Joseph Lawrence: The Leading Man

Joseph Lawrence has been tacked to your bedroom wall, he's been in your glossy magazines, he's been the star whom everybody knows and loves. He's also been the 'has-been,' the guy you liked when you were little, back when you thought Martika was cool. Such is the viscous world of a teen actor unfortunate enough to have a strong character in a successful TV show.

Since those 'celebrity' defining days, Joseph has made several interesting career decisions. He was a whirlwind of creative activity after Blossom, acting in, directing, and producing his own show Brotherly Love. He was also a recording artist who released two albums, Joey Lawrence and Soulmates. But by the mid-nineties the backlash of Joseph's earlier success was catching up to him. Disney dropped Brotherly Love after two seasons, and Joseph Lawrence the musician was doing poorly on the charts. The young entertainer wasn't getting a break and he contemplated giving up singing and acting altogether; In fact, he did.

If you knew Joseph Lawrence in the late nineties, you knew him as a college student taking a liberal arts education at USC. It was time for reflection, for friends, and most importantly, for himself. But after three years, Joseph realized his heart and destiny lay in entertainment and he began his return to Hollywood. As always, he had a strategy, one that involved the movies, specifically independent films.

Tequila Body Shots, Desperate But Not Serious, Radioland Murders, Chains of Gold, and Summer Rental became Joseph's training ground for a career in film. Surprisingly, several of these independent features had blockbuster connections and Joseph found himself working with John Travolta, Claudia Schiffer, and John Candy, as well as the directors George Lucas and Carl Reiner. It was the start of something new, something viable and good.

But 2000 is the year that brings it all together. For Joseph Lawrence, this means acting in the studio production Urban Legends: Final Cut, a movie that will put him back in the public eye. Joseph stars as Graham, the son of a Hollywood mogul in a thriller concerning a group of film students at Alpine University. Urban Legends: Final Cut opens nation wide on September 22nd.

And this is where we meet Joseph Lawrence today, fresh, focused, and ready for a challenge. An aspiring leading man about to show us his acting chops.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Hi Joseph, tell me about your experience working on Urban Legends: Final Cut.

Joseph: It was great. The feature film thing is kind of a new thing for me and it's been something I've been excited about for a long time. I've been waiting for the right time to break out of TV and go into film and I was able to find a great character, kind of a dark, sinister guy. I haven't had a chance to play something like that before. It was a good opportunity and I think the people who go and see it are going to like it a lot.

When doing a horror or thriller movie, do you actually get scared when filming a scene?

Joseph: You know, it's such a process that you don't. It's all mapped out, everything's there and you can see what makes it work. It becomes quite straightforward and the fear factor isn't that high. But when you watch it, even though you know what's going to happen, you tend to get scared. But not when you're filming it, everything is such a science that it's pretty hard to get scared.

Do watch yourself act after you've filmed a TV show or movie?

Joseph: Yeah, I'll go see it once. I try to critique what I do because you can always get better. I don't usually watch it more than once though.

Joseph, what's your favorite urban legend?

Joseph: I think...when I was a kid the one that plagued me the most was not leaving my hand hanging off the side of the bed for fear that something would gobble it away in the middle of the night.

And why did you want to be part of the Urban Legends cast?

Joseph: I think it was the character. I'd never been able to play someone like that before. And I thought the first one was pretty good. It was a big hit. But they weren't trying to make a sequel with this one, which I liked. It was a second installment. It doesn't have anything to do with the first one and stands on its own, you know what I mean? And I liked that because it wasn't some cheesy sequel.

And leading up to Urban Legends: The Final Cut, you've also done some independent film work?

Joseph: Yeah, I've done a movie called Desperate But Not Serious, a dark comedy. Tequila Body Shots which was another dark comedy. These have all gone to the festivals and done their thing there. It's been a good experience for me.

Did you do these independent features to get experience acting for movies?

Joseph: I did. I wanted to get my feet wet and wanted to jump into this field. I hadn't worked much in it and wanted to see what it was all about. I thought that if I could get some experience in the independent world then when it came time for the studio films I'd be ready to go.

