Portland Actor’s Wild Night With Reese Witherspoon

Monday, October 13, 2014

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

Reese Witherspoon in Wild

On Dec. 5 moviegoers from all around will be treated to Jean-Marc Vallee’s follow-up film to the highly acclaimed "Dallas Buyers Club."

That movie, of course, is "Wild," which is based on a best-selling memoir written by Portland-based author Cheryl Strayed. The movie stars actress Reese Witherspoon.

Part of the film, appropriately so, was shot in Portland, Ore. And as so happens with some of the smaller roles at times, a few local actors got cast in it.

Usually these roles are fairly insignificant, a line here, a line there. But one local actor - Greg James, - landed what many would deem as a pretty significant role. He spoke to GoLocalPDX about how he landed the part and what it was like to go to bed with Reese Witherspoon.

Byron: How did you hear about WILD?

Greg: Just a couple weeks prior to the scene’s shoot date, I got an email from my agent Dennis saying I would be reading for the part of “Man In Hotel Bar” for this big movie starring Reese Witherspoon, which was based on an Oprah-endorsed book that my wife had just finished reading and loved.

But, when I looked at the sides-

B: Sides?

G: Instead of sending the whole script, they just give actors the “sides” of what they’ll be reading for. Anyway, what I noticed with the sides is that there were no lines. I wasn’t sure what I was actually “reading” for. But then I read the description and it had something to do with the character Cheryl (played by Reese) being picked up at a bar by an unnamed man, and then the two of them making “violent, frantic love” in a hotel room.

B: Wow, how do you audition for something like that?

G: That is a great question and one I was asking my agent and myself all the way to the casting office. Dennis just said to go with what they threw at me. Although they had implicitly stated the actor chosen would have to be OK with rear and side nudity, we were told we wouldn’t have to take off any of our clothes in the audition. When I got there and looked around the casting office, about 15 guys were already waiting for their turn in chairs that circled the room.

And honestly, any flattery and braggadocio I had in being called in for this role vanished once I saw them. Some of them I knew, and most I felt were far more handsome than me. The casting director then came out and announced they were recasting this particular role because the previous actor was uncomfortable with the required nudity.

Inside my head I thought that whoever ended up landing this role should be required to send that gentleman a Christmas card every year.

B: Did you ever figure out his identity?

G: No. But believe me, I’ve asked a few times.

B: Did they tell you then what you would have to do for the audition?

G: Actually, no, not yet. But while I waited “on deck” to go in, I overheard that we would be improvising a pick-up scene. So, I tried to think of something fast. I’ve been married for over 12 years, so I was a bit rusty. Even walking into the audition room, nothing was coming to me.

B: So what happened when you got in there?

G: Well, there was a female reader that sat opposite of me next to the camera. I was supposed to be sitting at a bar and checking out my newspaper until we got each other’s attention. I told her that I had a really long and hard day at work and she was the best thing I'd laid my eyes on all day. She tried to introduce herself and I cut her off and said I didn’t want to know and wouldn’t tell her my name either.

We exchanged some more small talk about what she was reading and so forth, and then I knew it was time to wrap it up. And so I ended the dialogue by saying: "So, do you have any interest in making my day even longer and harder?"

B: Ha! What happened then?

G: The reader went silent and blushed. The casting director turned off the camera and burst into laughter. I asked: “Was that too much?” The casting director didn’t think so, and she sent me on my way.

B: Did you think you got the part?

G: No. No way. Sure, I was feeling good from having had a pretty fun audition. But as most actors know, we can have a great audition, but there are too many factors that go into actually landing a role. At 6’1” I’ve lost parts just for being too tall. And Reese Witherspoon was a good foot shorter than me. Not to mention plenty of other actors were still left to audition, and I was not confident enough to think Reese and her other producers would be reviewing the tape later and saying: “Yep, that’s our guy! The sorta ‘OK' looking dude right there!”

Honestly, I think my wife was more optimistic after I told her about the audition.

