Celebrity Interview | Entertainment & Film Industry - Jeff Gladstone: Insights on Set Dynamics and Career Longevity from 'Twilight Zone' to 'Cryptic'

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment and life with your host, Greg Staffa. My guest this episode is Jeff Gladstone. He can be seen on hit shows like Fire Country, virgin River, the Twilight Zone, the Killing Supernatural and Resident Alien. The Twilight Zone, the Killing Supernatural and Resident Alien. He stars as Joel Morgan in the latest new horror thriller, cryptic, which appeared at South by Southwest this year. Cryptic now can be available to mass audiences as recently as May 9th and is available in Canada and the US in select theaters and video on demand. Jeff, thanks for joining us today. Thanks so much for having me. Being from Canada. We see a lot of TV shows, a lot of films being shot in Canada, but Canada productions rarely make it to US. As far as we saw the TV series Due South, and then there is the um proceed, uh, please, procedural Um, the name is escaping me right now. That was shown in the U S. Why is so much filmed in Canada but yet Canada productions rarely

Canadian Productions vs American Shows

Greg Staffa 1:17

make it to us audiences?

Jeff Gladstone 1:19

You know that is a great question. I mean for sure, the, the American film industry is much, much bigger than it is in Canada. So there's a lot more, you know there's a lot more out there and I don't know the ins and outs, but we get. You know, there's so much American television and media that is syndicated in Canada. We have our one kind of national broadcaster, the CBC, which has been the home of most like Canadian production.

Jeff Gladstone 1:51

And in Canada, because you know, our cultures and our way of life is so similar, you know people get used to just, you know, consuming that media and you know, relating to that, I know, you know American television is all around the world in the same way, you know it's not just Canadian. But I think we have a really vibrant and strong film industry in Canada. Most of our talent is working on American productions most of the time, and a lot of Canadians, if they get to a point like they moved to LA and they, you know, and they go to work down there as many, many have in the past. But I think it's, you know, it's a good time to cultivate our cinema and our talent that is working in Canada and I would love to see more, more of that work kind of make its way into the States and see more of a global market happening in film overall.

Greg Staffa 2:47

It just seems like yeah it just seems like there's.

Greg Staffa 2:49

So I mean the cruiser in Canada, the filming is in Canada, the, you know, all the production is in Canada, but then it's a US show and just you would think that at some point there'd be more Canadian based shows. I mean, I guess at this point it doesn't really matter where it comes from, because it's all kind of a mix of stuff, but you don't really see the, the shows coming out like do some? That was a big deal when do itself came out because it was a Canadian show. And I guess the definition of what's a Canadian show when you're filming and producing and the crew is all from Canada but it's a US show. So I guess the lines are kind of blurred a little bit there. But that was a big deal when that show came out. And then do you see, when you do like a Canadian production versus a US production, is there much difference with the unions or is the shooting, when you're shooting something that's a little foreign, different with the US?

Jeff Gladstone 3:53

I mean definitely the American series and, like you know, a big feature is going to have a much larger team and a bigger team and stuff, and generally the Canadian productions are done on a bit of a on a smaller budget and and a smaller team and everything like that. But in terms of you know the talent and it goes all the way from the you know the grips and the PAs, you know like all the way up, like the talent is there. You know the talent is the same and and the stories are good and and you know the writers are. So, yeah, I think there's really not a lot of difference, except in scale.

Greg Staffa 4:27

You know, I'd say Now as an actor I mean you've done Fire Country and Twilight Zone and Supernatural and Resident Alien. As an actor, if you had the promise of stability and you go on 10 shows over five years or be on one show over five years and the financial aspect would be the same, which, as an actor, would you find more enticing?

Jeff Gladstone 4:53

That's a great question. I've always felt like my theater background. I love immersing myself in a world and living in that world and then leaving it and going on to the next thing. In fact, I had, like you know, I did music when I was starting out too, but I thought, man, like I don't,

Actor's Career: Stability vs Variety

Jeff Gladstone 5:16

if you're really successful in music, you're playing the same songs for like 40 years. I thought I don't have the attention span for that. I like the fresh experience. But all to say, you know, spire Country, for example, was such a great set Like the vibe and the atmosphere and the energy coming from, like the lead actors and the production team was so positive and so fun. It really made me curious. And now, at this point in my career that I've got through lots of different things, I'm really excited. For you know, I would love to be on a series for a few years and develop a character over multiple seasons, and it's definitely something that is on my list of next accomplishments. I would love to. I'd love to do.

