Wil Wheaton is a fiend indeed in ‘Rent-A-Pal’
While Wil Wheaton’s credits range from “Stand By Me” when he was 14 to “Star Trek” and even ‘Wil Wheaton’ on “The Big Bang Theory,” “Rent-A-Pal” is literally in another dimension.
The 1990-set horror film has David (Brian Landis Folkins), a dutiful son living with his dementia-stricken mother who hopes to find love.
Among his rented VHS tapes from a video dating service, one called Rent-A-Pal pops up. Here is Wheaton’s Andy, the upbeat, super friendly host who becomes David’s confidant, booster and then sinister taskmaster.
“What drew me to this was the simplicity and straightforwardness of the story and the wonderful uncertainty of the character I’m playing,” Wheaton, 48, said.
“From the very beginning, we as an audience aren’t entirely sure this character exists on video in this actual supernatural way. Or does this guy exist entirely in David’s head — David’s just lost it and Andy is a manifestation of David’s psychosis?
“I love that you can interpret the story either way. Each way is valid. And each way changes what we take away from the story.”
Rent a Friend videocassettes really existed, Wheaton noted. “Before I read the script, I knew they were a thing. I never rented one myself.”
Because David talks to the TV and Andy talks back, it’s a strangely structured pair of lead performances.
“Brian’s performance is so incredible. I’m proud of the work I did,” Wheaton said. “But it’s only one half of a team performance. Brian did all his performance without me in the room and he deserves so much credit for what he did to make this story really sing.”
So Wheaton played Andy, appropriately enough, in isolation. “We filmed all of my stuff in one day. We shot it in the morning, finished in the afternoon. Brian came to set to watch me and we had lunch together.
“I thought from a performance standpoint Andy needed to be as broad and generic as possible for most of his performance. So that when he gets specific and when you feel, ‘Holy crap! he’s really talking to David’ — that is a clear switch from ‘I’m Andy, I’m your pal’ to ‘Hey, I’m Andy and now we’re going to do some bad stuff.’
“If we do it right, as the film goes on you should be holding your breath every time Andy comes on the screen. Who knows what horror he’s going to unleash next!”
(“Rent a Pal” streams Friday.)
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2DDtGkj
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