Brian: Let's start at the beginning. Did
you get bitten by the acting bug at an early age
or did it wait awhile to sink its jaws into you?
Matthew:
I was always into acting, when I was 6 years old
I was either going to be an actor or a fire
truck. Come to think of it I wonder what a fire
truck makes now-a-days.
As a kid I was
raised on 'Abbott and Costello',
'Three Stooges' and 'Bruce
Lee' (I know, I know). My dad and I went
to the movies all the time and if we weren't at
the movies we were watching them on Pay TV (Super
Channel and First Choice, how's that
for aging myself?). My three favorite film
memories are: seeing 'Star Wars'
and 'Jaws' in the theater (78)
and watching a horror marathon with my dad on
Halloween Night. We watched: 'The Thing',
'Wolfen', and 'Alien'...
I was 8. Ever since then I have been fascinated
with how movies are made.
When I got into
high school I was in all the plays (Danny Zuko-Grease,
Giles Ralston- The Mousetrap).
Nothing says "You're a big star" like
singing "Summer Loving" in front of the
entire student body!
Brian:
Is there something specific that you try to bring
to every role you do or does it always depend on
the character?
Matthew: Depends. Acting is like a giant toolbox full of
tools. Sometimes I need to really investigate and
do the work (Back-story, timelines, emotional
arcs) and other times my job is to just say the
line properly before the sun goes down. The trick
is preparation. If I have enough time with a
script and a character I will do what I call the
"good work". The investigation into his
psyche, the back-story, the 5 W's (who, what,
where, why, when... how), the stuff I was trained
to do. Then when it comes time to shoot and I
have all that stuff in my body, I throw it away
and have fun!
Other times I
pull out tricks to sell a shot. Listen, when
you're doing television you get one or two takes,
and sometimes you aren't even acting with another
person; like a pivotal scene in 'Dark
Angel'. On my close up I was saying my
lines to a tennis ball in a C-Stand and having
the 2nd AD read Jessica Alba's part because she
had to get ready for another episode. When stuff
like this happens, you have to bring it and
sometimes that means bull shitting your way
through a scene. I don't like working that way
but there are a lot of elements that go into
making a movie or a television show and guess
what? It's not always about ME so sometimes I
must play the tricks to sell the shot.
Brian:
You sang in the movie 'Stiffed'.
Do you have any musical inclinations beyond that?
Matthew:
Jesus, you didn't see that movie did you? It was
awful. As far as music goes, I have been playing
it since I was 12 years old. My father was a
drummer so I became a drummer at an early age. I
discovered the guitar at 18. At that time I was
doing theater and really heavily involved in it.
I decided that I wanted to explore music more so
I started writing songs and learning covers. The
music bug bit hard so I stopped acting and tried
to start a couple of bands. I found a small taste
of Indie success in the early 90's when I fronted
a couple of bands. I found a small taste of Indie
success in the early 90's when I fronted a couple
of bands. -Most notably the pop rock band SHiVER
from 95-99. We toured all over Canada and
released a CD.
I didn't start
acting professionally until 2000. Up until then
it was music. I hate the music industry and am a
very vocal advocate for artists not getting
fucked around by the machine. Thank God for My
Space and fan sites. Artists are finally allowed
to regain control of their art and not have to
bow down to the corporate tit. The music industry
is a horrible beast and after my band broke up I
wasn't interested in writing for a long time.
When you get taken out by Labels and courted by
management they expect something from you and
it's hard not to try and deliver what they want.
Especially with my band, we were a pop band so we
tried to be accessible in the first place. Not
cause we wanted to sell a million albums but
because we liked pop music (U2, Radiohead,
The Cure - pop -not shitty boy band pop).
I'm sorry; I tend to go off on this subject. The
point is, I stopped music and started acting
again when I was 26. Then a funny thing happened
when I hit 30: I found peace in music again and
started writing like fiend. I found my passion
again because I wrote for me and no-one else, I
don't care if you like my music or not, I don't
care if I sell a million albums or not. And you
know what happened? I started actually making
money (not a lot) off my music by licensing my
songs for Film and Television. How's that for
Irony?
All I know, for
certain, is that I will be writing music all my
life. I can't say the same about acting. Don't
get me wrong, I love acting, it's just that music
is tattooed into my soul; acting is something I
have come learn through training and respect
greatly.
Brian: Who
are your favorite musical artists?
Matthew:
Of All time? The Beatles, The Cure (they
saved my life in High School ), U2,
Radiohead, Mercury Rev, Pixies, Flaming Lips,
- Currently? .... and you will know us by the Trail
of Dead, Cursive, Doves, explosions in the
sky, Mogwai, Mew, Coldplay - The list
goes on. I have a friend who is a music
supervisor and he keeps me posted. Right this
second I can't get enough of 'Silversun
Pickups'.
Brian:
Do you ever use music as a way of getting into a
character?
Matthew:
All the time.
Brian: Your character "Push" on 'Dark
Angel' had a way with the flips and the
high kicks. How much of that was you and how much
was a stunt double used?
Matthew:
We practiced the fight scenes and the kicks and
flips. I had a stunt double do the handless
cartwheel and the back flip off of the bar. When
it came to the fighting scene I told the stunt
co-coordinator that I could do the spinning back
roundhouse. I showed him the kick and he was
impressed but thought it would be safer if my
double (a Black Belt) did the kick. I wasn't
about to disagree. When we shot the fight scene
my double wound up NAILING the actor/stuntman in
the head with his roundhouse. He was okay after
he regained consciousness. Not that I could have
done better, but I often wonder what would have
happened if I was the one who threw the kick. (I
doubt I would have knocked him out, I'm not the
strongest of men.
