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Actor Cullen Moss comes from a theater background with a wide variety of roles under his belt. Last fall he starred in the live stage production of The Last Night of Ballyhoo in his native state of North Carolina. His newest venture includes a part in the soon to be released Nicholas Sparks’ based film Dear John. Moss recently discussed with me his special experience in the film along with what’s next for his most famous long-time role as “Junk” on the CW’s One Tree Hill and much more!
What is your character like in Dear John?
Cullen-His name is Rooster, Ronnie, goes by rooster. He’s one of the guys in the special unit force with John, Channing Tatum’s character. He’s part of john’s military family. He’s a down-home guy from South Carolina. The main story of course is this love story of Channing and Amanda’s but when they shot all the footage of his time away from her, I think it was just as important to the director and to the writers that all of that time be representative as realistically as possible you know just to emphasize the distance.
I think that’s gonna be really effective thanks to the director Lasse Hollstrom who is very much about creating an honesty in all the scenes. He allowed us to do a lot of improve. He’d sit us down before a scene and say ‘maybe today we’re not going to worry about the script, there’s a scene where John comes back after having visited with Savannah, this is your good friend who’s coming back, you’re happy to see him’. There are a number of situations like that where what was on the paper wasn’t as important as the reality and emotions of the scenes. I think that’s gonna be very effective.
I think it’s gonna be great. All the scenes of him in the military while they’re not huge parts It was a great experience. Channing was a great guy everybody got along had a good time and made it real.
What most appealed to you about the role and the story behind Dear John?
Cullen-Having two cousins in the military, one of whom has been overseas repeatedly and has a wife (and recently a child) stateside, the other will be heading that way soon… One of my best friends, Sandy, recently married a great man, John Vaughan, who is in the military and was just shipped back over to the Middle East. Their love is a love that I admire greatly. To see two people that you know so well and care so much about commit to a relationship that is destined, from the beginning, to be fraught with the perils of distance and danger… for me, it really legitimizes what some may see as “just another sappy love story.” There’s a truth to that story that is known and has been known throughout history by so many.
One scene that we shot that really sticks out in my mind is this scene where our unit is somewhere in Eastern Europe and we’re all gathered around this television in this little courtyard cafe and it’s supposed to be 9-11 and we’re just watching the second plane hitting the twin towers…and to portray an active duty soldier who is watching that happen really put a whole new spin on my memory of that event. Reliving it through a soldiers eyes, reliving it period, was a strange, eerie, and poignant moment.
What was the experience like playing a member of the military? Did you have to go through training?
Cullen-We did have members of the military that were of special courses there with us. Actually the guy who is the military advisor for Army Wives, Gavin McCulley, he was our military advisor on ‘Dear John’ and he actually got cast for a speaking role and he got a bunch of his special courses friends to come in and they were featured extras with us. They all would run us through drills and were there to keep us on our toes. They showed us how to hold the weapons properly and what was proper protocol, how to wear our gear and look authentic and not give the military a bad name. They wanted accurate representation in the film and sometimes they would modify the scenes in the movie to make them more accurate as far as what the military protocol would be. But it was really cool having the special courses guys there. They were very helpful keeping us in check, and working with the wardrobe department, and whatever things we had to keep us as accurate as possible.
I think it’s gonna be great. All the scenes of him in the military while they’re not huge parts It was a great experience. Channing was a great guy everybody got along had a good time and made it real. And the set’s are amazing I can’t wait to see how it looks on the screen you know just because you show up to what was originally a cement factory being demolished for the film they turned into a rubbled out city in Afghanistan and you felt like that’s where you were, in these far away places, the art direction in the movie is just amazing.
You were recently in an interesting film about Lincoln’s assassination, can you talk about that and the experience?
Cullen-In The Conspirator, I played a senior officer in the Union Army. This was just after Lincoln’s assassination. A senior officer in the war department, to the Secretary of war who was Edwin Stanton, who was being played by Kevin Kline. So I got to have a couple scenes with him. That was a treat. I had a nice scene with Kevin Kline right after the assassination of Lincoln. That was really cool, a different sort of experience. I think it’s coming out towards the end of the year.
Kevin Kline, I’ve admired him for years and years and also knowing his experience on the stage, I do a lot of stage acting so his breath of knowledge is impressive to me. I was in the makeup chair and he came and sat down next to me and my breath was taken away…but he was really nice and put me at ease. The one scene I had with him was heavy with dialogue was the day after the first day of shooting, so the first day we had a lot of downtime together and just broke the ice. He’s just a funny guy, laid back, a gentlemen.
Fans really enjoyed your recent One Tree Hill basketball game with the kids, was that fun to shoot?
Cullen-That was a ball. Michael(Chuck), Lee(Mouth) and I were all in ‘Blood Done Sign My Name’. We played brothers, so that was a cool little reunion having the three of us. But it was fun. It’s always a joy to work with Jackson(Jamie) and Michael’s a lot of fun, too. The whole point of the scene was to have my character and Fergie just get schooled by these two kids. And I’m not that great of a basketball player so it wasn’t difficult. (Laughs) But of course it was all choreographed. The kids did so well with the choreographed movements, and of course Jackson’s big dunk. They’re great. We went out for a day of rehearsal and the kids they got that choreography pretty quickly. They know their stuff and worked hard at it too.
And honestly with Jackson it’s not far from the truth. He’s got a pretty good shot. He’s a little guy, but he puts some stuff up that you don’t think is going to go in but goes in.
Will we see you back on One Tree Hill this season?
Cullen-I’ve got an episode coming up next week. They had kind of a John Hughes show that was an homage to John Hughes. They paid tribute to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Home Alone, the movies that John Hughes wrote or directed. It was a fun show. Vaughn(Fergie) and I had a lot to do. We were kind of in the part that was an homage to Weird Science, and a little bit of the Home Alone stuff.
Who is your dream or ideal character?
Cullen-Oh wow, I really don’t know what that would be. On stage I’ve played such a wide variety, I love doing character roles. Where it’s just something very far from myself and I can just bury myself in something…I love doing that.
One of the favorite roles that I’ve played was for a pilot that I shot with a good friend of mine, we shot this pilot for FX, The show is called Lake Hartwell I played this redneck and it’s just about these boys and girls in Anderson, SC on Lake Hartwell and it’s just kind of about the redneck culture.
What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t acting? Any other passions?
Cullen-I’d love to do more writing, honestly. I’m an artist so do something with my visual arts skills. I used to think about doing graphic design. And both of my parents were teachers so I’ve thought about teaching, maybe teaching acting.
If you could go back in time and be anyone from history for a day, who would it be?
Cullen-I wanna say maybe my grandfather. He was an animal veterinarian and he was born in the late 1800’s..he was in World War I. So that’s interesting.
Catch Cullen Moss in the special One Tree Hill tribute to the 80’s episode this Monday February 1, only on the CW network!
Dear John can be seen in theaters nationwide February 5, 2010!
To read my previous interview with Cullen Moss-One Tree Hill Examiner
Next week an interview with Robert Buckley who plays Clay on One Tree Hill & a very special One Tree Hill event announcement!
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