Greg Staffa 6:07

I think outsiders out of LA I'm in Minnesota we fail to realize that it's really a temp job. You're basically a temp worker, just like you were. You know, going to a temp agency and going, you know what do you got for me this week? And you don't know if that job's going to last two months, three months, four years. It's really going into a new environment, a new job. Each production, each film or set has a completely different vibe and I don't think we as outsiders grasp the reality of what it's like to have to go into a temp agency. You know, every couple months and go, what do you got for me? What's available, is anything available? And then realizing how different I mean we just think that's another film, it's another set, it's a. But there's the atmosphere. Tell us a little bit about the atmosphere on not necessarily naming each set, but the different vibes that you might come across going on to different sets.

Jeff Gladstone 7:07

Well, to the first part of your question, I always say, as an actor, you're always looking for work. Even when you book that big thing, that great feature or even a series, you have to be looking now for the thing that you do after. There's kind of no point where you can really just sit back and relax and be like, oh, I'm just working and I don't have to think of anything else. You know it's so, so that's the thing you know. I mean back to the question of you know how could they prepare people, you know, for this industry? So that's definitely a factor. And, yeah, every set has a different vibe and there's definitely energy that comes down from the producers, from the director, from the leads, that really kind of um show, the culture. I mean, I was on a show a number of years ago and I won't say the name of the show, but I was kind of shocked. It was a big deal for me at the time. It was a show I really loved.

Jeff Gladstone 8:09

And then they're in the green room and the two leads who were from la, they were just like playing solitaire in

Set Dynamics and Celebrity Attitudes

Jeff Gladstone 8:16

the computer and like, oh, I can't wait to get home, like they're like it's friday, like as soon as we're done set on Friday, they go to the airport, they fly home.

Jeff Gladstone 8:25

They like can't wait to get out of there. And I was like, wow, I at that time I thought I really still expected that, like you're a lead on a successful show and that you'd just be living the dream, you know. But to them it was another gig and they just were like, oh, I can't wait to really, you know, to book a feature. They were still had their eye on like the next thing they wanted to do and wanted to just the weekend and get home on the weekend. So I was like, okay, so that's kind of one side of the coin. And then you have experiences like I was saying, fire Country, where I showed up in the hair and makeup trailer and they got music blaring and they're dancing around and laughing and I was like, okay, this is a really cool vibe and so welcoming, you know, to everyone who came up and shook my hand and welcomed me to the set. And so, yeah, you get the whole spectrum.

Greg Staffa 9:23

It is interesting. I mean mean you had your premiere. I don't know if you attended it, but you, the premiere of cryptic was at south by southwest and I had gone I've been doing tv film critic for a while but then I was invited south by southwest and from someone from minnesota. That was my first relaxed interaction with celebrities and seeing celebrities, not on film but just interacting with other people. And there's two shows that I got to see the premiere of and both had the cast there and the first cast and I won't name them uh, they just the body language, just they didn't want to be there. They didn't interact with each other. Even though they were together in a group, they weren't talking to each other. They were on their phones and they were talking to their own people but they weren't talking with each other. And it really stood out to me as a first time viewing like here's all these celebrities and one of them was a big name celebrity and they just didn't want anything to do with each other. Well, that series ended after one season.

Greg Staffa 10:26

The other show, which was I'll name because it was popular and it turned out well, was uh, mr robot or yeah, and that cast, they were all having fun. They sat, they were having a good time and that series lasted for, I believe, four seasons and the response to the series was much more positive. But you could tell that they enjoyed being together. They enjoyed you know talking and just. You saw the chemistry off-screen and I think it really made a difference of if that's how they're like when they have to be attending something like south by southwest, where they're not getting paid, they're, they're stuck to impress. Um, that's how they are, then you have to imagine that the set environment must have been nice. If that's how they are off screen and off you know camera and stuff like that, whereas the other one was just, it was just like I'm, I'm a celebrity, I shouldn't be here, I don't need to be doing this, this is beneath me and, who knows, maybe they're having a bad day.

Jeff Gladstone 11:25

But you really could tell the difference in dynamic and you wondered if that carried over onto the set and, like I said, the one that was poor did one season and I don't know if that's the reason why it only did one season but you have to imagine that that takes part of it, absolutely, absolutely and it, you know it takes me back to when when our team from cryptic was down in south by southwest, and we just it's a great team and we loved each other and it's like every, every photo we did one of the deadline photo shoots and stuff and we all got our arms around each other and big smiles because we had fun and we like each other and we had a good time. I mean, for us, when you're doing a project that's so dark and so twisted, you kind of have to have fun, because otherwise it's too dark.

