sobota, 16 września 2017

Interview with Scott Clifton

Scott Clifton is an American actor, known for his role of Liam Spencer in a soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful", for which he got two Emmy awards. He also starred in "General Hospital" and "One Life to Live". Apart from his acting career, he also released an album with his own songs and has a YouTube channel devoted to atheism and moral issues. In the interview, Scott is talking about his first acting experience, his typical day on the set of "The Bold and the Beautiful", music and social media.

(Photo: Gilles Toucas)

Before you became a cast member of "The Bold and the Beautiful", you had played the roles of Dillon Quartermaine in "General Hospital" and Schuyler Joplin in "One Life to Live". When did you decide that you want to do acting professionally? 

When I was about eight or nine years old my mom starting forcing me to read Shakespeare. I didn’t like it, like any nine year old wouldn’t. However, I started reading over and over again and I memorized it. Adults in my life noticed that as something interesting. After hearing me recite it, a family friend offered to starting to teach me Shakespeare for free. Eventually I fell in love with Shakespeare and theater and acting. I asked my parents to starting taking me to auditions after that. There were other things my parents forced me to do that I grew out of and never liked, but not theater.

Do remember your first auditions for TV shows? 

I remember my first professional audition ever. It was for a commercial for Levi’s. I was nine years old. I had no idea how it worked. I was so excited that they brought me into this room. They were taking polaroids of me. I thought that since I was asked to come into the room with the casting directors, that meant I got the part. I did not get the part. Not even a call back.

You have been playing the role of Liam Spencer, Ridge Forrester's son-in-law, in an American soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" for seven years. What does your typical day on set look like?

We get our call time in the morning based on where our scenes show up in the schedule for the day. First we go to make up, then blocking. Blocking is where we are given our movements—where to stand, where to walk. Then depending on how much material I have and where it is in the day, I spend some time running my lines or learning them with my scene partner. Any down time is spent making sure I am prepared for when I am called to set. Then there are wardrobe fittings and publicity interviews. Once we have done our scenes which are very rapid fire (the first usable take is the good one), we are released. Then I get to go home to my wife and son.

A lot of actors say that by playing in long-running shows you can get "pigeonholed" into one type of role and have problems with finding a job in the future. Do you think that your role in "The Bold and the Beautiful" may affect your future acting career? 

I certainly agree that being on a soap opera leaves one vulnerable to being pigeonholed. The question is whether or not that is a problem. I’ve been doing soap for more than half my life and when I was younger the fantasy was to treat my soap career to a stepping stone to bigger projects like prime time television or major motion pictures. But time and maturity changed that for me. The wiser and older and more I value family, the more I value my lifestyle on a soap opera. It’s not superstardom, but it is the perfect career for someone who values careers about family, privacy, security, and work ethic. I don’t know if I could be convinced to leave "The Bold and the Beautiful" at this point.

Would you like to play the role of Liam for the next seven years?

Yes I would. For the next 30.

(Photo: JPI Studios)

Not only are you a gifted and experienced actor, but also you love singing and you released a pop rock album with your original songs "Girl Go Home". Could you tell us something more about the style of your music and your main sources of inspiration?

I should put on the table that I don’t love singing. I really enjoyed writing songs and the creative process of seeing it come together with instruments in the studio. I loved sitting in on the creative process of producing music. I only sang the songs because nobody else would sing them. The fantasy would have been to write songs for other people. That didn’t appear to be in the cards. All the advice I got from people more experienced than I was that if I cared about the songs seeing the light of day, I would have to record them, release them and do shows on stage in which I sang them. It took a very short amount of time for me to realize how uncomfortable I am singing on a stage. Having my songs heard wasn’t worth having me be the one to deliver them. Times have changed. I can create and release them on my own and it’s the best of both worlds. I have an album of songs I wrote that I’m proud of. I get to release the songs without having the trauma of performing them. I think early on as a teenager when I wrote those songs I was inspired by 90s pop rock like Matchbox Twenty or Oasis.

You used to be very active on YouTube a few years ago, having your own channel TheoreticalBullshit devoted to atheism and moral issues. Why did you "abandon" your account? Would you like to get back to it and publish some new videos in the future?

Yes. It’s funny to hear that word. I got married. I had a kid. I started working a lot more. I promise that there is not a shortage of things I have to say. And when I have time I will post again. I’ve also felt that YouTube is no longer the forum it used to be for the kind of public conversations I want to have. It used to be a platform much more conducive to interactivity for users. They had features like video responses that they’ve done away with. Now it’s much more one sided. Those conversations have moved to podcasts or Twitter or blogs that have a sort of time-management advantage to them. Although I haven’t taken steps yet to move to those mediums, I want to.

This year the character you play in "Bold and Beautiful" got married to Steffy Forrester for the third time and a lot of fans of the show hope that they will not get divorced again. What can we expect to happen in the life of Liam Spencer? Do you know the future of your character?

I don’t know more than a week or two ahead of what American audiences know, but would you really want me to spoil it for you? 1) I don’t really know the long arc of the stories. 2) I couldn’t tell you even if I did know. 3) You don’t really want your favorite characters to be happy. They are called daytime dramas for a reason.

(Photo: JPI Studios)

If you want to learn more about Scott Clifton, please visit his official website:
http://www.scottclifton.com
https://www.facebook.com/Scott-Clifton-156983094325006/

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