Read

As the drawling and gentle-natured Mitch in Christine (2016), character actor Jayson Warner Smith takes a departure from his usual malevolent on-screen personas, but he easily steps back into the role of villain as slave owner Earl Fowler in Birth of a Nation (2016), his second film premiering at Sundance. ScreenPrism talked with Jayson before his Birth of a Nation premiere, at the Kickstarter Green Room at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

ScreenPrism: How many years have you been coming to Sundance?

Jayson W Smith: I’ve been coming here since ‘97. Not every year, but most every year. The festival started in the ‘80s, around ‘84, ’85. A buddy of mine came around here as a volunteer in the early ‘90s, back when it was so much more quaint, so much more groovy. He was, like, “Dude, you gotta come check it out.” Back then, I worked at a dinner theater in Atlanta, and I was always working in January, so I could never come. Finally, I quit working there [around] ’97. We went from a group of 10 or 12 folks all the way up to 30 folks. We rented 3 condos, just as a spectator. We’d come, we’d snowmobile, ski, watch movies. It was so much easier to get tickets back then. It’s ironic because year after year the group dwindled down and dwindled down. The last time I came here with a group – and I remember, because the [Atlanta] Falcons were playing for the NFC [National Football Conference] championship and lost while we were here – [points to himself] Falcons fan – and that’s the last time I came with a group. And I never had a movie here. Last year, I had two movies, and this year, I have two movies, and none of my friends are here. Quite honestly, this is a work trip for me. My wife, she was going to come, but, bless her heart, she was going to be bored out of her mind.

SP: You play Mitch in Christine, Christine Chubbuck’s mom’s boyfriend. Could you sum up your character’s core qualities?

JWS: My character is a regular guy from Bradenton, Florida, in 1974. Cowboy boots, bolo tie, shirt tucked in, kind of a Western-Southern Florida boy. There are parts of Florida that are still part of the south. The further south you go, the more north you get, as you get near Miami. The northern middle part of Florida is still part of the South. Mitch is a regular guy; he’s only involved in the story because he meets Christine’s mom, Peg, who’s played by J. Smith-Cameron, somewhere, at her work. You hear about this [their relationship] off-screen; there’s a couple scenes where I hang out with the mom. Christine’s very unhappy with her life and her inability to get a boyfriend and have a normal life. I play that foil: “Why can my mom get a boyfriend and I can’t?” That’s really my job. I’m not involved in any of the story except that.

SP: That’s a real change in character for you.

JWS: I know! Yes. What’s interesting is, I originally – in the movie, there’s a character who owns a gun shop, and he’s a car mechanic and gunsmith. A friend of mine, Ritchie Montgomery, ended up playing the role. But that was the role I was auditioning for. His name is Tug. It’s a great role, and it’s a great scene, and I wished I could’ve done both. Tug has a great speech, but Ritchie does a fantastic job, and is better for the part. It all makes sense. At my callback, I read for that role and the director, Antonio [Campos], said “Great, nice to meet you again.” And as an actor, out the door you go, and you hope for the best, and just forget about it. Then I get a call a week or two later – no, way later, a month later – “they’re offering you a role in Christine.” “Fantastic!” “But it’s not the part you read for.” “Oh.” “It’s a better part.” “Oh!” And I love my part.

SP: How much research did you have to do to play Mitch?

JWS: Mitch is fictional. He’s a made-up character. I don’t think there’s a real – I’m sure Peg had a boyfriend – but I don’t know what his name was, and I don’t think Craig Shilowich, the writer, met anybody like that. So I really just had to be like myself. He was a Southern man who worked hard, met a nice lady. It was a nice change of path for me, from being a psychopath. The best part of that experience was that – I’m on a [Sundance TV] show called Rectify (2013), where I play the psychopath [Wendall Jelks], and J. Smith-Cameron plays the mother of the star of Rectify, [Janet Talbot]. She’s Daniel [Holden]’s mother. She’s brilliant on Rectify. Of course, I never work with all the rest of the people [on the show], because I’m locked in jail. So we knew each other but we never worked together. Then when I got the part, I asked who played the part of Peg, and my agent said, “Something J Smith?” And I said, “No way!” That was a treat, to get to work with her and to get to know her. It was finally a chance to hang out and get to know each other. She’s a North Carolina girl; I didn’t know that. She’s married to Kenneth Lonergan, one of the greatest American playwrights alive right now. It was a little odd at first because we’re lovers; there’s no sex scenes, but [there are] snuggle scenes and smooching scenes. She’s actually here for Christine and her husband, Kenneth, has a movie, Manchester by the Sea. They both premiered at exactly the same time, so she went to that with her husband and then they came to our party.

