think,' he begins. 'I knew I was gonna have to walk into an inner war. I knew in my mind it was gonna happen but I hadn't totally conceded what that was gonna be and so we just did it before we had time to think about it.'
When all was said and done and the process had begun it wasn't long before Chad began to feel the emotional effects of it. 'I definitely had an emotional reaction to it while we were doing it,' he says. 'I had a couple of times were I just broke down thinking, 'oh my god I can't believe I'm doing this to somebody.' We didn't really have a code red; pull me out kind of thing. So there were moments where it was hard to know if we were going too far, ya know' It was at times frightening.'
Unlike most films where a character really only plays one side of the coin, victim or attacker, Descent offered the rare opportunity for the actors to play both in a single character; as a man it' hard to imagine which sensation was harder to shake, brutalizing a woman or being totally devoured by another man.
'I had moments in both of them actually. When we did the scene where I was attacking her there was a moment where I was actually plugging her nose with my hand and of course she was fighting me off, but I thought that was just her as the character fighting me off, I didn't realize that it was actually something going wrong, and like I said, we didn't have a pull out code red, so there was a moment when I realized I actually had hurt her and it put a whole new reality to it.'
While most actors would balk at returning to a scene after such an incident had occurred the true professionalism and artistic integrity of both Rosario Dawson and Chad Faust came rushing to the surface as they not only got back to the scene, but used the experience to better the project.
'The scene had been coming off quite violent up until that point and this put a whole new reality into it and the scene became much more psychological and less physically aggressive and that's actually the version you see in the film now. It's the version we did after we had this sort of break down. I actually went into another room and had to just cry because I was so distraught that I actually hurt her. But it gave a reality to what was going on in the scene and it allowed us to have a release so we could get into what the scene was really about which wasn't so much that I was taking her physically but I was taking her emotionally and mentally and the psychology of it was far more important than the physical aggression.'
'But then when we did the scene where I got attacked,' he continues, 'I couldn't actually get out. I was hand cuffed and tied in so I couldn't actually get out between takes. I could spit out the gag but I couldn't take off the blind fold and I couldn't even like, ya know, adjust my cock if I wanted to,' he jests. 'So I was extremely vulnerable. And to top it all off in the part that they used where I had to be fully naked, Rosario slaps me across the face twice and I'd asked her to really do it so I wouldn't have to fake a reaction and I thought, 'ya know' what ever I'll just do it,' and I realized how vulnerable I felt just sitting there exposed not to mention I'm getting beaten really hard,' he laughs, 'and I said after the first take I said, 'alright do one more, but do it again as quickly as possible please.' And we did one more take and I had to go off into the corner again and just break down. My emotions hadn't really caught up with my mind until I got in there and was actually doing it so I didn't realize wholly what I was walking into. But it was definitely a creative climax for me.'
It's hard for non-actors to imagine putting ourselves in that situation as we always think of the lives of actors as being very cushy and comfy. But as we've learned here that's not always the case.
'Ya know, when they made the Blair Witch Project the director said to them, 'your safety is my concern, but your comfort is not.' And I agree, you make sure everyone feels that they're not going to be hurt but they don't necessarily have to feel comfortable. So we definitely got into places of discomfort.'
For Rosario Dawson, long time friend of Director Talia Lugacy it was an easier journey to that place of complete trust and understanding. For Chad, who had just walked into an audition as an actor, that road was a little bit tougher to venture onto.
'I didn't know them at all, so it was definitely walking into a very odd machine that had started long before I came around,' he says, 'It was very fascinating to be a part of that because those girls have sort of a short hand that I eventually became in on, but yeah they are both very courageous, ambitious, lovely people and I think they'll both continue to do some pretty remarkable things.'
Walking into this situation it was automatically necessary for the group to bond on a very real level before any shooting could begin.
'We really had to create a bond of trust which I think is the reason why when I felt that I had hurt her I was so scared, because I felt that I had violated that bond of trust that we had to have to go all the places we went, and that was shot fairly early on in the schedule, so I was rally concerned that she wasn't going to feel comfortable with me after that. That's the reason I had such a reaction to that because as a professional that's one line you don't cross because you have to be able to trust each other.'
And trust they did, the group went on under grueling conditions to complete filming and ultimate end up with an amazing film that is honestly unparalleled in modern cinema. But achieving this certainly wasn't without its toll on the actors themselves.
