FRED Entertainment

By Christopher Stipp

Archives? Right Here…

I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

What’s in a place?

Many times it’s just a perfunctory element tossed in just for s and giggles but in MY BOYS, the television series on TBS, being a part of Chicago’s environment seems integral to making the story of a female sports columnist and the men in her life who define her life as a working woman. While I wouldn’t suppose that Chicago is one of the only defining elements of this series MY BOYS is a step above many of the weaker sitcoms in that the cast is exceptionally adept at, ironically enough, not being sitcom punchlines. There are real elements such as the lead, PJ (Jordana Spiro). She’s not window dressing, she’s not just a pretty face in a crowd of other actresses but rather, if I could make a comparison, she’s like Maura Tierney’s character in NEWSRADIO. PJ’s smart and has enough wherewithal that you would hope many other women would posses.

And then there’s Kyle Howard. The guy does not know the meaning of the words “sit on your hands.” As an actor in the Hollywood system for more than a decade, and only being 30, the man has made the transition from young actor to mature actor without the series of burnouts, bouts in rehab or paparazzi run-ins that seems to define what it means to be young in a town that wants to chew ’em up and spit ’em out. He’s incredibly grounded in his approach to his job as an actor and, as you read what he has to say about working as one, he’s got an outlook that, frankly, I don’t know if I would be able to posses; I would be given to feelings of constant paranoia and despair, moving from acting job to the next, but that’s why I keep my paranoia and despair locked in me as a writer.

Apart from also being funny, he’s got a great technical eye for what has made this series a winner for TBS and why he feels so safe in the hands of Betsy Thomas. He also deserves credit for being a Cubs fan, that instantly gets him a free pass for anything he does ever again from me, but deserves the most credit for being honest about the series and where he sees himself going.

MY BOYS airs on TBS, Thursdays, 9:30/8:30 Central

CHRISTOPHER STIPP: One of the first things I wanted to start off with is this ““ I didn’t realize until I looked into it is that this is actually TBS’s really first foray into original programming.

KYLE HOWARD: Yes, it was. The year that we did our pilot it was us and Ten Items or Less which is their sort of improv sketch show that they have. But the two of those were, as far as I know, their first run at that and are both still going at this point. That’s pretty exciting.

CS: But it must have been interesting from a taking-a-job sort of standpoint that here comes this opportunity where the water has been untested for TBS ““ But from a practical standpoint do you share studio space with anybody or did they build a whole new studio just to accommodate what your production?

HOWARD: No. We just, Sony, the studio behind the show, rents space from Paramount mainly because they have a back lot there that we try to sell the whole Chicago thing so it wasn’t anything to build a studio for us or anything like that. But it was sort of new territory for them.

CS: And for the show itself, it’s ostensibly set in Chicago and do you do exteriors here in Chicago?

HOWARD: Yes, we have in the past. We didn’t this season actually but the previous two episodes we came out there and did our finale of our first run ““ the Wrigley Field episode that was just so fun. We spent the whole day there and running around the field and playing catch in the outfield and it was amazing.

CS: Really?

HOWARD: Then we came in there again at the end of our second chunk of episodes and we did pieces from maybe three or four different episodes ““ we shot at the Sears Tower and the Art Institute, Oak Street Beach and just sort of sprinkled in there throughout and it really helps to just authenticate things a little bit. The majority of stuff is at her [PJ’s] apartment or at the bar or at our regular weekly sets but just to have that stuff in there here and there really legitimizes that whole Chicago thing that we are tying to sell and I think people in Chicago appreciate that too. They appreciate all the references that we make to restaurants and cross streets and whatever. I think they appreciates seeing the city from time to time too.

CS: Was it the writers ““ or the guys who came up with it or women who came up with it, was it their idea or were they from Chicago or any reason why, ultimately, they wanted to focus on Chicago?

