This second Q+A was rescued from now-defunct pages of edgemont.tv

Edgemont’s only Winnipeg transplant, Richard has been doing U.S. Projects since Edgemont wrapped last season. He’s in the Television movie “Heart of America” (formerly known as “Homeroom”) and, yup - that’s him, the guy in the Nokia ad who leaves his buddy waiting while the ladies wrap themselves around him and his cell phone. We also hope to see Richard on the Film Festival circut in a Canadian film called, “A Fortune in Frozen Dim Sum”.

• The Heart of America film - what’s that about?
  It’s about a Columbine-type school shooting.

• A message movie? Do you think message movies work?
  Sure, some of them work really well, but it can really backfire too. “In Requiem For A Dream” - a movie based on a novel by Hubert Shelby Jr.- the director was panned for glorifying drugs but just watching it makes you feel physically ill - I don’t see how anyone who saw it could come away thinking drugs are a good idea.

  Sometimes though - I wonder if we’re all getting de-sensitised. I can watch something like “Reservoir Dogs” and it doesn’t bother me. Maybe it’s just having seen too many movies or because I’m in the industry and can look at it objectively…it’s probably not a good thing though.

• You just pulled those films and names up spur of the moment? You have a great memory.
  Well, I used to work in a video store and I have about 200 movies myself so I tend to be able to remember names and titles…. and scripts. My memory didn’t always work as well in school though.

• How long does it take you to memorize dialogue?
  A while ago I got an audition where I had to memorize 9 pages of dialogue. They gave the script to me at 4 pm and I had it down for the audition at 10 the next morning.

• That must be a great actor’s tool. What else would you say is essential to the actor’s “tool kit”?
  Well, you hear this all the time in any acting class, but listening really is one of the most important things for actors. Sometimes when you’re working on a scene, you worry that your reactions or thoughts won’t come across the way you want them to. But if you listen, that all happens naturally. When you think about, that’s what happens in a “real conversation”, we listen and then we react.

• Some people find it very difficult to read a script and imagine what it could or will look like on screen. Do you have that skill? Can it be learned?
  I think that I have that skill, but there are so many factors that can change what the final product looks like, so it’s hard to say. One person’s idea can be totally different from the next, but that keeps things interesting. And so I don’t know if that skill can be learned, because in some way or another I think it’s a skill that we all have.

• When you first read the Edgemont script, what did you think of the Gil character? Has your opinion changed at all?
  When I first read the Edgemont script, I think I just took Gil at face value: a young guy who’s insecure and therefore over compensates by being cocky. But my opinion has definitely changed. I don’t think anyone is that one-dimensional. It’s been really fun to find out what makes Gil tick, and to explore his other sides. I don’t want to give anything away, but I think that Gil really grows into his own in Season 3, and it’ll be really interesting to see where he goes from there.