28 Keep Showing Up! LIVE Magazine EXCLUSIVE by Levvy Carriker A Chat with Jason Stuart Thank you Jason for your time today! I have been hearing your name a lot lately and then I went to do my research and I was like wow! Jason Stuart is one busy actor! Levvy: Let me start with the film Tangerine, one of the interesting things about this film is that it was shot entirely on Iphone5s. Tell us about that experience. Jason: Well, Sean Baker is a director, whom I had worked with a year or two before. And I had looked him up on IMDB (International Movie Data Base) and I saw that he had directed a film that I loved called Prince of Broadway. I was so excited to be able to work with him. And one day I got a call out of the blue asking if I wanted to be in this film. And they didn’t say anything about it being shot on an Iphone. I showed up and I looked around and I said, “Where is the camera?”. And we weren’t allowed to say anything to anybody. Because that was the whole secret. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone until Sundance. And it became one of the biggest hits at Sundance. Variety said if there was only one film to watch at Sundance, it’s Tangerine. Levvy: Yes, there was a lot of buzz with that film. And another show that I have seen getting a lot of buzz on tv on different entertainment shows is ‘Birth of a Nation’. How did you get that show and what did you have to do to prepare for that? Jason: I have already done it. Have you heard about it? I haven’t seen anything yet. Levvy: I heard or saw something about it on Entertainment Tonight or one of those shows, probably. Jason: Oh, really? Probably because Army Hammer was in that movie. Where do I start with that? About four or five years ago, I realized that I was not going to get any good parts in Los Angeles. So I thought I should try to reach out to other regions where they are shooting different films and there are not as many actors to compete. I had an agent in New Orleans. So I had met this director, Billy Clift at the screening of a film that I was in. And he said to me that he had been a fan of mine for a long time. He had done a film a couple of years earlier called, Baby Jane. And he offered me the part of the doctor. And I said, I think David Milborn would be much better for that part. And I would be better as the British journalist. He really wasn’t British, but I made him British. He was affected! You will see. He is sort of the Perez Hilton of that time. Levvy: You were cast in Nate Parkers new film, ‘Birth of a Nation’. It is already getting HUGE buzz. How did you get that role and what are you doing to prepare for it? Jason: It is about Black Abolitionist, Nat Turner. It is about exactly what is going on right now in this country, with Black Lives Matter. Levvy: That is why I think this film is so important right now. It is about timing. Jason: To me, just as a human being, as a man, and as a Jew, this is probably the most important film I have done. So I get a note that I [should send an audition tape] to get this role playing a White, Hetero, Christian slave owner. I said right off the bat that there is no way I am going to get this one. I put myself on tape and sent it. So after I auditioned I got a call back and they wanted to see me in Savannah....And I thought for what? I never thought that I would get this! You know, that could be the name of this interview: Just Show Up! And I see that Roger Guenveur Smith is in this movie. I had worked with him before and I asked him to put a good word in for me. He did. He calls me back and says that the director likes me. I went in and auditioned. I just thought I probably would not get this. It is just a far cry from things. I forgot about it. Then my agent called and said I got the part! I literally started to cry! I just couldn’t believe it. Levvy: I thought this could be a break-out part for you. It is just so far out of your realm and the show is so timely. And I am sure it will be done well. It is just really good news. You have to pinch yourself! Jason: I am still not feeling it yet. I am still in dis-belief. Just that fact that you are asking about it. I am saying to myself, “Am I making this up? Did it really happen?” It was one of the best experiences I ever had. I have had some really great parts. Most of them never got released, or they were very remote. In this film I have the supporting lead. I had seven scenes. I play a plantation owner in 1831. I don’t want to be a spoiler and tell you the movie, but my role plays an important in why they fight back. Ruth Hardy Park Registration begins at 7:30 am Health & Wellness Village opens at 8 am Walk steps off at 9:30 am Register at desertAIDSwalk.org or call 760.992.0442 Presented by Sponsors Special Performance by David Hernandez American singer, songwriter and actor best known as a finalist on the seventh season of American Idol in 2008. Levvy: On a final note but a very important one is that you are National Co-Chairman for the SAG/AFTRA LGBT Committee. Tell us about this committee. Jason: I did it with Duncan Crabtree Ireland. And I created it because I wanted to support other openly Gay actors, singers and comedians on being Out. So that being Out is more commonplace. So we would have the same.... Levvy: Opportunities! Jason: Wow, so you have read everything about me! Levvy: Well, I have lived that part of your life! Jeson: Are you also Gay I am guessing? Levvy: I am. And I have been pushed out and fired from things for that same reason. Jason: Right! You are not really... a part. And people think it is okay! Levvy: Our publication is Gay and Straight. It is hard to tell what it is. But we don’t have any bad news. There are no hard pictures or anything erotic hardly ever. It is more of an upscale actors and charity piece, mixed with a local social almanac...But I still can’t put them in some banks and places like that here in town. It is just shunned. Everybody else is in here!! Jason: That is just how it is. Recently there was a part with Straight guys who dress up in drag and they said, “Oh, there is no way that Jason could play a Straight guy!”. That is just the way it is. Don’t miss Jason Stuart in Palm Springs, Saturday, <strong>October</strong> 10, <strong>2015</strong> at Purple Room Tickets: www.jasonstuart.bpt.me or call -800-838-3006
29 <strong>2015</strong> PALM SPRINGS WOMEN’S JAZZ FESTIVAL Diane Schuur <strong>October</strong> 9 Nona Hendryx <strong>October</strong> 10 Annenberg Theater Palm Springs Women's Jazz Festival <strong>October</strong> 9-11, <strong>2015</strong> media sponsor LIVE Magazine pswomensjazzfestival.com