HOWARD: Yes, Betsy Thomas who created it, went to school there. She went to Northwestern and a bunch of the other writers on our staff went there as well. It’s really cool ““ our whole writing staff ““ a whole bunch of them are Betsy’s old friends from back in the day ““ part of this sort of group we are portraying ““ in fact the Brendan character in the show is directly based on one of our writers Brendan Smith who has been a friend of Betsy’s forever. I think they even shared an apartment for a short time. PJ’s character is based on Betsy’s life so all of that stuff is really cool too. Just knowing that a lot of the stuff we do is coming out of real experiences they’ve had or that they had way back in the day or whatever so we end us just sitting around and hearing a lot of those stories which is kind of cool but Betsy’s ““ the short answer is yes, she’s from Detroit but then went to college to Chicago for school and met a bunch of those guys there and that’s where that came from.

CS: And for you being on the series represents steady work. Is this the longest string, so far, of one constant job? Looking over your resume I see a lot of one episode performances”¦

[Laughs]

HOWARD: Yes, I think I just passed my record of how many episodes I’ve done on one show ““ in fact there was a kind of funny story ““ when we did this pilot I met everybody, met Jordana and I apologized to all of them in advance and just explained to them that I’ve done a lot of pilots and a lot of them have been picked up but not very many of them have run very long and I just said I think I’m kinda cursed and if this goes down I take full responsibility and they are all like “No, no, don’t worry about it…We’re going to break the streak” and so far we have. It’s not like we’ve been on the air for years and years but we’ve been doing it since we’ve done the pilot which has been two years now and I think we’ve done 30 ““ 31 episodes or something like that. So, that’s great for me given my track record. I’m definitely doing alright.

CS: Seriously, for just your mental health that must be nice.

HOWARD: Yes, totally. That’s every actors thing is a little bit of stability goes a long way and the fact is we never really have it ““ just like right now we finished work last week and the show is on now all summer but we don’t know if we’re picked up again and won’t know until September so once again we’re sitting around sort of wondering if we have a job or not. It’s just sort of one of those things you have to accept and I’ve been doing this since I was a kid and I’m pretty used to the routine of it all so I try not to get too worked up over it. If I had my choice of course I really like this particular job and really like the people and I would be happy to keep doing it for a while.

CS: Fourteen years by my adding you’ve been doing this ““ and I have to wonder as a working actor, people obviously probably would see you on screen and think that he’s making millions because I see him on television ““ what’s it like for you, knowing what I do about professional working actors who need jobs just to pay for the rent? I would imagine you have some kind of perspective based on the 14 years you’ve spent in this business.

HOWARD: Well, it’s weird, when I started out, I wasn’t a little kid, I was 16 years old, but I still lived at home and stuff was taken care of. My parents prepared me and I had a place to stay and I had food on the table. When I started doing it, it was just more or less a hobby for me. Know what I mean?

CS: Right.

HOWARD: And then, at a certain point without me even realizing it because I just kept doing it steadily until I was an adult at a certain point I realized it had become my career and become my livelihood and I think that’s a nice way to transition into it because I never felt a lot of pressure to survive and to work and to get a job. Every actor has a little bit of that thing like “Oh wow, it would be nice to get this job” or that job or be nice to get some work by the end of the year or whatever it is but I guess I’ve just always sort of trained myself to have a more relaxed sort of feel about it, and like I said, transitioning into it from being a kid it was just already what I did ““ that made it easier.

I kind of believe that the more stress or desperation that you put on something the sort of opposite effect it can have so I just do my best to kind of think, it’s been fine up until now and it will continue to be fine. If this keeps going, great, and if it doesn’t then I have to find the next thing.

CS: That seems so realistic in a town that is filled with desperation ““ people scrambling to find the next thing to do. A project like this ““ it’s a great show ““ it must be nice to throttle that back a little and say “You know what, it’s been a good two years…” and being ravenous about it.

HOWARD: Absolutely. It’s been a treat for me to not have to do the whole pilot season thing the last two years. That’s always just sort of a game in and of itself. It’s nice to just see my friends, reading pilots and going to pilots ““ even if we’re not working on the show at the time I just know it’s coming back and it’s nice to sit back and skip that for a couple years.

CS: And on the subject of MY BOYS ““ it centers around PJ and it’s been described as SEX IN THE CITY with dudes ““ what initially attracted you to the series?

