Interview — Will Brandt
Like A Chameleon
Will Brandt hates to be put in a box. So we will do the LA-based actor a favor when we try to not describe him.
19. Januar 2014 — MYP N° 13 »My Desire« — Interview: Jonas Meyer, Photography: Max Motel
His smile’s sincerity is no match for his weathered motorcycle jacket. In a small LA coffee shop filled with artists and pre-holiday buzz, Mr. Brandt’s blend of youthful exuberance and gruff easily fits in, and yet, he unassumingly pops. A refreshing kindness resonants as he greets me by name and offers me a coffee. I quickly observe Will, a ringer for Brad Pitt’s younger brother, is neither cookie-cutter nor baddie but something else entirely. Fresh from doing doughnuts in a vintage mustang at the LA riverbank, he talks with a grounded excitement.
It’s not his first trip to the rodeo, but he describes the scene with such detail you’d think it is. He’s non-threatening in the best way. He talks about his love of dirt bikes and downtown LA, and a passion for playing diverse characters, including his most recent “Jeff” in the film Shock Value, which is touring the film festival circuit this year. I’m taken aback as I notice him actually listening as he returns my questions with questions for me, and our interview quickly becomes a conversation. There’s vulnerability and fight in Will, perhaps the result of being raised by a military father and an artistic mother, or the influence of his acting coach – whose name sounds like a female organ.
Either way, he is unafraid of his femininity, and that makes his masculinity all the more accessible and his acting portfolio all the more diverse. In an industry where actors are mostly cast to play themselves, Will is still finding out who that is – and enjoying every minute of it.
Erin:
I read that you were an army brat.
Will:
Yah, my dad was an attack helicopter pilot.
Erin:
Whoa.
Will:
Yah, for the first Gulf War. I was born in Yuma. They filmed some of Star Wars there. It looks like the moon. And I, I just moved around a ton. Every couple of years we would move somewhere else, so I had to learn how to make friends really fast.
Erin:
I would imagine that certainly prepared you to take on different types of roles, yes?
Will:
I think it gives you a good insight into humanity and that we’re all the same. We all put our pants on the same way. It gave me a lot to draw from cuz like, I just was never the cool kid in school. I think I always had that like “going against the grain” or the off beat friends… that was kind of my comfort zone, I think. It was always difficult. Unless I was going to military school, where all the kids are displaced. That’s a whole ‘nother world. They’re all feeling it. You get the sense that they’re all like in a bit of upheaval and not so happy.
Erin:
Oh God. That sounds like a terrible holiday family gathering.
Will (laughing):
Yah there was a lot of fighting going on. Throw downs in the bathroom. We all don’t want to be here. We’re angry.
Erin:
Did you find yourself adapting to your location a lot? Changing who you were to fit in?
Will:
I was always myself. When I would get to a new school, I would kind of relish in the fact that, for at least a little while, they didn’t know who I was. So I could kind of be a chameleon, until they figured out I was like sort of weird and a bit of a goof ball. I knew I wouldn’t fit in at that point, and that things would be a bit tough until I made really good friends. It was difficult but I would look forward to that newness, and I think that’s why I constantly crave more interesting stuff as an actor. I still get that feeling, I guess, of moving with different characters.
Erin:
Having a military father sometimes equates a lack of encouragement to pursue an acting career. Was your dad supportive?
Will (laughing):
No. Um… no, not at all. I guess he… yah… I’m really close to my mom, but without going into some strange, ridiculous sob story, yah, no he’s not supportive at all. I guess I don’t blame him, you know what I mean? I don’t know really how to answer that question.
Erin:
I think you did.
Will laughs.
Erin:
I get it. I think a lot of artists struggle with not having the support of their family at times.
Will:
Yah, It felt like I was always fighting. It took me until kind of recently where I felt I didn’t. My mom and I were very close when I was a kid. It was my mom who really nurtured my creativity as a kid.
Erin:
How so?
Will:
She was a singer when she was younger, and I think if she wouldn’t of had children, she might have been a professional. I remember watching her sing when I was little, in front of crowds and stuff and she… it seemed like an angel. She was so beautiful, you know? It felt like me and her against the world at times. My dad wasn’t really around very much for the first six years of my life. She was singing a lot and put me in art camps, and I would do little plays when I was a kid… a lot of that kind of stuff, and I used to paint with my grandma. I think early on that acting bug was there, and then I started playing sports and things like that as I got a bit older.
Erin:
How did you transition into being a professional actor? Is that something you went to school to study?
Will:
I worked with a wonderful lady for a number of years who trained Jeremy Renner. Her name’s Julie Ariola.
Erin (pausing):
Lovely.
Will (laughing):
It’s the Italian spelling! I did some stuff in school off and on whenever it would be available, like school plays and musicals, but nothing really serious. And to be honest, I was miserable in Tucson. I was going to the University of Arizona and I started taking some acting classes there that were terrible, like completely terrible, and I was miserable. So, my girlfriend and I packed up a car and moved out here. It was really rough at first. But once I got involved with Julie – and I still work with her – things moved here for me. I think she helped me get in more touch with myself.
Erin:
Is that something you were seeking out?
