By Christina Radish

Carley had a memorable role in Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino.

Along with working with luminaries such as Eastwood, Robert Redford (in Lions for Lambs) and Tony Scott (in Agent Orange), the New York native is equally at ease on regional, Off-Broadway and Broadway stages. Carley spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine for this exclusive interview about working with a film icon like Clint Eastwood and his hopes for the future of his acting career.

MediaBlvd Magazine> Where are you from and how did you get into acting?

Christopher Carley> I’m from Pearl River, NY, which is about 45 minutes north of Manhattan, in Rockland County. I started acting in 7^th grade. A friend of mine convinced me to audition for the junior high production of Guys & Dolls, so I did, thinking that it would be fun. And then, I ended up getting cast as Nathan Detroit, which I didn’t realize was the lead role, until the first day of rehearsal. After that, I was hooked. I started doing it in junior high and high school, and then I went to NYU and started working professionally when I was in school there. As a kid, I definitely enjoyed it, to the point where my parents realized, before I did, that I was going to go to college for it.

MediaBlvd> What was the reaction, when your parents realized that you wanted to pursue a career that can be very unstable?

Christopher> My father was a homicide detective and my mom was an executive assistant and a housewife, when I was growing up, so they both had very practical, traditional lives. My dad took his job because he was interested in being a police officer, and it was a logical step after getting back from Vietnam, but he also knew that he couldn’t be fired and he’d have security and be able to support his family and have a pension. So, me telling my parents that I was going to go into a career where, most likely, I’m going to be unemployed for great stretches of time was rattling to them. They didn’t ever discourage me. They just kept checking with me to make sure that I knew what I was getting into, as much as you can when you’re 18 and going to college, and you think, “Yeah, I know what I’m doing.” I did as much as I could have at 18 years old, but I also had a blissful ignorance, at that age. They just kept making sure that I knew what I was getting into, and they were as practical as they could be about getting me to make a decision based on the facts that they knew about the business.

MediaBlvd> How did you get cast in Gran Torino? Was it just through the regular auditioning process?

Christopher> It was just through the regular casting process. My agent got an appointment, and I went in and read one scene, which was all they gave me for the first audition with the casting director, Ellen Chenoweth, and her casting associate, Jeff. And then, two or three days later, they had me come in and do another scene, and I did that scene twice. That was the beginning and the end of all the auditioning that I did for it. I was expecting that there would be another stage where I would hopefully meet Clint Eastwood. My initial thought, going in for it, was that at the least I could meet Clint Eastwood and Ellen Chenoweth, and I could audition for a part that I knew I could do really well, but I didn’t expect it to go as far as it did. As an actor, you have to be careful where you let your mind go. You just tell yourself, “I’m going to go in and audition for the project, and if I do a good job, that’s all that I have control over and that will make me feel good.” And then, it was a waiting game, as they were seeing other people and the tapes were given to Clint. He was at a couple film festivals and, I believe, finishing up The Changeling, so it took awhile to find out that I was actually cast, which was an excruciating month, but a good day, when it happened.

MediaBlvd> What was it about Father Janovich that you found so appealing?

Christopher> He’s pretty straight forward, on the page. He makes it very clear, at the beginning of the film, what his intentions are. Throughout the different stages of the movie and his interactions with Clint’s character, Walt, he’s not at all murky about what he wants. He wants him to go to confession, he wants him to change his life and he wants him to change the way he does things. It was nice to read something where he seemed to have such a direct arc on paper and on the surface, but it was the way he figured out how he was going to accomplish that goal, throughout the script, with all his different tactics. It’s not necessarily arrogance, but there’s a sense of comfort that he has with Walt’s character, at the beginning of the film, that he hasn’t earned, and that sets him back so far in his quest because he approaches him as he would any other parishner or person, and Walt wants nothing to do with the casualness of that. That’s evidenced by him constantly correcting Father Janovich by saying, “Don’t call me Walt. Call me Mr. Kowalski.” There’s a lot of symbolism behind that.

MediaBlvd> Once you had been cast, did you do any research or talk to anyone at all about what it’s like to be a priest?

Christopher> I was an alter boy, as a kid, and I grew up in a Catholic household and I have a rather large Catholic family, so Catholicism and being around priests, and all that kind of stuff, was pretty familiar to me. I have family members who are priests -- not immediate family members, but cousins. I figured being an alter boy and being raised Catholic would be enough research, in that regard, so I didn’t do too much research on that, but I did read a lot about the Mung culture, trying to find out about this culture of people that Walt interacts with, even though  my character never had any scenes where he interacts with any of the people from that community. He doesn’t really know anything, but he thinks he knows everything, so it was good that I knew just enough about being a priest because the character really only knows just enough about being a priest. He doesn’t really know much else, other than what he learned in priest school, the corollary being what I learned as an alter boy, or what I learned in CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) classes on Sunday nights, not paying attention and doing my math homework.

