Interview by Kayley Thomas 2010 is the year of the Lindberg. The 33-year-old actor’s no stranger to the business, mind you. If you didn’t catch his early debut in Black Circle Boys, that’s a little horror flick you’re probably going to want to check out regardless. You might also have seen him in an episode of The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer once upon a time. Or maybe you remember him as Jesse in The Fast and the Furious or O’Dell in October Sky? With starring roles in films like Punk Love, The Other Side of the Tracks, and Push, plus recurring roles in recent years on Supernatural and CSI: NY, Chad’s been a busy man, but rest assured, you’ll be seeing more of him soon. He’ll be joining interviewee Sarah Butler in the upcoming I Spit On Your Grave as well as reprising his role as the mullet-rocking, 'Dr. of Bad-Ass', Ash, in this season of Supernatural...
Assumed dead, Chad will be bringing Ash back from the grave in the near future, and as we got a chance to sit down and talk about, this is due in part to his fans’ love and support of him. There’s something about Chad Lindberg that’s managed to steal away the hearts of many a Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles-loving, convention-going fangirl. He’s got his own fanvids and quite the Twitter following. It could be because he’s funny as hell. It could be because he’s a complete doll. The guy makes an effort to send some internet lovin’ out to all of his fans, and he’s been a hit at a number of Supernatural conventions over the last few years, rocking out at Guitar Hero and getting down to the brass tacks about the Hollywood industry. That, and he’s just plain talented, with a gift for raw, honest emotion along with excellent comedic timing. Chad and I took some time out to talk I Spit On Your Grave, the sex appeal of Ash, his role in the documentary My Big Break, adventures with ghosts, some of his online shenanigans, and a love of controversy. If this boy doesn’t win your heart over, we may have to check your pulse.
First, let’s talk I Spit On Your Grave. Had you seen the film before you took the part?
Chad: I didn’t know it was a remake, actually! I auditioned, and I read the script, and I’m like, "Woah, this is intense, okay." And actually my agent tried to get me to go in for one of the other characters, which is not what I was right for at all. And I was like, you know, I could be right for the part of Matthew, the stuttering, retarded kid. So I went in and got called back in twice, and I got cast. I started looking online and doing research on the director or whatever, and I came across it – you know, when they sent out the audition, it was for Day of the Woman, so they kind of pulled a fast one and no one really knew it was a remake.
But this cast is just really, really good and I fell in love with everybody. They’re really great people, and that’s rare. Definitely the feeling on the set was that we got something here; this is going to be something. This is going to be something people talk about, at least, if nothing else. We’re really excited. We’re doing scenes that would make the hair on the back of our necks stand up and make us nauseated. At the same time, it’s a thrill for us as actors to be in scenes that really sort of tweak you out. We all kind of got tweaked, and I don’t think we expected to get as tweaked as we did.
think there’s definitely going to be a huge response to it. I’m sure there are going to be fans of the original that are really excited, but I’m hoping we get some of that controversy too. I think anytime you have a film that really is important, you’ve got people questioning it. You’ve got people starting a dialogue about it. I mean, the original is mentioned in sort of academic books on horror.
Chad: I know, right?! It’s pretty interesting. It’s like a pop culture phenomenon. I think a lot of people would look at that movie and be like, oh, it’s despicable, how could you make a movie like that? When in truth, it’s empowering the woman. I mean, she goes back and gets revenge on all these men for raping her and leaving her for dead. It’s interesting how the original director came up with the movie. He was telling us on set. Him and his son or daughter, they were driving along in New York one day, and this lady came barreling out of the bushes half-naked and torn, and they stopped and took care of her, and they put her in the car and they took her to the doctor and the police. That’s how it started. That’s where he got the idea. So it came from a place of good intentions, as weird as that is with a movie like that. But it also pushed buttons and sort of pushed boundaries, and I think that’s exciting when you get to do that in a film, regardless of the material. If people are questioning, if you’re pushing boundaries – you know, I’m a big fan of controversy. It gets people talking, and gets them riled up... if we can do that, we’ve done our jobs.
So Meir Zarchi was on set during the film?