HOWARD: The thing that initially attracted me was Betsy because I had done a show with her a few years prior to this. Another comedy she created for the WB, RUN OF THE HOUSE, and it was also sort of loosely based on her family life and I had a blast doing that and I thought then that she was a great writer and a great boss. She’s such a nice personality to have around at work everyday. She always has a real clear idea of what she wants and she’s just goes about everything in such a nice and friendly and productive sort of way and that trickles down throughout the rest of the crew that works on the show and on the cast.

So anyway, I had a great experience with her on that and then I heard that she had a new pilot but I hadn’t read it yet. My manager sent it to me. They were going to bring me in for this Bobby role and I read it and I thought it was great ““ it was funny, it was real but wasn’t totally convinced that I was the Bobby character because I read him as the sort of leading man ““ love interest type of hunky guy that you read in almost every pilot that you read and I’m just wasn’t convinced that I was that guy. I’m usually ““ I tend to like more character-y kind of guy ““ the kooky best friend or quirky love interest ““ you know what I mean? And I had this conversation with Betsy and she said “Yeah, I had the same thought but we’re not making a soap opera here ““ we’re not making one of those shows with beautiful people playing those formulatic roles ““ we’re going to do something real here and something relatable and something sweet” so I came in and ended up reading with Jordan and we had great chemistry together and met with the studio and the network and ended up getting it and at the end of the day I was thrilled. I was convinced that I was right for it and could do it. Then I was very excited about it.

CS: One of the things about the program, the way I see it is that it’s different. First of all it’s a very fresh way to approach something like this where you see a lot of ““ for better or worse ““ on primetime network shows, sitcoms that are just that – pretty people. THE HILLS, LAGUNA BEACH, if you are not a 10 they are not interested. It’s interesting to hear that the writing here was all about creating something that was not necessarily about models and more about characters themselves so what’s it been like over the two years to see where you signed on the dotted line saying “Yes, I’m going to start doing this” and then to see how your character has progressed over the two years?

HOWARD: I really can’t complain about any of that. Like I said, in the past my sort of normal thing is a little more character-y…a little more goofy than Bobby is on this show and every once in a while I feel like I’m sort of the straight guy of the group because a bunch of the other guys on the show are very broad and very big and hilarious and I crack up at work all day watching them and I crack up seeing them on the show and occasionally I’m like, “Give me more jokes ““ I want the jokes.” But really, I can’t complain. I’ve had a lot of fun with the character. I’ve had so much fun getting to know everybody else. It kind of like the luck of the draw situations when you go to cast a show. None of us ever met one another except I met Jordana when we read together at one of our auditions but other than that I hadn’t met anyone until our first table read. So, who’s to say that these people you are throwing in a room together are going to click and have chemistry on screen ““ which we all do ““ and on top of that, who’s to say that we’re going to click as people and become friends and generally like to be around each other ““ which we do. So with all of that, I feel super lucky.

CS: In your years of doing pilots and being on television and being part of a series, do you ever find that the network tries to get too involved with the way ““ like you said, everyone has this natural chemistry with one another ““ has there ever been a time when there were too many fingers in the pot trying to force things just simply for ratings or what might look good on television?

HOWARD: Sure. I think that’s a danger on almost every television show out there. There are so many people involved ““ so many writers, so many producers, and so many people at the network who essentially have the final say on everything. That was one of the things that I had talked to Betsy about before we did the pilot because I have never done the cable thing before and I expressed a sort of concern to her “What’s with TBS? They’ve never done original programming before. What do I expect from that? What am I getting into?” ““ that whole thing. And she said “Kyle, look, I have the same questions” because she hadn’t done a cable show before either and she said, “All I can tell you is up to this point it’s been such a treat dealing with them as a network for that very reason.” From the beginning I think I felt so much less pressure from them and so much less of them trying to sort of distort this show she had brought them and she felt they were really giving her a chance to make the show that she wrote. That said, there is always notes from the network and there is always going to be and there’s always several people with several different opinions and that’s just sort of the politics with any show.

But I do think we are lucky at TBS to have a way-scaled down version of that ““ if you would compare it to situations at some of the bigger networks.

