Zach Gilford as Johnny Drake in DARE
On NBC’s Friday Night Lights, Zach Gilford brings a quiet strength and sensitivity to the role of quarterback Matt Saracen, who has to deal with taking care of an aging grandmother while he also dates the younger daughter of his football coach. When Gilford looked for a project outside of the series that would challenge him, the 27-year old actor found the screenplay for Dare, an independent film that opens this Friday in theaters. The film, directed by Adam Salky and written/co-produced by David Brind, is based on a short film that Brind developed while at New York University and takes the coming-of-age drama to new heights.
As Johnny Drake, Gilford plays a high school character dealing with intense family issues as well as complicated relationships that blur the line between gay and straight while also hitting on emotional connectedness and loneliness. To find out more about how it felt to play a role with blurred lines, I sat down with Gilford in Los Angeles last week to talk about the challenges in filming a three-way scene with his male and female co-stars as well as what still gets him excited on the hit television drama.
Jim Halterman: When did the acting bug first bite?
Zach Gilford: When I was little me and buddy used to reenact action movies in the backyard and jump off the roof and climb trees so it was like ‘It would be fun to be able to do this so I guess to do this I have to be an actor’ so it wasn’t so much that I love acting but more the desire to be an action hero. [laughs]
Ashely Springer and Zach Gilford in DARE
JH: So, if you can do a super hero movie, what would it be?
ZG: Well, it’s not so much super hero but more like the Jason Bourne movies where it’s like an action movie but not too over the top and more realistic.
JH: Maybe Jason Bourne has a younger brother…?
ZG: Exactly!
JH: Tell me what attracted you to the role of Johnny Drake in Dare.
ZG: I liked the project as a whole to begin with. I’d read the script and really liked it and the kind of movies and stories that I’ve always enjoyed most are the ones that are real to life. Then I saw the short film and clearly Adam [Salky] was a talented director and then on top of that Johnny is this great character. He starts off as one thing and then he slowly develops into something that you didn’t think he was. There were a lot of challenges in the script that were hard and I knew they would be. I made an audition tape, had to go to New York and audition there and meet Adam and that’s how I got the role. I’m really excited about it.
JH: Things in the movie are definitely not as clear as you might expect. Did you see that on the page when you read the script for the first time?
JH: Oh yeah, totally! That’s one of the things that I really liked about the script and I think David [Brind] did a great job. I think that’s what the movie is about… we put people in these boxes and we label them as something and it’s never correct or 100% true and I think it happens a lot, especially in high school. Some people dare to step outside of that or try new things and some don’t. Sometimes they wait until college or after college. I know people who are just playing the roles they are supposed to play for their whole lives.
JH: There is a lot in the film about emotional connections in response to loneliness. How did you prep for that as an actor so it comes off as real as opposed to over thinking intentions?
ZG: It’s funny, I really pace things out. I also read the script once or twice, talked to Adam for an hour about the script before we started shooting and then I’d show up and see what happens. I feel like I have an idea of what the character is and what’s going on and then a lot of it is going to depend on what the other people are doing in the scene. I feel if you over think it then it will become disingenuous and you won’t be in the moment. Again, when you have good scripts, the lines and the arc make sense so you can really get into it and come up with some genuine stuff.
JH: The big scene in Dare – and I don’t want to cheapen it by calling it the ‘three-way scene’ – but how did you prepare for that with Emmy Rossum (who plays Alexa) and Ashley Springer (who plays Ben)?
ZG: We filmed that over the last few nights of shooting so thankfully we’d gotten to know each other really well and gotten very tight and, at first, we went in there and Adam talked us though the general blocking like ‘This person gets here…’ and the positions and said to just go with it and figure it out. At times it was kind of intense and I think we got some good stuff out of it.
JH: Were you worried before you shot that scene knowing that the physical action in bed with both Emmy and Ashley had to appear a certain way in order to maintain the realism?
