goTriad.com

ON PLAYING DRACULA

So many people already have such a preconceived notion of Dracula. It can be very intimidating, but you can't really shy away from that.

You just sort of have to dive in, and it's going to come out as your own interpretation. The fear is to come off sounding like a bad imitation of Bela Lugosi or something. There have been many actors over the years that have played Dracula, and you have to just embrace the language and not be afraid to do a little bit of that Romanian accent and flair.

HIS FAVORITE DRACULA

I like different aspects of different Draculas. When I was a teenager, I saw Frank Langella play Dracula on Broadway. I went up with a tour group from high school, and that was mind blowing because he brought a coolness to it. He was just so suave and romantic... . But then in the movies, Christopher Lee had this certain rage. He was the scariest Dracula. I was going to try to watch the Bela Lugosi version, but I just can't get through it. That old school style of film acting is just way too stagey for me and unbelievable.

ON THE SET OF "THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS"

I played the Reverend Rob Jace , the minister to the Newman family, and I think they brought me on over a period of four or five years.

They would bring me on two or three times a year to do baptisms, weddings and even a funeral, too. It was great. Everyone was so nice, but it moved so fast that I couldn't make mistakes as a "day player" so to speak. The series regulars are a family, they can joke around, but if you come on and start screwing around, it's like, 'Who's this guy?' So I used to keep my lines in the Bible. If I had to do a ceremony, I would have these long passages, and I would just put them in the book and I would cheat. They don't use teleprompters in soaps anymore, so everyone's learning their lines. The lead actors would come in sometimes and paraphrase, and so you don't know what your cue is, and you look like the fool, so I just covered my bases and put my lines in the Bible.

TV ACTING VS. STAGE ACTING

For the type of stuff I do on TV, we don't get rehearsals. You're called to the set, you block the scene, they quickly set up the lights and move everything around that need be, then you shoot. .. You don't have as much time to be very creative with the role. ... It's very shake and bake. It's not as satisfying obviously for an actor. Not near. It's better money so you obviously do it.

The theater is the better medium for the actor. Once the director has finished the final dress rehearsal, he's done. And you're not being edited or cut up in an editing room. The actor usually has full sway from beginning to end and you get more rehearsal time. You have the luxury of time to be able to find little tidbits here or there that will sort of take you out of the everyday norm of yourself and find other little aspects of yourself that you didn't know about as you play a character.

DRACULA'S TIMELESSNESS

I don't know if this is true, but I've heard there are more versions of Dracula then there are for any other fictional character. I think it has to do with a combination of a lot of things. First of all, he's a great creation. The book is not necessarily a masterpiece of literature, but it's certainly frightening and very vivid. It's dark, and goes to the scariest parts of our imagination of what's lurking in the shadows. ... I think that's why it's interesting that this play is set in this time and in this place of Victorian England, because at the time, you had the uptightness of the people and you have Dracula seducing these women. ... It's been here for a hundred years, and I think they'll continue to make adaptations of it. There's just so many things you can do with the character.

- Joe Scott, movieshowjoe@gmail.com

Newsletter

Learn More

topCars

featured ads

TriadMarketplace.com