Actor James DuMont joined Chelsie Overocker from the House of Hallmark to discuss his current film Safety, which will be available to stream on Disney Plus starting December 11th.
Right now, James is currently in New York working on another project.
“There’s a long line for the Covid test at the Urgent Care. It’s a little scary. But I just got tested today because I’m working next week on a TV series here, so all good. Just staying indoors and having fun talking with you. [laughs]”
We are excited to chat with you as well! This Friday, Safety will be available to stream on Disney Plus. Can you tell us more about the film?
“Safety is this incredibly heartfelt, powerful true story. It’s about a football player who unfortunately because of the circumstance with his mom has to be the father and the mother and take his son and brother in while he’s an active student. This is Reginald Hudlin directing. Amazing director. Known for House Party and recently my dear friend Chadwick Boseman who passed, he did the movie Marshall. Safety is the perfect movie we kind of need right now about overcoming a great deal of obstacles and odds. Really at the end of the day, it’s about family and how much you would give and sacrifice for your family.”
This is the perfect movie we need right now. So many families can connect with this film and how they had to change their lifestyles this year.
“We had to be indoors all of this time. I’m spending more time with my family than I have in the last 12 years just because papa’s out working. It’s about what we kind of do with this time, but I think Safety is the kind of the perfect movie that’s hitting right before the holidays.”
We will be sure to check out the movie, but you also recently wrapped up another project this year.
“The other one is The Underground Railroad with Oscar winning Barry Jenkins directing. It’s a ten-part mini series based on the prize winning book, and I’m thrilled to be working with Barry. I was a fan of his when I saw Moonlight. Watch the trailer for Underground Railroad. Here is the AfterBuzz exclusive. Underground Railroad will get a Golden Globe or Emmy nomination at the very least, if not a win.”
You heard it here first. We are looking forward to the series coming out. The Underground Railroad is about a woman named Cora who makes an amazing discovery during her attempt to break free from slavery.
Even though we are in the middle of a pandemic, we have noticed that movies and films that are getting released are having a good storyline. What are your thoughts on what’s to come in the future for the entertainment industry?
“After the writer’s guild strike, the quality of writing for television became superior even to film. From that awful thing where people were out of work, and they had to really hunker down and be home and fight a good fight. Incredible work came out of that.” James states, “after each particular thing we’ve gone through, there’s this cycle of humanism. What we really just witnessed in the last year is probably the lowest form. Where citizens are turning on each other…we are the United States, not the divided states. We have to be united..so what’s important? Our family, our health, and how we treat one another.”
You make an excellent point. This year has taught us what we really need to value, and what better time than now to look closer within.
“I’m excited for what’s ahead, and I think we have to have a sense of more than hope.”
James has a lot of projects under his belt and just wrapped up his 75th feature film with Safety. When the pandemic started, his movie Spencer Confidential with Mark Wahlberg received a lot of views.
“People were ravenous for content. Everybody was indoors, and somebody was saying I think the figures were like 250 hours were watched on Spencer Confidential. It’s a two-hour movie, but there’s 250 hours that were watched. So people saw this two or three times.”
That’s awesome. There have been a lot of movies and TV shows that were released and received a lot of views because everyone was inside wanting to watch new content. You have played so many characters in your career. Have there been any challenging roles you had to overcome?
“Ironically, you know, sometimes I’m playing characters that are so polar opposite of who I am. But what’s exciting is I’m bringing these people to life as well. In the truest form of what it is. So that’s always a challenge for me, but it’s always one of those things where that’s my job. My job is to figure out what this person’s Achilles heel is. What’s their fundamental weakness? What do they say or do to cover that up? What do they want? How do they go about getting what they want? Those are just basic human needs and wants, but that’s the fun part about what I get to do.”
When James is not on set or auditioning for a new project, he is coaching his students and developing their skills as an actor.
“I’ve spent the last nine months on Zoom helping my students who are having a difficult time not responding or reacting to the things that are happening in the world. But what I keep going back to is what we can control as our craft. What we can control is our ability to how we take in information. How we create things. How we turn poison into medicine. How we turn it into something that’s creative and that empowers us.”
James refers to his students as a tribe and considered them like his family. What makes his acting classes special is that he not only coaches the basic criteria with acting but covers important topics that get his students out of their comfort zone.
“They know they can rely on anybody in the tribe at any time to read with them. To talk with them. One of the things I just started, and I did it last night. I started doing a writing workshop for actors so they can really tell their story. So I give them a writing assignment. This is based off of a work that Larry Moss has done and also The Artists book, which is a really great book by Julia Cameron. So I use this and give them a writing assignment, and in the beginning, we were really hardcore. We said tell me how you deal with Covid. How have you dealt with Covid in terms of your life? Now tell me about race and how you identify yourself as race. How do you feel about race in this country? We are not shying away from hard things because if we can do that self-human reflection. Then we can bring that back to the characters we bring to life.”
That’s great that you give your students the opportunity to tell their story. Everyone has been put in difficult situations this year, and when your students can learn how to own those emotions, then they can apply that to the character they are portraying.
If you are interested in pursuing acting, make sure you check out James’ on camera workshops.
https://mailchi.mp/cdd04f11f7e7/oncameraworkouts
Make sure you all are following James on IG @jamesdumont and on Twitter @JamesKDuMont to keep up with his latest projects.
Thank you, James, for connecting with us and talking about your new film Safety.
“Thank you so much, and we’ll stay in touch!”
Watch the full interview here:
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