Idol Magazine Chaske

NEW MOON

With the impending Twilight mania which is sure to break loose on the release of New Moon on DVD tomorrow, we thought we’d heighten the hysteria with a few exclusive interviews with some of the cast.

In true IDOL style, we chat with the guys about how they came to be where they are now, how Twilight has affected their career and their journey from past to the future. It’s easy to look at these actors as buying into the empire of a franchise which is the saga, but once you hear their stories and struggle to where they are now, not only is it inspiring but you gain a new found respect for the actors who have been dubbed an ‘overnight success’, and learn that actually, their story is far from that.

Enjoy.

CHASKE SPENCER, SAM

IDOL: Sam obviously this is your introduction to the Twilight Saga, what is your role in new moon?

Sam: Im the alpha male, my character helps the werewolve’s transition, phase into wolves which is very traumatic. He has a history as well, when he was phasing he was by himself, no one told him what was going on and there’s a whole other story line behind that. But his role is to protect the people from the vampires.

IDOL: Did you have to prepare much for your role?

Sam: The only preparation I had to do was the workouts, the work outs were pretty hard. I hadn’t gone gym you know, I’m not a big gym rat but I always keep fit, or try. When we got on set we went to a trainer and we started doing these workouts and now I’m almost 235 lbs, so the workouts helped out and I read the book you know, tried to relate to that. I tried as much as I could to prepare.

IDOL: How did you get your role in Twilight? We heard you have a very good casting agent?

Sam: She discovered me actually, she’s been an incredible force behind my career. She’s put me in a movie called ‘Skins’, ‘Into the West’, ‘Dreamkeeper’ and she’s been in my corner for some time. So when this came up she said there’s a big part for you, so I got the call and I didn’t really know anything about Twilight at all, but by the time I got to the audition I was like okay this thing’s huge and I really wanted the part.  So I went back a few times for the werewolf auditions and I got Sam, and I had to figure out who Sam was! And then I was like oh I like this part, I can do this!

IDOL: I bet, being the alpha male!

Sam: Exactly! You will do what I say!

IDOL: If you didn’t play Sam, who would you want to play?

Sam: I’d like to play Carlisle. Peter’s really good, I’m very blown away by him. He’s a good man, a very good actor.

IDOL: How long have you been acting for?

Sam: I started out when I was 21, professionally. I moved to New York City with like 100 bucks- that was the dumbest thing!

IDOL: It wasn’t really dumb though was it?

Sam: It wasn’t the dumbest thing, but at the time, I was really young and dumb so I wouldn’t do it all over again. I think it was just luck, pure luck that got me where I am right now, things just kinda worked out how they were supposed to.

I couch surfed for a while, then I landed a job in Broadway, catering, bar-tending, waiting tables, times were slow but you know I did a lot of theatre, off Broadway stuff.

IDOL: Didn’t you play Dracula in your first show?

Sam: Yeah I was Dracula, that was a really cool experience. Being a broke young actor in the city, just hanging out with other actors after rehearsals, going to pubs. Just living the life broke, just broke as hell, but loving it. I think for a good year I slept on a wooden floor on just a sleeping blanket in a beat up old house, we called it fight club house.

IDOL: So it was a real struggle for you to get to where you are today?

Sam: Yeah, I mean there was a time when I really thought about quitting acting. I just kept missing out on roles to bigger names.

IDOL: What made you keep going?

Sam: That’s a good question. I just had a good feeling. I just kept up with it. Kept going.

IDOL: Is that’s the advice you would give to young actors?

Sam: Yeah, um perseverance. And you gotta really want it, I mean you gotta really want it. And I’d say study, cos if you’re gonna go up against actors like say, Robert De Niro, you wanna make sure you got everything in your pocket to throw at them. I see some actors who are themselves all the time, and that’s fine, that’s cool. But I like to disappear into a character and become something I’m not, I don’t have to live that character’s life but I keep it fun, fresh, I just pretend to be someone else, that’s all I’m doing. I’m a clown, that’s all us actors are really doing.

IDOL: Who is your idol?

Sam: My IDOL? Ooh? You know, I grew up watching Sean Penn, Robert Downy Junior, those guys, but i really like Gene Hackmen, Sam Rockwell, I’m big fan of those guys. I like the fact that you don’t really know who they are, but you know the characters that they play and that’s the type of acting I want to do. I don’t really want to be an idol or anything, I wana be like oh yeah I know that guy, but what’s his name again? His really good. That’s the kind of actor i want to be.

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xoxo
Carrie