B: Ah, your wife. What was she thinking about you auditioning for such a sexually powered role?

G: She wasn’t in love with it. But let’s face it; this was a major motion picture with an opportunity to act with Reese Witherspoon! And again, she absolutely loved the book and had even met the author, Cheryl Strayed, in Powell’s Books just a couple months prior.

And at this stage, we both still thought my chances were pretty slim. I mean, what kind of odds do you put on this one?

B: Well, when did you find out?

G: The audition was on a Wednesday and I still hadn’t heard anything by that next Monday. I knew it would be shooting quickly, so by the time Monday rolled around, I figured I didn’t land it. We actors eat rejection for breakfast; it’s what we’re used to. Only when we receive the phone calldo we get excited.

B: And so I’m assuming you got that phone call then?

G: Ha, yes, of course. The call from my agent came the next day, on Tuesday. He jokingly said he hated me and proceeded to ask me if I’d be available for the shoot date and confirmed my willingness to bare side and rear nudity.

B: Which, of course, you did-

G: Duh. I actually told him that I would be willing to camp outside her personal trailer in the buff and freezing cold for days if it meant I got the part. He said he’d get back to me with the final word. Which happened the very next day. I was in.

B: Did you get a chance to meet or talk to her before the big day?

G: No. And truthfully, that surprised me a bit. I would have thought she’d want to get to know the actor she was going to have such a sensitive scene with, if only to make sure I wasn’t some kind of creep or something. In fact, the day before, I was called on set (where they were filming a scene in REI) to meet the director, Jean-Marc Vallee, briefly and the makeup artist.

Witherspoon was there and saw me from across the long store and gave me a little smile, but we didn’t formally meet.

B: Why is that?

G: I was told she was going real method with this one. She wanted me to be Man In Hotel Bar, a complete stranger she has sex with. I was not to be Greg James. I think, too, it just made it easier for her to compartmentalize the whole thing. In a way, she wasn’t real to me either. I just knew her as Reese Witherspoon from what I saw of her on TV and movies, so she was as much a stranger to me as well. A famous and beautiful one, sure. But a stranger, nonetheless.

B: What did the director and makeup artist say to you?

G: Mostly, they just wanted to see my tattoos.

B: Of course! Do you have any?

G: Yes, I have four small ones. I would need to have my Mickey Mouse one on my inner thigh covered up due to the Disney branding police, but Vallee had no issue with the rest of them. And I am told you will clearly see at least one of them in the movie – a blue couch, which is the logo of my company. Makes me kind of giggle to think of that.

They also said no to my request for a spray-tan.

B: Too pale, huh?

G: Yeah, it was November. My healthy summer complexion had worn off by then. But luckily, I took it upon myself to have my butt waxed a few days before by a good friend of mine, so at least I knew I wouldn’t have my hairy ass popping out on-screen.

B: So, you arrive on set in North Portland, with a hair-free ass, on Wednesday.

G: Yes, otherwise known as Hump Day. Bad joke, I know. But this whole experience has fostered a lot of them with my wife and friends, believe me. I found my trailer, and had to sign a mountain of paper work, in which my genitalia was referred to as my “naughty bits,” which made me laugh.

B: I read in Vogue that Reese Witherspoon hired a hypnotist to get her through the sex scenes in Wild.

G: Ha, yeah, I saw that, too! I certainly didn’t get the same kind of treatment. A glass of wine might have been helpful though. But I can understand why she would want to do that since she had never done anything quite like this before. It’s a big deal.

Tomorrow: Part two of this Q&A with Greg James, where he tells us about THAT scene with Reese Witherspoon.

Greg James is a local Portland actor who is recently most known for the wacky viral on-line comedy STAR DRUNK and a TV co-star on the upcoming WWII drama series "Combat Report." A list of his other movie credits can be found at http://www.imdb.me/gregjames. He is one of four actors in the state recently nominated for Oregon Media Production Association (OMPA)'s 2014 Best Male Actor award.