CS: Looking at it now, you’ve said the difference between basic cable and network and looking at your resume over the 14 years, is it really a big difference when you walk into work in the morning? Does it feel any different than network vs. cable? TBS vs. NBC or ABC, or anything like that?

HOWARD: To me it really doesn’t. As actors we don’t really deal with the network very much. There are always a couple people from the network at our table reads and we see them at parties and press things but for the most part, it’s really the writers that deal with that and have that sort of constant influence so, no, it’s not something I’m normally aware of that presence there as an actor just because we are not directly influenced by them as the producers and writers.

CS: If I had just one more question to ask it would be, I’m awfully impressed looking over and seeing how much work you have done in the past ““ it’s more than a lot of people could say for themselves when you see many other actors trying to make a go for it as a living. Where do you see where you’ve been the last 14 and where do you hope things go in the next few for your career?

HOWARD: I feel super lucky to have stayed this busy as I’ve had and, yes, my first goal would be to continue that. I just like to work and obviously on things that I’m proud of and that I like the people on and whatever and I’ve also been very lucky with that and have had very few bad experiences. I just like to be busy and I like to act so my main goal is to just to continue with that. For the last couple years I’ve started writing some and I’ve started directing a little bit and both of those things are things that I sort of want to explore more and pursue more in the future but I don’t have a real pressure on either of those things. As boring as it sounds, I just want to stay steady and keep going as it’s been.

CS: One more side note: I know what the answer will be but I’m going to ask it anyway ““ I saw that you are not a huge sports fan but being from Chicago and seeing how this interview is taking place in Chicago right now, is it true that you are a Cubs fan because everyone knows, White Sox fans are dirty and smelly and not very well educated.

[Laughs]

HOWARD: I’m totally a Cubs fan. I grew up in a family full of Cubs fans. My mom is from Chicago. My dad went to school in Chicago. Ever since I was a little kid, me and my sister were both diehard Cubs fans. I think she still has the card to the club and everything. We still go back there occasionally, me my mom and my sister went back last fall and went to a game and I’m not your typical sports guy and watch football and that type of stuff but I do love the Cubs ““ that’s been really fun for me and my family to have that tie in with the show ““ they love all the references. It also would be really cool if the Cubs did something amazing this year and we got to write that into the show as well. I think that would be really exciting.

By Christopher Stipp

Archives? Right Here…

I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

I love KUFFS.

No, it’s not an ironic statement done out of some hipster love of Leon Rippy, although that’s a good enough reason, nor does it have anything to do with Christian Slater but taken as a whole KUFFS was a movie that was pretty good, pretty funny and had enough self-awareness that it was a film I still enjoy whenever it’s on.

And that brings us to Ross Partridge.

Seeing that he had a part in KUFFS was a good enough reason to give a shout-out to the guy (I would just as soon knight anyone involved in that production as worthy of my praise) and the fact he mentioned he hadn’t heard anyone bring that movie up in an interview as we talked about what we were really there to chat about, BAGHEAD, filled me with a little glee.

It’s not so much that Ross has obviously achieved the kind of success most actors never will, he’s been in the business for over 15 years, and is in one of the most talked about movies of the summer that doesn’t have anything to do with a gravely spoken hero of the night. BAGHEAD, Jay and Mark Duplass’ feature follow-up to the wonderfully produced THE PUFFY CHAIR, deals in a realm of comedy and horror that seamlessly blends the two in a wicked mix of thrills and laughs. After seeing this film you can’t help but wonder where Ross has been hiding amongst the soft bellied actors who wouldn’t have the wherewithal to deliver as convincing of a performance as Ross does. He understood what the part needed in order to make you think, first of all, this could happen and, secondly, how to bob and weave in between moments that have you laughing at one moment and abject horror the next. There’s a certain subtleness that Ross delivers in a movie where there are only four main people on the screen.

He took some time to talk about the film…and then about KUFFS.

BAGHEAD is now playing in limited release

ROSS PARTRIDGE: So, are you ready to do this?

CHRISTOPER STIPP: Absolutely, are you ready?