Chad: Yeah, he’s got a part in this. He signed off on it. It’s interesting, you see online a lot of bashing already from all the hardcores – "why are they doing this, Hollywood’s gonna screw it up" – well, we have the thumbs up from the original’s director and his input into the movie. So I think the fans are going to be pleasantly surprised. We’re bringing a style to this. It makes ugly look pretty – does that make sense? I think they’re trying to make ugly look pretty in a way. It’s shot beautifully. The performances are there. It’s going to be gnarly. Gnarly!
I like that. It makes ugly look pretty. That’s good. Sarah mentioned that it was a matter of taking something that had so much potential and polishing it, really making it shine. That seemed like such an odd term to talk about a film like this, but yet I understood what she meant. To actually make it visually stunning. I hear that it was mostly handheld, right?
Chad: Yeah, I would say 98% of it was handheld. Just right up in there. I think a lot of people are worried it’s going to be cheesy, it’s going to be campy, but it’s not. It’s going to be raw, it’s going to be in your face, and it’s going to be an affecting film. One way or the other, people are going to feel disgusted, offended, stimulated, all of the above. If we can do that – if we can actually have people walking out of the theaters, we’ve done our job.
So Sarah mentioned that she kind of felt bad for you guys that you were put in some really uncomfortable positions, as far as just physically on the set, that you were tied up for hours at a time and really had to put up with this kind of discomfort that you really might not have with a lot of films. What was one of the most physically uncomfortable moments on set for you?
Chad: For me, without giving too much away, I think I had the easiest of all the death scenes. Everybody else – Danny Franzese had a lot of makeup that had to be done. I kind of got off easy on that part. For me the most uncomfortable was probably the rape scene. It was literally nauseating. After they cut, I’d literally just go into the corner outside and hurl. Just heave. There was really that energy on set – the gagging sort of reflex. But Sarah was just super, and I’ve got nothing but respect for her. She took that role by the balls and she handled it with professionalism and class, and I don’t think a lot of, dare I say, name actresses, would have gone through that and put up with that and done such a great job and not complained. She’s going to have an awesome career. On top of being down-to-earth and real, she really stepped up and that’s not an easy role to endure. She had a couple moments where she had to like go off and sort of – she freaked out a few times, naturally. But she was always ready to come back and do it again. That made it easy on us. All of us guys, we took care of her like a sister. We looked out for her and made sure she was comfortable, and we all love each other, we all got along, we all hung out afterwards. We had to sort of, to shake it off.
Everybody brought their A-game. They added a new character, played by Andrew Howard, who is a stellar actor and one of those actors who just kind of electrifies you on set and pulls you in. I really appreciate and respect Steven Monroe. He had a great laid back style of directing and knew exactly what he wanted. I respect him and I'm very thankful for him giving me such an amazing opportunity to be in such a unique movie experience, along with the producer, Lisa Hansen. All the way around, it was probably one of my favorite movie-making experiences of my life, and I’ve done quite a few. This was up there, and I’m really proud of it. I hope people enjoy it, and I hope people don’t enjoy it. [laughs]
How do you think I Spit On Your Grave fits in with the current horror market? We’ve had this torture porn genre developing – like Eli Roth films and such – where do you think this fits in with that kind of trend?
Chad: I think it definitely fits in more these days than back then. With movies like Saw and Hostel, all of those movies are pushing the boundaries on violence. I think it’s more acceptable these days; I don’t think it’s going to be as acceptable with Spit. Mixing in the big long torture rape scenes – that’s like half of the movie. That might be a little uncomfortable for people because it’s so drawn out – you’re like, oh my god, this just keeps going and going and going and going. When does it end?! Then it switches, and she [Jennifer] comes back and then she really – that’s when they really amp up the torture on us. In the original, it was kind of short and sweet, I guess? But in this one, they really amp it up. And at the end, regardless of the material and the subject matter, it’s entertainment. It’s a movie. That’s it. We’ll see what people have to say. I know a lot of the people online are already all, oh, why are they remaking this, oh it’s going to be terrible. But we’re just like, no, I don’t think you know. This is good. We hope so at least.
I’m sure it will be. Speaking of good things...you’re coming back to Supernatural!
