Ryan Kwanten : TeenHollywood

At an office in Culver City, Ca. we’re relaxing with hot and friendly Ryan Kwanten who plays Jason Stackhouse on TV’s sexy/creepy “TrueBlood.” Unlike that girl-chasing hottie, Ryan is now a brunette and actually has quite a few brains in his gorgeous head. In his new modern-day Western film Red Hill, the actor stars as a struggling young cop assigned to a frontier town on the day a dangerous killer escapes from prison desperate to get revenge on the townspeople.

We’re learning about Ryan’s fave Western films, his hardest and yet fave scene in Red Hill, how he had to pretend he couldn’t ride a horse, sleeping in the room he had as a teen in Sydney and, oh yeah, the latest on “TrueBlood” and his host of upcoming film projects. Grab a cup of Java or cocoa…or that great synthetic Tru Blood and sit in….

TeenHollywood: When was this movie shot? After you had started “TrueBlood”?

Ryan Kwanten: Yes, between the first season and the second. I shot two Australian films that year. I wrapped and started shooting this the day after. I went from stinking hot Louisiana heat to sub-zero temperatures in Omeo, Victoria.

TeenHollywood: Yikes! This also looks like a very physical shoot. Were you hurt?

Ryan Kwanten: Yeah, I got hurt quite a few times but I’m a masochist at heart. I’m not a method actor but this sort of role and this film forced me to do the method from the start [just stay in the role even off camera]. You don’t have the luxury of time or money. We’re all sharing the same trailer. I’m closing my eyes while my character wife is getting changed in the corner. The bad guy is in the corner running his lines by himself. It’s a very communal experience. It’s nice now to see it go from that small town and small trailer to see the light of day. It’s a testament to the story and [director/writer] Patrick [Hughes].

TeenHollywood: Are you a big fan of classic Westerns? And, if so, do you have a favorite?

Ryan Kwanten: Huge fan. I have to name three. The Searchers, High Plains Drifter then, not necessarily a classic western but Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That’s my favorite film of all time.

TeenHollywood: Your character’s name is Shane Cooper but he’s not really like western hero character Shane nor actor Gary Cooper in High Noon.

Ryan Kwanten: That was ironic because he wasn’t this impenetrable force that you felt like no matter what was put up against him, he could handle it because, from the first frame of the film he’s forgotten his gun which is rule number one in the cop logbook “bring the gun to work” [we laugh]. His day just gets worse and worse and he’s in the middle of it all.

TeenHollywood: What drew you to the character or story, or did you just want to go home to Australia?

Ryan Kwanten: That was a beautiful by-product but it was the story, first and foremost.  It was the fallibility of this character that he was set up to be the hero yet he had all these faults. He’s the moral compass of the film.

TeenHollywood: How were you at shooting guns and riding horses?

Ryan Kwanten: I’d done a few cowboy films and riding horses [he was in Flicka] so I had to sort of untrain [in the beginning, his character can’t ride]. Shane would think riding a horse was like driving a bus so I had the reins up really high like this [indicates one in each hand]. It’s those little moments of comedy that made the film and hopefully enhanced the filmgoing experience.

TeenHollywood: Your character Shane is a nice guy everyman and very different from Jason in “TrueBlood”. Do you like to change it up from that role when you can?

Ryan Kwanten: I love playing Jason for six months out of the year. It’s a great show to be a part of but when I’m wrapped from that, nothing could be more uninspiring than going on a show that’s exactly like “TrueBlood” or a character just like Jason. I’m looking for challenges. Life is far more interesting and intriguing when you have to work to make something happen.

TeenHollywood: Any idea what is coming up on “TrueBlood”?

Ryan Kwanten: We’ve had no conversations and I haven’t seen any scripts but, to be honest, any delusions of grandeur that I could conjure up in this little head of mine pale in comparison to what the writers eventually give us.  I’ve yet to be disappointed. I feel like he’s such an open book. He wears his heart on his sleeve and plays it moment to moment. It’s such a liberation to play a character like that. He has no sense of forecasting or anticipation. It’s acting on the spur of the moment. I’m much more analytical about things than Jason so it’s nice to just leave that aside.

TeenHollywood: With a film character, you do the role and it’s over. With Jason, he is being developed over time so do you feel more of an ownership of the Jason character?

Ryan Kwanten: Yeah, our character arcs in “TrueBlood” happen over the course of an entire season, sometimes two seasons which is a rarity and I think that is why you have so many feverish fans. They invest their time in it. It feels like a version of life they escape to Every Sunday night. There is an ownership that goes with it and they associate me with him. That’s a blessing and a curse.

TeenHollywood: On Red Hill, were you familiar with the high country up in Victoria?

Ryan Kwanten: I was not. It’s absolutely different from Sydney and that helped with the wide-eyed innocence Shane had when he arrives there. It’s really a beautiful landscape that I hadn’t seen captured in Australian film before, maybe in a movie like The Man From Snowy River a long time ago but, outside from that, it was such a great backdrop to this brutal story and it really became a character in this film giving this feeling of foreboding and isolation.