PARTRIDGE: Yeah. I’m actually in a pair of shorts walking in the ocean now so I couldn’t be more ready.

[Laughs]

It sounds more glamorous than it is. I’m actually dealing with something in my apartment because my toilet just broke. It’s not that glamorous, I assure you.

[Laughs]

CS: First question out of the gate, how pleased are you with the reception that BAGHEAD has received in the press?

PARTRIDGE: Man, I’m completely thrilled. It’s funny because you never really know who is going to enjoy it. We were up in Nantucket Film Festival a couple weeks ago and I swear the median age of the audience was probably 65 and I kept thinking to myself “I don’t know what about the description of this movie would make you want to come out and see this” but I have a feeling it has something to do with where people are at and they just want to have a good time and all the people just seem to love it ““ even at that age. It’s been pretty remarkable how people have taken to it.

CS: One of the nice things about the film was that the trailer does it so well that what I do on my side, in addition to doing interviews and pieces what have you, I also review movie trailers…

PARTRIDGE: Are you kidding me?

CS: I have not seen the movie. I’m in a podunk, backwater called Arizona and I haven’t seen it. It’s on it’s way, probably, by burro.

[Laughs]

CS: Seriously, we get things weeks after ““ first, it’s New York, LA and then at the bottom of that list, I think, is Arizona.

PARTRIDGE: Doing interviews with people sometimes people haven’t seen it – I did a Q&A with Leonard Maltin up in Nantucket ““ he hadn’t seen the movie either and it was just kind of funny to do a Q&A with him.

CS: And you’re like, “Has anybody seen the film??”

[Laughs]

PARTRIDGE: Exactly.

CS: But the trailer sets it up so well that I jumped at this opportunity because not only have I been reading the press on it but the film itself seems like it does a lot with very little and that’s exactly what I want to have you talk about. When you read the script for this ““ you essentially have only four players in this production ““ how did you take it when you read the script ““ what were your thoughts about it?

PARTRIDGE: When I first read the script I was probably 20 pages in and I was like, “Are you kidding? There’s no way they are going to sucker me into this.” Meaning, how can we pull the wool over the audience’s eyes at something so obvious as some guy running around with a bag over his eyes and make it work. And then by page 40 I was like, “Fuck, they got me. I’m completely in.” It’s so obvious that it becomes not obvious and it becomes something that you think would become something else. That was my initial reaction but then it got me.

CS: What about the film? How does it marry together a horror film and something that seems like the human drama of four people ““ it’s about relationships from what I can glean ““ the relationship of these four people together ““ how does it mix the two so well? Usually with horror you have some really one dimensional stupid teenage pot smoking kids and…

PARTRIDGE: I think just as far as the construct of the movie itself goes I give most of the credit to Mark and Jay and it’s their type of film making. Their other film, THE PUFFY CHAIR, was a road movie but it was a relationship movie and it’s basically they set up a structure, a combination of things but really it’s a character driven drama with a mix of subtleties, with real conflict and the contradiction of characters no matter what the situation is.

That’s what becomes really interesting.

It is a hard thing to accomplish doing a horror movie that is really a comedy mostly all the way through and becomes almost a humanistic kind of drama at the end. It keeps people guessing ““ you are laughing all the way through and then all of a sudden it takes this turn and your start to scream because you’re scared and then you are laughing because you are screaming and you don’t really know what to do with yourself. It’s very interactive.

CS: How did you take a look at that when you read the script? You are thinking to yourself that there is no way people are going to buy into this and then you see”¦

PARTRIDGE: It wasn’t that I didn’t think people would buy into it ““ I thought that if they did it is going to be really a remarkable thing. It’s just a hard thing to conquer. And, as I read it I too was skeptical but then found myself completely immersed and completely had by it and thought if I’m reading it and it’s working then we can make it happen.

CS: What was important for you when you read the script and you had your own interpretation of what this character would be like? The brothers themselves, did they offer any sort of insight how they wanted you to play it?

