RSS
Home
A Conversation with Scoot McNairy
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
Scoot McNairy cut his acting teeth on community theater in North Texas, honed his skills in film acting in Austin, Texas, then chucked it all for a life in the great outdoors before an injury forced him back to acting. You’ve probably already seen him, although you may not know it, on TV or at the movies. His indie film, In Search of a Midnight Kiss, just earned the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards, so chances are you’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the coming days.
Mike Parker – You grew up in Richardson, Texas (that’s right next door to Dallas for those who are geographically-challenged); moved to Austin and got cast in your first film, Wrong Numbers, which won the Austin Film Festival; then set out for the frozen Northwest to become a glacier guide? What’s up with that?
Scoot McNairy – I was climbing the silos in Dallas as a kid. I moved to Austin to go to school, but got introduced to the Green Belt and started doing a lot of climbing. I saw an ad for climbers and started working as an arborist. I did that while I was doing the movie, “Wrong Numbers.” I was actually training to be a glacier guide when I got injured.
Parker – So, how did a good ol’ Texas boy like you end up in a place like Hollywood?
McNairy – Film school. It was a horrible experience. We had to study all this random stuff that I wasn’t interested in at all. I was only there for a year and a half. I didn’t learn anything. I learned more on that first movie I did, which was a no-budget kind of film. I figured I would learn more standing around on the set, so I got a job as an extra for around four months and just stood around watching the DP. We had a saying in Texas, ‘You can’t read a book to learn how to take an engine apart.’ It’s the same way with making movies. You’ve just got to do it.
Parker – You’re getting some pretty serious buzz for the film In Search of a Midnight Kiss, a project that you both star in and produced.
McNairy – Yeah, it came together in about two weeks. After Day One when we watched the dailies we realized it was starting to look pretty cool. We would wake up in the morning, grab the camera and just walk around to find places to shoot. It comes off very organic in the film because it was. We are floored at the response. We expected it to go someplace, but we didn’t expect it to go this far.
Parker – The film just won the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. That’s got to be a bit of a thrill.
McNairy – I didn’t see it coming, but I’ll take it. I think it is the best award you can win at the Independent Spirit Awards because it really honors independent films coming from people who don’t have a lot of money to throw at it. It’s what the independent film industry is really all about. It is a huge thing. I think we made an amazing film, and it is amazing to be recognized for it in this way.
Parker – You’ve started your own film production company. Got any new projects coming down the pike?
McNairy – We do. Independently we are getting ready to shoot a film call “The Last Time I Made Straight A’s.” And we have a film called “Frank and Cindy,” which we are teaming up with John Malkovich’s production company, Mr. Mudd, for.
Parker – Tell me about the John Malkovich connection.
McNairy - I did a film called Art School confidential a few years ago with Mr. Mudd. One of the producers of that film, Lianne Halfon, said if I ever had anything exciting they’d love to look at it. I brought them the script for “Frank and Cindy” and they fell in love it and wanted to do it with us. It is kind of a studio/independent film.
Parker - What gets you more excited, acting or producing?
McNairy – Acting, definitely. Producing is something I got into so I wouldn’t have to wait around for someone else to put me in a movie. Rather than audition for movies I wanted to be in I decided to start a company to make movies I wanted to be in.
Parker – Last words?
McNairy – I could talk all day. To all the movie fans out there, if you haven’t seen the movie, please watch it. To all the independent movie makers out there, don’t wait for the money to come in, just go shoot your movie.
The Seven Questions
1. What’s your favorite sound?
McNairy – Water.
2. What makes you happy?
McNairy – Everything. Just being able to breathe fresh air and having my health.
3. What makes you angry?
McNairy – Incompetence.
4. What is the secret of success?
McNairy – Hard work.
5. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, living or dead, who would it be?
McNairy – Napoleon. I mean, why not?
6. What is the epitaph that is written on your tombstone?
McNairy – “He put up a good fight.”
7. When you get to heaven what is the first thing you want to hear God say to you?
McNairy – “You’re forgiven.”
For more info: Midnight Kiss Official Website
More About:
Movies
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
Ben Stiller returns to the museum in Battle of the Smithsonian Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Night at the Museum: Battle of the …
Grammy, AMA and five-time Dove Award-winning Group of the Year Casting Crowns is announcing plans to continue its highly-successful “Until The …
