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BLAIR UNDERWOOD WRAPS DIRECTORIAL DEBUT: Actor guides Ving Rhames in drama, ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’
*Actor Blair Underwood has nothing but positive things to say about his first-ever directing experience, which comes courtesy of the feature film, “The Bridge To Nowhere.”
"We only had 18 days to shoot a pretty large film with no sets, so that was the challenge,” the filmmaker tells columnists Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith. “We'd hit it and quit it and keep on steppin'! It has its pros and cons, but sometimes what happens spontaneously is even better."
Ving Rhames, Danny Masterson and Bijou Phillips star in the project, which had to be shot guerrilla style and on a shoestring budget.
"Each one of those actors brought their A game, and it wasn't for the pay day," Underwood says. "They all responded to the script and story and just wanted to work with people they like and respect."
In the movie, Rhames "plays a sort of Godfather to these four Caucasian friends from the north side of Pittsburgh," says Underwood. "Their lives are at a dead end so they create a high end escort service . They become pimps, for lack of a better word. I'm fascinated by the effects of human behavior on the psyche, how it affects the soul. There are consequences to every action, and we track these characters to see how each one is dramatically affected by this decision."
While working post-production on “Bridge to Nowhere,” Underwood is also busy shooting HBO's upcoming series "In Treatment."
"This is very exciting," he says of the show that chronicles hourly sessions with a psychologist (Gabriel Byrne) and his patients. It's a nine-week limited nightly serial, something we don't have on American TV You watch four characters in therapy each week . The Monday night character in his Monday appointment. I play a fighter pilot who bombed an Islamic school of kids. My character is on each Tuesday night. . Another character is on Wednesday and Thursday, then each Friday night Gabriel Byrne's character goes to his own therapist, played by Dianne Weist."