And in doing so, you've been able to work with John Travolta and George Lucas, people who obviously have a lot of clout in the industry. What's the allure for these actors to work in independent films?

Joseph: I think sometimes guys in their position, they have so much power as it is that when they do an independent, it's their pet project. It's something they have a lot of creative control over where they can make every single call that comes down the line.

So do you hope to continue with movies in the future?

Joseph: Oh, sure. I want to be up there with the big boys one day. Hopefully, if everything goes right, that will happen. I think it takes preparation, it takes luck, it takes a lot of things.

And how's your music career coming along?

Joseph: It's something I'm keeping on the backburner right now. I'm trying to put one hundred percent of my efforts toward one thing and see it through, rather than spread myself too thin. But music is definitely one of the most passionate things I have in my life and I'm always working on it. At some point I'll venture down that path again but I want to establish myself as a film actor first.

I don't want to confuse myself or confuse the people who are watching. It's hard because you can fragment yourself as a performer and people don't really know how to take you.

You acted, directed, and produced a TV show called Brotherly Love, does directing and producing play a part in your future?

Joseph: Well, it's definitely there. I hope that if everything goes right for me on screen, that I'll be successful enough to start my own production company. Then I'll be able to do what Mel Gibson and these guys do, which is find projects that you buy the rights to, develop them with writers, become the producer on them, and then act in or direct them. They're your projects that you can do in affiliation with larger studios. It's all about being as diverse as possible within your field. This is something I absolutely want to do in the future, but I have to take it slow and methodical.

You achieved early success with the TV show Blossom. Considering that many actors don't make it past teen stardom to adult roles, how has this transition been for you?

Joseph: Right. I think taking a break over the past three years, never over-exposing myself and not selling out. Over the past three years I could have done a lot of crappy projects and made a lot of money doing the same thing people already know me for. But you have to fight that. I could make money now, but have no guarantee in the future. And I want to be here thirty years from now.

Have you ever gotten to the point where you thought you'd had enough of the entertainment industry and wanted something completely different?

Joseph: I was thinking about it three years ago. But I decided what I would do was take time off and go to school and get in touch with myself and my friends. At that time I wasn't sure if I'd continue or not, but I decided I would.

What school did you go to?

Joseph: USC.

And did you take film studies?

Joseph: I did as a minor, yeah. But that was a bit over-structured for me so I took liberal arts instead.

Joseph, what's something the general public would be surprised to know about you?

Joseph: Well, I'm kind of a neat freak, I don't know if they know that. I like things nice and tidy.

How do you like living in L.A.?

Joseph: Oh, it's great. I live away from the city and it's wonderful. The weather's great, the atmosphere's fantastic, this area has a nice energy to it.

What are the misconceptions of fame that you've discovered?

Joseph: I think people think it's all cotton candy and bubblegum balls. It's a lot of pressure, every time you go out people are looking at you and you're constantly watched and that leads to certain amounts of insecurity. Like anything, there's good and bad, and for me the good outweighs the bad, but those are things many people don't think about. People watch you, people judge you, they want to know everything about you, there's very little privacy. That leads to losing a sense of yourself if you're not careful.

What's your greatest strength as an actor?

Joseph: Strength believe it or not. I think that I can go in there and the character that I play can seize the moment and take control of the scene. Hopefully in the future I can play roles that require that. You know, if someone asked me to save the world, I could do it.

Any actors or directors you'd like to work with in the future?

Joseph: Oh, sure. The list is so long. I'd pretty much like to work with everybody: Spielberg, Scorsese, I'd love to work with Tom Cruise or Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood.

So, how do you memorize your lines?

Joseph: No, there's no secret, I've just been doing it so long that if I read it to myself three or four times, it pretty much stays with me.

Do you find that memorization carries over into other parts of your life?

Joseph: Well, I can remember phone number really easy.

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Check out the Urban Legends: Final Cut web site here!