Opinion: Sam Rockwell
Indie go-to guy Sam Rockwell reflects on ball-handling, playing coy, and the fast-paced world of independent film.
"Independent films allow me to do stuff that I wouldn’t normally get to do, and I get more creative control."
--Sam Rockwell, actor in The Winning Season and Moon
--Sam Rockwell, actor in The Winning Season and Moon
Sam Rockwell is everywhere at once this year. He’s pulling a double-shift as both producer and star of The Winning Season, which tells a story about the coach of a women’s basketball team who’s shooting for redemption. He also can be found a whole world away, playing starring roles in another Festival film, Moon, a self-reflective sci-fi film about the hardships of lunar mining. Earlier this week, Rockwell took a break from his break-neck schedule to talk to the Insider about his creative process, the perks of independent filmmaking, and the mechanics of talking to himself.
Insider: You’ve been in some big-time studio movies, but you keep returning to independent film. What is it about indie films that keep you coming back for more?
Sam Rockwell: Independent films allow me to do stuff that I wouldn’t normally get to do, and I get more creative control. Plus I tend to do more leads, which means I get to act more, which is more fun. You also have to move faster – maybe two or three takes, as opposed to the twelve takes you’d do in a studio movie, which certainly keeps the adrenaline flowing. You get that fear sense, and exhaustion, and it’s all in a bubble of a month or six weeks, where you just work, work, work, work, work. And then it’s over. Whereas a studio movie just lingers on and on and on. … I also like to do supporting roles in studio films because it gives me the chance to work with wonderful people, like Ron Howard and Oliver Platt (Frost/Nixon), and I learn more about filmmaking then I go back and apply that to the independent films that I do.
Insider: How would you describe your creative process?
Rockwell: I tend to do some research. For Snow Angels, I got really immersed in Christianity and born again stuff, which I found pretty fascinating. And for The Winning Season, I took basketball lessons. I trained with a guy who used to be on the Pacers named Sean Green, who coordinated all the basketball sequences in the film. Philip Seymour Hoffman recommended him to me. Phil Hoffman’s a big basketball player – he’s got a great shot.
Insider: In Moon, which is also at the Festival this year, you spend most of the film talking to yourself. What was it like spending so much time in your own company, from a filmmaking perspective?
Rockwell: It was very difficult. I was improvising a lot, but I had to plan my dialogue ahead of time. I’d watch my last take on an iPod, and listen to myself on an earwig. It was technically the most challenging thing I’ve ever done.
Insider: Was it lonely?
Rockwell: It was. But the character’s lonely, so it kind of works.
Insider: This is going to be your sixth year coming back to the Festival, so you know how hard it can be to choose between all the films, events, and music there is to see. If you had the power to clone yourself, where would you have the Alterna Sam Rockwell be on your behalf?
Rockwell: Movies. I would go see even more movies.
Insider: And if you were interviewing yourself right now, what would you ask?
Rockwell: I’d ask myself, “Do you think I’m sexy?”
Insider: And what would your answer be?
Rockwell: I’d answer, “Let me think about it.”
Insider: I don’t think that’s the kind of question a person gets to think about…
Rockwell: I guess you’re right – that’s playing coy. That’s me, playing coy with myself.
