Weirdsville… and Wes Bentley

While Sundance opens its festival with Brett Morgen's documentary about Chicago's 1968 anti-war protests, the infamously irreverent Slamdance has slated its screens for more surreal fare with the premiere of Allan Moyle's Weirdsville, starring Wes Bentley (American Beauty), Scott Speedman (the Underworld franchise; TV's "Felicity") and Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow). While Moyle is far from being one of Slamdance's signature first-time directors, his ability to sway in and out of the world of film over the past thirty years suggests that the anti-establishment "other" January film festival is a well-chosen viewing venue for his hard-to-categorize comedy. Moving Pictures caught up with one of the film's stars, Wes Bentley, looking forward to his first Park City adventure.

Moving Pictures Magazine:   How'd you get involved with Weirdsville?
Wes Bentley: I found out Allan Moyle was directing a script, and Pump Up the Volume was, like, one of my favorite movies as a kid - I wanted to be [Christian Slater]. I wanted to have that radio station and tell all the kids what to do at school. So it made me pick up [the script] and read it, and you couldn't put it down. I felt the cult vibe already from it.

MPM:  Can you to describe your character?
Bentley: Royce is an ideas man who got sidetracked with good drugs, and... he's a nut. He's crazy. He's out of his mind, but he's got ideas that can make him some money, like "sprayonnaise"- a sprayable mayonnaise - and a tea that can curb your smoking habit. He actually sends in a sample, which is a tea bag filled with pipe tobacco. He just doesn't have resources to get it out there, so he's going to get high instead. (Laughs)

MPM:  What was working with Allan Moyle like?
Bentley: He's crazy, too, man, but he has a focus to him; he's got his ideas. The main thing with a filmmaker is how they handle the ideas; that makes the difference. He was totally open to everybody. Totally ready to take every idea and use it (or not use it, but let you down friendly). It was a creative set. He really allowed everyone to do their work, and he trusted that he hired the right people (laughs), which he did.

MPM: Is having an indie like Weirdsville and the blockbuster Ghost Rider come out around the same time the ideal career scenario that you envisioned?
Bentley: It is. Also, I'm older now, and so I feel like I've got my legs underneath me and I'm ready for it. I've got two other films coming out this year: P2, which just finished shooting, and Ungodly, which was very low budget, less than a million dollars.

MPM: How do filmmakers with low budget scripts get them through your people?
Bentley: I want to know every offer coming across the table. Scott, my agent, and I have been working together since the beginning, and I trust him. He'll push good material across my desk, saying, "This is low budget, beware of that," and I love it. I love it.

MPM: How difficult was it to choose those next projects after the heavily awarded American Beauty?
Bentley: I was very careful. I was nervous because I was young and I knew what happens to young actors when they strike it fast. Everyone wants you to do any role that they can get you to do, without thinking of the creative process. You can get burned out quick. We're illusionists. We're supposed to fool people, and the more I gave of myself, the less people would buy the illusion - that's something I wasn't prepared to give up.

MPM: Any other creative outlets?
Bentley: I make music. I've started messing around on my computer, and I guess I'm making some sort of electronic music. I actually have a song in the film.

MPM: Did you rip Allan off on licensing?
Bentley: (Laughs) I did. I robbed him for everything they had.

MPM: Are there vocals?
Bentley: On that one, yeah. It's more talk. And I rap a little bit - not like rap, you know, but spoken word. That sounds cheesy. It's different. I really, really love it, man.

MPM: Are you as good as Kevin Federline?
Bentley: I don't know - K-Fed's set the bar pretty high. I'm definitely better than Jessica Simpson. (Laughs) Speaking of K-Fed, I'll give you a little fact - we actually wanted K-Fed for the film before we went to Scott [Speedman], but he was busy rapping. Yeah, print that.