Chad: Yeah! I actually got the news when I was wrapping up filming in Louisiana, that they were bringing me back, and I was floored. I was blown away. I’m extremely honored and grateful for Eric Kripke and the crew up there for thinking of me and bringing me back, but also - partly why I chose to announce it on Twitter was because I owe it to the fans. I spent three years doing conventions and really built sort of close relationships with all of these people, and I really feel like I’ve been in-tune with them over the years and listening to how much people wanted Ash back and listening to the love from them and their videos and petitions and their letters. And their good energy being put out there – I truly believe that is why I’m back, and I owe it half to them. I announced it because I wanted to share that with them, and it wasn’t just me, it wasn’t just Ash, it wasn’t just Supernatural bringing me back – it was the fans that brought me back too. Supernatural fans, I believe, are one of the most powerful fanbases out there! They can move mountains, they can shut down Twitter. They’re not to be fucked with.
Damn straight. It’s true, though. Seeing fans have so much power and a show that actually respects their audience that way is pretty singular; you don’t see that very often. It’s got to be something to be a part of that.
Chad: It’s wonderful to be a part of that. It’s a dream come true. I’m excited to bring Dr. Bad-Ass back, and the Good Doctor is in. How he will be, I shall not reveal. There’ll be some excitement. I think it’s going to be good. It’s definitely going to give me a boost – new fans – and this is like Supernatural’s biggest season.
Definitely. Could be the last...
Chad: It could be the last. It’s hard to say. I hope not! I hope to go at least one more. We’ll see what happens. I’m just thankful to go back, and do some good Ash one-liners, whip the mullet one more time... but yeah, the Good Doctor is back, and I’m very excited and honored and blessed.
Awesome. Well, I know all of the Supernatural fans are really excited.
Chad: Yeah, the response from that was overwhelming. So many people were so excited to hear that. I wanted the fans to feel like they had a hand in it because they definitely did, and I thank them, and want to keep them close along the way, to make them feel like they’re helping me build - building with me. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, my god – it’s really opened up a lot of avenues, I believe. You don’t know who you’re going to meet or talk to. It’s pretty cool.
ince you are our Scary Stud and everything, what would you say are some of Dr. Bad-Ass’s turn-ons?
Chad: Ash’s turn-ons: Problems. Math. Beer, definitely. And multitudes of ladies. He’s not a one-woman man! He likes to have both arms around a lady at the same time. It’s just the way it is with him. It could be a curse of his. He’s certainly been harassed for his sexiness, but he oozes sex appeal. So I would say those are his turn-ons.
I’d really love to see an episode where you steal the chicks away from under Jared and Jensen’s watchful eyes.
Chad: Well, somebody made a video – "The New Face of Sexy" with Justin Timberlake’s "Bringing Sexy Back." It’s hysterical! It’s really, really funny, and they did a really good job. It’s all Ash and the ladies and Jared and Jensen are like, huh?!
So what attracted you to playing Ash to start with? When you read the script, what were you thinking? I’m really going to don a mullet, and I’m going to rock it?
Chad: I’m always about the mullet. I’m always about changing my look if I can. When I got the script, the character just felt like it fit. I knew exactly what to go in there and do. I wore my sleeveless flannel with torn jeans; I think I had a belt buckle that said "Fuck you" on it. I went in there, I shook everyone’s hand, and then what I did was I opened up my flannel, bare-chested, and I just whipped it open and started going off, and that was it. They were howling in the room. Some things you read, you just know. Like, this has got to be me, or I have a good shot. It was one of those characters that fit. I knew I could do it. I knew what they were looking for. I’m quirky, and the character’s quirky. I got it, and I was just ecstatic. I really didn’t know at the time Supernatural was very popular – what it was, and what it is today, by all means. So I did it, and did like four episodes, and I think my burnt hand appeared in the fifth. "My" burnt hand in quotation marks. I had quite a life. Ash had quite a life after Supernatural. All of the conventions – the fans did not let him die. And for that I’m grateful.
I wanted to talk a little bit about My Big Break, too. It’s been something sort of related to Supernatural in a way; the show’s fandom kind of started getting the ball rolling again a little bit, though certainly it’s garnered interest on its own. I was curious – as far as screening it – what’s it been like for you to watch part of your history sort of unfold before your eyes?
