Interview with Boyd Kestner

Last week I got to talk to Boyd Kestner, one of the stars of the dark indie thriller Cleopatra's Second Husband. A native of Virginia, Boyd got his start by moving to New York, working the odd jobs to pay the bills while taking classes and trying to land a role. He got his first break with a role on the TV series The Outsiders. He would also make appearances in the series Diagnosis Murder and Knots Landing.

His first big movie role was that of Wickwire in Ridley Scott's G.I. Jane. In 1997 he would get his first leading role as the manipulativeleechh Zack Taylor in Cleopatra's Second Husband. That would lead to a role in The General's Daughter with John Travolta and then playing a cowboy in the yet unreleased indie film Snakeskin. Most recently he worked with Ridley Scott again, appearing with Julianne Moore in Hannibal, the sequel to Silence of the Lambs.

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.

Go on to Part 2