Greg Staffa 12:19

You kind of have to have fun on set because otherwise it's too dark. If you had your choice, if, like Steven Spielberg, came up to you and said you know, I really enjoy your work, I really enjoy what you've done. Here's Steven Spielberg money. Choose like a genre or a theme or a story that you want to tell. What would Jeff say?

Dream Projects and Personal Interests

Jeff Gladstone 12:39

This is such a cool question. One thing I love is period and historical pieces. You know, I love going through time and kind of seeing how different time periods can reflect on now. I'm a big lover of Shakespeare and I love that world and, like the, you know when they were performing those, like what that atmosphere would have been at that time and like Shakespeare in Love I think, does a great job of showing that world. So so you know, I would love to do a period piece. I love that world. But also, like when you say Steven Spielberg, I'm like. I mean, I grew up in the 80s. I grew up in the 80s. I love a good adventure movie. I love that these are coming back into the world. Right now. There's lots of remakes and there's a Goonies 2 coming out and whatnot. People are creating new stories in that genre too. I just think it's so fun. If there was a do something like that man, a good adventure movie would be fun as shit.

Greg Staffa 13:45

Now, what do you do in your free time when you're not filming? How do you decompress? Or is it always just a search for the next job?

Jeff Gladstone 13:59

Or how are you able to enjoy the fruits of your labor? Great question, because sometimes you're really busy and you're up at 4 am and sometimes there's nothing for a while. In Vancouver, here I started an improv company with a group of people and we have a little 50-seat theater with a bar. We do shows on the weekend and teach classes and whatnot, and that's my fun happy place where I get to go and just play, be on stage and play and make up stuff and have some laughs and entertain people, and so I I'm really happy to have that. It's turned out to be a very nice compliment to my film work because I can always be available when a nice film part comes up. But in between I'm getting my kicks. But that's about it. I love to ski and I do a bit of golfing. I love swimming and hitting the beach in the summer, but aside from that I don't have really much else in the way of hobbies.

Greg Staffa 15:02

Do you have any desire to be on the other end of the camera?

Jeff Gladstone 15:06

You know, I've thought about it and it definitely comes up. I've had some people say, okay, you've done this and that and producing and acting and teaching, and so like directing

The Value of Improv in Acting

Jeff Gladstone 15:17

seems like the next thing, and I'm like, hmm, maybe you're right. So yeah, it is something I'd be interested in. I would be interested in directing something someday, just either something I write myself or a script that I feel like I would be a good fit for.

Greg Staffa 15:36

You mentioned that you do the improv teaching and stuff like that. I think that would be a hugely valuable thing if more actors took improv. I think we think of improv as being funny and being, you know, goofy and will ferrell who is good at improv, or you know we can list the name of people that robin williams was great at improv. But I also think improv we assume that improv means funny, or I think at its core and correct me if I wrong but improv is the ability to react to something unexpected or unexplained. And so much of Hollywood acting. You know things happen on sets or you know characters are reacting to something, and to learn how to react is part of what improv is is it correct?

Jeff Gladstone 16:29

I think you hit it right in the head honestly. Yeah, I was very lucky. My improv teacher was a guy named Keith Johnstone and he was originally from London and he'd worked with Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter and he was at the Royal Court Theatre, so he was from a theatre background and he ended up in Calgary teaching us improv and so the kind of work we did there was never like aiming for laughs at all. It was trying to be truthful and, exactly as you say, like reacting is such a huge part of improv and when you teach it you realize it's the thing that people are really afraid to do. Right, you're in a little scene and someone says something. People they want to respond or they want to like conflict and get control, but but to just like let yourself react and be changed by what's happening is a big part of of the practice of improv. And really, you know being present and this thing really inspired me as I was getting more into film.

Jeff Gladstone 17:34

I'd always felt that film and improv were kind of opposite ends of a spectrum and theater was kind of in the middle. And I was chatting with Keith Johnstone he passed away a couple of years ago, but so this was about four or five years ago as I was doing more film. And I said you know? So this was about four or five years ago as I was doing more film and I said you know, I'm really finding that there's so much improv that you need working in film, you know, just being available to the moment and allowing things to be different based on how that line comes out from your partner. Then you're going to respond in a different way. And he said something which I'd never really thought about. But he said well, film was always very improvisational at the beginning, before sound, he's like the director would be kind of like shouting out directions and they could kind of like be making you know, say OK, turn, now, you know.

Jeff Gladstone 18:24

And said they'd have an orchestra playing music just to inspire the actors for the emotions. And as soon as they brought sound in, it kind of put the brakes on the kind of improv thing. Now it's like things needed to be more set. You couldn't have any outside noise or director just giving direction.

Jeff Gladstone 18:43

And I think they show this moment so well in the movie Babylon, if you've ever seen it, when they add sound just how it really changed the atmosphere. Now I'm so excited because, as the technologies that are being developed are becoming more accessible, I feel like film is becoming more improvisational again, because you can do a hundred takes. You can just keep the camera rolling and see what the actors do, you can throw unexpected things at them and there's not the precious amount of film that you have to shoot on that day. You can just. You can shoot and try to capture those magical moments when they happen. So I think it's really exciting time to be in film and I think you know to your point too that improv is a great asset and a great tool as an actor, I'm sure, loving working the balance.

Greg Staffa 19:33

I think one of the things we fail to realize is that life is an improv. I mean, life is inscripted. You don't know what the next question is going to be, you don't know what's around the corner, you don't know. So it's a reaction to things and I think if we get focused on scripts and what's on the page, it almost becomes robotic. And I think improv allows you to be more free with the dialogue and to find your own voice, because you know it is your character now. I mean, what's written on a script is intended for a character that you're creating, and in creating that, the improv helps with it. So I think improv is.

Greg Staffa 20:13

I think to many improv is still viewed as like silly Will Ferrell type of stuff, but it's so much more than that that it provides a looseness to the dialogue and it helps go a long way. So what's coming up next? Here you have cryptic, which came out after it's South by Southwest premiere on May 9th, so that's out now in select theaters and video on demand. What do you have coming up that you can talk about?

Jeff Gladstone 20:43

Yeah, that I could share right now. Um, there's a film I'm in that's called the bearded girl and, uh, I play a really fun villain in that named Dick, and it's a really cool fantasy, coming of age story, circus, themed about a bearded girl, and Jessica Perret plays one of the leads in that and she was awesome to work with and it premieres at Fantasia Festival in Montreal this summer. After that I'm sure it'll hit a bunch more festivals, so that's a really fun kind of out there one very circusy, very fun and a lot of improv on set too. And another project I'm working on with some collaborators is a feature about like an improv camp. It's kind of our comedy horror about the cult of improv. We've been developing this for a few years and we're hoping to shoot this this year, so very excited to get that off the ground.

Greg Staffa 21:44

I'm noticing a lot of horror in your not necessarily all your roles, but a lot of your roles. Is that a genre that you enjoy and feel comfortable in?

Jeff Gladstone 21:53

Oh, yeah, I love the weird. I love horror films big fan, so when those parts come along, it's, uh, I really enjoy working on it and uh, yeah, I love the weird, weird is fun.

Greg Staffa 22:10

You kind of explained the cryptic love the weird, weird is fun. You kind of explained.

Jeff Gladstone 22:12

Cryptic is very weird.

Greg Staffa 22:15

You kind of explained a little bit of it. What advice would you have to young actors and actors that are just kind of getting their first couple of roles in television or film? What kind of advice would you give to them that you found beneficial through your experiences?

Jeff Gladstone 22:33

One thing is do everything.

Career Advice for Aspiring Actors

Jeff Gladstone 22:36

You know do everything. You can do everything that comes your way until you're too busy and you have to turn stuff down. But I think there's so much to learn from every project and sometimes you get one really juicy nice thing and then you can you kind of raise your standards, you know which can be healthy at some point, but especially when you're starting. I think I learned so much from just doing all sorts of different things and so you know I encourage people to do that. Like you know, save the no for the one that really just either. You know you can't do, but you can learn a lot by just trying as many different things as possible, even different kind of jobs on set and stuff. That's a lot to learn.

Jeff Gladstone 23:23

You know be a nice person to work with. You know Be nice and kind and curious about the whole team you're working with. You know the actors aren't more important than the lighting person, than the makeup person. Like we're all collaborating to tell a story than the makeup person. We're all collaborating to tell a story, even though set has a bit of a hierarchy. That's needed, I think, just for efficiency In terms of relating with people. It's just good to remember. We're all people and everyone has a story and is contributing to the story. You have something to learn from them. I always say it takes a village to create a character and I feel like from the costume fitting and the hair and makeup, like it's a collaboration on creating a life, you know, and I think it's important to see those people as equal collaborators, as opposed to I think some people may think they're there to serve you or something like that, but I like to think of it as like we're there to serve you or something like that, but I like to think of it as like we're all.