[My Big Break is a documentary by Tony Zierra exploring the lives of four roommates working as actors in LA – Chad, Brad Rowe, Greg Fawcett, and Wes Bentley. The film takes an honest, unflinching look at the realities of being a working actor, in times of success and disappointment, some of which has prevented its release for almost ten years. Recently the documentary has been hitting the festival circuit to raving reviews and will hopefully be seeing a wide release soon. Check out wwww.mybigbreakmovie.com for more info]
Chad: It’s interesting. I’ve seen it quite a bit now. When Tony first showed it to me, we were in an editing room, and I started crying. It rattled me. It definitely is one of those movies that rattles people quite a bit, and it’s a very affecting movie. But now, seeing the screenings, seeing it with people, I kind of watch it through their eyes, and I’m able to separate myself now from it. It’s a thrill. I look at the movie as a teaching tool. People want to go to Hollywood, become famous, become actors – well, that’s all fine and good, if that’s really what you want to do. But it has to be in you, or you’re wasting your time because it’s a hard business. Even when you’re succeeding, it’s tough. I wouldn’t change it for anything. I really hope that movie is a good teaching tool, for actors as well as people in the business, and also it’s a little controversial. I think it’s going to be a controversial year for Chad Lindberg. If people are talking, we’ve done our job. We won Best Documentary in Boston Film Festival, we were nominated at Raindance for Best Documentary, so it’s definitely getting a response, an overwhelmingly great response, everywhere we show it. Nothing negative yet. I think it’s an eye-opener. People are like, whoa, so that’s what it’s like. It’s just a real good true depiction of one story out of many.
I know when I helped screen it at the Harrisburg Arts Fest FilmFest [where it also won Best Documentary], the responses were incredible. People were really kind of stunned; when you turned the lights back on, they looked sort of dumbfounded. Like, "really, that’s what it’s like? This isn’t Entourage!"
Chad: I know! It’s interesting. The first screening with Supernatural fans – it was interesting to hear some of them talk afterwards. They were like, well, now we kind of look at Jared and Jensen in a different way. It’s good, I think, for both sides, for the actors and fans, for the people curious about Hollywood. It’s kind of exciting. I’m hoping it does well, when it’s supposed to. It’s been a hell of a long journey with that movie. We’ve been incredibly patient. We’ll see. It’s a good time for me. I feel like I’m seeing a lot happening. I’ve been doing a lot of work, and I feel like the seeds I’ve planted are sort of coming to fruition, and things are coming my way a lot more naturally. I’m really excited. 2010 is going to be a bitchin’ year. I mean, dare we talk about Sniff?
Oh, I have notes on that. We should definitely talk about that. That’s what everyone’s here for. So, speaking of Sniff, what inspired you and Josh to embark upon this project?
[Sniff is a short video that Chad and Josh Cowdery released at Funny or Die. It became a Twitter and Facebook viral hit and has been a long-running joke between Chad and I.]
Check out the sheer artistry:
Chad: Well, you know, Sniff is one of those movies that only comes along every once in a blue moon. We were just dicking off with camera and we thought it would be funny just to do something where we were reacting back and forth. And then we were filming, which took about two minutes of our time, and I started sniffing, and he started sniffing, and we both worked really well off of each other. We were just doing this sniff back and forth. So I went home and I cut it together, and Josh came over to my house and I showed it to him, and we were rolling around hysterically, and he was like, "How about we call it Sniff?" And I’m like, "That’s fucking brilliant. Like Blow." So Sniff has become a huge joke between Josh and I, and we’ve definitely shared it with many of the fans and they’ve got a kick out of it. Now it’s become a huge running joke, and it kind of started me and Josh’s working relationship. I think he’s a very talented actor, and he’s getting his foot planted in the door. It’s good to work with your friends, if you and your buddies can make something you think is funny. And especially now with Funny or Die and all these venues, especially with Twitter, I can make a stupid video, and 300 people are going to see it within two minutes. It’s really exciting. You couldn’t do that 10 years ago. It took 10 minutes to get the computer on and up and running. Now you can just put stuff out there like that. Sniff was actually sort of a fun thing to get us excited, and we’re going to make a lot more videos and movies.
As much as I tease you about it, it really is hilarious, and it is this perfect example of Funny or Die, Twitter, this new move for media. That you can throw something out there, and it can kind of snowball and people spread the word and turn people onto something, and then you’ve got how many hits all of a sudden. So you guys are going to be putting some more videos together? Am I smelling a sequel?
Chad: Definitely. It’s 2010, and Josh and I have talked about, dare I say again, Sniff 2. There may be a Sniff 2 in the works.
Why not throw it in there? It’s a year of controversy.
