TV Interview!
Interview with actor Nathin Butler by Suzanne 11/29/20
I’m usually happy to interview any actor via email. It’s just easier for me. Nathin actually recorded his answers, which surprised me. No one has done that before. 🙂 But it’s fine. He answered the questions in a very concise way. I enjoyed listening to it. I hope you will, too!
Here is the audio version: Part One and Part Two
Suzanne: Tell us about your upcoming movie, The American King, and when does it come out?
Nathin: I believe they’re still finishing editing it, so, I’m not sure when it comes out.
Suzanne: Where was it filmed?
Nathin: It was all filmed in LA. Some of it was filmed in Africa, but I filmed my stuff in LA. I play this Australian guy who worked for an oil refinery company, you know, a company like Shell or something.
Suzanne: How long did filming take?
Nathin: I was only filming it for around a month here, but it was a lot of fun.
Suzanne: Do you have any funny anecdotes from filming?
Nathin: Akon’s in it, you know, the pop star, Akon. So, there was a pretty funny moment in it, where Akon walked into this scene, and he was trying to be funny, but it just didn’t work. So, I told him, “Dude, why don’t you ride that Segway into the scene, and then, you know, get off the Segway and then do your scene. It might work.”
And the director really liked it, and it kind of brought Akon to life when he had so much fun on the Segway. That was kind of cool.
Suzanne: I know you had a small part in a Westworld episode. I love that show. What was it like filming that?
Nathin: I did have a small part in Westworld. That’s great that you love the show. It was fun filming it, and that filmed here in LA.
Suzanne: Was there a lot of green screen work?
Nathin: There was no green screen; they had like 500 extras downtown. They were trying to create these kind of like [crazy riots] in that futuristic setting of what season three is. It was amazing. There were horses and police on horses getting pulled off. There were tanks firing people with water cannons, and there were fire explosions.
Suzanne: Who did you work with mostly?
Nathin: All of my scenes are with Aaron Paul, and that was fun. I got to hang out with Aaron, and we chatted a lot. I was shut up for about a week, and Aaron was such a nice dude. We were both talking about how we both have small children. I know he has a baby; I guess he’s a big baby now, probably like two years old or something, but yeah, we were talking about having kids, and he’s a nice dude.
Suzanne: Had you watched the show before you were on it?
Nathin: I had watched Westworld. I’d seen season one. I started watching season two. I really love it. I really love that show.
Suzanne: Had you met anyone from that show previously?
Nathin: I worked with this awesome stunt guy called Dave Reeves, who is so awesome. He’s also in The Mandalorian; he plays one of the actual characters.
Suzanne: I hear you’re writing a miniseries. What is it about?
Nathin: Yes, I am writing a miniseries called Far North. That’s gonna be about – it’s like my family’s history. My dad and his five brothers were cattle duffers, which means they stole thousands and thousands of calves and cattle and steers and bulls and stuff from the government back in the 60s and 70s. Australia during that period was kind of like America was back in the 1890s, even before that, during the time of America’s Wild West. Australia was like that, but just 100 years later. It was still like that. So, I’m writing a kind of true crime drama about about my family’s history, which I’m excited about.
Suzanne: After you’ve finished writing it, do you plan to shop it around, or do you plan to finance it yourself?
Nathin: I’m not sure what I will do with..I’m kind of working with a producer in Australia and some people on it. I’m very excited about it, though, and I’m enjoying the process.
Suzanne: Have you been going on virtual auditions?
Nathin: I have done a couple of virtual auditions, only a couple, since this last kind of month, I think things are starting to pick up again.
Suzanne: What have you been doing during the pandemic, besides writing?
Nathin: During the pandemic, what I’ve been doing, besides writing, is really just living my life. I kind of quit social media. So, I’ve really been enjoying my life and my family.
And I recently did a nice ride up the east side of the Sierras with a friend of mine, Jake Miller. You can check out some of our videos on his social. It’s @motomill2, and you can check out our videos and our adventures in the forest, which was pretty fun.
Suzanne: If fans recognize you, what do they recognize you the most for? I still remember you on General Hospital!
Nathin: Fans mostly don’t recognize me anymore. I have long hair and a beard, and I only go out so much anymore, but whenever I used to be in like a Rite Aid or a CVS or something, when I had short hair and I was clean shaven, they would recognize me for for my Dr. Keenan days. But, yeah, not so much anymore. I have this long hair and beard and kind of look like Tom Hanks from Castaway a little bit.
Suzanne: I see that you’re from the outback in Australia. Have you been back there to visit since the terrible fires?
Nathin: I did grow up in the outback of Australia, and there were terrible fires out there. [It was] pretty heartbreaking. A lot of my family lost a lot of cattle, and the government kind of helped them out a little bit, but it was a very hard time for Australians with those fires, very sad. But I’m planning to go back pretty soon to visit my family, my mother and my uncles and stuff, and I plan to take my son back there to go and see everyone.
Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com
MORE INFO:
Born and raised on a ranch in outback Australia, Nathin Butler, left home in 2008 to pursue his career as an actor. Best known for his portrayal of Dr. Ewen Keenan in the Emmy Award winning show General Hospital (2011-2012) and as Nick Towne in Hawaii Five-0 (2019). Nathin has starred in HBO’s Westworld (2020) and was also a series regular on Winners & Losers (2012-2016) and recurring roles on HULU series Casual (2016-2018), ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2017), HBO’s The Pacific (2010) and ABC’s Rain Shadow (2007) & The Cut (2009)
Nathin has also appeared in iconic feature films like Baz Luhrmann’s Australia (2008) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) as well as starring in several independent films like Black Gold (2011), The American King (2020) and Drone Wars (2016)
With a love of filmmaking and storytelling Nathin has created several projects and will take his passion to the next level by writing and producing an Australian true crime drama titled Far North.
Wikipedia
Proofread and Edited by Brenda
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