SCOTT BOLGER TALKS KILLIN' JIM KELLY
"I feel a heavy burden to the audience"
Daniel John
The world of this film, the Old West, is one where the moral terrain is as vast as the landscape itself, and in the face of change, violence is almost a virtue. Standing at that crossroad, what in those tensions led you onto the set of 'Killin' Jim Kelly'?
I'd say that obviously there's some racial undertones to the film and the way people in the Old West had dealt with those issues and a lot of times it's surprising the way people respected others just for their hard work and just for their tenacity and their ability to fight the elements together. And in my research for the role it seems like that kind of superseded a lot of the boundaries that we see in in modern life, and of course in American history in general, and I feel like Texas really does pride itself on really respecting each other based on their strength and their ability to care for their home and their family and their community above everything. That's why you see a lot of pride in both the black community and the Mexican community and the white community. I'm a New York City kid but when I went there and in between filming days I would venture out and I would speak to people both in the urban settings and in the more rural areas where we were shooting out on the prairie and I noticed that it being the South, and some people do not consider Texas the South, but it being the South, that there was just a lot more mixing and common ground. Again that comes from the work and the lifestyle that is required out there and especially in the Old West, so I think part of what brought me in was that there wasn't as much a focus on the things that make us different but really a focus on what unites us and for the most part in this piece that was seeking justice, or as far as the Old West, vengeance. You said that “Violence is a virtue”, but you know vengeance is a virtue, and that's been said many times in the literature and I think that that has its roots in justice.
What guided your choices as you put on the hat as Red?
Well, Red is kind of a moral compass in the movie and also provides some comedic relief but for me, getting into character really meant like learning who Red was and his place not only in the movie but in that historical society. So you know he is a ranch hand who works for a benevolent cattleman which there were quite a few of and of course there are bad ones too, but I think he embraced his role as both a loyal employee to someone who he saw held moral virtue but also he was like a surrogate father and protector of the victim's family, and I think for me what I drew on the most was that he was trying to balance his job with his duty to his community and combined with the hard trail lifestyle it reduced his character to the things that were the most necessary to survive and thrive.
Must you like a character to play him?
No of course not! I've played villains, sometimes villains are the most fun, it's great to step outside yourself. In fact, I would say that I almost enjoy playing a character I don't like more, because it's more interesting and easier because you're just playing the antithesis of what you feel, which is obvious, whereas the subtleties of a character that you like, or that you identify with, is more of a struggle to separate yourself from and to create a unique character in that place and time. Whereas if I do not like the character it is easy to project negative thoughts or distaste and get lost in that.
What is it like building a career out of New York City. Navigating this tough, unforgiving industry from there?
You make it here you make it anywhere. Everyone's hustle and bustle. Everyone is moving at a fast pace. Super hyper-competitive. I mean, even driving on the roads people are always up your ass and people are always pushing you out of the way to get what they need and they are grumpy and they're gruff but that also makes the best of this city really kind and loving in spite of that atmosphere. So, I feel like I have a strong connection to the people and to the mindset of virtue and hope and love that comes out of the city and as far as navigating the acting industry, I mean, acting is not the most noble of goals. It's very self-ingratiating and it's very “Look at me, look at me, I want to be rich and famous!” (laughs) And there's not much nobility in that, so as tough as it is and and as much rejection as you have to deal with as an actor and the crushing weight of the possibility of not achieving your said goals, I have no sympathy for myself within and I, frankly, do not have much sympathy in it when it comes to other actors. I understand it and I feel it but I know that I am not out here trying to cure cancer or trying to house orphans or some other extremely noble charitable endeavor. I mean yes, I want to sacrifice and I feel a very heavy burden to the audience, I need to give them something. I owe them something for their attention and for their momentary adoration. But I in no way pat myself on the back for dealing with the emotional difficulties that come with this vocation, and so I deal with it mostly in that way by just being able to shrug it all off and move on to the next thing, and luckily there is a ton of job openings. You know the second I do an audition, I send out that self-tape or I leave the audition room, I do not even think about it. I do not worry, I don't call the casting director or, “Have you heard, have you heard?”. I just walk away from it and forget about it and until I am cast, then I think about it.
