More ‘Touched with Fire’

Find a review at movies.azcentral.com. it is a real thing, and it’s serious, and it’s important, and people go through so much with this. Yeah, I felt a lot of pressure and responsibility.

I have.

I don’t know. I thought Paul did a really wonderful job. I try not to really look and nitpick my own performance because there’s nothing I can do at that point. So I just try to appreciate the composition of the shot and how the director put the story together. I thought Luke had a wonderful performance, and Christine (Lahti) and Griffin (Dunne). I’m very proud to be in the movie, and I’m really happy with it.

I mean I’ll watch it once, and I probably won’t watch it again (laughs).

Umm ... no. It wasn’t. It was taking what I have been doing, and maybe more research, but there’s still a lot of prep for every kind of movie, every kind of character. This had more physicality, I would say, but there’s a lot that goes into everything.

Q: It’s a different role for you. For anyone, really.

A:

Yeah, absolutely. It is. It was a huge challenge.

Q: Is that what you’re looking for?

A:

I tend to look for things that interest me that I haven’t done before. I’ve never played a role like this before. I just directed my first film that I found from optioning a book. Again it was a character unlike one I had played before. As an actor you want to stay challenged and excited and interested. It is about finding different people and different walks of life.

Q: You directed the upcoming “All We Had.” How was that?

A:

I found it to be really exhilarating. I loved working with other actors. I loved the team I had around me. It was challenging, but I also acted in it, so I was able to sort of gain confidence in what I already knew, which was acting, amidst doing something I have never done. It was great. I hope to do more of it.

It really enforced the idea of letting go and giving a lot of options, because in the editing room so much can change. So it was actually very freeing to see that as an actor. There’s no perfect take. There’s no perfect choice. It’s just all choices. So let go. Don’t worry. If any- thing it just lessened the worry about being an actor. cause I understand what it’s like to want to please the director or be unsure of something. I tried very hard to make everybody feel comfortable about what they were doing and good and appreciated.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizona republic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOn Film. Twitter: twitter.com/ goodyk.