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Behind The Seen: Shane West
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 23-Jul-08 @ 12:20 PM
When it was announced that one-time Mandy Moore co-star and ER character SHANE WEST was assuming the role of one of the most ebullient personalities in punk history-Darby Crash, frontman of notorious agitators the Germs-the reactions ranged between old-school outrage and new-skool indifference. But in director Roger Grossman's What We Do Is Secret, West's portrayal of the manic, self-destructive singer is remarkably on point. And if the surviving members of the band are stoked to tour with West this summer (as the New Germs), who cares what the haters think?You have to admit, it's a weird career trajectory to do all the stuff you've done then end up as Darby Crash. How did you get involved with the production in the first place? What were your meetings with Rodger Grossman like? It came from just a regular perspective of just seeing an audition. I wasn't really aware of the history of the film- that they'd been trying to make this for like, 15 years or something. I had always grown up a punk-rock fan, my parents were in punk-rock bands when I was growing up and it was mainly what I listened to. My mom's band was called the Parallels, an all girl band, and my dad was in a kind of Clash-type punk band called the U.S Times. So I knew of [Darby Crash], and I knew of the band and the scene. I didn't know too much in-depth about the L.A. punk scene; I was raised more on the [music coming out of] New York's CBGB's and the London scene, because those were what my parents were interested in when I was born. [The meeting] was kind of surprising. I just went down to this one bar and met with Rodger and the producers, and we just talked. I didn't really have an audition; it was more of an in-person audition of just talking. We shot the shit, talked about the scene and what we were interested in. At the end of the two-hour meeting, we were kind of sold on each other. I wish I was a fly on the wall at the bar. Did he ask you, "So, Shane, do you have a self-destructive streak in you? Do you call yourself a genius?" [Laughs.] It was one of those things where he saw whatever he saw, and he obviously took a big gamble. But it would have been a gamble with anybody, because it's such a dramatic character and you're always kind of worried anytime somebody has to play anyone that's a real person. Especially someone as influential as Darby. You were 3 years old when Darby Crash died, so it's obvious you, as old punkers are ready to say, "Weren't there, maaaan." How do you prepare for a role of a dead man? There's not a whole lot of archival footage of Darby barring [director Penelope Spheris' 1981 punk-scene documentary] The Decline Of Western Civilization, is there? No, there's not. That was one of the more difficult things. Everybody had a difficult time, period. At least with Rick [Gonzalez] and Noah [Segan] and Bijou [Phillips], the rest of the baby Germs, they had Lorna [Doom], Pat [Smear] and Don [Bolles] to talk to, and emulate and to watch, and to figure it out. With me, there's not a lot of visual on Darby besides pictures. There's not a lot of film-plenty of audio. I was very confident with me sounding like his voice, being able to imitate his screaming patterns, and almost speaking patterns. But the technicality kind of threw me off, because there isn't too much. There's a bootleg DVD out, I think it's called, Caught In My Eye, that shows a performance that's a really crappy video. What I did do was hang out with the band and his family; did a lot of research; read the books that he read. I got my teeth as fucked up as I could. I had my teeth altered surgically: It took about two-and-a-half hours to put in these prosthetics that could not come out unless the dentist took them out. I worked on putting in blue contacts for my eyes, and do the best that I could without being a full-on method actor. I was pretty "method" on set, but I didn't take the shit home with me. By all accounts, Darby was an intense guy. If you took that stuff home with you, I can't see you having too many friends by the end of shooting. Well thankfully, during that time I was single, so I didn't have to put my girlfriend or anything through it. Before we started shooting-because this was like a four-year process for me, start and stop-I got Darby's tattoo, his exact tattoo, on my shoulder, where he got it. It was more of a tribute. Not because I was insane and I was just playing a character, but more of a tribute to the relationships I'd made with his family, his friends, with the scene. You've said it wasn't an easy shoot; it did go over a couple years. Obviously, you're doing the movie, and yet you've still got to pay the bills. Was there a lot of "switch on/switch off" for a period of time? I got very lucky when ER came around. The three years we were dealing with all the difficulties with What We Do Is Secret, I was able to have a day job working [on] ER. Not only was I able to be a part of a really respected show that was the type of material that I liked anyway, it was also something that kept me solid. That definitely helped me out. It was very difficult mentally. Hopefully it will be the most difficult shoot I've ever had. It was so much fun and so much hell at the same time. Roger liked to say, "it wouldn't be a Germs movie unless it was like this." Most of the people that [worked on it] worked for free. It was chaos. We had to get an unbelievable amount of work done every day. I can't even remember the amount of pages, but it was unheard of. You know, because we just didn't have the time or the budget. And not [having] the time or the budget on a period thing is a dangerous thing. Input from the surviving members of the Germs certainly impacted you professionally and personally. Playing that role seems incredibly daunting: You want to do right by the project and the people who were actually there. I was constantly asking for advice on set. One of the writers who was one of Darby's friends-and one of the producers as well-was on set everyday to help make sure things were going correctly. But here's the