MediaBlvd> What was it like to work with Clint Eastwood, both as an actor and as a director? How intimidating was that?

Christopher> It’s intimidating in your mind because you know that you’re working with someone who has made his mark on American film, not only as an actor, but as a director and producer. But, once you meet him, he’s very calming and kind, and not at all, in any way, like his characters on screen. That’s a great contrast to have, on the first day, because the second you meet him, after you get over the general anxiety of meeting Clint Eastwood, you realize that he just wants to make the movie. Everything about the way that he conducts business on the set and the way that he directs and the way that everything is put together, seems to be all about simplicity and making that job easy. So, that was the really refreshing part about it, as far as the overall experience. As an actor, in the scenes with you, there was really no sense that he was the director. He was engaged with you, and it was very easy to forget that you’re across from the guy who is also directing the film and who is going to be a major part of how it’s put together. He didn’t seem to split his focus, so you didn’t have to split your focus. You could just be in the scene with him and be present with him.

MediaBlvd> When did you first meet him, and what was that first meeting like?

Christopher> I had requested that he call me because I had expected to meet him before we started shooting the movie for a month and a half, with millions of dollars behind it. I had assumed that he’d want to meet me, just so that he could know that I’m a decent person that he actually wants to be around. But, there was no meeting set up, so I finally called and said, “Can we chat over the phone?” He called me the night before I flew out for the location in Detroit, and we had a 5-minute chat about basic stuff. I asked a series of questions, and the answer really just came back to, “Well, just do what you did on the tape. I liked what you did on the tape.” Only after getting there, I realized that that’s kind of what it all comes down to with him. It’s, “I liked your work and, unless I don’t like it, I’m not going to get in the way.” There’s no part of him that habitually has to involve himself on your side of things, and whisper inspirational things in your ear and put his hand on your shoulder and show you that he knows everything about the business because he’s been doing this for years. If he doesn’t like what you’re doing, then I’m sure that he’ll talk to you, but if he likes what you’re doing, he just leaves you alone and moves on to the next shot. I talked to him for that brief moment on the phone, and then I met him about two days before we started shooting. After that, we were on set, every day.

MediaBlvd> When you work with someone like Clint Eastwood, do you just work with what you’re given in the script and figure that he knows what he’s doing, or do you still give input into your character?

Christopher> You always have to be somewhat dependent on what the other person is giving you. In a perfect world, I like to think that everything that I do, on screen or on stage, is about paying attention to the other person. Everything that happens, if it’s going to be organic, better be based on something really happening in that moment that they’re filming. The door was open to really do whatever you wanted to do, within reason. I’m sure that if I asked him to jump through one of the stain-glass windows, he probably would have said no. But, if I had a suggestion that I wanted to stand in some other place, unless there was some technical reason or he had a problem with it, there was rarely a hesitation. It was like, “Yeah, sure. If that’s where you feel comfortable, then that’s where you feel comfortable.” He’s not really concerned with anything other than making it so that you feel comfortable and you’re able to do your work, with blocking and all the technical stuff, as well as the character and what your motivations are with the character. I tried to get into that conversation with him, before I went out there to shoot, and at first I was thrown by the fact that he kind of said to me, in a nice way, “Do what you feel you need to do, as long as it shows up somewhat similar to the reason why I cast you.” He didn’t have much concern with the motivation or what kind of work I do at home, as long as when I showed up on that day, just like with the D.P. and the rest of the crew, my job got done and didn’t get in the way of telling the story.

MediaBlvd> Having been directed by people like Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford, how do their styles compare? What do you learn about yourself, as an actor, when you’re directed by people who are such film icons?

