St. John's actor Mark O'Brien gets an education on set of Arrival
'When you're working with people of that calibre, you can't ever slack'
Mark O'Brien is pretty tight-lipped about his new movie, Arrival, but he hopes his spoiler-free approach will pay off for audiences.
"You get to go in pretty fresh, and I think the trailer sets it up really well," the St. John's actor said of the film. What he can say is that it's a sophisticated science-fiction movie, which depicts a mysterious alien visitation of earth
"It's a very entertaining film, but also a real thinking-person's film," he said.
O'Brien found himself auditioning for the Denis Villeneuve-directed film after his manager in Los Angeles talked him up to a couple of casting directors, and he agonized over the audition recording he made at home — up to a point.
"I was with a buddy of mine, and I was like, 'Oh, man, I don't know if I'm doing this right. I don't know if it's any good.' And we were about to head out the door, so I was like, 'aw, screw it. It's good enough.'"
A week or two later, his manager called with the news that Villeneuve, a Genie-winning and Oscar-nominated director, wanted to have a talk via Skype.
"We chatted for about 20 minutes about the movie, about the role, and all that kind of stuff, and he told me right then and there, 'Yeah, I want you to do the movie.' So I was like, 'oh my god! OK!'"
O'Brien's not spilling much about how substantial his part is, for fear of giving any of the movie away, but he does allow that he "was there a long time" and "shot a lot of stuff."
Rolling with 'heavy hitters'
Much of the "stuff" O'Brien shot was alongside Hollywood stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker. O'Brien said working with actors at that level was a learning experience.
"You're rolling with some really, really heavy hitters, and you're challenged, and you know you have to bring it, because when you're working with people of that calibre, you can't ever slack," he said.
"Especially when you're the new guy there, who no one knows. You've got to bring it to their level, every single time."
O'Brien also said he was thrilled for the chance to work with Villeneuve, director of Sicario and the upcoming Blade Runner sequel.
I don't want to just do movies for the sake of doing them; I think it's important to do something that has a positive message and can make people think about something.- Mark O'Brien
"He's a really nice person and he's a really, really smart person, and he sees the whole film really, really easily, so it's actually really conducive to work with people who are fantastic at what they do," he said. "It's like anything -- if you work with someone who's an expert, you're just immediately going to become better."
O'Brien said beyond his current movie, he's working on writing his own work.
"I just always want to make stuff that I think is good and that makes people think," he said.
"I don't want to just do movies for the sake of doing them; I think it's important to do something that has a positive message and can make people think about something, and I think there's a lot of power in that."
Arrival opens in theatres in November.
With files from Heather Barrett