I spoke with actor Michael Angarano who was touring on behalf of his new film Ceremony. Michael has had a very good career thus far appearing in big budget films like Almost Famous with Kate Hudson and Seabiscuit with Jeff Bridges to modest budget movies like Lords of Dogtown with Heath Ledger and Snow Angels directed by David Gordon Green. His television Cereseries include the popular 24 playing the character Scott Wallace in 11 episodes and the character Elliot for 11 in the sitcom Will and Grace.
In Ceremony Angarano plays the quirky character Sam who finds himself taking an unscheduled trip to intervene in the marriage of a girl with whom he’s infatuated. Michael gets to play opposite Uma Thurman in this Independent flick and the two up their comedic chemistry levels in the oddball film.
Michael what was the inspiration that got you into the film business?
Coincidentally my mother owned dance studios. That’s kind of the family business. For me acting kind of fell into my lap and a coincidental set of circumstances. I started modeling when I was five and a half and I really enjoyed being able to miss school and go in front of a camera. From an early age I had this kind of silly dumb naiveté that allowed me to enjoy myself on a film set. My parents never pressured me into it, all they did was support me. So I was able to enjoy it from very early on and continue to grow into myself. I guess I am one of the cases where I found out what I wanted to do early on in life.
What brought you to Ceremony and what was the audition process like?
I came upon Ceremony about a year and a half before it was made. I met Max Winkler. At that time the movie was already set with another cast and it didn’t go into production for another year and by that time the cast had shifted around as I was originally picked to play Marshall. During that interval of time we were waiting to get the movie made Max and I become very close friends as we were looking for a lead character. On the hunt for the characters we looked at a lot of talented young guys. So after a year had gone by I felt I was another year older and felt I had the experience so I thought I should give Sam the lead character a shot. So I auditioned for Sam with Max and it worked. We then found Reece Thompson for my original role of Marshall, then Uma Thurman came on board and that’s kind of how it happened.
Ceremony has an amazing cast.
One of the geat things about this movie that I think Max Winkler is really proud of and I am proud to be a part of is the cast that was in the film. Such a good talented group from Uma Thurman, Reece Thompson, Lee Pace, Jake Johnson Everybody in the movie is extremely smart and funny and such a pleasure to work with.
How was it working with Uma Thurman on the set?
Uma is great she’s the kind of actress that likes tackling very personal subjects. She is not afraid to be vulnerable so I think we really related to the script and it was really a personal experience for both of us and we really had a good time together. I loved working with her so much, she was perfect and amazing.
You have worked under some great directors like Kevin Smith, Wes Craven, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Minkoff and Cameron Crowe . What was it like working under Max Winkler a first time director?
It’s really weird working with someone that’s directing for the first time. But I think everybody can say from just knowing Max as a friend and then seeing him work on set it was really a great transformation as he was so confident and knew exactly what he wanted to do. He gave the actors the freedom that they needed but was still always the captain of the ship. He gave us the confidence in ourselves to do the best that we could. And as actors that’s the best feeling.
You’ve had a great career already and you are a recognizable actor. I know there must be times when you are not working that you would like to be. What do you do to get yourself up to get another role?
I think for every actor and Colin Firth just said it at the Academy Awards that everybody has times in there career when they wish they could do something else. Its basically a business of rejection you are always the ‘not the guy’ for this reason or you are the right guy for another reason. I think you just have to understand and it just comes with experience its really not a personal thing at all. You go to an audition and you could be the best actor in the world and give the best reading of the day but for whatever reason you wont be the guy for the part and it’s nothing you can take personally. You just kind of have to show up and do it again the next audition and take everything step by step. In times like those what’s most important is that you have to embrace your hobbies and search for something that’s going to satisfy you as a person to keep you healthy mentally and emotionally.