ADAM SCOTT’S BIG REVEAL
Musician Daniel Wesley finds inspiration after birth of son
Adam Scott didn’t have time to mourn the loss of his role in Parks and Recreation after the demise of the sitcom. He was too distracted by movie jobs.
At Christmas, the 43- year- old will be featured with Toni Collette in the fantasy comedy thriller Krampus. In September, he costars opposite Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch in the crime drama Black Mass.
He will be showcased in the R- rated comedy Sleeping with Other People out later in the summer and he’s already been part of the ensemble for the farce Hot Tub Time Machine 2.
Scott’s latest film project has him keeping it in the family. He headlines the sexy romp The Overnight, now in theatres, with his wife Naomi serving as producer.
It was a project they couldn’t refuse after friend and independent filmmaker Mark Duplass sent them the screenplay.
“We loved it,” says Scott, in Toronto promoting The Overnight. “We were looking for something small and contained to do, and it fit the bill for that, and it was really funny.”
In the film, Scott plays Alex, who moves from Seattle to Los Angeles with his wife Emily ( played by Taylor Schilling from Orange is the New Black) and their tiny tot.
When the new- in- town couple set up a play date with the child of Kurt ( Jason
Schwartzman) and his sexy French wife Charlotte ( Judith Godreche), the newcomers finally feel connected.
After the kids get tucked in for the night, however, things get a little odd in a partner- swapping kind of way — which leads to a lot of shenanigans and some male frontal nudity.
The part is in stark contrast to Scott’s more modest moves as Ben in Parks and Recreation, but the latest movie role wasn’t meant as a career transition.
“I always try to find something a bit different,” the actor says, “but it wasn’t a conscious effort.”
He did have to gird his loins for some of the sequences requiring more revealing moments, though.
“Those kinds of things are bound to give you pause, certainly,” Scott says. “A lot of the stuff we had to do ended up being easier to do than I thought it would be.”
It helped, too, that The Overnight was shot over 10 nights and two days, so the cast and crew didn’t have time to become anxious over some of the more risqué scenes.
“Doing it running and gunning like that makes you focus on doing it right, and it helped that everybody was game before we started,” he says.
They needed to be. The film was shot on a shoestring budget.
Parenthood might slow down some musicians, but for Daniel Wesley it’s been a source for inspiration.
Not even having the studio room in the apartment taken over by two- year- old son Finn has messed with Wesley’s good- time vibe. Hunkered down over a computer late at night with headphones on so as not to disturb his family, he worked on the songs that eventually made up his seventh and latest effort, I Am Your Man. It’s awash in summertime rhythms, ranging farther afield than the reggae- pop sounds that first got him attention in 2007 with the ganja- preaching West Coast hit Ooo Ohh.
Party times are very limited for the 34- year- old singer- songwriter these days. He and his wife are expecting a second addition to the Wesley family in a month, and they’re arranging a move to a house in South Surrey.
The grooves are still redolent of the beach, but lyrically Wesley is more often found basking in the satisfactions of being a family man. Putting Finn on the cover of I Am Your Man is proof of that.
Q You produced I Am Your Man yourself this time, after ceding control on the last three albums.
A I actually co- produced the last one ( 2013’ s Ocean Wide) with Dave Ogilvie ( Skinny Puppy), but yeah, it’s been a while. I was fortunate enough to work with some great producers after doing the first three albums by myself, and I learned a lot from that by being a sponge in the studio. Being in the studio is kind of like painting for me; you can hear what colour you might need, and then you’re layering things over top.
Q Does your band have much input in the process?
A I’m always asking their advice. It’s very collaborative in that way. With this album we didn’t have a tonne of time, because I mostly like to work very quickly, even short myself a day in the studio. I like to go hard, get in the groove where everyone is working long hours. Sometimes in the studio it’s like hanging out, which is fine, but I don’t work well that way. I guess my cycle is to go until I’m completely exhausted, usually 10 hours hammering away at something until you know it’s done.
Q You’re still writing breezy summer music, but now you’ve widened your sonic palette on I Am Your Man.
A I’m not reinventing the wheel or anything, but there’s definitely a more world beat vibe to the album. It’s still me, though, and I think more than anything people get down to the positivity in the sound. A lot of that came about because I had to write with headphones on, because it was late at night and Finn was asleep. The single ( Shake) was me picking a random beat on Garage Band and writing a song over top of it. That was a cool experiment; it worked out really well.
Q So there was no concentrated effort to shake things up musically? There was no grand vision happening here?
A Oh, I have grand visions but they never turn out. Usually things just take their natural course. I guess that if I have one grand vision it would be to do a live album. The band is super good and we have over 75 songs recorded, so now would be a nice time to do it. People always tell us that the records aren’t really reflective of the band, so maybe that’s what we should do.”
Q Now that Finn has appeared on a record cover, do you think that your newest will have to be placated with one of his or her own in the future?
A Yeah, I kind of painted myself in a corner there. Probably I’ll just round up everyone and do a family portrait for the next one, just to keep them all happy.