Celebrity Interview | Entertainment & Film Industry- Douglas Vermeeren's Journey Through Stunts and Cinema

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment and life with your host, greg Staffa. I guess this episode is actor or film producer, director and stunt person Douglas Vermeeren joins us today from Vancouver. Douglas, how are you doing today? I'm doing excellent. Thanks for having me. Thank you. So first question right off the bat just as a fan favorite of mine, play an uncredited regulator in the Billy the Kid series. Is your character still alive or dead?

Douglas Vermeeren 0:53

No, he's dead, unfortunately. Actually, it's funny. A lot of the films I'm in, that's kind of the way it ends up for me. I know, yeah, I know they just started or they just announced season three and that's one of my personal favorite shows, and so I was curious when you guys were going to start filming again.

Greg Staffa 1:08

But if you were dead then you probably don't know, so I just want to get yeah, well, it is an ongoing series, so you know I can kind of answer a little bit of that. I know that, uh, you know they're shooting in alberta, close to the city of calgary in in canada, and you know, obviously, as the season's running, they actually kind of go, you know, almost a regular season. So yeah, it'll be up and starting. And my guess, my best guess, is, you know they're still working on Summit now They'll probably take a hiatus closer to the holidays and then kick it right off again as we finish that the holidays and then kick it right off again as we uh, as we finish.

Douglas Vermeeren 1:48

That that's billy kiddo's one of my my favorite kind of history people and, uh, big fan of the show. I have a love-hate relationship with the show, but other than that, uh, your overall enjoy it. So, seeing that you were a regulator, I just had to get that out of the way first. So tell us a little bit about yourself. Are you always in vancouver? Is that where you're born and raised?

Greg Staffa 2:06

no, no, I'm actually from Calgary, Alberta, canada. So I started as an actor there when I was a kid. In fact, one of the first things that I did was for a CBC after school special and then, funny enough, I was acting all throughout high school and stuff, and I actually used to skip school to go be on movie sets just because I loved it more than school. I mean, who wouldn't right? So that's kind of how my journey really began, and I knew that I wanted to be involved in film and then I went to film school. When I was in college I studied film, and now I kind of go wherever they need me. In fact, I just got back from Los Angeles yesterday working on a film called Alien Horde for Mahal Empire and, funny enough, I get killed in that one too, which is hilarious One of the main bad guys in that. But yeah, it's great. And now, of course, I live out in Vancouver.

Douglas Vermeeren 2:57

Now your bio says that you, at an early age, did stunts and at 13 years old was your first stunt riding on the roof of a speeding car. Is that a little bit of revisionist history or is that something you can? I mean, to me when I first read it that's called being a dumb kid. But yeah, basically. But to chalk it up now as like on your resume, having it that way, uh, can you tell us a little bit about what that was?

Greg Staffa 3:24

well, it's kind of funny because there's actually a photograph of that stunt on my Instagram, so you can actually see that stunt of where I rode on top of that car and it was for a student project that we were doing. And what's funny is I recently ran into the gentleman who owned that car and he thought it was kind of funny too because he didn't know about it. It was one of his kids that brought that car to the set. But that day, quite frankly, without adult supervision and without proper stunt equipment or a stunt coordinator, I did several steps that day that were probably not super smart. The car was one of them.

Greg Staffa 3:59

But I also that same day hung off the side of a building without any equipment or anything, just kind of by my fingernails and have friends pull me up at the end of that stunt. Since then, obviously we've learned there's a smart way and a not so smart way to do stunts. It's funny. One of the last bigger stunts that I did is I did a full body burn while I was over in the UK, so they lit me on fire head to toe and there's a right way again to do that and a bad way to do that, and I'm so glad I didn't know about doing those kinds of stunts when I was a kid, because I probably would have lit myself on fire too, which I don't recommend.

Douglas Vermeeren 4:31

I just think that's amazing, that you can go and look at your child. I mean, I'm thinking of my own childhood, the stupid, stupid things I did, wondering how I can incorporate that into my resume. This was an actual stunt. So Right, incorporate that into my resume.

Greg Staffa 4:47

This was an actual stunt, so right, it does count as well. I have to confess there. There's one stunt that I tried to do as a kid that didn't go off well no one got hurt, thank goodness. But uh, what I try to do when I was a kid is actually light some girl's hula hoop on fire and drive my bike through it, and the hula hoop melted before we could get a chance to go through it, and so I ended up having to break open my piggy bank and give this poor girl some money to get her hula hoop restored. So, but that was the first one that I probably did. I must've been maybe, I don't know eight at the time, something like that.

Douglas Vermeeren 5:16

I just think that's amazing that you had that intuition and drive since an early age. So do you consider yourself an actor who does stunts or a stuntman who acts?

Greg Staffa 5:26

You know, I started as an actor and I think I've always been an actor, but I guess that's a very gray line to kind of look between the two. The reality is, you know, I've always just been willing to do whatever it has taken for the role, right? Sometimes you know it's been a matter of will you do the stunt, sometimes you know it's been a matter of will you do the stunt. And then there's been movies where they have hired me specifically for either stunts or doubling or these kinds of things. That's what I did on Open Range with Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall and that Benning and that gang. But there's been other movies where they've allowed me to also do a character there and do the stunt work for that character. So each project is very, very different.

Greg Staffa 6:09

I'm not really sure what I consider myself, but one thing is for sure I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie and that's probably what keeps me doing stunts Generally how should we say even the lifestyle of stunts, whether I'm in front of camera or not. So I'm a mixed martial artist. I specialize, obviously, in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but I've got a background in a variety of other martial arts like Shotokan Gojikai. I've done Aikido and Wing Chun and Kenpo. I do fencing, you know, with the sword play. I also love motorcycles and do race car stuff. So I mean, it's just kind of who I am, my lifestyle. I just have always been drawn to sort of those adrenaline activities, right, so I guess it's just me.

Douglas Vermeeren 6:43

I'm a bit of both. You look at like tom cruise doing his own acting and stunts and you doing your own acting and stunts. Is there kind of a fine line where you would leave something up to the stunt person? Or is this always something that you're always constantly driving yourself to do and if you haven't done it before, you're willing to kind of take that risk? Or is there a certain point where you know what? No, I'm not gonna do it yeah, that's that's an interesting question.

Greg Staffa 7:06

The reality is is even tom cruise has certain things that the insurance companies will not allow him to do on a movie because obviously they're incredibly dangerous. I know we've all heard the story about him saying well, if stunt coordinator won't, let me do it, it's time to get a new stunt coordinator. Yeah, that's not always true. It sounds pretty macho and cool when you say it, but the reality is, is you're there to make a movie, first and foremost? You're not there to wind up, you know, in an ambulance somewhere. So there are certain stunts that, quite frankly, they, you know they're not possible for the performer to do. But also, nowadays we've got some very clever stunt coordinators and we've got technology that sometimes allow us to do things that are incredibly impossible. But we can do them right.

Greg Staffa 7:51

And I think, uh, it's also important to notice that. You know I mentioned stunt coordinators most big stuff that I've done. We have a team that's on the set and they will help us find the safest way to do it. And I have had some stunt coordinators simply say the way that, say the director is looking to do it, it's not the best way. They'll redo that whole sequence in a way that's much safer, but it still looks good on film. So I don't know. I personally think that if you've got a good team around you, chances are are very likely that you'll have no problems, it'll come off safe and it'll look really great. So, yeah, I don't think there's anything that I wouldn't do if my team kind of helps me figure out the logistics of it. But yeah, from time to time things don't always go as planned. I mean, we're dealing with a lot of factors that put together a stunt and sometimes people can get hurt, lot of factors that that put together a stunt and sometimes people can get hurt.

Douglas Vermeeren 8:48

But for the most part, um, you know, I haven't really seen a lot of those injuries occur for people on chat right, given the, the safety that is involved in the team aspect, the, the crews that are involved in making sure it's as safe as possible.

Stunt Performers and Canadian Film

Douglas Vermeeren 9:00

Do you think more actors should not do the bigger stunts you know, jumping off the cliff and on a motorcycle type stuff but do you think more actors should not do the bigger stunts? You know, jumping off a cliff and on a motorcycle type stuff but do you think more actors should get more involved in some of the physicalities? Or have we become so easy to say if you're going to trip and fall, we're going to have a stunt person do the fall, even though it's two feet to the ground?

Greg Staffa 9:20

Well, I think it's.

Greg Staffa 9:22

Yeah, I think it's a personal choice.

Greg Staffa 9:24

And, by the way, recently I was over at the Warner Brothers lot and they were talking a little bit about the history of stunts and it used to be that any staircase that you'd go up with over three steps used to be considered a stunt and people would be paid more for that.

Greg Staffa 9:40

I think happen on set of people tripping over cables or, you know, bumping into equipment, than really with the stunts. But for, I guess, to answer your question the easiest way, I think that's really a decision that all performers need to make for themselves and I'm not going to suggest that, you know, everybody should start doing stunts, because I also want to keep my stuntman friend employed. I think that's an important thing too is that it's a very specific role. But there's a lot of actors that do a lot of their own set work or attempt to do their own set work for some things, even the simplest fight and what have you. But then there's also some performers in the history of film that have chosen not to necessarily do certain things and, let's be honest, there may be private medical conditions there that they are, you know, maybe struggling with or what have you, and you know it's not for me to say, hey, they should be doing their stuff.

Greg Staffa 10:29

I think that's again a personal decision. In fact, I don't know if you knew this, but in Roger Moore's contract when he played James Bond, one of the things that he suggested that he will not run, that he never wanted to run and I don't know his reasons for that. That's probably something personal, but you know, I feel very bad if people were shaming him and he actually had some kind of a medical circumstance where that was just difficult for him to do so. Again, it's a personal choice and and, uh, I don't know, it's just unfair really for us to expect that if a performer says I'm not really willing to do that, it's probably better to just find a front person who can make that look good and let's keep stuntmen employed, right.

Douglas Vermeeren 11:08

Now am I correct? There is no Oscar award?

Greg Staffa 11:11

Not yet, in fact. It's interesting, speaking back to James Bond, probably the most recognized stunt in the history of movies came from the James Bond series, but most of the accolades that they had received were actually from the Guinness Book of World Records, right, for either you know the highest, you know jump the biggest, this the biggest, that the most flips of a car, et cetera. Those are the athletes that they've mostly received. But I really do think that there should be more respect given to stunt performers. It's definitely something that you know. I believe most stunt performers that that I've worked with, especially with the physicality, they're trained to the level of a professional athlete most times, and so you, you know, I think that they should be recognized for that well and the risks, too, that are involved.

Greg Staffa 11:55

Yep it can be. Yeah, in fact. Uh, I think the movie the fall guy was a great depiction of that. I don't know if you've seen that already with ryan gosling, but you know, if somebody has an injury or an accident or something, they're on the sidelines, they're benched I mean, same as athlete. Sure, there's insurance policies that will help to some extent, but for the most part that person will be out of work until they either can recover or find another way to become useful. Some of them actually do come out as advisors instead of performing the stunts themselves, but it's a really difficult position if you're injured.

Douglas Vermeeren 12:29

And speaking of awards, I think that film got Guinness Book for the most car flips in the scene.

Greg Staffa 12:35

Yeah, it could be. It used to be held by Casino Royale the James Bond movie but I'm not sure if that record's been broken or not. I think that they did 17 rolls or something like that in the car, but I can't remember.

Douglas Vermeeren 12:47

So now, growing up in Canada, there's a lot of Canadian and you guys have your own tv shows and everything like that, but a show like due south was the first canadian made series to have a prime time slot here on a major us network. That was in 1994. Flashpoint was another series in 2009. With so many shows being filmed in canada that are u, why aren't there more Canadian shows being filmed and shown here in the US?

Greg Staffa 13:15

Well, I think that there's a lot of factors that play into that, you know. So, I mean, how much time do we have to really analyze it all? We certainly do have the talent. There's a lot of really very talented people here and then, as you know, they're shooting a lot of us shows here, which um do find their way on to us network, with a lot of canadians involved, right. So, you know, I I really can't answer all the specifics, but I I do think that, um, you know that one of the biggest challenges is always finding a distribution point and also funding. So, you know, you know, sometimes I don't know, I mean, I'm just sharing again my opinion, so we'll see what kind of hate mail we get.

Greg Staffa 13:57

I think sometimes in Canada they tend to lean more on culturally relevant type shows to them.

Greg Staffa 14:03

We see a lot of funding that goes to people that are, you know, sharing Canadian stories, or you know, or stories around Canadian culture, or you see things that are heading to, like money heading to specific groups to help tell their stories, and while those stories are important, I don't think that I would disagree that they need to be made, but the reality is is I think the American market is looking more specifically towards entertainment and films that are going to give a return.

Greg Staffa 14:35

So they're more about the financial return on a film rather than the cultural relevance of a film, and because of that, like I mean, let's be honest, you've got to give the audiences what they want to see, and I don't think the audiences are necessarily craving some of these cultural shows or, in the US, why would they care about certain aspects of Canadian history?

Greg Staffa 14:57

So I think that that's really a big factor is just the funding isn't there and you know the distributors aren't ready to, you know, to share too many Canadian stories before a market. I mean, they may play well here and they also serve a certain demographic like, let honest, I think the you know, the generation that pays the most to come and see a movie are rather looking for something to be entertained, not to be educated. So I think there's, again, some challenges that are there. I do want to be clear, though, that I think that there is a place for everyone's story, and even the education-based or the cultural-based things are great, but I do feel like there needs to be a bit of a balance if we're going to compete in the global marketplace of film.

Douglas Vermeeren 15:36

Right it's just amazing that so many us companies go to canada to film, yet canada can't seem to produce their own stuff that is globally recognized and then sometimes it is important to recognize that some of the stuff that is being globally recognized is produced in Canada.

Greg Staffa 15:54

So, for example, one of my friends, kyle Bell, did the movie Skinnamorink, which is a scary movie and it's produced in a city called Edmonton, alberta, canada, and he's done very well with it internationally. In fact I believe even Rolling Stone magazine listed it as one of the top 10 scary movies of the year, and so you know, those films are out there. I don't think a lot of people understand that they are Canadian or being produced in Canada. So that's another question is you know? Is it being recognized? But I do think you know. If we're talking about, again, canadian people making American films, I guess to some extent you could argue that those are somewhat Canadian films to them, right, because it's Canadian crews, often Canadian talent, but perhaps maybe the money and the distribution on them are American, and I think one of the reasons that they're mostly made up here in Canada obviously we've got the exchange rate. Every time someone crosses the border they're earning 30%, which means that you've got a movie that just makes the numbers easy, a million-dollar budget. Suddenly that becomes a $1.3 million movie, and then you've also got the tax incentives.

Greg Staffa 16:58

So different areas, and not just Canada, but different states in the US, even different countries in Europe and so forth, they have tax considerations that they give to attract production to their location and sometimes those tax credits can be quite enormous.

Greg Staffa 17:14

And so, you know, they obviously are built to encourage filmmakers to spend money in their communities, so a lot of times they will hire talent from those areas.

Greg Staffa 17:23

So, for example, where I am in British Columbia, the tax credits do require that a certain amount of either cast or crew be local, because that brings, you know, financing into the community. You know that's kind of why they're heading up here, that's why they're heading to other places, that's why, quite frankly, there's, you know, I mean, there's still a lot of production going on in Los Angeles, but there's a lot of runaway production going to other states, other countries. That's why you see so many shows being shot abroad. It's because those tax credits and often the exchange rate and, um, quite frankly, right now a lot of the major streamers don't really care if the project is unionized, because they've just got to supply content to their subscribers. So I don't know, the world in film is changing. And then let's be honest also that the technology to make great films is becoming so much more accessible, so I think the bar is being lowered to allow other people around the world, wherever they may be, to create some really great projects.

Douglas Vermeeren 18:23

As an actor you just mentioned it streaming has really blown up the last few years. As an actor, do you see an impact on how you approach the business or how you're treated in the business? Is that something that is a big change from going from like a major studio to now doing a streaming series? Is that all pretty balanced out now, or is there still kind of a world of difference?

Greg Staffa 18:47

I think that you know the world is still finding its way through streaming. Obviously, you know I come from a generation and so do you that kind of straddles the theatrical release versus the streaming service and we that a lot of the unions are kind of out of touch on what's really going on, because you can't expect to have royalties and things that are paid out when someone gets like a subscription let's call it 20 bucks or whatever and in that month they end up watching 50 movies, right, how are you supposed to divide that kind of money amongst that? So the royalties are really being affected.

Evolution of Entertainment Industry Trends

Greg Staffa 19:29

I also think that the day of the big movie star, with getting paid $20 million a movie, is gone.

Greg Staffa 19:37

The reality is that might have worked in a theatrical setting where people are paying $12 to go see a movie, but the reality is when you flip on your Netflix, you're not looking for the latest Tom Cruise necessarily. You're looking at all kinds of shows and you just happen to stumble across a thumbnail. You don't even get a trailer, but a thumbnail that has Tom Cruise on it. Well, you may watch that, but you may not be there specifically for that. So I think you know, if we really look at what the future of it I think we're going to see.

Greg Staffa 20:05

Yes, there'll be just like on YouTube and so forth. We have influencers and people that are popular and draw audiences to them. I think that'll be that, but there's no think we're going to see some stars emerge. That, let's be honest. I mean, netflix doesn't really have to do a lot of advertising to get you to watch a movie. They need to do advertising to get you to become a subscriber. So I think we're going to also see more of this sort of co-op type advertising, where they're advertising 10 or 15 different movies in one trailer and people are going to then make their choice when they get there.

Douglas Vermeeren 20:55

Right, I think COVID had a lot to do with it. I think just the timing of streaming had a lot to do too. I mean, I remember the days where if you were an actor and you had a straight-to-video release, that was kind of the unwritten signal that your career was winding down. But now we're releasing something on streaming, and we were seeing Adam Stanley return for happy Gilmore too, on Netflix. We're seeing Beverly Hills cop for on Netflix. We're seeing things become much more acceptable. We're seeing Hollywood actors like Harrison Ford appearing on TV series on streaming, because that kind of blurs the definition between Hollywood actor, big movie star to TV is no longer there, right, Well, I think also TV has changed dramatically too, because it's no longer sort of a commercial funded type venture.

Greg Staffa 21:49

We've now got streaming services that they're creating programs to be binge-watched, and are they really TV, not like they used to be? Because obviously even the censorship codes and things are totally different. I think if you look at what HBO did and Showtime again, it was a pay-per-view style television experience but you had shows like the Sopranos, or even if we look at Breaking Bad and I love those shows, they're absolutely awesome. So this is not a complaint, but we see that the violence was totally different than what we saw on regular TV. So with the language there was also things like nudity and other components that the regular censors would not allow on television, and so television started becoming more like a movie. And I think that was one of the big differences that, if we look at during the 70s, 80s and even 90s, that really made a big difference for TV versus film is that TV was considered sort of a lesser, sort of tamed version of entertainment and we didn't see the kind of, you know, grittiness that we do now on television programs. So the industry has definitely changed and I don't know. Like I said, also, now there's technology available to people that really can produce some great stuff without a lot of expense to it.

Greg Staffa 23:05

In fact, one of the things that I also am on the board of directors for is a service called NetIndy, which is a streaming service specifically for short film content, and I think that that's another thing that we haven't really seen before until things like YouTube Like people would have to watch a full television program or what have you, but the reality is we're all busy people. A lot of us, let's call it, have ADD because of all the digital things coming at us, and I think that the future of short film is going to explode because most of us, we don't have the time to watch long content stuff. So there's definitely a demand for them. But I think the challenge with things like YouTube is they're not compensating the filmmakers enough to make it viable to create short film content or programming for that.

Greg Staffa 23:54

So that's one of the things that we're trying to correct is we actually paid a filmmaker a reasonable amount of money, rather than you having to struggle to monetize it through a free service like youtube and you're right up alongside kitty cat videos or, you know, sale blogs or like? I mean, you know there's, there's a how should we say, there's a panache, if you will, that comes with being part of a service that's a legitimate distribution outlet versus just a free channel that anybody can kind of crowd around and watch. And I think that that's what filmmakers really need is to separate themselves from all of the you know, the free content that's showing up on youtube and and demonstrate a higher quality of content, and that that, I think, is going to go a long way to helping them in the long run to establish themselves as filmmakers. Right, regardless if it's short for more features I've been acting for a while.

Douglas Vermeeren 24:48

The explosion of streaming services have you seen a diminish in writing talent, acting talent, directing talent is that, is that getting overly watered down, or is?

Greg Staffa 24:58

it. I think we've seen this all the time. Like if we look at when home video became a big thing, there was a rush to create video just to fulfill that need and of course she had all kinds of lower budget films that came out. Uh, sometimes the acting quality was definitely not Academy Award worthy, but people knew what they were buying, so no one was disappointed. The writing the same thing. Some things were just rushed out the door. In fact, if we look at like the I call it the slasher epidemic, when we saw shows like Friday the 13th and Halloween become so popular and they were very well done, but we immediately saw an incredible number of imitators that came that were just looking to fill that void and obviously you know they made money and people were interested to see them. I think we're seeing the same thing now, right, like we've always seen it, even if you look at, like you know, sort of during the 70s, the exploitation films. These are not something new. So we've got just different levels of filmmakers. Something new. So we've got just different levels of filmmakers.

Artistry vs Popcorn Cinema

Greg Staffa 25:53

Greg Staffa 25:53

And some filmmakers are content to be producing quality at a certain level, like just to get films out and large numbers of content. And then others are I'm going to just call them more concerned about the art of film and they're really taking their time to craft amazing scripts, to make sure their films are well cast, that they're well shot, that they're. You know these art pieces Now, is one better than the other? I don't think so, because there's audiences for both, right? So I think it's just a matter you know of you as an artist. You get to decide where you want to be. Are you here to make a lot of content and maybe quite a bit of cash or tons of low budget things, or are you here to create legacy pieces?

Greg Staffa 26:32

There's no wrong answer. It's just you get to decide. And then, obviously, we cross our fingers that you can find your audience, because there's some people that, no kidding, they love just a simple popcorn movie and they're not wanting to find something too deep to think about. And I'm like I'm that way too. Depends on my mood, like I, I love some let's call them cheesy, funny, silly, easily put together movies. Sometimes they make me giggle and I enjoy them. And then there's moments in my life where I'm like I would prefer to see something that just is a well-built, well-acted, well-written film. So again, there's no answer. I think there's room for everybody.

Douglas Vermeeren 27:10

Growing up, you attribute your love of film to films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, kind of those classic films of my generation. Who do you think their inspiration or who should they be looking at for that same kind of inspiration these days? I know Spielberg is still around.

Greg Staffa 27:29

Yeah, and you know what my tastes have also changed over the years. Obviously, when I was a kid and I thought Star Wars, yeah, and you know what my tastes have also changed over the years, obviously, when I was a kid and I saw Star Wars, like probably most of the major filmmakers out there today, they were very influenced by it. It was an incredible, pivotal moment in the history of cinema. But I think for me, like when I went to film school, I took a course called film analysis, which was probably the best thing I could have ever done, and during the course of that film, over one semester, we had to watch at least 100 films. Many of them were films I'd never heard of and many of them were even foreign films that I had no idea who these filmmakers were, and so I fell in love with films that I never knew existed, and it really broadened my spectrum of what film could be Right. And, you know, I also, of course, fell in love with so many of the actors from those different films, and some of them, like I say, are foreign actors from faraway places that I'd never heard their name. And so I think, if a person wants to become a filmmaker.

Greg Staffa 28:25

Today and again, this is just my opinion certainly start with the things that you love and know, the things that gave you the passion to want to become a filmmaker, but then watch every movie you possibly can. And while I was doing that course, I was generally watching about three movies a day just to even get through that semester. And even today, when I'm not on set sometimes even when I still am on set, like going home back to the hotel I'm not the guy that goes out and parties with everybody. I'll go home and I will actually watch movies. And I'm also the guy that, funny enough, when I go to the theater, you'll see me sitting near the front because I bring a notebook and I'm taking notes and I use the light from the screen to be able to see what I'm writing. Think, if you're going to be a filmmaker, you've got to take this art very seriously. No kidding, I recently ran into somebody who he's a friend of mine and he wants to be a filmmaker and he's done quite a few small projects, but I'm surprised that he just isn't watching movies more regularly. In my opinion, he needs to be watching movies to be able to become a filmmaker.

Greg Staffa 29:31

It's one of those things where unless you know and kind of what's out there, you can't really be part of a conversation effectively. And if you're heading to LA what's funny to talk about movies? You better know movies really well, because people talk in short end. I can't tell you how many times I've been sitting doing a scene and the director will say, hey, you remember the scene from say I don't know, say I don't know Bullet or the Sevenyear itch, or way back in North by Northwest or something. Do you remember those scenes? This is kind of what I'm looking for. Well, if you don't know those movies, you're just kind of standing there going oh, wow. Or somebody says you know the bicycle thieves and you know some of the films from Federico Fellini, or you know some of these people. You better know your movie. I think it's a really important thing If you're going to work in that industry. You need to become immersed in the movie industry.

Douglas Vermeeren 30:23

I believe I could be wrong on this, so don't fully quote me. I believe Tom Cruise has the same philosophy, where he tries to watch a movie a day. Cool, and you know, one of the things I've been amazed by is some of these A-list Hollywood actors, how deep they are into knowledge of film and how much they're watching film.

Greg Staffa 30:45

Well, look at Tarantino. He is probably the most knowledgeable guy on the planet. I'm so impressed. I just actually watched some videos that he had done on YouTube of cinema speculation and, of course, I've read the book. But I don't know that there's a guy who knows more about movies on the planet today and I think he's just incredible and it reflects in the films that he creates. Right, certainly, you know, you can see his genius. But it's one thing to be a smart guy no trivia. It's another thing to be a guy who can actually create something using that kind of knowledge. And I think you know I think it's underrated how talented that guy is.

Douglas Vermeeren 31:24

It's absolutely incredible. Ethan Hawke is another one that comes to my mind, maybe not at a Tarantino level, but just his knowledge and appreciation of the film. He is a fascinating person to talk to in an interview, just because of his depth of knowledge, that goes.

Greg Staffa 31:39

We will often think of these actors as they show up, they read a script and then that's all they do, is they do a performance, but the knowledge and the kind of reverence that they have towards the art of filmmaking and I think we've lost fact that it is an art yeah, and I think an important thing to remember too is that film is a collaborative art as well, and so, yes, while I'm at home and I've got scripts right now that I'm working on, you know, in fact, I'm back on set here in a day or two, but I can only do so much either by myself or with a reading partner or other actors. Right, when I show up on set, suddenly I became, I become not only how should we say a new person in the context of the set design, the costumes I'm wearing, the director is going to give me advice, the other actors who've also prepared at home, but I also now record something that will also now go into the hands of the editor, and people who are going to do some music along that or whatever other you know, maybe VFX get put in and all kinds of things. That or whatever other you know, maybe VFX get put in and all kinds of things. So I've really got to understand that I've got to bring my A game to the table, but I've got to trust those around me to hopefully create something magnificent. And this is why I'm always a little bit I don't know bothered by some of the award shows, especially for people like who show up at the Razzies and get trouble for stuff that you know they say it was a terrible performance.

Greg Staffa 33:03

And you remember, a while ago there was that poor 13-year-old girl that got beaten up over a performance. Well, the reality is she was, first of all, only sharing the words that were on the script. Second, she was only doing the performance that the director asked her to. And third, she was actually acting with other people who would either bring out a better performance or diminish their performance. And then, of course, there's the editor that's going to take his turn at it. So I think it's really unfair to either give too much praise or too much criticism to an actor, a single actor, based on what they've been able to create in film, because it's a collaborative effort, and so I don't know. I just think the public doesn't really realize that as much when they're watching the film. Well, I think it's with life in general. I just think the public doesn't really realize that as much when they're watching the film.

Douglas Vermeeren 33:39

Well, I think it's with life in general. I mean, I doubt that there's anyone out there that goes. You know what I'm thinking of making a bad film because I want to win a Razzie, I think you know there's studio influences. There's just the script didn't come together, the director was under too much pressure, he didn't have the time to do this or that. There's so many things that go on, but I don't think anyone on a crew ever says I sought out to do a bad job.

Greg Staffa 34:03

Right, and you know what's interesting, I saw something that someone had said on social media the other day that kind of made sense. They said rather than seeing all these remakes of big hits, right, like you know, not too long ago we saw Roadhouse remade and now now, of course, you're mentioning about happy gilmore coming back and some of the other ones I think that's great.

Greg Staffa 34:20

I'm interested to watch those often. They do a pretty good job. But I think it would be more interesting to take a film that had a really good story to it, a good premise about it, but maybe just wasn't fully executed well, and try to do a remake of that right. That might be an interesting experiment to try. But again, I mean people have to make their own decisions of what they want to produce.

Douglas Vermeeren 34:40

So that kind of undercut. My next question without you knowing it, you're a character that you've done over the past. Now that you've become kind of a bigger name in Hollywood and everywhere, that fans that are just coming to get to know you should go back and watch it. You say you know maybe the audience that you'd love to see them go check this out, the view in it, because you thought the performance was great that the audience might not have seen. And is there a role that you'd like to play again from one of those experiences?

Greg Staffa 35:07

Wow, that's interesting. I guess you know there's some films that I participated in where I would love to switch roles and try it like try one of the other roles in the film to see how that's worked, and a couple times that that's happened. But I'll be honest, I think overall I'm very satisfied with how a lot of the projects that I've been involved in have turned out. Some of them would I like to see. Maybe a reboot one day in the future. Perhaps would I like to see a sequel, um, sometimes. But the reality is I'm not in the habit of really looking back. I'm always it's funny when people ask me what's my favorite movie that I've ever been in, my answer is always the next one. As an actor, I'm always looking for what's next and if it's something that I've already done oftentimes you know it's not that I feel negatively towards that, but I'm like I've done that already, so let's move on to the next one, and that's kind of the. I think the way that I look at it is what's next? And you know, what haven't I done before? That I'd like to try. But I won't lie. There are some kind of characters that I've done before that I'm happy to revisit either them or something similar to them, like I've done a lot of, I think, really kind of macho type characters that are always super fun, cause obviously I was raised in the generation where we've got these male action heroes and you know the James bombs and the hand solos and the Indiana Jones and like the Steve McQueen type characters I've always loved. So whenever I get those kind of you know roles that make me I think cooler than I really am, it's kind of you know roles that make me I think cooler than I really am, it's kind of funny and I love those. In fact it's funny for a while. Like hollywood weekly recently had me on the cover of the magazine. They called me cinnamon's bad boy. Well, if they saw me at home they'd see I'm actually kind of boring. I'm not a bad boy at all. But yeah, I do my own stunts, I get it. I shoot guns, I hang out of helicopters, I do all that kind of stuff. I get it. But that's not really who I am as a person. So yeah, I mean I'll do more of those roles. I always will say yes to those actual ones because they're fun.

Greg Staffa 37:08

But uh, recently I guess there's an example I just did a movie called farewell to you. That's got, uh, maddie cardrapool from stranger things and larry thomas who was the suit Nazi in Seinfeld and all of these things. Well, they asked me to play sort of this dad I don't do a lot of dad who's a Portuguese kind of art guy and he's like a guru of art and I grew a goatee for it and I wore these kind of funny glasses and I had to do sort of this Portuguese accent. It was super different different than anything that I've ever done and obviously there's zero violence in me, except for one scene where I slap somebody.

Greg Staffa 37:46

I won't tell you who that is, you'll have to see the movie but it was just so unique. But it was a super fun experience to just kind of go that direction with something that I'd never visited before.

Actor Reflects on Film Legacy

Greg Staffa 37:58

And so, yeah, I mean my favorite movie. It's going to be the next one. Whatever it is and whatever challenges show up, let's take a look at it and make some cool choices to just bring that character to life.

Douglas Vermeeren 38:10

That's the goal right. We love Matty. We just had him on the podcast a couple episodes ago.

Greg Staffa 38:14

Oh, he's a super cool dude. I was just hanging with him in LA and we're over at his offices there with one of our producing partners and we're going to be doing a bunch of stuff together coming up. I just love that guy to death. He's awesome.

Douglas Vermeeren 38:28

One of your answers kind of reminded me. You said there's other roles, other characters you would have liked to play. It reminded me there's a TV show that no longer airs, called Psych, and they ran for, I think, six seasons on USA Network and later on in the series they took one of their earlier episodes and earlier scripts and used the same characters but kind of mixed up things a little bit to kind of remodernize it or change it up a little bit, but it's basically the same actors using the same kind of script, but creating a very different episode, basically repeating itself, and so it's. I think we kind of missed that fun in Hollywood Some of these days.

Greg Staffa 39:13

Well, I think that's. That's very similar to what the comic industry started years ago. Like the comic book, dc had a series called what if, and I think marvel did something very similar, where they took, you know, say, you know, the story of superman, what if he had landed in russia and you know became that? Or you know what if you know bruce wayne's parents didn't die, and I think those kind of what ifs are really quite fun to think about.

Greg Staffa 39:37

Yeah, I mean, I would love to do films like that, to take something that we all traditionally know and then spin it on its head. I do think we need to be careful, though, because the audience does have expectations, and I think it's going to be very interesting to see what happens when snow white comes out, because obviously, that's changed quite a bit, and I think you know some people hold that character so closely that you've got to, I think, identify whether you're going to allow those stories to become canon or whether they're again a what-if kind of story, because we know that when DC did it, we knew what they were doing, right, we knew that it was not going to become canon and change the things that we love, and it was just a fun point of view point of view. But I think when you start like taking stuff that people love and adore and you're messing with it to an extent where it's now you know canon and reshaping that whole legacy of that creature or character, I think you're in real trouble.

Douglas Vermeeren 40:29

You gotta be real careful about that stuff there's a I wish I could remember the name. There's a musician who was talking about how, over the years, you know, do you get tired of singing the same song or you know you want to change it up. And he said for a while there's one of his songs. He did change up and he started talking to fans and that was the fans first date that they went on hearing that song right the first kiss and he goes me.

Douglas Vermeeren 40:58

I can't change it up anymore because it ruins that memory for them, and so I understand the appreciation of. I need to keep it as it is as much as a performance. I would love to mix it up or play it faster or slow it down To that fan. There's so much emotion tied to that character and I think in Hollywood too too, we have that for for certain characters that you can't. Well you know it's on that.

Greg Staffa 41:27

I think it's really important, just something that, um, my own father taught me. My dad's really smart, I just love him to death and he's got always good ideas, but he's never really been involved in the movie business, right? So one of the things that he told me once, probably when I was younger, I was in a movie and I didn't really like how it turned out.

Greg Staffa 41:44

It happens to every actor. Trust me, like you'll do a movie, you've got high expectations and all of a sudden you see it. You're like oh dear. And I was kind of just with my family being kind of vocal about it, and my dad pulled me aside and he said you know what you got to stop that. And then he explained that again, just like you had said here, that that particular film could have special significance on an emotional level for somebody else and it really means something to them, whether you like it or not. And he said don't go wreck it for somebody else just because you didn't like it.

Greg Staffa 42:17

Try to always speak highly of the projects that you're in, whether you enjoy them or not, and let the audience decide. And if they like it, let them have that, if they don't like it, let them have that too. But just don't speak negatively of whatever you've been on. And the truth is, as I've been thinking about, that I don't know. I mean just the fact that I get to work on movies is a blessing as it is. So I really can't be upset that you know I'm in a movie that I didn't like. The truth is I'm in a movie and it is kind of funny that you know, I did have somebody once tell me that they didn't was a movie that I in fact actually produced too, right.

Greg Staffa 43:00

So this was even more painful. I was talking with my friend Brent about it and Brent says you know what, don't worry about it. No matter what somebody says, the thing they cannot take away is the fact that you are in a movie or you made a movie, right. So just remember that 90% of these negative comments either come from places of ignorance or jealousy, and I think that that also applies when we criticize our own movies, right, we get upset because we're jealous that maybe somebody else had a different part or a different opportunity in the film, and the reality is we should just be thankful that we're part of this experience.

Douglas Vermeeren 43:35

So you had Mafia Spies, which came out earlier this year, and right now you have Black Creek, and Tenants just recently came out. Tell us a little bit overview of those three.

Greg Staffa 43:46

Okay, well, I guess we can start with Mafia Spies. That was a super fun experience. I loved working with everybody in that film, especially the director, tom Donaghy, who's a super cool guy, and yeah, I just I loved it.

Upcoming Films and Villain Roles

Greg Staffa 43:58

For those who haven't seen it, you'll. If you do. When you do see it, it really will get you rethinking a lot about American history and some of the things that we've been taught and told, because it's not entirely accurate and now that some of those documents are becoming declassified, I think you'll be surprised. Obviously, the title does refer to some of these secrets. I'm referring to Mafia spies. Well, yeah, there was a time in the history of our existence that the CIA partnered with the mafia and their intention was to assassinate Fidel Castro, and it's a very interesting story, so I'm going to encourage everybody to watch that. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I promise you'll be very surprised.

Greg Staffa 44:37

Tennis we shot not too long ago. It's a scary movie anthology. So if you remember films like Twilight Zone, the movie and Creepshow and things like that, where they had several stories in the film, this is kind of like that and I think they've done a really good job with it. There's a lot of neat creepy stories and some things that I think are just like in Twilight Zone. The movie even heartfelt, but very mysterious and strange that you wouldn't see this story coming. I will maybe give a little bit of a spoiler alert here. I play a bad guy in it and I'm not very nice. That was a really interesting situation for me to do what I did in that film. It's not who.

Greg Staffa 45:16

I am in real life. But the cool thing is is my character does get what he deserves and it's. It's a little bit entertaining. You're going to laugh at that, so it's quite fun right now. That's actually streaming. It just went live, Um, I think about a week ago, and the funny thing is that I was looking on Apple. I mean it's on several platforms, but I was looking on Apple and it's currently on sale, which is pretty cool. So if you want to check that out, I would encourage you getting it for the end of the Halloween season and that's tenants, just like an apartment tenant.

Greg Staffa 45:47

But last week, on the 9th of October, we had the premiere of Black Creek, and Black Creek is a Western movie that was created by Cynthia Rothrock. Some of you might know she's a legendary martial artist and she brought along a lot of her friends, everybody from Don the Dragon Wilson to Keith Cook, who you know from Mortal Kombat to Richard Norton. He's done all kinds of movies. In fact, he was in Furiosa and Fury Road and a bunch of other ones that have done tons of great martial arts films and Patrick Fitzpatrick, who you've probably seen in everything from Remo Williams to Under Siege Part 2, to you name it In that I played kind of the what's a good word for it the director used this word and sort of the writer swarming. I'm not really sure what that means, but I was a swarming kind of weird kind of dude who basically played all the angle for his own benefit. The character's name was Hank Winslow.

Greg Staffa 46:45

Basically, what I do is I run a gambling ring on the wild wild West and I make people fight each other and I'm not very good and nice about it. I, I, I'm not kind. I get Cynthia's character fighting a lot of people with the hopes that she's going to croak. I want to see her dead. Yeah, as you can imagine, she's the hero. So probably not going to work out, but it's interesting to see some of those fights. Oh, we've got our, our Marcus Taylor, in there as well. He, you know, you might remember, from straight out of Compton and stuff like that. So he's one of my, my favorite fights in it. I thought he did a great job. There's a lot of really cool stuff going on there. It's kind of like the Expendables, but for the martial arts community. I guess that just came out and I expect it's going to do quite well.

Douglas Vermeeren 47:28

You have a busy future coming up. You're listening to a lot of things coming up. Is there anything in particular that you're fancying?

Greg Staffa 47:35

I just was on set I guess day before yesterday on Alien Horde for Mahal Empire. I played one of the bad guys in that too. Boy, it seems like I'm always a bad guy here. I don't want to give away what's happening with that, but I had guys like Vernon Wells and James Duvall and Andrew Dukoff, and you know some pretty cool people that we had in that film. I've got one more day that I'm on that film, so right now I'm in Vancouver, but I fly back to LA on the 23rd and I've got just the 24th left remaining on that film. I think that's going to be a great one With the Mahals. I also did Bikers vs Werewolves, so that's coming out soon. They've had a really big success with Arena Wars, especially on Paramount Plus right now, so I'm excited to see what these other films will be like for us. I also have Queen Wright's Hook coming up, which I think is awesome. We shot that one in England and that one should be coming out fairly soon too.

Greg Staffa 48:33

I play a gangster by the name of Archie Baker. It's kind of a quirky story, but kind of in the style of like a Guy Ritchie type you know, european gangster type film. So I think that one's going to be really well. It's super fun to be involved in. Chris Sanders is the director of that. I've actually worked with multiple times and so it's kind of fun being back with him. And then right now we're just in the process of completing the final distribution kind of deal with the movie Jackknife and Jackknife. We actually shot with Adam Jack. I've done three movies with him as well already. Jackknife I play a really kind of cool villain but the story is so good in that film and we won a lot of film festival awards because of that story and kind of the story behind it.

Greg Staffa 49:23

I think you know, I guess, the best way to describe it it's kind of a neat reflection on what we're kind of dealing with in our society and the race in the community that has some significant stereotypes racially and so kind of what happens is there's some crime that happens in the city which they get blamed for. Technically, that's me and my brother are the ones who are the real culprit In the end. These two teens end up, because of the accusations, end up fleeing and as they flee to kind of find protection, obviously their mother is concerned. The law enforcement wants them for questioning on these things and they happen to steal something that belongs to me and my criminal brother. So all three of us are now chasing these two kids. It doesn't necessarily end how you think it's going to end, but it's a really interesting reflection on how our society sort of deals with these things. So I'm very, very proud of that film.

Actor Douglas Reflects on Career

Douglas Vermeeren 50:25

Well, douglas, thank you for joining us. Despite the Hollywood reporter and all your roles, you are a sincere, nice guy. So thank you for joining us and sharing some of your wisdom. I'm looking forward to checking out Black Creek and Tenants on Apple TV for Tenants and I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of your career brings you.

Greg Staffa 50:47

Thank you. That's very kind of you to say.

Douglas Vermeeren 50:49

That does it for this episode. Thank you for listening to the Stafford Corner. Thank you.