Greg Staffa 24:23

we're all working together for the same, the same thing and I think that is something that is so overlooked that separates good actors from actors that are maybe struggling. Because even as a film critic, tv critic out of Minnesota, I've been doing this since 2012. I would write a review that would say you know, so-and-so is one of my favorite TV writers. I love it when he writes an episode. I don't care if it's this show or that show, because they bounce around sometimes, but I love when they write an episode. Or I love when so-and-so does a cinematography for this, or I love when so-and-so does a cinematography for this, and over the years, that writer has become a head writer and then that writer becomes a showrunner. And so now, doing this since 2012, I have showrunners that will reach out to me and say hey, greg, I just did this pilot. I would love for you to check it out, because I know how much you enjoy my writing.

Greg Staffa 25:23

I think this fits perfectly.

Greg Staffa 25:30

And so it's because of that relationship, of how I treated a writer in the beginning and the lighting guy becomes or the special effects guy becomes the lead, or the makeup guy becomes the head makeup makeup guy for you know some crazy show or something like that, and so much of his relationships and people remember the people that treated you right, even when they were just, you know, on a writing team of 10 people. For you to single them out and say, I really like that writer when he writes an episode, that goes a long way. And I think a lot of other actors need to realize that they're not the the top of the totem pole necessarily. They might be for that that show or they might be brought in because of their talent, but there's other talent around them that rises and remembers how that actor treated. You know you treat a writer poorly. When that writer becomes a showrunner, they're going to remember that. I think that's one of the things that Hollywood, the younger Hollywood, doesn't necessarily grasp and the ones that do turn out to be more successful.

Jeff Gladstone 26:40

You see that when you're around long enough.

Greg Staffa 26:42

You do see that pattern.

Jeff Gladstone 26:43

It's just been amazing for me to see. People that stick around are generally the good people.

Greg Staffa 26:48

And I get it. It's a tough atmosphere. I mean, you're always competing against other people for this and there's kind of a I don't want to say desperation, but it's grueling to be going after a role and getting rejected and feeling like you were that part. But at the same time, respect goes a long way and people remember that and I was just watching someone forget who it was but talking about how they had an audition and they didn't get the role and they were very, you know, depressed and sad that they didn't get it. Then, months later, the people that did the audition said hey, we're doing this new thing and we think you'd be perfect. And it turned out to be a huge role that was much bigger than what they were passed on. It was because they treated them with respect and they were memorable that they ended up getting their role.

Jeff Gladstone 27:36

I think it goes so much in Hollywood that you don't necessarily always see you know what that's great and that's another bit of advice that I love to pass on is I'll say you know, when you're auditioning for something, you're not always auditioning for the part you think you are. Go in and you do. I always say like, do your version that you like if you were directing it and if you were in this, do the version that you would do, that you would want to see. Don't get in your head like, oh, what do I think they want me to be? You know, just do your truthful version of what you see it as, because it's happened to me so many times and time you see this, but exactly you don't get that one thing.

Jeff Gladstone 28:24

But sometimes years later you'll get a call from that director that we have this thing. That is right for you, because we saw you, do you? You know we saw your best you, and then the part that comes is often better or more fun or just feels more right than the one you even auditioned for in the first place, you know. So I think it's really encouraging and it's great to hear you reflect that back, because I have definitely noticed that. You know, you just kind of got to do.

Greg Staffa 28:54

My final question I asked this to everyone. Jeff Gladstone, anytime you do an interview, for the most part I'm sure they start off just as I did where they say Jeff has been on hit shows like Fire Country, virgin River, the Twilight Zone, the Killing Supernatural, resident Alien, because that's what's in your bio, and so we all kind of jumped to that to define who you are. But when you

Final Thoughts: Identity Beyond Credits

Greg Staffa 29:18

get up in the morning and you go into the bathroom and splash a little water on your face, look in the mirror for the first time each day. Who do you see?

Jeff Gladstone 29:26

That's very cool. Who do I see? Well, you know what? I'm an actor. First, I'm my career. I thought I had to choose between all these things that I love to do, and so I would cut things out of my life and just focus on one thing out of my life and just focus on one thing. And ultimately, you know, acting is the thing that keeps me going. It's the thing that I've just happened to have the most success with. It tends to be where I make most of my living, but all the other parts of me have been a part of that and, and you know, continuing to play music and do improv and all the other things that I love to do are part of that of who I am. So, yeah, we contain multitudes, as they say. I guess that's kind of what I see.

Greg Staffa 30:31

Well, Jeff, thank you for joining us today. Be sure to check out Cryptic, which is available in select theaters in the US and Canada, but also on video demand. And again, Jeff, thank you.