Colin Michael Day stars in the upcoming Independent film “The Loneliest Road in America”. Movie Mikes recently had a chance to talk with Colin about his first feature film.
Adam Lawton: How did you get into acting?
Colin Michael Day: I had originally gone to school to play tennis and major in business. I was playing Division 1 tennis and that really was my life at the time. I had been in plays growing up and I enjoyed it but I was always more of an athlete. In college, I took an acting improvisation class and I loved it! So over the summer, I took some acting classes. The teacher of one of the classes asked me one day if I had wanted to really do acting. He invited me to another acting class that he offered and I started doing scene work and from there one thing led to another. I really loved it and it filled a spot for me that seemed kind of empty at the time. The following year I had some troubles with the tennis coach and I was very frustrated. So I made the decision to stop being an athlete and change my major to theater.
AL: What was it like getting to work on your first full length feature?
CMD: It was amazing and stressful all at the same time. There were a lot of lessons learned along the way that will stick with me for the rest of my career. There really is so much work that goes into a film that people never see. It’s very tiring but the end result is worth it.
AL: Can you tell us about the movie?
CMD: The movie is called “The Loneliest Road in America”. I play the character Jamie, who is a guy who has just graduated from college and is struggling with what he wants to do with his life. He decides that he wants to go on a road trip with his friend to get away in an effort to cleanse himself. Along the way the characters make stops a several small mining towns to talk with the locals in an attempt to understand others people’s lives. Along the way, a girl is introduced as a way of raising the guy’s game. (Laughs) If we were going to do a road trip we needed a girl (Laughs). Once the characters make it to L.A., they meet up with a friend who is a story unto himself. This is where my character really starts to make decisions related to what he’s going to do with his life.
AL: How did your role in the film come about?
CMD: When I came out to L.A., I came with my roommate who was Mardana Mayginnes the writer/director of the film. We had become friends while attending the University of Denver. We both knew that we wanted to move out to L.A. and pursue careers in the movie industry. We also both had the same goal of wanting to make our own projects. I came to Mardana one day wanting to do a feature film. Mardana started writing with the idea of writing about something that he and I both loved. In college, we were always going on road trips. So that’s where the idea kind of started and it was an area we knew well. After about nine months or so, we started creating some contacts within the industry and gaining interest in the project and things have just really gone from there.
AL: So this movie is based on your road trip experiences from college?
CMD: Very loosely. Mardana did add his input from trips he had taken as a child. The characters are very loosely based on us as well as people we know.
AL: The ending of the film is kind of left open for interpretation. Is there going to be a sequel?
CMD: Everyone asks that (Laughs). We would love to do a sequel, but I don’t think it going to happen.
AL: When is “The Loneliest Road in America” going to be released?
CMD: The film still has a few film festivals to be shown at. We are currently in talks with distributors but we don’t have an exact release date yet. In March, we are going to be having a large screening in Denver, which is where we are originally from.
AL: Do you have any other upcoming projects?
CMD: I am currently in a play which opens January 14th. I can’t really say what it is right now but its being put on by the Elephant Theater Company here in L.A. There are also plans to start shooting another feature film in February called “Passenger” which was written and is also going to be directed by Tony McGrath who was the cinematographer on “The Loneliest Road in America.”