Brendan Sexton III

Alright! I didn’t know you were from SuicideGirls.

Yeah man. I saw them live once when my friends Dirty on Purpose opened for them at the Knitting Factory here in New York.

Uh-oh, I might secretly be a member.

It came through the director Adrienne Weiss. Adrienne teaches a course called Acting for Directors which is to teach directors how to work with actors. I was a part of that one semester through a good friend of mine. We met and had a good time then a couple years later she called me up and said, “Brendan, I have this great movie and I think you’d be perfect for it. It’s based on a play and if you like it you have to make a decision right now because we’re shooting in three weeks.” So I read the script and thought it was great but I said that I thought it was more like a play than a movie. So she and the writers spent two weeks workshopping it to make it more cinematic. A lot of that came out of like a week of rehearsal that Alicia [Goranson], David [Eigenberg] and I did leading up to shooting.

Not at all. In the script it is not even necessarily specified that he’s agoraphobic. It doesn’t say, “Ludlow, an interesting agoraphobic 19 year old character pops out of the bed.” But you get a sense that he’s never really left the apartment since his mother died and only absolutely leaves the apartment when he must and when he feels in good hands. I didn’t know anything about agoraphobics or manic depressives or anything of that nature beforehand but the producer and the director were very helpful with research.

I watched some documentaries on what can happen in severe cases of bipolar disorder when it’s untreated. What I found was a lot of childish behavior with guys in their teens throwing temper tantrums. That’s something I really took with me. So I made a decision that Ludlow was emotionally immature and I ran with that.

Absolutely. I’ve fit in that category. A lot of people fit in that category, but definitely a lot of actors.

Oh yeah, I have at least one tantrum on set at each shoot. The question is just how many people get to see it.

It was such a pleasant surprise. I’ve known her for eight years now and it was so fascinating to rediscover how much of an incredible actor she is. It is like when you play basketball with Michael Jordan, he makes you a better basketball player. Working with someone of Alicia’s caliber makes you a better actor. She and I had a really great rapport and it really helped us become emotionally available and vulnerable.

No because I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. When I was 15 some girls were chasing me down the block because I was in a movie they happened to rent. I was like, “Why are you chasing me down the block? You see me in homeroom every morning.” I wouldn’t have been able to deal with that type of exposure at such a young age and the fact that Alicia was, at one point, able to walk away from it and go to school is pretty admirable.

I feel like those opportunities don’t present themselves since I live in New York. Not that they don’t exist here in New York, but there are a lot of movies that are way bigger budget than what I’m usually working on that don’t even bother casting in New York. But to me every script is a puzzle and some are worth trying to solve more than others. I just look for ones that are worthier of solving. Doing Black Hawk Down was for the experience of working with Ridley Scott. To be able to go out of the country and also be able to train with professionally trained US soldiers was an amazing experience. I loved the idea of really trying to transform myself. I had that experience with [Kimberly Peirce director of] Boys Don’t Cry as well. She provided tons of research, tons of movies for me to watch, court transcripts to read and all that. Whether that opportunity is afforded by a $40 million budget or a $40,000 budget is not up to me to decide. It’s up to whoever’s producing the movie [laughs].

I think part of that was out of necessity and part of that was by choice. I turned down a lot of mainstream stuff when I was younger so I was probably too independent to a fault. If I had said yes to some of those projects it could have afforded me more opportunities and help more independent films get financed. So looking back maybe I could have done certain things differently but I’m definitely where I’m supposed to be and I’m not real resentful. I’m pretty satisfied with where I am and I know I have such a long way to go so I’m willing to grow and better myself and my career.

Actually I’m starting a record label called Big Bits of Beauty. I have two bands right now. I started it as a way to help my friends and now it’s becoming a way to get music out that I appreciate. Not a lot of big labels do A & R work in terms of developing artists anymore.

Well as much as my adorable bands drive me crazy it is something I love doing. It has been a challenge for me and I like to be challenged. As a working actor, one can find a lot of downtime when you’re not working. So I spend a lot of time away from my craft and what I love to do so I needed something to occupy my time. This has helped me a whole lot and I’m able to help other people at the same time and be of service to others.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck