Orlando Bloom Talks Rockstar Inspirations For 'Sympathy For Delicious'
To go from naturally soft spoken to cocky, arrogant rock star, Orlando Bloom went back to his roots for some inspiration.
Bloom features as brash and egomaniacal punk band leader The Stain in Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut, "Sympathy for Delicious." Covered in tattoos across his chest and bleeding black liner from his eyes, the "Lord of the Rings" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" star spit and cursed and strutted across the set, screaming from the stage as his on-screen band performed their sold out concerts. They were techniques, Bloom said, that he learned from big British stars he watched as he was growing up.
"The north of England is where a lot of great British bands come from. It doesn't matter if it's the Stones or the Beatles, but for me, it was my generation was Ian Browne and the Stone Roses," Bloom explained to The Huffington Post Monday night at the film's New York premiere. "Oasis and stuff and the Gallagher brothers were a bit more Brit Pop, but that attitude that the Gallagher brothers have and Ian Browne as well, was like, 'We are the best f**king band in the world, and if you don't know it, f**k you,' you know what I mean?
"That ego and that confidence and that character, to me, lends itself perfectly to that character," Bloom continued, animated at the thought of channeling his hero rockers. "There were lines of dialogue in this movie that I was just, I don't know how I was gonna do it. And when I locked in to the idea of playing the character coming from there and in that sense, it really worked."
Still, as he first pitched Ruffalo himself for the job, Bloom wasn't quite sure he could do it. "I would love to get the opportunity to work with you on this," he remembered telling Ruffalo. "'I'm slightly terrified of it, but I would love to give it a go.'"
Now, the audience just may be terrified of him.
'Sympathy For Delicious': Mark Ruffalo's 10 Year Passion Project
Mark Ruffalo doesn't do things halfheartedly.
When he wasn't liking the roles Hollywood had to offer, Ruffalo retired to a farm 3000 miles away; when he decided to come back, he landed his first Oscar nomination. In his free time, he fights intricate environmental battles in New York state politics. And, in his very first directorial effort, he's bringing to life a 10-year passion project that's half religious allegory and half rock 'n roll.
Ruffalo showcased that directorial debut, "Sympathy for Delicious," at the film's New York premiere on Monday night. A winding, gritty story about a poverty-stricken, wheelchair-bound former DJ who suddenly finds that he has the powers of a faith healer, Ruffalo spent ten years working to produce the film with its writer and star, his real life friend Christopher Thornton. Just their persistence in pursuing the project alone should qualify for some lifetime achievement awards.
Thornton estimated that they went through 40 finished screenplay drafts over the years, whittling the story down as they fought Hollywood inertia to get their film, unusual in its subject matter, made.
They faced three big obstacles, Thornton told The Huffington Post at the premiere: "He had never directed before; I was, as far as film goes, a pretty unknown actor playing the lead; and the subject matter, people found odd. They were like, look, there's no sex, there's no car chases, there's no explosions -- it's a guy in a wheelchair and a priest. What on earth are we supposed to do with that?"
As passionately as they pursued the project -- in which Ruffalo plays the priest and Thornton, paralyzed in real life, plays the guy in the wheelchair -- once the final financing came through and it was time to bring the dream to life, the pair found that they had major doubts, too. Even if they had stars such as Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney and Juliette Lewis on board for major roles.
"I was very nervous about it on the first day, I thought I don't really know what the hell I'm doing and how dare I think that I did," Ruffalo remembered. "And then I walked out and I set up the shot and was like, 'you know, I don't like the shot, I don't like the camera here. I want to move it over here.' And very quickly I found myself naturally directing the movie."
Bloom, who as on hand at the premiere, had nothing but positive things to say about his experience under the first time director.
"I sat down with Mark and I was just like, 'I would love to work with you. I have always admired you as an actor,'" Bloom, who plays egomaniacal punk rocker The Stain, recalled about how he got the part. "And Mark was like, he was the most supportive, generous and gracious director that I could hope for and he was open to what I wanted to try and do."
Likening filmmaking to dessert -- "Acting, you get to eat one slice of the pie; directing, you get to eat the whole pie, and I tend to make a glutton of myself" -- Ruffalo said that he learned from some of the best directors in Hollywood.
"I've stolen from the best over the years," he told HuffPost. "In the end, Jane Campion and David Fincher were probably the most influential. Jane Campion gave me a little mini course on directing years ago, before I started the project, and I cut the movie at David Fincher's editing facility. And when I had it finished, I brought him in and we did a five hour critique, masterclass of the movie. So he was very influential and helpful to me along the way."
Now, with the film in the can and making its way through the festival circuit, Ruffalo, who is due to start shooting his role as The Hulk in the Marvel superhero epic "The Avengers," later in the week, sees himself making a shift from acting to directing as he moves forward.
"It's all I want to be doing. At this moment, I'm a little more turned on by the newness of directing," he said.
"Sympathy for Delicious" opens in limited release on April 29th, followed by a national rollout. It's available nationwide on Video on Demand.
Ruffalo's step in the right direction
The saga behind "Sympathy for Delicious" is as special as its content. Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo stars, co-wrote, co-produced, co-got the thing off the ground. Also he's its first-time director.
"I was terrified day one of shooting," he told me. "A panic attack. I sat curled in a corner of my trailer thinking, 'I'm going to direct a movie? Who do I think I am?' Then: 'OK. Breathe. Face it and make it. Smile.' So, loudly, I said, 'Good morning' to each person.
"I set up the shot, shouted 'Action,' then realized, 'Actors should be there' . . . 'the camera should be here,' and slowly I did it. I love directing, but for now I'll keep my day job.
"This began 20 years ago in Stella Adler's acting class with Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro and Christopher Thornton, who then had a climbing accident. Broke his spine. We got him back acting, but he knew a wheelchair case wouldn't get a role unless he wrote a screenplay himself. A year later he pitched a 196-page draft. An imaginative original idea for a guy in a wheelchair with powers to heal the unhealable. We improved, revised, rewrote. It was scary. I then needed financing. Took 11 years."
Co-star Orlando Bloom, so handsome you almost didn't notice he dressed for the evening in leather jacket and scruffy T-shirt. "I play Disdain. An insane demonic wildman leader of this rock band called Bernadette Films. Christopher's a scratching deejay who joins and heals onstage with music. I talk down to him. Lines like: 'You get no sympathy from me.' "
Laura Linney about her band manager's role: "Once I found the hairpiece, a long fall, I was OK. She's a tough one. Puts herself out. Knows how to make a buck."
About her black sequined Derek Lam jacket I'd have clawed for: "I own it. Paid for it. It's mine. Not borrowed. I don't have to give it back." Words never before heard from a movie actress.
About scenes with someone in a wheelchair: "If you're a good actress, no problem. If you're a lousy actress, a problem."
About director Ruffalo: "Directors speak in ways actors must reinterpret in their own heads. Mark has acting experience, which means you work in shorthand. He's wonderful. My heart grows every time I see him. Mark Ruffalo is filled with goodness."
"Sympathy for Delicious" opens Friday.
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