Scott Speedman
Interview By: Dan Deevy
Chances are the last time you saw Scott Speedman you were either watching a rerun of his hit show Felicity on the Oxygen network or his recent kick-ass Vampire/Werewolf movie, Underworld. Starting this May you’ll be able to see him in a completely different light in The 24th Day as Tom, an urban twenty something man who has just found out that he is HIV positive and sets out to find the man responsible for infecting him and hold him accountable for what he has done.
With the obvious looks and build for an action star, you might be surprised to find out that this soft spoken, introspective actor actually feels he’s at his best when presented with a character driven piece like The 24th Day rather than the big action adventures like Underworld. “It was amazing,” he begins, “[The 24th Day] was such a challenge. This movie is going to be released in some cities and I’m sure it’s going to get some people excited but I don’t know how many people are going to see this movie, and it’s too bad because this is where I feel I’m best. These character driven pieces are so hard to find. I wish I could do more of these.”
Of course this doesn’t mean that when the sequel to Underworld comes around he’s going to say no. “I think they are gonna do a sequel, but I haven’t read it yet. I don’t have a deal or anything, but if it was the right situation I would for sure.”
The 24th Day began as a stage play in Los Angeles and its focus and intensity has remained the same as it made its transition to the big screen. Its power still lies in the sharpness of the dialogue and the power of the performances. Scott, however, wasn’t overly concerned about who he was going to be paired with. “I was concerned, but really I was going to do it anyway,” he admits. “I wanted to do it for the character. I thought it was so well written and I haven’t played that type of character before.”
When he discovered that he was going to be paired with an actor like James Marsden it was of
Scott also reveals a little something about the man who plays the X-Men leader Cyclops, that I think might surprise most of us. “He’s an amazing singer. He’s like this old Sinatra-style singer. Just amazing!”
When the buzz surrounding this movie heightens and people start hearing about the plot and who the actors are, there will undoubtedly be a great deal of speculation as to whether or not these two hot up-and-coming Hollywood stars are going to end up lip locked, if even just once in the film. When James Van Der Beek crossed that line in The Rules of Attraction with Ian Sommerhalder it definitely raised some eyebrows and pleased countless movie goers. This time around, however, audiences are going to be disappointed. Scott insists though that had it been an integral part of the story, he wouldn’t have had a problem with it; Admitting that he’d be nervous and that it might be difficult, but not impossible.
(Insert collective sigh from all gay men and women who are reading this.)
The gay / straight issue is of course at the heart of this piece as Scott’s character, and the audience for that matter, struggle with the fact that he married a woman but has slept with a man. At one point Tom admits, “I chose one set of feelings over another.” When asked what his take was on the issue Scott very honestly answers, “I think we do as a society fall into putting everybody in a box so that we feel comfortable around them. That’s what I liked about this character because I think he kind of blows all of that away. This guy has gotten to a place where he is going to die and he wants the ‘true’ truth. No more bull shit.”
All boxes and classifications aside, even Scott felt that his character was in some form of denial about his sexuality, “Consciously in his mind I don’t think he thinks he’s necessarily gay. I don’t think that’s
The debate over sexuality is just one of the many questions posed but not answered by this film. “Everybody who watches the movie comes to their own conclusions and that’s what I like about it,” he says. “It can be good and it can be bad, but I like that people are left to make up their own minds. It’s not all wrapped up and made nice for you.”
Some movie goers may not appreciate the open ended nature of the film but as Scott says, “This is not a movie that you can go into and just escape for awhile and relax and have the movie kind of wash over you. It asks you to be involved in a sense; which we’re not used to anymore unfortunately. It’s a bit of a jolt for a lot of people who want to just let the lights go down and disappear for awhile. There’s plenty of movies where you can do that, but this isn’t one of them.”
Working on a film like this opens the door to so many personal questions and introspective thought that it might have been off putting to certain actors. Speedman, on the other hand was more drawn to the project because of it. “I think that’s really a cool thing when you kind of sit back and think, ‘What lines have a crossed, even casually within groups of friends to get what I want?’” he begins, ‘‘What kinds of effects has it had, not as bad as in the movie obviously, but what types of effects have these casual lies had?’”
Since the door was open I had to ask if Scott had ever used some of the evasive lines in the movie to avoid questioning from potential romantic interests. One line in particular gave Scott a laugh as I reminded him of a scene where his character is putting Dan on the spot as to how many men he has slept with and he answers, “Whatever a lot is these days, less than that!”
“I’ve never used that,” he says with a laugh. “I will now though!”
Working in Hollywood it’s not surprising to find out that Scott
Scott asserts that he’s really not a big fan of “messagy” movies. But he feels that The 24th Day really challenges the conventional accepted bullshit of society, asking people to simply be more genuine and honest in life, even when your life doesn’t depend on it. And that he says, “Is a very cool thing.”
The 24th Day opens here in New York on May 14th at the Village East on 2nd Ave. and will also be shown at OutFest in LA in July.
