Michael Madsen Lends his Weight to 63lbs

Director Anyrin's new short film, 63lbs (the trailer for which can be seen above), stars the legendary Michael Madsen and after the director gave his insights into the making of the film Madsen offered his time for some opinions of his own. And who are we to turn down Mr Blonde?

Below Madsen discusses his involvement with the film and his role as Mr Johnson, why it appealed to him and why directing is next on his to-do list.

How did you become involved in this project?

Well I’m usually a gun for hire. I got a call from Sean Brosnan who’s a friend of mine. I heard from him one day out of the blue that he had this thing that he was thinking of and would I be interested.  And I read what he had and I thought it was an interesting idea, a short film that’ll go out to festivals.

I'm always keen on something like that and the idea that my character has a conscience also appealed to me greatly. So I volunteered my efforts. Of course once I got out there I met all the other people and the director and all the other folk that were involved in doing this thing. It turned out to be a pretty creative bunch of people and at the end of the day I was pretty pleased with the whole thing.

Is it purely the quality of the idea and the script that attracts you to something? You said that you don’t do it for the money, so are you doing it for the creative outlet?

Well, really, it’s the script and that is the only thing you have. Everybody always has a great pitch, and everybody always intends on making Gone With the Wind but it’s a rare thing when you get involved with something that actually turns out good. And so you’re really taking a big chance but the only thing you have to go on is the script. 

And have you worked on short film projects before?

I’ve done a few here and there with the hope that they will turn into something bigger along the way. That’s everybody’s hope. But this one to me was kind of special because, of course, it was written by the fellow that wrote Full Metal Jacket. Good credentials.

It does feel like this short is a real snapshot of a bigger thing. Do you think 63lbs could be made into a feature?

Well, we shot a lot more footage than was in [the final edit]. It was a long couple of days of shooting but at the end of the day it has to be whittled down and it all has to be put into a version that somebody can understand and that process to me has always been fascinating. 

It would take me forever to cut something like that because I would always try to find a place for stuff that I thought was interesting but you have to compromise on a lot of things when you only have a short time to shoot. You don’t always have the time to get the stuff you need and you don’t really find that out until you get into the editing room and you realise that you don’t have the footage that you need so that’s when you start to dream about turning it into something bigger. 

Would like to direct yourself?

Well that's an interesting question because I think that I've been directing myself for years. I’ve been lucky enough to work with Tarantino and Oliver Stone and some people who let you improv, and a lot of things can happen in the spur of the moment that you don’t really expect. There’re a lot of directors who get very nervous by that and they won’t allow you to do it because they’re afraid that you’re going to ask for a writing credit. 

I’ve always wanted to just tell the story and the only reason I ever became an actor in the first place is I just wanted to be a story teller. [But] I have to say, in the past year, I’ve intentionally thought about directing an awful lot. It’s something that if somebody was to give me that leash, somebody was to give me that rein, I’d love to do that I think. For me it’s kind of a no brainer, [and] I think it would be really kind of exciting. 

As the script is the most important thing would you potentially direct a short film yourself? If the script was good would it matter what length it was?

As long as I could relate to the material, yeah. I don’t think I'm going to direct anything about the Bolshoi Ballet but I certainly could direct anything that I could understand. A kind of urban drama, or something like that. I mean I think I’d even wouldn’t be so bad at comedy. It’s just a matter of somebody deciding that you can do that and giving you the ability to do it. I’m looking forward to it. I mean it’s a whole brave new world for me.

Talking about having to relate to the script, what was it specifically about 63lbs that you related to? 

Well, I think it had a lot to do with the kids. I am a father and I raised six boys of my own. When you go through that in your life you learn a lot about emotion and those kind of things. It’s a big bag to carry and I think what I related to mostly was the conscience of Mr Johnson.

You read the script and think, “Oh Jesus, this guy really has a conscience.”  It was something I realised that maybe I could bring [to the film] because there’d be no sense really in playing it one-sided. If I was a cold-hearted, dead-minded Mr Johnson I don’t think the story would work at all. Who would care?

I’ve always tried to bring a conscience to stuff because it’s a human thing. The fact that he feels bad about what’s happening to the children and it bothers him in such a way, that’s something that’s always going to resonate. It’s a plot device that's worked throughout the history of motion pictures. 

Do you have to approach the role in a different way when it’s a short film and when you have less time to portray a character?

I think you have to heap it on even more because when you’re on a schedule like that it’s truly not in your control. You have a certain amount of time and put a certain amount of what you want into it but, boy, if you don’t get what you want and you don’t get what you need, at the end of the day it’s over. It’s a lot more pressure.

And what are your hopes for the film and are you looking forward to taking it to festivals?

There are so many movies that are being made [but] it just seems to me like there’s a real lack of good material [and] I think that an idea like this is really fresh. You can’t point at it and say, “Oh, I've seen that before, I know what that’s about”. That’s why I think it has a lot of potential.

I’ve been to a lot of festivals and there's a certain kind of mentality in a film festival that’s very artistic, very kind of ordained. It’s like a Yellow Brick Road, if you can make it into a festival, you’ll get a lot of people who are there to find something good. You get a lot of support, you get a lot of emotional back up. Festivals are made for that, that's why they’re so important; Berlin and Sundance and Venice, you know, the ones that we’re trying to get into, they lend a great big helping hand. 

And what are you working on next? 

I’m going to go shoot a picture in London. It’s a thing called Vengeance and it’s supposed to be with Ian McShane.