John Shea: How did you get into acting?
Boyd Kestner: I left Manassas, Virginia and moved to New York City. To do something. Once I got there, everybody was doing it. So I thought I'd give it a shot. I thought I needed to find a profession. I worked at a bar where I think 90% of the people were at the bar were actors. So I got introduced to acting through those guys. I started studying, working the odd jobs in New York, bartending, just to stay alive. I got into class and started studying. And one thing led to another, got my break, came to Hollywood.
JS: What was the first thing you did?
BK: The Outsiders. Actually it was a TV show based on the book.
JS: Do you have a favorite role that you've done so far?
BK: Zack was fun but actually I just got back from New Zealand about five months ago. I actually got to play a cowboy and it was a lot of fun. That was an amazing trip. New Zealand for two months to do a road movie, an independent road movie. Which hopefully might be showing up here soon. I think that was the best time I had as an actor, getting to play a cowboy. From the West. The movie was called Snakeskin. We'll find out soon. I don't know, they're pushing for Sundance. We'll keep our fingers crossed. It's no go yet, but that would be really exciting if I got into Sundance. It's got a real good chance. Real good people behind it and great story.
JS: Cleopatra's Second Husband was unlike anything I've seen. What attracted you to the role of Zack Taylor?
BK: The story. I thought it was such a... Like you said, I'd never read anything quite like that. And to be honest with you, when I first got the script I threw it away. They called me for the audition and my agent said, "You know you should take another look at this." So I pulled it out from the bottom of the trash can with coffee stains. Went back though it and finished the script. Went in and auditioned for it the following day and got it.
It was Zack, this freewheeling guy with no heart. This is the kind of guy who wouldn't say no. Kind of lived his life vicariously through other people's problems and preyed on that. I thought it would be interesting to give something like that a shot as an actor. I'd never done anything like that before. Actually it was the very first independent... the second independent I'd done but the first lead. To be honest with you he's got all the levels you want as an actor to go after. At least I felt that way, at least I tried to bring that to the piece. So that's what really attracted me to it, all the levels that this guy had, and has. So I jumped in and tried to give it my best effort.
I'm happy with it. I'm excited that, like I said, maybe some people will get a chance to see it, because it is a film that, I haven't seen one out there like it. And you know, there's a lot of Zacks around. There's a lot of Zack Taylors combing the earth(laughing). It's good for people to at least take a look at that.
JS: Did you find it to be a hard role to play?
BK: Yeah. It was. Of course. Emotionally it took a lot out of me. All the box stuff, the coffin, that was arduous stuff. It was much more physical that I anticipated, much more emotional than I anticipated. To start off I knew I had my hands full. But once I got involved, then I really knew that. As you piece something like this together you just don't quite know until you see the final product. You hope that you're doing your job so that it makes sense at the end. It beat me up a little bit. Zack hung around there for awhile after I finished, believe it or not. There's a part of me that's a part of Zack obviously.
I always wanted to do something like that. I want to take big chances. Hopefully it sticks. And it just did. But, uh... yeah, overall it was pretty stressful.
JS: Do you ever worry that playing a character like that, that's pretty distinctive, maybe a bit distasteful that people could get the wrong impression about you?
BK: Oh, of course. It's something you fight every day in Hollywood. That scares you. Now since it's been a while and I've put some other films under my belt and I've broken it up, now I don't think that way. When I was doing it and I'm like 'I can't ever do another movie like that.' And then they come at you at the A class level and say "Hey, how'd you like to play this bad guy in this role?" And you go "Oh no, god I can't do this too often." You kind of fear it. There's something in the back of your mind where you can't do to many of these. Especially if it gets out to people and they see it and you get locked into this bad guy role. No thanks.
JS: One of the things that struck me while watching it was "Wow, this guy's a real jerk."
BK: Yeah, but you know you have to create that stuff. You make up this imaginary world of what he grew up in and what his family was like. He's a product of society, of his surroundings, what his childhood was like. And that's the only way I could play that and have a solid through-line to the character. If you're really going to go for it, then you gotta go for it. But there's gotta be a reality behind it. You can't just play bad. There's got to be a reason for it I feel. If there's a reason why, then it makes it a little easier to be a real big jerk, a real asshole.
JS: What was it like? The parts in the box. It looked extremely confining.
BK: I just let the surroundings take over. That's what made it wonderful. If you had to do something like that outside of the box and make it confined, it never would have worked. You get thrown into a box like that, it's 110, 115 degrees in there. And you're in there for two days on a 8 hour, 9-10 hour day. I just let it physically take over. I just let myself go and use the situation. Let that be the work. And that was the work, just opening myself up to that. Not fighting that and not trying to create something that's not there. Just be, just be in the box and really think about not getting out of it. I guess it's much easier said than done. I just let myself go and use my imagination and the rest is elementary.
JS: What was the working relationship with [costar] Paul Hipp like? Especially considering that the two characters are polar opposites.
BK: Actually he was wonderful to work with. Funny thing, he actually had to audition for Zack. That's what he told me. We always had running jokes about that. He was great to work with. It's wonderful to do things like that because there's no egos. It's not about money. It's about the piece. I found everybody to be extremely supportive. He's such a wonderful actor on top of being extremely funny. He kept a real light mood around the set. It's good that he was around, he made it much easier. And Radha Mitchell was great and so was Bitty [Schram].
JS: In Hannibal, what part are you playing?
BK: An FBI agent. I open up the film, with Julianne Moore.
JS: I read the book, is that the gun battle that starts it?
BK: Yeah, they kinda switched the roles around a bit. Brigham gets killed and the other guy Mendez is now the part I'm playing, Burke. And actually he lives. I had three and a half weeks on that. I had worked with Ridley doing G.I. Jane. He had just offered me a part in that so I couldn't refuse.
JS: How did you like working on it?
BK: It was amazing. A set like that is always a lot of fun. You get to play. Especially when you have all the time in the world to play cops and robbers. You get a week to shoot a scene, a shoot out scene between FBI agents and gangers. Julianne Moore was great to work with, she's wonderful. Always love working with Ridley. He's fun to work with. Got a good relationship with him, it's fun. It's fun to have relationships with people like this in Hollywood. You kind of know what to expect. I'm excited to see the final product on that.
JS: It must be nice to do a shoot pretty close to home [Hannibal was shooting in Richmond, Virginia].
BK: Oh, it was a lot of fun. Actually my mother and grandmother got a chance to meet Anthony Hopkins. So that made her year. That was enough for them. They didn't want to watch me work. They just wanted to meet him. So, I'm just happy that that took place. That's exciting, when that happens. It makes the struggle worth it.
JS: Do you spend much time online?
BK: I don't actually. I spend most of my time auditioning. After that it's business as usual. Staying in shape and auditioning is basically what I do. I've got a G4 here, so I'm trying to do some editing and filmmaking on my own. That in itself is fun. But I don't spend a lot of time, no.
JS: Do you have any plans to make movies of your own?
BK: I'd like to eventually. I'm going to start on the digital level and play, see what I can come up with. So if I'm on the computer I'm usually doing that.
