Animal Collective A Conversation About Balancing Acting and Music with Will Oldham,

Star Is Born remake; Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith and Mark Wahlberg topping frst the pop charts and then the box offce; or artsier talents from David Bowie to Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein starring in more offbeat productions. No shortage of actors stepped up to the mic, especially blues and country inclined leading men such as Kevin Bacon, Bruce Willis, and Billy Bob Thornton, none of whom were taken very seriously as musicians (and the latter of whom almost derailed his career by taking himself too seriously). Eddie Murphy may have had a #2 hit with his 1985 single “Party All the Time,” but the actor mainly launched his music career because of a bet he had with fellow comedian Richard Pryor, who said Murphy couldn’t sing. But even if musicians appear to have a higher batting average when it comes to making that transition, plenty of songwriters don’t feel confdent about it. Neko Case, who made her acting debut this summer in the low budget sci-f western Quantum Cowboys, says, “I was mostly thinking about shitting my pants” throughout her scenes, even though director Geoff Marslett specifcally wrote the character as a “Sissy Spacek meets Neko Case type.” Case had almost graced the silver screen years prior, for a much more down to earth and contemporary western. None other than the Coen brothers asked her to audition for No Country for Old Men (an eventual Oscar Best Picture winner), though Kelly Macdonald went on to get the part. Case smiled during a recent Zoom interview while recalling, “Of course they went for her. I would have too. It didn’t feel bad.” A major consolation for Case: how the Coen brothers “were so giving, and made me feel good for showing up. That was one of the steps that led me to take this risk [with Quantum Cowboys]. Because, earlier in my career I had been offered chances to audition. No one would even call me back to say I didn’t get the part. I guess that’s par for the course, but I’d then think I was obviously not hot enough to be cast. So when I auditioned for No Country, at the behest of the Coen brothers, I’d think, ‘Why am I fucking doing this?’ But they were so nice to me.” Case was on the Quantum Cowboys call sheet with Lily Gladstone, who she and Marslett call a star in the making, especially since she was cast in Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated flm Killers of the Flower Moon. That flm features not one but two beloved musicians, both of whom arguably vie for title of top Americana artist of our time: Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell. Isbell said, during a phone interview between days on set last summer: “It’s so cool to see for myself the grand scale of it [this production]. I’ve been out there with Marty every day. And De Niro. I was really impressed with how hard he works. Leo [DiCaprio] too—sweating in tweed suits everyday, just working his ass off.” Isbell contributed the song “Maybe It’s Time” for an earlier star-studded award hopeful, A Star Is Born. Director/star Bradley Cooper cast another alt-country favorite for a role in that movie, Marlon Williams. The New Zealand singer/songwriter—who sounds like Roy Orbison’s haunted reincarnation—says he wanted to do music videos as an extension of songwriting, which got him into acting. But when Cooper gave him the role on A Star Is Born he didn’t think of him as an actor. Instead, the director heard Williams’ singing, went to the Troubadour to see him live, and decided to cast him. But that doesn’t mean Williams was disappointed. On the contrary, he relished the opportunity, and marveled daily at Cooper’s ability to “be able to direct the world around him while being in it. It was an incredible thing to watch. It also taught me that you can’t do that without being an incredible delegator and team leader.” Many musicians don’t need to hone such skills, says Williams, because of their options to record solo in their rooms, with a band and producer in a studio, or anything in between. With that, “you’re not beholden to anyone else’s ability to screw up your ideas. So a lot of letting go had to happen for [Cooper] to be able to see it through at all,” adds Williams, who has since acted in Netfix’s DC Comics adaptation Sweet Tooth and just released a new album, My Boy. Oldham speaks of John Sayles’ far less commercial, but arguably more acclaimed flmmaking with similar reverence. “He put a lot of faith and respect into the abilities and energies of every member of the cast and crew, as far as I can tell,” Oldham says of working on the Matewan set. “I think he just kind of expected you to do your work, and that your work would be supported by everyone else’s, and vice versa. It just seemed so natural to me, that it took me years to realize that’s not a standard way of thinking or working at all.” Oldham remains in Maya Hawke

“Both movies and music are about communication and telling a story.” – Maya Hawke

touch with Sayles, and crew members from that production, visiting members of the latter recently while in New Hampshire. “They’re people that still inspire me, that I’ve been friends with since I was 16. And I’m 52 now. And they see Sayles every week. And when Sayles and his partner Maggie Renzi come through Louisville, I see them.” And what is it like to spend time with the helmer of Lone Star and Passion Fish (not to mention Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” music video) these days? “Sayles’ brain is unique. It’s a good brain,” Oldham says. “For a variety reasons, principal among them it’s hard to get funding for independent movies, so one thing he’s done is continue his parallel career of being a writer. And when he puts a book out, he’ll often do reading tours and Q&As. If you ever get a chance to see that, you’ll see his brain in action, and it’s kind of humbling. Because it’s just so perceptive. And generous.” Burgeoning actress Mckenna Grace is roughly the same age now as Oldham was on the set of Matewan. She has enjoyed similar generosity and inspiration as what he describes. The young Nirvana and Radiohead fan penned a song called “Haunted House” and later sent it to her Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman on a lark, only to be surprised by his offer to use the song in the movie. She went on to release the song “Post Party Trauma” this summer, promoting it in between shooting scenes for the Peacock true