Red Carpet Report’s Entertainment Reporter, Jennifer Ortega, recently spoke with esteemed actor, Clifton Collins Jr. (Capote, Star Trek, Westworld). Collins stars in a new terse thriller, A Crooked Somebody alongside Rich Sommer (G.L.O.W.). A Crooked Somebody is an intense character piece on past mistakes, grief, and manipulation. Jennifer talked to Clifton about his character, Nathan as well as psychics, Prison Ramen and how Clifton refers to A Crooked Somebody as “the little buddy movie that went south”.

Jennifer Ortega (JO): Hi Clifton! How are you? I actually interviewed you a long time ago at the Mick Rock documentary so it was a while ago.
Clifton Collins Jr. (CCJ): Oh yeah, that was a while back. How are you?
JO: I’m so good and I’m so glad to talk to you. I’m a big fan of yours and you’ve done incredible work and have worked with some amazing directors. You worked with Terrence Malick and that still blows me away. A Crooked Somebody is such an interesting film. It was at the L.A. Film Festival last year?
CCJ: Yes, it was there.
JO: I remember being at the festival last year and seeing the director Trevor White, but for a completely different film. I was covering Ingrid Goes West which he produced. Firstly, did Trevor approach you for the role of Nathan?
CCJ: Yes, Trevor did approach me. I wasn’t sure if it was Rich Sommers co-stars as Michael Vaughn) or Andrew Zilch, the writer, that came with the offer. But they pitched it to my manager and then I read the script and came up with some notes and had some ideas. I met with Trevor and then Rich and it was on. I’m just so proud of it. 
JO:  It’s such an interesting film and Nathan, your character to me, I think he transforms the most throughout the film. Most of your scenes are with Rich. What was shooting like with him?
CCJ: Yes, most of them. I like to call it the little buddy film that went south.
Laughter
JO: That’s so good! It really is though! It could have gone all so different.
CCJ: It could have. Nathan and Michael should have just driven off to Guadalajara. Go on vacation, drink margaritas, chase some ladies.
Laughter
JO: They should have! 
CCJ: It was great working with Rich. We laughed a lot for filming such a dark film. We had a lot of fun. And working with Trevor was great. It was just a really good collaboration. It was a really good, rare, healthy, independent filmmaking collaboration. It just seemed to flow and work. It was great. 

JO: I know you didn’t really have scenes with him, but were you able to see Ed Harris at all during the filming? 
CCJ: Absolutely! There was one scene, actually, when I leave initially in the film I run into him. But we were able to hang out other days as well. 
JO: That’s so cool. It was like a little Westworld reunion to me. 
CCJ: I received great mentorship from Ed and I just love working with him.
JO: I was excited because you’re both in this film and I’m a fan of both of you. But also your scenes with him last season in Westworld were just incredible. What I like about your body of work is that every time you play a character you take vastly different roles and they all have different mannerisms and accents and different ticks. It’s everything that makes a character three-dimensional. 
CCJ: I really appreciate that.
JO: Is there anything you do in particular to research when you go into character or is there any way to prepare?
CCJ: Absolutely. The little ticks and the little movements and the dialect changes, they come about due to the research and delving into the lifestyles of these characters and where they come from and their culture, what they’ve been through and what their objectives are. It’s a little soul-searching. If you can imagine searching someone based off of the clues given to you from the script.
JO: Yeah, it seems like a lot.
CCJ: It is a lot and a lot was going on during the filming of this little film.
JO: This story is fascinating to me because it’s something that you see in real life a lot. A story that hits nationwide on a murder or a missing child and all of these like nefarious pseudo-psychics come in and seem to take advantage of the situation. Did you meet with any kind of psychic or mystic both real or fraudulent in preparation for this?
CCJ: I didn’t because my character Nathan really didn’t have a lot of knowledge of them. Believe me, I’d use any excuse to hang out with Penn & Teller. I’m jealous that Rich got to play that character. The part was written for Rich because he came up with the story idea with Andrew. But if I had an opportunity to play that role I would jump on it because I’m dying to do the research and hang out with these people. It’s such a  fascinating world.
JO: Oh absolutely!
CCJ: So to answer your question, no I didn’t get to do the research. For the character of Nathan, it was a different kind of research like who would this guy be or what kind of knife he would use.
JO: Knife research! 
CCJ: Yes, you have to go into the psychology of killing someone and what would they use and what kind of knife. 
JO: That’s why Nathan is so interesting because he later in life goes through almost like a redemption of sorts.  It is an interesting thing to me, this theme of finding salvation through various means.
CCJ: For sure and how it unfolds. 

