In the Hollywood grind, an actor may find themselves the grist in the mill.
Fortunately for one actor, working with local director Dusty Clark on his film In a Blink was a welcome respite from Plasticland.
“It was nice to be on a set where there weren’t any egos overshadowing the process,” confided Eddie Nickerson, who plays the role of Detective Livingston in the movie, shot on location in Seymour.
“It was very pleasant to work so close to home, and for a change, stress-free,” Nickerson told the Times.
Because the film was produced on a low budget, and here in our own community, Nickerson was taken aback on his first day on the set.
“Having lived in LA and been on low-budget guerrilla projects,” Nickerson said, “I was surprised at how many resources he [Dusty] had and how detailed the set was. He had everything.”
Among Nickerson’s other projects was a role in Boys of Summerville, playing what he described as a “psycho father”, opposite Leigh Ann Jernigan’s psycho girlfriend. “There were a lot of psychos in that movie,” Nickerson said with a chuckle.
His favorite project, he said, was his FBI agent role in Red Dragon, the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs. He remembers it fondly for being suddenly picked out of a crowd of extras and elevated to a beefier role.
“It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time,” he said. “From being herded around with the extras, to the second day having my own trailer. It was exciting.”
Though the role of Detective Livingston in In a Blink was originally slated to go to another actor, Nickerson found himself being considered for the role when the original actor was tied up on another project.
Clark relied on his actors for suggestions, and they recommended Nickerson. “I met with Dusty over coffee, we talked, and at the end he gave me a script and offered me the part,” he said.
Working with Clark was a fine experience, Nickerson said. “A lot of directors and writers are closed-minded; they’ll ask you for your input, but ultimately all they want to hear is ‘it’s a great script’.”
But working on In a Blink was different. “I made a couple of suggestions about my character,” Nickerson said, “and in the next draft of the script, those changes had been made. And it just amazed me at how open-minded he was.”
Asked if he was happy with the way he developed his role on-screen, Nickerson reserved judgment. “I’m always critical of myself. I know myself a little too well, and it’s hard to get beyond the person that you see in the mirror every day.”
But the true test, he said, is how Clark perceived the role. “Ultimately, Dusty’s happy with the way it came out, and that’s what matters,” he said.
Nickerson, who is currently looking for new roles to play, is shopping around his own screenplays, including a project titled Wrong Turn at Tahoe, and another called Drow, The Movie, which he described as “Deliverance in the Twilight Zone”.