Christopher> You learn that you really have to know what you’re doing. Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood have nothing in common, as far as directing is concerned, and their styles and the way that you get from the first shot to the last shot. The only thing they have in common is that they both do their jobs well. So, if you don’t know what you’re doing, in the sense that you show up and hope that the director is going to walk you or lead you through it, you’re going to be lost. You have to make your own decisions for the character and know the direction that you’re hoping to go in. That being said, if they give you direction, they obviously want you to change. With Robert Redford, I believe we had 10 hours of rehearsal, for one scene. Granted, it was a pretty large scene with a lot of people in it, but it was Derek Luke, Michael Pena and myself with the bulk of the lines and, other than that, there were probably only six or seven other lines in the scene. But, we rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed, so by the time that we shot, we had done the scene so many times that it was like second nature. It felt like more of a theatrical performance. When you’re on Clint Eastwood’s set, there barely is a rehearsal. You might do a walk-through, and it’s a rare occasion that you go past the third take. They’re two polar opposites, but as long as you’re prepared, to some degree, you’re able to go with the flow and hope that, when it all comes down to it, in the end, it turns out well. I didn’t leave set, saying to myself, “Wow, I nailed that, and that performance was genius,” every day. There was always a little thing in my head saying, “Wow, I only did that once. How could I possibly be in a scene with Clint Eastwood, do that once, and it’s going to turn up on screen and look up to that caliber?” And, all I kept telling myself was, “You know what? He’s Clint Eastwood and he’s figured out how to make a movie, so if he didn’t like what I was doing, then he probably would have let me know.” I don’t think he would be nervous about that.

MediaBlvd> Having also been directed by Zach Braff, do you think there is an advantage to being directed by actors?

Christopher> I guess so. I don’t know. Before I did film and TV stuff, I was doing theater and I don’t think I was ever directed by an actor. But, you would assume that they would at least have more of an idea of what you’re going through. I never got the sense, working with any of those people, that they were anything other than the director, at that point, which is the cool part about it. They didn’t seem like actors, trying to direct. They seemed like directors. Even though I didn’t have any direct back-and-forth with Robert Redford in Lions for Lambs, he was in that scene and, when he said action, you didn’t have that feeling of, “Oh, he’s just the director, chilling in the scene.” You definitely felt like he was present in the scene. So, underneath, they probably have more of an understanding of what you’re going through and what you need and, at the very least, how to talk to you.

MediaBlvd> What is Miss Nobody and who do you play in that?

Christopher> I have a really tiny role in Miss Nobody. The script was just really funny. I’m in a bunch of flashbacks, as Leslie Bibb’s high school crush. In each one of the scenes, as she’s giving me her big doe-eyed look, I do something completely ridiculous, like blowing a car up by throwing a cigarette into it, or getting jammed into a locker, or some other embarrassing encounter. It’s a bunch of flashback sequences that are in there for a good laugh.

MediaBlvd> You’ve appeared on so many prominent TV shows. Have any of those experiences been particularly memorable?

Christopher> Working on Campus Ladies, that was the first time that I had ever done anything that was completely and totally unscripted, on camera. I’ve been asked to improv, or told that I could go off the script, but that show would give you an idea for the scene and explain the general premise and give you one or two points that you’d have to hit, and then you’d just have to go into it. I did improv in school, years ago, but I’d never done it when there’s an audience, and I’d certainly never done it when it was being filmed, so doing that was a lot of fun. That was a learning experience, as far as how to keep the story going while hitting the script points, and just the general difficulty of looking at these two other actors in the scene, who are saying things, off the top of their heads, that are some of the funniest and most outrageous things that I’d heard in a long time. That was an interesting challenge because there were so many different levels that your brain had to work on. You have to be present in the moment and look at the other actors while, at the same time, writing the script so that you hit the points, and you can’t crack up and laugh because your character is supposed to be disgusted and freaked out, and not finding it hysterically funny when two middle-aged women were asking me for sex toys in the college book store.

MediaBlvd> Do you have any desire to return to the stage at all?

Christopher> Yes! I never want there to be too long, in my career, where I’m not doing theater because I love it. I did a play a year ago and then, before that, it was a couple years because I don’t live in New York now and there’s less of a theater culture in L.A. But, theater is like going to the gym, for me. It’s how I keep in shape. And, just from the aspect of enjoyment, you can’t get a feeling like being on stage and actually having to do it and create it and make it new, every night. There’s no feeling like that. I plan on doing theater until the end.

MediaBlvd> If you had your choice, are there specific types of roles or genres that you’d like to try, that you haven’t gotten the chance to do yet?

Christopher> I’d like to do more comedy. I haven’t done as much comedy as I have dramatic stuff. A lot of my TV and film stuff has a comic tinge to it, but I’d like to do something that is a purely comedic role. If Will Ferrell calls me tomorrow and wants me to be in a movie with him, I think that would be a pretty good day. Every time I get a script, I hope that there is something in it that is completely different from the last thing that I did. When I get the sense that I’m frightened a little bit, I think that’s always a good sign that it will be fun.