PARTRIDGE: Absolutely. I came in, as all actors do, you prepare certain things and you kind of build a character. And, my character is an actor and there are certain strong elements of myself that I bring to the film for my character ““ I bring in more character type of idea and Jay and Mark were very quick to strip that down and make them as real and honest as possible. So I think it was Mark and Jay’s keen understanding of ““ trying to create characters ““ them as writers they create and directors with an audience in mind, characters that they feel that they know or feel they would like at the end of the day. Most all their characters are people that you really like. For an audience, it makes it more palatable to go along on a ride like this.

CS: The odd thing is that I’ve seen THE PUFFY CHAIR which is a brilliant little film and to see them take one strong leap into another direction and mix drama, comedy and horror together ““ were the brothers at all wondering how they were going to make this a scary funny film when they got down to actually making it?

PARTRIDGE: There are always those moments where I think Jay and Mark are incredible ambitious and incredibly talented. When you watch PUFFY CHAIR ““ this is those guys and this is what they do. They put you in a situation and it’s the complexity that gives it almost a documentary feel.

CS: And a bit about the earlier notion, the idea of improvisation, especially on a movie where the name of the game is horror…do you think as the brothers were doing it was there anything that they said to the effect of “You don’t look scared enough!” or “You’re acting like you’re not really scared…” ““ Was it sort of”¦.

PARTRIDGE: Certainly. They are extremely generous filmmakers. They actually dive into the instincts of the actors as much as the actors themselves. They are just very generous and are keen on people’s instincts so. The line in the sand is what becomes too intense and falls short of keeping the humor alive and I think for the most part we were always opting to keep the audience in the palms of our hands with as much humor as possible and try even in the most precarious situations, albeit a man stalking you in the woods there is conflict of character and the characters’ intentions that end up being funny because there is such a situation that no one has ever experienced so everyone is experiencing it for the first time.

CS: And then having to marry that with the actual human drama and your character and everyone you are trying to relate to, was it odd for you to try and balance three different ““ the scary, the funny and the dramatic?

PARTRIDGE: No. There’s nothing I could say that was difficult about making this movie. The balancing of our intention ““ like I said we work in a way there were times when I was doing a scene and it was going in the wrong direction ““ my character breaks down in the beginning and I’ve done this shit, and I’m not doing anything with my life and I’m fooling myself to think that I’ll ever make it or be anything in the movie and it became very mellow dramatic and just wasn’t working. And, I came back and Mark and Jay they tend to take little walks on the set ““ that’s the luxury of producing the movie yourself to take the time in between to figure out what’s working and what’s not working and they came back to me and said, “OK, the same scene but you are not thinking about your own life, you are thinking about buying a hybrid car.”

[Laughs]

So they are always creating new ways to get the same results but playing with our intentions. Not rehearsed. We never rehearsed anything.

CS: Was there any sort of fear that the ““ and I won’t draw the comparison – but I’ll just sort of illustrate it as I try to ask the question is that you know M. Night Shyamalan’s big reveal at the end that the guy was dead all along. Did you ever, or the filmmakers, think along the way that “Maybe we are trying to become too gimmicky” or that “This is looking like one of these things where the last part is that ‘He woke up'”. Do you know what I mean?

PARTRIDGE: Oh absolutely. Look, all along we were concerned with the reveal at the end if people were going to feel ““ the big concern was that we know that people know we have this big reveal at the end but just as long as we are responsible about making the journey up to that point making it worthwhile for the audience, then we feel that we will be OK. I think that was always in the back of our minds. We are kind of playing with the audience, having fun with the audience but as long as they are having a good time too I think they’ll forgive us. And that’s working out very well, doing it that way. Since you haven’t seen it yet, I won’t spoil the ending.

CS: I appreciate that.

PARTRIDGE: People are like, “What the f”¦” and then it’s not about the ending really, it’s about the characters and how they relate to one another ““ that’s the most important thing. The presence of the Baghead is the backdrop of the relationships and dynamics of the characters and how that’s been resolved ““ the audience was rooting for that even more interested in that under the umbrella of this guy chasing around the woods with a bag over his head.

[Laughs]

CS: How is it for you anyway on a project like this? I think if the budget were more I don’t think a movie like this could be made because it seems that this is a film that rewards attentive viewing. If someone took this script and gave it to a Sony or Warner Bros. they might be a little gun shy because they are trying to mix genres and they like products that are easy to sell and easy to market ““ this bridges a lot different genres as it were.