thing, once we got our characters down-for all the actors, for all the different characters-we kind of had to just go for it, at that point. Yeah, you're scared, but once we're kind of getting the "thumbs up" as we went along the way-from the musicians, the friends-a lot of the scenesters from that time just kind of came along and hung out on the set like they did in the music scene back in the day. So they were kind of giving us hints if things were off, and we'd change them real quick. So you were always on your toes, but you had to just believe in yourself eventually, and believe that you're going to do a good job. One of the best things was when we'd sit around with the band, and we'd read a scene and start laughing, and they'd be like, "That's not how that happened." So everyone would kind of panic and wonder how we could correct the scene. Then one of them would say, "Well, wait a minute. You know what, I don't remember. I was too fucked up." So to be honest, the biggest quote on the entire set was that as much as they'd like to complain and reject things like that, they couldn't remember half the time. So at that point, we had to let things go and just hope that we were doing the right thing, because we still had their blessings. Were there any personal revelations where you felt something was a bit more of a personal goal, epiphany-type thing when you were doing the role? Well I guess the kind of thrilling-well, the whole thing was thrilling-but a big part of the thrill was realizing a week or two into the shoot that I was proud of myself. Not that I'm being cocky or arrogant, but proud of myself because it looked like I was going to be able to pull off playing a real person. I've never had something that gritty of a role, you know? Having people come by the set to watch [and] genuinely get freaked out by me. Things like that really boosted my confidence. I can take that to the next projects I may have or anything [as] serious, as in depth as a film like this, and hopefully use it to fruition. Now that it's all over and you've done the research and you've met the people, and know the background, would you personally have hung out with Darby Crash? Probably not. [Laughs.] From what you've been able to ascertain, was he a genius, a mixed-up teddy bear, or an unabashed douche bag? I think he was a mix of all three. It just depended on, well, first of all, you, as an individual: How you spoke to him and treated him and also how he was going to treat you. Like, what he thought of you. He was very opinionated, obviously. So I think he was a teddy bear amongst his very, very, very close friends-a part that many people didn't get to see a part of. Was he a genius? Obviously in his writing, and in the way he could convince people to basically start a gang. Not a gang [that's] going to beat people up, but a gang as in a family, with a bunch of people that felt like they were ostracized from [their own] family. An asshole? Sure. As many people that loved Darby, you could find three or four more that hated him. I think that just happens when you're someone that charismatic as a guy that comes out and forces people to think and forces people to reconstruct. I think when someone does that, there are going to be instant followers, but at the same time, instant haters because of jealousy, you know? Thanks to the internet, you have armchair scenesters and punk-as-fuck types pissing and moaning about the movie before they've actually seen it. Same thing with you performing with the surviving Germs. Obviously, this story is very dear to a lot of people's hearts and remaining brain cells. Have you seen any of the criticisms? Do they make you laugh or think, "Yeah, whatever dude." Well I have to go through the criticisms of being a new face of the band. So obviously, for the film, that affects me more. As for the singing thing, half the people that complain are 14-year-old douche bags anyway, who weren't even born when this scene started. I don't know, it's a subject matter that will automatically affect a lot of people, and there's no way that it will be 100 percent positive with reviewers. It just can't be. Also, we're talking about a scene that's filled with a bunch of people that complain, you know? I mean, I love punk-rock music, but it's filled with a bunch of complainers. I don't know if I could ever succeed in that place where people get old and die and never make a penny. You pretty much have to die like Darby to [get respect]. I've been amazed at the positive reaction, and I've been so happy with it. To me, the most important reviews are the ones by people who were around in the scene, and the people that were in this film, you know? At the Noisepop screening, Roger and I were going down the street to go back into the theater and a couple of punks are sitting in the corner saying, "This better be fucking good." They were ready to rip us apart. And we get out [after the movie] and the same guy [comes up to us and] says, "This is better than The Doors. This is better than Sid And Nancy. I wanted to hate this," and it ended up being his favorite movie. There was a standing ovation [in San Francisco], with all of them looking like gutter punks. And the Germs are touring this summer as well, correct? That's completely surreal, you know? To come in and have a good time and be excited to be [part of] a project and suddenly have [the surviving members] ask me, would I be interested in helping keep [the memory] alive and get the music out there for the younger generation and the older generation to re-live? I said, "of course." [Laughs.] [It is] a little bit more terrifying than playing the role on film, because this is real. We did a whole East Coast tour a couple [of] years ago and played a little bit of Warped Tour to show people we were serious and it wasn't just a gag. How have you been received? Pretty much the 80 to 90 percent negativity in me has actually gone down to below half, which has been great. Most of the shows I play now are at least 80 percent positive, which is great. Let's be honest, when the Germs were playing back in the day, Darby was booed off the stage half the time. [Laughs.] I have to remind myself that. |
