Posted in: Interview, Movies | Tagged: adverse, Andrew Keegan, Brian A Metcalf, interview, lionsgate, mickey rourke, Thomas Ian Nicholas

Adverse: Andrew Keegan on Playing Against Type and Industry Changes

It's no secret how many actors like to keep their roles diverse and not find themselves pigeonholed in the industry in typecast and for Andrew Keegan, he found such a talent in Brian A Metcalf. Having worked with the actor, writer, and director in the vampire film Living Among Us (2018), another opportunity came when he was looking to film Adverse, a crime thriller near-and-dear to his heart. I spoke with the actor about his role as Jan, working with co-star Mickey Rourke, and how the entertainment industry changed since he began 30 years ago.

The Opportunity Presented in Adverse

"Brain and I stay in touch," Keegan said. "It was a good discussion with Brian about getting darker and deeper. I went from being a maniacal vampire in the previous film. So I wanted to into something, you know, of course, being things that the role was, in essence, a hitman to the side of Mickey Rourke." The actor's come a long way from better-known roles in comedies like 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Broken Hearts Club (2000), and Camp Nowhere (1994). "My hair was long and greasy and using bad dental work and a little bit, you know, hair, makeup and all that," Keegan said when it came to getting the look of Jan. "So it's a lot of fun because I know some of the backgrounds. So, I had conversations with Brian about tapping into that, that's kind of that kind of space and for fun." The actor drew inspiration from Rourke's energy, darkness, and intensity into his scenes.

"I think it's always important, you know, as an actor, that you are both aware and in tune and quite frankly, listening to the performance of who you're working with," Keegan said. "So in this case, Mickey is a very actually unique character in real life. It's very, very intense if you will. He was very focused on the days we were filming and in the space of the character, which was for me, quite frankly, it was about feeding off of him because, you know, he was the boss in the role." Keegan also enjoyed the stories on set Rourke shared like how he got to be friends with the late rapper Tupac Shakur while in New York. When it came to comparing projects from Adverse to Living Among Us, Keegan admits he doesn't notice as much when directors have to operate more stringent due to budget constraints, because of the resourcefulness directors like Metcalf are. "What you see on film is just so beautiful and it looks and how it's put together and the stories have told," he said. "I think it's a testament to young filmmakers out there that if there's a will, there's a way and these guys have been able to do that and, you know, really proud of them to just have this film out in theaters for a couple of weeks and then now available."

Keegan sees more opportunities now that weren't available when he started thanks to what technology affords the current generation of aspiring filmmakers. "Now, I'm going to personally I'm really excited because unlike the 90s, there are such limitations to what was available to work on versus now," he said. "It just seems like I live in Venice and it's been going on for some time. Someone films something [with] just a two-person crew, two actors, and a pretty snazzy camera. And again, just like us, you never know what someone is shooting what could possibly be. I'm quite impressed with the guys who are able to make this film and make it so well and get it out in theaters. It was a lot of surprises, but it's a very impressive effort that they put towards it. So, you know, I'm really excited about what's going to be made in the coming year and three years because I think we were bottled up, you know, creatively, energetically. And now there's an opening up, a window here, a lot of new projects, I'm sure a degree of intensity based on, you know, based on our collective experience."

Lionsgate's Adverse follows the story of a rideshare driver (Thomas Ian Nicholas) who finds himself reluctantly pulled into a criminal syndicate from his drug-addicted sister. The film, which also stars  Lou Diamond Phillips, Penelope Ann Miller, Sean Astin, Kate Katzman, Jake T. Austin, and Kelly Arjen, is currently in theatres, digital, on-demand, and DVD.

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