JO: It’s very intense, to say the least, even from the beginning. 
CCJ: Oh yeah, from the beginning. The beginning really grabs you, doesn’t it?
JO: Oh yes! I was like whoa!
CCJ: I was in Santa Barbara with a bunch of friends. They all deal with Porsches so they’re friends with great cars. 
Laughter
CCJ: It was one of their birthdays and I told him that Trevor gave me a link to the movie.  We watched it at the birthday party. I felt so bad at first, so narcissistic because I’m showing one of my film’s at my buddy’s birthday party. But my buddy asked me to bring it and I said if you want to see it, I’ll bring it to your birthday. But then everyone was around and we were just going to watch the beginning because some of the people had to get back to L.A., but everyone ended up staying. It just grabs you.
JO: It does grab you just from the start! It’s not a movie that has a slow start at all. 
CCJ: It kind of makes me want to go research more. Now after the film I can go research Penn & Teller or psychics.
JO: By the way, I think you would be great in that kind of role. I can see it perfectly. It would be very different from the other roles you’ve done. Someone needs to write you a psychic role.
CCJ: I like the way you think!
JO: Maybe Andrew & Travis will do another psychic movie like it’ll be their new genre. 
CCJ: Yeah, maybe A Crooked Somebody was just like Rich’s character going long into a fantasy sequence and he snaps out of it and is really my assistant.
JO: I like this!
CCJ: I’ll be like wakeup and get that rabbit out of the hat now. 
JO: I’m so into this.
CCJ: I’m going to text Trevor after this call and pitch it to him.
JO: Please do! You have one reporter here that wholeheartedly supports this venture. 
CCJ: Done and done.
JO: Now I’ll be expecting an interview with you and Trevor about A Crooked Somebody Part 2. And there’s a lot of psychics and mystics in L.A. so it’s the perfect place to do your research. I just love your work and I feel like you just put everything into it. 

JO: This is a little stream of consciousness, but I really keep thinking about this. I’m really bad at Twitter and like the two people that I actually really read their tweets are you, Sarah Silverman and now her show, I Love You America. 
CCJ: Thank you because I love Sarah Silverman! 
JO: Me too! She’s amazing. 
CCJ: I just love the stuff that she posts. I absolutely follow her and retweet.
JO: You both have similar I think sentiments and truth and very similar concerns. You should check out her show if you love her. You’ll dig it. But basically, you and Sarah are my news source where then I further read up on something. 
CCJ: Aw, thank you so much. I really appreciate that.
JO: So keep doing Twitter, please!
CCJ: Absolutely.

From my humble director trevorwhite24 “Dear friends, please go see “A Crooked Somebody” in select cities or rent it on demand. I loved every second of directing this movie with some great… https://t.co/tuuh8bXiUX

— Clifton Collins Jr. (@ccollinsjr) October 6, 2018

JO: I also have to mention that your cookbook is pretty amazing.
CCJ: Thanks! Prison Ramen.
JO: Yes. Prison Ramen. Amazing. It’s not only recipes but it’s stories of people in prison and there’s also stories from people like Slash.
CCJ: Did you like the stories?
JO: Oh absolutely! Do you think you’ll do any other books in the future? 
CCJ: My co-author is going through a tough time right now.
JO: I’m sorry to hear that. 
CCJ: But he always steps up. We’ve been talking about Prison Ramen 2 that focuses more on the women prisoners.  
JO: Oh I think that would be amazing because the stories are so varied and great. That’s what makes the book so interesting is that it puts a light and gives a voice to people that I think society often doesn’t really like being bothered with or pay attention to.  I always appreciate that. And there are great Ramen recipes! I know it’s a little off topic, but I just like it a lot. 
CCJ: No, that means a lot for you to share that. 
JO: I think people really responded well to it.  I was sending my brother a copy and saw all the reviews are very positive.
CCJ: People left reviews?
JO: Yeah on Amazon. They’re all good. I should do a review. 
CCJ: Please do. That would be so rad!

JO: I absolutely will. I’m so happy to see you in A Crooked Somebody and so many other films that are coming out!
CCJ: There’s been a lot these last few months. All the titles are blending together. I see the same words and names in them. I’m getting lost.
Laughter
JO: You should do one conglomeration of all your films. Yes, that’s what we should do! Make one movie of all of them combined and it will be the strangest movie ever.
CCJ: Wow! I love that idea. 
JO: And then Guillermo del Toro can direct it since you’ve worked with him.
CCJ: Oh my god. Yeah. It’ll be almost like directing the director’s work because you’re looking at all the past films.
JO: It completely is! See this is good! I think it’s safe to say that we’re both a little bit genius with that idea. I know you have to talk to probably 20 other journalists so thank you so much for talking to me.  It’s such a pleasure. I think you’re amazing and I’m always excited to see what you’re doing. And everyone should definitely check out A Crooked Somebody. 
CCJ: Thank you so much. It’s been my pleasure. Thank you!

A Crooked Somebody Opens in Theaters & VOD October 5th, 2018

About A Crooked Somebody
Synopsis
Michael Vaughn is a phony psychic medium who is kidnapped by a guilt-ridden murderer, Nathan who believes Michael can help him make peace with the spirit of his dead victim. But when Michael learns that his captor’s crime is a high-profile unsolved case, he devises a plan to use his secret to gain fame and fortune on a national stage.

Crew
Directed by: Trevor White
Written by: Andrew Zilch
Cinematography by: Robert Lam
Produced by:
Ricky Blumenstein (Executive Producer), Paul Finkel, Jason Potash,
Wayne L. Rogers, Tim White, Harris Kauffman (co-producer) &
Jesse McClung (line producer)

Cast
Rich Sommer as Michael Vaughn
Clifton Collins Jr. as Nathan
Joanne Froggatt as Chelsea Mills
Ed Harris as Sam Vaughn
Amy Madigan as Mrs. Vaughn
Amanda Crew as Stacy Bishop
Kate Kilcoyne as Young Stacy
Michael Mosley as Detective Bill Banning
Paul-Ben Victor as Detective Zimmer
Gillian Vigman as Monica Lewis
Randee Heller as Phylis
Audrey Wasilewski as Cynthia