SP: Have you seen the final version of the film?

JWS: Yes! I saw it at the premiere. I had no idea what to expect. I had seen Antonio’s other films. They’re not mainstream. This one definitely has a unique feel and look about it. The production design is excellent. It’s all earth tones and orange ‘70s. We shot all of my scenes in one of those elevated houses in Florida: we were stationed in one apartment, which was modern, and then you walked through the doors, and it was 1974, completely redecorated, macramé, rotary phones, and all. I was much younger in 1974, I was 10, but it took me back! The film is great. Of [Antonio’s] collection of films, this is the most mainstream.

SP: This is your first time working with Antonio, right?

JWS: Yep. First time working with Rebecca [Hall] and everybody. All my scenes are with J. and Rebecca. I have a great scene with Maria Dizzia [actress in the role of Jean Reed] at the end of the movie. We don’t really speak, but we’re in the same room. Yeah, I was kind of sequestered from the rest of the shoot. I only worked on the film a week. It was nice – I brought my wife, we rented a place on the beach, and we made a vacation out of it.

SP: Which scene was your favorite to shoot?

JWS: It’s interesting, you shoot something, and what ends up [in the final cut]. My favorite scene is the biggest scene [towards the end of the film], where J. and I are sitting, watching the TV.

SP: Did you get a lot of say in the costume direction of your character?

JWS: Bolo tie, western shirt – I had a great costume. We spent a long time with Emma, the costume designer. There were two Emmas, one in makeup, and one in costume. We spent two hours trying on lots of different outfits. She had a lot of good ideas. She’s very visual and very specific. I tend to go along with what they do, especially when they’re talented as her. Like in Birth of a Nation, obviously, it’s 1831. At first, I was, like, this is odd, but then I looked in a mirror, and said, “This is fricking awesome!” The design’s a huge throwback and it was more difficult because all the black people there were in rags. It was very odd. But, outside of that, the whole cast got along great. It was definitely a step back in time, for sure.

SP: Did you film Birth of a Nation after Christine? How was working with the cast?

JWS: Right after! They were one right after another. I shot Christine and then I shot Birth of a Nation – I only worked two days on it. I’m a pivotal character, but both of these movies are low-budget films, as most films at Sundance are. They had a lot more money to spend on more important things, like horses. There are a lot of horses. I got to ride a horse; I didn’t ride very far, but still, I had horses, whips, guns, and cool outfits. It was really great working with Armie Hammer and Nate Parker on my scenes. The guy who played my brother – Dominic Bogart, with the coolest name – he’s a cool dude, he’s got a lot going on. Chiké Okonkwo plays one of my slaves. He’s a British actor, of Nigerian descent. My final scene is with him, and you can probably imagine how that ends. It’s a slave rebellion, it doesn’t end too well for me. [Laughs]

SP: Are you excited for the premiere of Birth of a Nation?

JWS: It’s a big deal. We had our dinner last night – family dinner we call it – and the whole cast is here [at Sundance]. All these folks are here. We all sat at a table together last night and ate together, and everyone’s very excited. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve heard great things; half the cast has seen it.

SP: It sounds like when you first came to Sundance, back in the ‘90s, with that big group of friends.

JWS: Yeah, it’s a different group. We ate at Zoom, just down the street, right there. Awesome meal, the staff was so nice, and I said, “You guys are champs” because no one wanted to sit down. We needed a cocktail hour first. Everyone’s kept saying “Hey!” “Yay!” And the restaurant staff were, like, “Sit down, we need to serve you food.” And the food was exquisite. This whole experience has been amazing.

SP: This was great. Thank you so much for talking with me.

JWS: No problem. Hey, let’s take a selfie!