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PHILLY FILE From Stage to Screen By Kelly McCarthy
In 1999 Lumia received a solo artist grant from the Independence Foundation. At the 2000 Barrymore Awards in Philadelphia he was awarded the F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Award. Reelwriter.net spoke with Lumia about his craft and the differences between stage and screen. Kelly McCarthy: How did you prepare for your role in Ladder 49? John Lumia: In general I try to do as much research as I can. In this case, there's not a lot of narrative in the role. But I did research on firehouses and how the trucks work. I went down to the firehouse, took a look around, talked to some guys, picked up a couple of books to get some terminology and figured out how the system works. I have a couple of firefighters in my family so I was able to draw on some resources there. I always try to come on the set with ideas and strong choices. McCarthy: Did you develop a good relationship with the director, Jay Russell? Lumia: I hope so. I hope he would tap me to read for a good role in the next film that he does. I have a lot of respect for him. McCarthy: What sets him apart from other directors? Lumia: It's such a frenetic and chaotic would so today there's all of these MTV jump cuts and programs are geared for a lot of flash and no substance. But this guy, Jay Russell is a real storyteller, which to me is a heroic thing to maintain that kind of simplicity, that kind of clarity in storytelling in a world where it's so easy to pull all of the trappings in and all of the flash. McCarthy: How did Jay Russell prepare his actors for the film? Lumia: One thing that stuck with me through this process was how much attention to detail there was. All of the guys (actors) went through fire training in I think it was five weeks, and got certified as volunteer firefighters so they could actually go out on calls. McCarthy: A saw a photograph of you on the set where your dressed in the fireman's uniform and your face is covered in soot. You look like you've just been through hell. It's very authentic. Lumia: The fire we were working on was during this horrible blizzard. Apartments were burning down and the hydrants were all frozen. So, it was all about trying to get some kind of water into the building. It was a tense scene. When you wear that equipment and you wear that makeup and you feel how heavy the oxygen tank is on your back, internally you can't help but to absorb this feeling of trying to do more than you possibly can. You feel like your equipped to run into a place that everybody's running out of. It's amazing to feel that kind of courage. McCarthy: How does the physicality of the role effect your performance? Lumia: The physical trappings of a role: costumes, makeup, shoes, definitely inform the inner self. A lot of people like to work internally and then work to the outside. But I love to have a physical change. I like to walk around with the person (character) a little bit and feel their weight, feel what kind of clothes they would wear. I find I start to change my rhythm and it starts to change my gait and to me it's the thing that connects with my inside. McCarthy: You've done quite a bit of stage work. What differences do you find between working on stage and screen? Lumia: There's a focus issue with cameras that stage actors have to adapt to. You have to work with cameras a lot to understand the mechanics. So where your eye line, where your focus is and being able to tell a story without indicating it. That's why you can take an actor and say O.K., I can make him work in this movie if he's the right personality, the right type and the director can get a performance out of him. A real craftsman actor who works on film knows the minutia of every moment. To me, Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs (1991), knows if he looks just this way for a second at the right time, it's going to say a thousand words about who he is. So that kind of calculated performance is a real interesting part of film work that the great actors have. McCarthy: But a lot of actors say they want to have surprises in film. So, is it best to have a combination of calculations and an essence of not knowing what's going to happen next? Lumia: Well, it's the same on stage. I mean on stage we've got our blocking, we've got our direction and I know that I have to pick up this cup of coffee at this point. But within that there's this whole life to fill. Film is a smoke and mirrors kind of thing because the pacing is really created by the editor. I've been told it's a directors medium and I think there's a lot of validity in that. The director has to steer the ship and create the pacing because you have so many shots of the same thing. You have the master shot, the close-up, the wide shots and you have to pull all of that together. It's a much more technical process. It's like all of these little pieces. If I'm in a scene in a coffee shop and they cut to the shot of a clock and then cut back to me, I'm waiting, there's time involved. And that's how the story gets told. Onstage we tell it with ourselves, that's all we have. Film has the ability to create its own sense of time. It's like a master illusion. McCarthy: We look forward to your master illusions in Ladder 49. © Reelwriter.net 2004 |
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For the past twenty years John Lumia has mesmerized Philadelphia theatre patrons with his powerful and provocative character portrayals. His stage credits include Quills, Glengarry Glen Ross and Orphans. Audiences throughout the country also know him as a premier multimedia performance artist, a cult favorite of fringe festivals. His thought provoking one man shows Spin Cycle, Amputation Nation and Cryptome have garnered him a reputation for searing intensity. He brings the same intensity to the medium of film. This fall, Lumia will appear in Jay Russell's Ladder 49 starring Joaquin Phoenix. Other film credits include TAPS (1981), Girl Interrupted (1999), Replay (2003) and the upcoming Smoke and Mirrors (2004). |
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