'I feel like we all went to Iraq,' he says, 'and we came back and now we see each other in these other places and just by seeing each other we're reminded of how easy this world is compared to the one we played in for a while. And we all joke about it, especially Marcus and I. Ya know the macho layer has to come back up between us,' he laughs, 'so we joke about it a lot so that's always fun but there's def a kindred ness that we all went through something together.'
Speaking of the intimidatingly large Marcus Patrick, Chad admits that he wasn't really the type of guy he initially had in his mind playing the role of Adrian.
'Honestly I was picturing like John Leguizamo or something when I first read the script and then Marcus Patrick walks in and I'm like, 'Oh My God,' he's like twice the size!'
Ironically though, Chad wouldn't have had it any other way, 'It's funny they asked me before, what would be your greatest fear, a small guy to take you or a big guy' And I said, 'definitely a big guy and secondly if the big guy made me like it,' and that was sort of where this film ended up going is he makes me like it which is the ultimate emasculation. It wasn't so much big or small but the fact that he made me enjoy being the victim of sexual rape.'
This is an experience that will of course always be with Faust, but it's also afforded him amazing personal growth as a man.
'I definitely went through a great loss of ego shooting the film,' he admits, 'At one point in the film where it shows me naked and I'm strapped to the bed, I had decided that in that scene my character would be turned on by the danger of what was going on. I thought it was a part of who he was. So I tried to go to the place where I was turned on by it, but it was the hardest thing to do,' he laughs, 'I have such respect for porn actors after doing that scene because I couldn't fucking get there! Ya know being in this warehouse in New York in December. I just couldn't fucking do it.' Being stuck in a drafty cold shooting space also didn't help Chad in his artistic struggle, 'I begged the first AD for a heater! I literally sat him down, man to man and said, 'look, I don't care about closing the set just give me heat! Please give me heat!' Yeah, it didn't happen,' he laughs, 'So I went through a complete loss of ego. I left there going, 'I have no more ego left.' I felt very lost for a moment.'
Sadly in our culture the fact that Faust is fully naked in this film is going to raise more eyebrows than the violence that is being committed by these characters, which is yet another reason why he wanted to tackle this material.
'I'm fascinating by our taboos around the naked body. You can show a bullet going into someone's head and them falling down and dying but you can't show an asshole or a penis or a pussy ya know' I just don't get it. It's almost like denying our creator by saying this art isn't beautiful enough for people to see and that's just bull shit. That's another reason I wanted to d this film to help break some of those taboos apart.'
But for everyone who enjoyed themselves a little naked Chad in this movie, not to worry there will be more to come as this gorgeous twenty something has no plans to retreat back into only clothed roles.
'It's funny because I write as well, and in the part that I always write for myself the character always seems to get nude for whatever reason. And my old production company is called Naked People Productions so there's def something about that.'
With a burgeoning talent as obvious as his there's no doubt that the future will continue to hold many opportunities for him to since. But when it comes to specifically what he is looking for, he's careful not to demand anything too specific.
'I'd like to have more roles that are equally as challenging and that have as much depth as this character. I mean, this character is extremely dynamic, as dynamic as a character in any of the great plays, ya know' I just wanna tell a good story and be a part of a characters life that I have some compassion for or admiration for.'
Life is not all Descent for Chad these days having just finished filming on the fourth and possibly final season of the hit television show, The 4400.
'We just wrapped the fourth season and my contract is actually done now. There may be a fifth season but I'm not sure if I'm gonna go back or not. They've expressed that they'd like me to come back if that happens, but we'll see. I kinda got a feeling that this might be the end of the road but I'm not certain.' Even if it is the end for his character on The 4400 Faust won't be out of the public eye for very long. 'I'm definitely more interested in getting into some more films anyhow,' he says, 'I'm producing a couple of things and forming a new production company to produce some things that I've written and meanwhile taking meetings and stuff on some other people's projects that I wanna be involved with so we'll see.'
Now that all of the hard work is done, there's nothing left for Chad to do but sit back and hope for the best when the film hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles on August 10th.
'My hopes, honestly, are that it goes beyond New York and LA,' he admits. 'I don't know if the rest of the country is gonna be prepared to see this but I'm hoping America is ready for it. I really just hope that as many people see it as possible.'
It's a truly amazing film with amazing performances throughout, everyone should check out Descent if not in theaters, then definitely when it hits DVD.