Chad: It is a year of controversy! And Sniff is extremely controversial. Forget about I Spit On Your Grave. I mean, this is like, as controversial as it gets.
I’ll send it to Roger Ebert and see what he thinks. So is there anything kind of off the top of your head that you haven’t done as an actor yet that you’d like to do? Whether it’s a type of role or a genre or someone you want to work with... Or is that something you don’t focus on?
Chad: You know, I try not to really focus on that too much. I get excited when things come along, and I’ll be, oh yeah I’d love to work with this person or that person, but actually, my dream job? I want to get a hold of the show Ghost Adventures, and I would love to be a guest investigator with them once. That’s what I would want to do. If I wasn’t an actor, I think I’d want to go into paranormal investigating.
So you’re a believer, then?
Chad: Oh, I’ve seen ‘em, I’ve heard ‘em. I absolutely believe. I think it’s thrilling. I think that brings you as close to the other side as you can possibly get. It’s a rush, man. I’ve actually considered trying to get a hold of the show and asking them if they would have me on as a celebrity guest! It seems like it’d be possible. Why not? Especially with the whole Supernatural tie-in, you think it’d be perfect.
We can organize a fan letter thing or something. I’ll hook that up. Do you have any ghost experiences you can share in the meantime?
Chad: A couple of years ago my buddy and I were out at like 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, and we’re standing at the corner of this street in LA. We sort of look up the block, and we see this lady cross the street. She’s in this black nightgown, right? It was like an evening gown. And we were kind of checking her out. She looked good! But we’re like, what is it with this chick? It’s 4 in the morning, this is kind of strange. We see her walk across the street, and she starts bending down and picking up these long flowers off of the ground in a very peculiar way. She had her arm bent as if she was carrying a baby, and she’s laying these flowers in her arm. She starts to walk away from us, and we follow her, because my house was up the block and we had to go that way anyway. So we kind of followed her – we’re like a half of a block back – and we’re following her up the street, and we’re getting closer and closer to her. It’s just kind of strange, this lady, for some reason. So we were like, okay, let’s try to get a look at her. So we’re getting closer and closer on her, and we realize we don’t hear her walking. She’s got this big, long black evening gown on, and when we go to look at her face, she does this really creepy sort of gesture with her hand to cover up her face. So she turns away from us to cover up her face, and then she sits on the curb. And this just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up talking about it. She sits down on the curb, and we pass her because we’re thinking, we don’t want to freak this girl out. We get about 10 or 15 steps up the road and we turn to each other like, "that was a ghost. I think we just saw a ghost." And we go back, and she’s gone. Years later, I’m talking to my buddy who lives in the area, and apparently there was a girl there who I believe – I don’t know if this is true or not – was murdered and Ashton Kutcher was going to pick this girl up for a date and found her dead. But it was in that area. So we’re kind of thinking maybe that was... I don’t know. It was intense. Especially when you have somebody who’s seeing the exact same thing that you are seeing.
[Chad, you better not be bullshitting me. Do a search on “Ashton Kutcher’s dead girlfriend” and see what comes up. It’s a time-killer, at least, and much more interesting than Kutcher’s Twitter, if you ask me.]
That was one instance. A couple I used to live in a house with in LA used to put these beads in the doorway – twice when I was standing there and the things just went blowing everywhere, not like a wind, but like somebody was running through them. No one was around, and that was kind of intense a couple of times. You sit there and you’re like, all right, that happens, there are things here, and you just kind of have to roll with it. I get off on that. It’s scary, but I love that stuff too.
Hopefully we’ll see Chad in some more scary roles in the future. He brings a unique energy to every role he undertakes, and I hear he’s got some hot tattoos hidden away. You know, if you care about that kind of thing. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/chadlindberg - if you tweet him, or whatever you call that, he’ll eventually hit you back, because he’s that kind of guy. And you’ll hear news about his upcoming projects there first, which you’ll definitely want to keep an eye out for. Recent rumors suggest that there is indeed a Sniff 2 in the works... keep your fingers crossed. In the meantime, tune into Supernatural – Chad wouldn’t tell me when he’d be appearing, but guaranteed it’ll be a kick-ass time. Forget bringing sexy back (wait, I think we’ve long tried to); Chad’s bringing the mullet back, and it’s going to blow those pansy CW vampires out of the water.
Quelle/source
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