ZG: No, I had confidence in the other actors and the filmmakers that it would turn out pretty good and having talked to Ashley and Emmy we just knew that we were all on the same page and we understood why that scene was there and we knew how it had to be done to work. It’s like doing Equus. You can’t have the guy not strip down naked because it’s all about him being naked and vulnerable and giving himself up to this God so it cheapens the play if he just strips down to his boxers. If you pussyfoot around it then what’s the point?
JH: Was that an exciting role for you to play?
ZG: Yeah, that was in college and I can’t imagine that play being done half-heartedly.
Zach Gilford as Matt Saracen in FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
JH: Even when Daniel Radcliffe did it in New York earlier this year, it’s clear that that moment in the play is not about sex.
ZG: The first time I saw it was in the Stratford Festival in Canada when I was 15 and I didn’t know anything about the play going in and I think I was a little young for it but at the time I was blown away. I was never like “Oh! The dude is naked!” It was intense.
JH: You also did The Laramie Project in college. What was your role in that production?
ZG: A lot! We had six or seven cast members and we all played eight different roles, which is the way I think it was originally done. I played one of the killers, I played the bartender but it was fun because you got to get up there and do seven different characters. People ask me about doing the show and wanting to do something else and sure I’d like to do something else but in that one play I got to do seven different things.
JH: In interviewing your Friday Night Lights co-stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, one consistent thing I’ve heard is that you’re all a little spoiled because it’s such a great environment to work in. Do you agree?
ZG: It’s the best job in the world. I’ve been so lucky that the things I’ve done since it have been very good and gone very well. You know, [on Friday Night Lights] we’re very free to adjust the line or not say them and make up our own stuff and do our own thing, which can form bad habits but I’ve been fortunate enough to work with people who like that style and they respect that I’ve gotten the hang of that so they let me infuse a little of that in. I don’t just go “Okay, I’m going to make stuff up.” On [Dare], I’d go to David beforehand and say ‘I think I might say something more like this.’ Sometimes the words on the page can sound great but once you stand up sometimes they might not work the same. Most of the time he’d say ‘Whatever you want. Go for it.’ But other times he might say ‘I want you to say it this way because…’ and then it would make sense.
JH: Are you still finding layers in Matt even after playing him for four seasons?
ZG: Yeah, there are definitely still some layers. Matt’s whole arc this year is about the fact that he has to get out of [Dylan, Texas]. He’s always put everyone before himself and now he’s coming to terms with the fact that he finally needs to put himself first. There are a couple of episodes this season where I had a lot to do and I was excited about it when I read the script and I was really excited to actually see the episodes.
JH: You’ve done film, theater and television. Any preference?
ZG: As long as it’s good and fun that’s really all I care about.
JH: Talk to me about Adventures Cross Country (ARCC) and your involvement with that organization.
ZG: It’s great. I’ve been working with them for a while and they’ve been great to me. I’ve gone so many places through them and worked with some awesome kids. Last summer I was in Costa Rica and we’d go into these swamp villages and help build stuff and just live with these families there. I worked in Alaska one summer or sometimes we’ll be out in the mountains with everything on your back for three weeks at a time. It’s always fun. I grew up camping and backpacking and loved it and I always worked in summer camp and I’ve worked with kids a lot so it’s fun to combine those things.
JH: In both Dare and Friday Night Lights you’re playing characters that are younger than you are in real life. Are you ready for some adult roles?
ZG: I’d love to but these are great, too. As long as it’s a good part I’m happy to do it. I’m working on something now where I get to play my age – a romantic comedy – but it’s kind of fun playing my age. It’s funny, because I still think of myself as so much younger than I am so I’m working with people who are my age but I think of them as adults and I’m still too young. [laughs]
To see where Dare is playing in your area, go to www.DareTheMovie.com. Friday Night Lights is currently airing on DirecTV’s 101 Network and will air on NBC in early 2010.
Jim Halterman spends his days interviewing the top tier of talent and creative forces in the television world and then, because he's that kind of guy, he brings it all to YOU! And, because we all like free stuff, check back often for giveaways!! 