In fact, I would even say to casting directors of projects I have been part of, some of them feel that there is some sort of burden to contact you no matter what and they message actors like, “Thank you very much. We appreciate it but we went in another direction and you are a very talented actor and yada yada yada”, they feel the need to like let an actor down softly and I just don't think it's necessary and I think it actually serves the opposite purpose, because as an actor when I see a message from the casting-director, like in my email, I immediately have hope, I get excited, “Oh, they're calling me, they're contacting me, they must be interested in a callback or I got the job”. So then I click on it and then it's like oh you're just letting me down. Like don't even respond. I'd rather not hear back, just let me know if I've gotten it. I'm a professional actor, I know that if I don't hear back that means I didn't get it and really all it does is it allows them to pat themselves on the back and to feel virtuous in rejecting someone, which at the end of the day is what it is. So if you print this to all the casting directors out there, don't do that. Just let it be, you don't need to do that, you're making it worse in my opinion
How did you get started as an actor?
I did plays as a child and I did spotted training throughout high school and a bit of college, but I really didn't get started heavy until like my late twenties, I had always wanted to do it but I wanted to be a musician, and I do visual art, I do a lot of other things creatively, but I finally jumped in. And I never wanted to be a child actor, I just had a sense that that was not the way to go and I'm happy I did that, because I think it's good to have a regular life to draw from and to know yourself as a person, not as a person pretending to be other people. But yeah, I mean I got started just like anyone else. I got some cool headshots from some friends on their small cameras and you know everything's websites now you know all the big casting-websites and you just put yourself out there and then submit, submit, submit, submit, submit, submit. Just think about the word submit, you have to bend the knee a lot as an actor. That's how I started and I gained experience and started working on my own stuff and you know being really proactive. And here I am, not as successful as I would love to be or hope to be but definitely experienced and I consider myself legitimate.
Working across drama, comedy and sketch, does approach change or adapt, or mostly stay consistent?
I know that the approach for me at least is different, for sure. I mean, in dramatic work you want to get deep, you want to really know it, you want to know the character, you want to become another person. Comedy is similar but just not as deep, and really just like go with the feel of the scene in the moment. I'm way more in the moment and open to more like improv and back-and-forth sketch comedy, the same thing, except that for me I feel like I'm stepping into a caricature and less of a character for a sketch because it's so short generally and because you're really just trying to hit certain beats very purposefully. For me, the approach to that is way more straightforward, as opposed to a drama or a long-form piece.
Also a musician, can music ever inform character work?
Of course it does. Just my sense of rhythm, the sense of cadence, the sense of speech. You know a line is like a piece of music, it's “da da da da da da” that you're speaking in a prose, which is like not only just lyrical, but also rhythmic and also tone, and a feeling, which is very similar to music. And being a musician, and again I also do some visual art, as an actor and from all the arts I've ever done they all inform each other. I learned something about acting when I painted a picture, you know when I'm painting a picture and going with your instincts or feeling a complete brushstroke, is informing how I follow my instincts as an actor or as a musician, or even as a writer. You know they are all art, art is a representation of life and expression so they are all connected. And when I write a short story it's teaching me how to be a better painter and when I play a piece of music it is teaching me how to be a better actor. So I cannot separate them, and I would not want to.
Do you have any other films coming up, that we can catch on the horizon soon?
Oh yeah I'm in a bunch of things that are about to come out. There is a film called 'Gesso' that's coming out where I play a father and it's a drama with some supernatural elements, there's also me producing a few of my first feature films as a writer-director and actor, one is a dark western called 'The Devil's Rope', one is a mystery called 'Landline' and one is a crime drama called 'Five Bullets'. And they'll all be produced in 2026. Most likely released in 2027, unless I get extremely lucky.