Will:
I wanted to know myself and not know myself. It was this really strange light and dark, and when I got close to things that scared me, I would run away from them. It wasn’t until she really got ahold of me that I realized I didn’t have to do that.
Erin:
What was your first gig out here?
Will:
A commercial for Hyundai. It paid my rent and I was pretty stoked about that.
Erin:
How did you come to be involved with Shock Value?
Will:
I had auditioned for the casting director a month or two before, and I didn’t get that project but she called me back in for this. I had to audition for this for like a month – they just kept calling me back in again, and again, and again, and again. I’ve been through that process with television shows before, and it didn’t work out, but it was different with this. I knew if I didn’t get it I was gonna be a mess. I would think about it when I wasn’t there. I would take the character out in public and it was just so much fun.
Erin:
Out in public?
Will:
I’ve done that before with some theater roles. It’s fun.
Erin:
Well what is your character Jeff like? Does he pick up the tab?
Will (laughing):
He wants to be seen and loved, I guess as most humans do, but he has like an insatiable need for it. He has like zero idea how to accomplish that. And he’s incredibly angry.
Erin:
Is there a part of you that could relate to his desire for that, or the anger from not having it?
Will:
I felt like there were a lot of things in my life and Jeff’s life that were parallel. And, um, it just kind of came out. I was able to learn a lot from Jeff about myself too. And some of it wasn’t so comfortable. I think towards the end of playing Jeff, I was exhausted. Jeff’s talented, good-looking, he has everything and still… there’s just a lot of destitution and there doesn’t need to be.
Erin:
He sounds like a Gen-Xer.
Will:
Yes! He’s a typical Gen-X!! Lonely. Angry as shit.
There was a real aliveness – a serious electric energy that was there from all of us.
Erin:
What was it like working with a mix of veterans and “newbies” on this film?
Will:
It was interesting working with Doug and Greg. They had a really strong vision going into it, which I think is super important. Doug, to me, from the get-go, is a really character-driven director, and I like that kind of stuff. It’s a fun way to work. There were a lot of us who this was our first big project to work on, so there was a real aliveness – a serious electric energy that was there from all of us – the crew, the makeup. It felt like a team. Everyone wanted to be there every day, hustling their ass off.
Erin:
That’s gotta be a great feeling.
Will:
Yah. We had a great script and we wanted to make something awesome.
Erin:
So the topic of this issue is ‘My Desire’. You’ve expressed Jeff’s desire for love and to be seen. What’s yours?
Will:
To be fearless. I think I always strive for it, but I really suck at it sometimes.
Erin:
I think fearlessness is often misunderstood for being perfect.
Will:
Absolutely.
Erin:
It’s usually messy and uncomfortable.
Will (laughing):
Definitely. That’s my experience.
Erin:
How long have you been in LA?
Will:
Four years.
Erin:
Do you like it?
Will:
I hated it at first… I loved it and I hated it, but I knew I couldn’t leave. I had so many random jobs when I moved out here, and that was a blessing, but it was really tough. I love it now. I traveled a lot last month. I was in Tokyo and Berlin for work, and I really enjoy Europe a lot… and I love London – the openess that is there… but I missed life here. So I guess this is home now. There’s a certain energy that runs here that’s like a drug and it gets you
Erin:
Coming back to your desire, what’s the next goal for you in your career? My guess is you’re more interested in the character you’ll play rather than say, booking a series regular on a TV show.
Will:
Yah it’s more about the character. I like comedy. Something that scares me a bit, and that’s challenging and uncomfortable makes me go those places. I enjoy that stuff. However that presents itself.
Erin:
Playing a diverse array of characters is something we really don’t see anymore, especially from younger actors. Have you had problems with “branding yourself”?
Will:
Yah everyone here is trying to shove me into a box and tell you you’re gonna be like this. And I’m sorry, that’s not interesting. I have a ton of trouble with it. I still do. I’m not going to be so obstinate, cuz we all wanna have a job, but yah. I’m not comfortable with that. I didn’t grow up with a square frame of mind or be the same person all the time because I couldn’t.
I think what I’ve had to learn, and am still learning, is to be myself with people.
Erin:
Have you found a solution to getting Hollywood to seeing you as a chameleon?
Will:
I think what I’ve had to learn, and am still learning, is to be myself with people. That might sound so lame. Be authentic with the industry and whatever that means in that moment. Like if I feel like goofing off – just do it.
Erin:
Balance and self-exploration, that seems to be a big part of your process.
Will:
Yes. I have to or else I get crazy. You find a lot of ways to… I don’t want to use “check out”… that sounds terrible. I check in with myself a lot. And I write… I don’t know… I like to ride motorcylces. I have good friends that’ll tell me if I’m being a moron. That’s important. I think knowing that a lot of people would give their right arm to maybe be where you are… I don’t know, it helps me to take a step back.
Erin:
Any last question you’re dying to answer? Favorite color?
Will:
I eat a lot of chocolate.
I walk away with a feeling that I just spent the day with a friend, rather than the subject of an article I’m writing. He thanks me numerous times and heads off with just as much muster as when we started. I can’t tell if I’m more inspired by his blend of old school craftsmanship with new age awareness, or the fact that he refuses to be anything else. Perhaps that’s the key for those artistic chameleons still out there: keep adapting. Risk going where it’s dark until it’s light again.