PARTRIDGE: Yes, I understand. It’s kind of one of those things where everyone wants it cut and dried and fitting into a certain mold and then someone comes along and does something that doesn’t fit into that mold and no one pays any attention to it and then that becomes the mold. This is certainly not an easy movie to market. I understand people’s concerns and reservations in this business about how to market this movie, but in the end I think it’s a movie that is so unique, it’s worth taking the adventure of figuring out how to market it because that in itself becomes part of the uniqueness of the profits of what this movie could be. You come back to the old adage that sometimes studios don’t give the audience enough credit.

CS: What are your thoughts as a working actor as a viable way for you to make a living? In trying to do a little research before I talked to you I was surprised when it looks like you started off in a movie which is one of my favorites of all time: KUFFS.

PARTRIDGE: Get out of here!

CS: I love that movie and I’m damn well embarrassed almost to admit it.

PARTRIDGE: Oh my god. That’s hysterical. I never thought anyone would ever talk to me about KUFFS ever.

CS: I love it. It is ““ and I won’t even call it a guilty pleasure ““ I just enjoy ““ like you said you sell the audience short ““ for what it was you’ve got Leon Rippy, you’ve got Christian Slater…

PARTRIDGE: You got Bruce Boxleitner.

CS: Yes…

PARTRIDGE: You got Ashley Judd ““ it was her first job too by the way.

CS: Oh really? I didn’t know that.

PARTRIDGE: Yeah, she played a pregnant woman somewhere. I remember them auditioning her and her walking into the room at the time I was probably 25 and thought, “This girl is spectacular.”

CS: Really.

PARTRIDGE: And then she went on and became huge.

CS: Exactly. And I enjoy that film immensely. And it looks like you did some stuff until ’93 and then there’s a 3 year gap. Little things here and there ““ what have you been doing to fill the time?

PARTRIDGE: It’s been hit and miss for me. It hasn’t been an easy ““ I’m still struggling right now. But I took some time off from acting and did a little traveling. I wrote a screenplay that I was working on for a couple years. I ended up writing and directing a feature film back in 2000 for the Toronto Film Festival called INTERSTATE 94 staring Kevin Dillon and then I started a film website with a friend of mine with Kevin Spacey’s production company. Then I was working with those guys and produced a couple documentaries and I was working the producer end of the business so I kind of jumped in and out of the business and that’s kind of how I met Mark and Jay. I was at the Nantucket Film Festival producing a screen play for one of the screen plays that was on our website and met them when they were doing THE PUFFY CHAIR and then got completely blown away by what they were doing and how resourceful they are and we became friends and one thing led to another and we started to collaborate on ideas and they had this script and they said, “You know what, we want you to do this.” So, we ended up doing it. I’ve been kind of in and out and in all different aspects ““ just chugging away at it.

It’s a tough business, man.

CS: Absolutely. It’s a testament to honest to God dedication in sticking with it.

PARTRIDGE: I think when you start out in this business you have an idea of how you would like your career to go and you try to find yourself doing”“ I do a lot of theater – I have a theater company here in New York and we produced a couple shows in the last couple years so I always try to get back and do more theater but obviously that doesn’t pay anything so you try to do a movie and put money on the boards. But it’s definitely a long road and you can’t quit when you have something you want to say and roles that you haven’t really been able to accomplish. At this point, BAGHEAD has been the reward of many years ““ Mark and Jay are two of the most talented people I’ve ever met in this business. I just got back ““ I co-produced a project called The DO-DECA-PENTATHLON which they are editing right now and hope to get to Sundance next year.

CS: And good luck with that. I like talking to people who actually have to make a living doing this and not just reaping the reward of a fanciful career. You are absolutely an inspiration.

PARTRIDGE: Thank you, man. And if you met Jay and Mark ““ these guys are the realist guys you’ll ever come across. Their talented and so unaffected and just love what they do. They love movies and at the end of the day to be around guys who love it and hope to do it they way we want to do it ““ they love making movies their way.