TeenHollywood: And you went there straight from Louisiana?

Ryan Kwanten: It was like an hour and a half flight from Sydney then driving seven hours to get to it. The whole trip was about 23 hours then straight onto set and shooting one of the most active scenes, with a rain machine, and it’s minus 8 degrees. I’m trying to break a window of a car and I’m trying to get the car started then look up and see the horse.

TeenHollywood: Did you get to go home or see friends and family while down there?

Ryan Kwanten: The plan was for family to come and visit but it was such an isolated town that it was impossible for them to come. I got two days at the end in Sydney. Then I started shooting another film.

TeenHollywood: The superhero one?

Ryan Kwanten: Yeah, Griff, the Invisible. That’s out in March next year.

TeenHollywood: There is a black panther in Red Hill.  I think it represents the spirit of the Aborigine “bad” guy. How did you feel about that?

Ryan Kwanten: I loved the intrigue and the mystery of that and what is fascinating is the people who walk out of the screenings, they’re all getting something different from the black panther. The beauty of the panther is that it’s sort of like looking at a piece of artwork; everyone is going to analyze and get something different out of that.

TeenHollywood: Was the cat really there? Weren’t there cats in “TrueBlood”?

Ryan Kwanten: I have shot with panthers. I’ve worked with them on the show but this was not real. We’d planned on using a panther from New Zealand but two days before we planned to use it, it ate its owner so they shot the panther scenes in L.A.

TeenHollywood: Whoa! You could have been panther chow!  What was the most difficult scene in Red Hill for you and the most rewarding?

Ryan Kwanten: It’s the same scene and it’s my favorite one to watch. It’s the scene where I go home to my wife. We had eleven minutes to shoot that scene and I only had one take and that’s the beauty of the way we shot this. If we had more money or time, would it have been better? If I had seven takes, I don’t know if I would have captured it any better than that. [Note: It’s a great scene where Shane has been roughed up and he goes home. His pregnant wife doesn’t notice his injuries and asks him “How was your day?”] He’s thinking “you’ve got to be kidding me.”  But he has to summon the strength to say “It was great”.

TeenHollywood: What do you do when you are off work and in L.A.?

Ryan Kwanten: I live on the West side [near the ocean] so I walk and ride my bike a lot.

TeenHollywood: Is there a character or real person who you would love to play some day?

Ryan Kwanten: I like to play characters that people think I can’t. That’s most appealing. When someone tells me I can’t do something, that’s more inspiring than a hundred people saying, “Oh, you can do this”. The superhero role in “Griff”, I had to beg, borrow, steal to get. I put myself on tape four or five times to convince [the filmmakers] that I was right for it. I’m happy to fight for anything. It’s more intriguing.

TeenHollywood: So for “Griff”, did you get to see family and friends while shooting at home?

Ryan Kwanten: Yeah. It was shot last year in my home city of Sydney so I spent half the production staying with mom and dad back in my old room.

TeenHollywood: How weird was that?

Ryan Kwanten: My room hasn’t changed. My toes are now hanging off the edge of the bed and I’ve got these ridiculous leopard print sheets. I don’t know what I was thinking!

TeenHollywood: Was it nice to have your mom cook for you again?

Ryan Kwanten: Oh yeah. Mom’s spaghetti Bolognese [is great] and dad does a good stir fry and barbeque too.

TeenHollywood: What else did you do at home?

Ryan Kwanten: There’s a little surf break that I like called The Bower. Then just catching up with friends. I’m a simple man with simple pleasures so it doesn’t take much to [entertain me].  Friends, family and freedom.

TeenHollywood: What else besides “TrueBlood” is coming up for you?

Ryan Kwanten: I’m producing two films next year and I’ve got a novel coming out next year too. It’s a satire, a spoof on self-help books. It’s called “The G Strategy”. Should come out March or April next year.

TeenHollywood: That’s so cool! Are you in the films you are producing?

Ryan Kwanten: Yes. One is called “The Family” based on the Charles Manson murders. I’m playing Manson. It’s very scary.

TeenHollywood: To see through the eyes of a man like that, do you have to go to your dark side?

Ryan Kwanten: I think “TrueBlood” has proven that we all have dark sides and that we are intrigued by it so yes you have to find something in you. You have to find a relatable quality even in someone like that. We’re still a good six months out from shooting. The other is an Australian film called The 20-Something Survival Guide. It’s a late-20’s guy who is refusing to grow up. He’s a party planner and has all these parties at his house but he discovers that he has testicular cancer and he wants kids so he starts calling all these ex-girlfriends and saying “Will you help me?” 

TeenHollywood: Oh my gosh! And aren’t you in something with Summer Glau?

Ryan Kwanten: Yeah, Knights of Badassdom. If you saw Shaun of the Dead; horror meets comedy. It’s in that vein. I get kidnapped and thrown into the world of live action role play but people start dying.