Brian: You
appeared on one of my favorite short lived series
'Wolf Lake'. Do you have any specific or
interesting memories of working on that show?
Matthew: It
was the first time I had been killed on film and
was very eager and a little freaked out (The guys
who handled the guns on this, were also on 'The
Crow' when Brandon Lee died). I had
never fired a gun before and never had one aimed
at my head.
Lou Diamond
Phillips was awesome. I told him that I had never
"died" before and, after we shot the
scene, he gave me a card that said "Congrats
on popping your cherry."
Brian: Your character "Sean" in 'The
Fog' is the recipient of that remake's
first creative death. How difficult was it to
work out the knife in the eye bit?
Matthew: All smoke and mirrors. Remember when I said,
"Sell the shot"? They put the fake eye
on me and attached the knife handle just before
we shot the gag. I had to block the camera with
the back of my head and then jerk my face towards
it with the knife already in place. Then they
edited around it. It was a blast. I loved
shooting 'The Fog' (Too bad it
didn't turn out to very good) the hardest part
was the fact that the make up was so good I
couldn't see a thing and had to have someone
escort me around all day.
Brian:
Midnight in Alaska or the temperature when
filming your scenes in 'The Fog'
- which one would have been colder?
Matthew: I've
never been to Alaska but I'll tell you a secret,
most of the boat stuff was shot on a sound stage
in a huge water tank, so I'm going to have to say
Alaska at midnight for 1,000 Alex! When we were
out side on the water it was chilly, not so much
for Dee Ray and I but for my good friend Sonja
Bennett (and Meghan Heffern) who had to be in a
bikini most of the time. Ouch.
Brian:
In a movie full of cool characters, Bobby was
probably the coolest character in 'Firewall'.
How fun - or scary - was it to blaze away on a
guitar in front of church full of extras for
Bobby's final scene?
Matthew:
Thanks man. I loved playing Bobby.
Here's an example
of trying to bring something to a character:
Bobby's sole purpose in the film was to enable
Harrison Ford's character (Jack). When it came
time to do my scenes with Mr. Ford I tried to do
it differently every time. I figured this might
be my only chance to work with the coolest movie
star of all time so I'd better make it count. If
you watch the movie when he asks me to "sit
down" I kind of smirked which made him tell
me twice. That wasn't scripted. After wards He
said "Nice choice". I was beaming.
- As far as
playing Bass in front of all those people. It was
a blast. I learned the song (same riff as The
Ramones "Somebody Put Something In My
Drink" only a lot slower) which was fun to
do because I am not a bass player We shot that
scene all day and it was great, in between set
ups we were the entertainment for the crew. We
would jam out playing With Or Without You
for like 20 minutes. The band they hired was an
actual church band and they were very talented.
As far as the
crowd goes, there were 700 extras. It was my last
day of shooting and, generally, when an actor is
'shot out' the director says "That's a wrap
on so-and-so" and the cast and crew clap
him/her out. When I was clapped out there were
700 people cheering my name, it was very surreal
and very fucking cool.
Brian:
I may be the only one, but I really enjoyed
'Wrong Turn' - so I am psyched you are
appearing in the sequel. Can you reveal who
you're playing and/or any specific thoughts about
appearing in 'Wrong Turn'?
Matthew:
I can't really get into too many details about
'WT2' because it is actually one of the
most on-line anticipated horror sequels out
there. To share too much would be a disservice. I
will say this; I play a director of a reality
television show called 'The Apocalypse'
hosted by Henry Rollins. The goal of the show is
to marry 'The Real World' with
'Survivor' in the bush. Terror ensues
and people get eaten.
As far as working
on the film, I had the time of my life. I will
also say that I do die and that my death scene is
legendary. I got to work with the make-up master
Bill Terezakis and Ken Kirzinger from 'Freddy
VS Jason'. They both signed my DVD. I'm
such a nerd. What Bill created was pure art. If
you go to my website and look through the gallery
you can get a sneak peek: www.matthewcurrieholmes.com now I've said too much
Brian:
In 'WT2' you appear with two of
my favorite performers - Crystal Lowe and Henry
Rollins. Did you work with either of them - and
do you have any juicy behind the scenes memories?
Matthew:
Ha-ha-ha-ha. I worked VERY closely (wink-wink)
with Crystal, a woman I adore. She is an amazing
person who is wicked smart. She may play the
bimbo in distress but make no mistake she knows
her shit.
Henry Rollins is,
well, I mean, he's fucking Rollins right? He is
as intense as you would imagine. He is probably
the hardest working man I have ever met. He will
do anything for a take and he won't stop until
the director is 110% satisfied.
We got to talking
one day about his favorite subject: Music. I made
him a mix CD of some of the shit I'm into (Cursive,
Appleseed Cast, I Love You But I've
Chosen Darkness) and he made me two of the
greatest mix CD's I own. They are filled with
rare (often) unreleased tunes from old school
punk bands like Minor Threat and The
Buzzcocks.
My favorite
memory is bringing my, then, six month old
daughter to the set and getting pictures of her
w/Rollins. There are a couple of pictures where
she's honking him on his nose that are priceless.
Brian:
Lastly, any future projects or words of wisdom
(IE -Don't betray leper Pilgrims in coastal
towns) that you'd like to leave us with? And -
thanks a lot for doing this. It's been a blast!
Matthew:
Ha-ha-ha. As far as projects go, since moving to
Los Angeles, I've shot a couple of low budget
thrillers ('Hangman' and 'Under
The Knife') that should be due out next
year. As far as words of wisdom.... Life is
really short and if you are not doing what you
want to do, what you dream of doing then you are
not living a full life. And when you are living
that life.... make mistakes, fuck it up; you're a
human being not a robot. Have fun. This was my
pleasure Brian. Take good care. |