Your new movie Rooftops
of My City - in a few words, what is it about, and what can you tell
us about your character in it?
Rooftops
of My City
is about a multinational girl in search of an answer to
the question "where is home?". In this film my character and Lena
share a similar cultural background, but not only that. Throughout the movie,
we discover that we also share the same confusion about the question
"where is home?"
What did you draw upon to bring your character to life, and
especially taking into account you actually are a Swiss actor in the USA
yourself, how much Terence Schweizer can we find in Oliver? My
character was purely based on myself since I was able to relate to the
subject at a certain level. Maya Jasmin (director, writer, producer, and actress),
gave me full freedom to rewrite my monologue at the end to make it more
personal to myself which made the "acting" part much easier for
me. How
did you become involved with the project in the first place, and how did
you end up on the production side of things as well?
When
Maya first wrote this short, it started out just as a scene for our reels
and since we wanted to work together for a very long time, she asked me if
I wanted to be a part of it. After I introduced her to a dear filmmaker
friend of mine, he convinced her to turn it into a short film, so we all
automatically started to help her out in the production side too. What
were the challenges of bringing Rooftops
of My City to the screen from a producer's point of view? The
most challenging part of the producing side was to raise enough money so
that it would be a good production, and that we could send it out to
several film festivals too. What
can you tell us about your director Maya Jasmin, and what was your
collaboration with her like? I had one of the greatest
experiences working with her, and since we have been friends for a while
it made it just easier. Throughout the whole filming process, Maya gave me
full freedom of choices, and a little bit in terms of lines. Do talk about the shoot as
such, and the on-set atmosphere? Thankfully I already knew
everyone on set before we even started filming. I even have worked with
some of the crew in the past which is why I recommended them to Maya,
because of their talent. We did though have some technical issues at the
end of our second and last day of shooting which almost forced us to
reshoot everything from our last day. Any future projects
you'd like to share?
I recently booked a play called Music Between Us, it's an amazing new play that just won an
award for best writing. The dates have not been decided yet, but hopefully
we will bring it on stage in NYC and in London soon enough. At last, we
also just submitted a play that we performed last month at The Frigid Fest
to another theater festival called The Fringe. What got you into acting in the
first place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject?
Honestly, it was a series of events that gave me the courage to pursue
my dream to become an actor. I used to spend hours every day watching
movies, and then reenact them with my friends instead of doing my
homework for school. Since acting isn't a common career to pursue in
Switzerland, I started to look for other careers that I would find
interesting, but at the end of the day my real interest would always go
back to acting. After I graduated as a building designer, I finally
decided to move to Los Angeles and start a basic training in acting at
the Beverly Hills Playhouse. After a couple years, my passion for
theater grew, and that's when I decided to move to New York City and
have a formal training at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film
Institute.
As
far as I know, you're hailing from Switzerland but make movies in the USA
- so what prompted that move, and how does the acting scene back there
compare to over here? I decided to start my career as an
actor here in the US because the acting business in Switzerland is very
small and even more competitive. In comparison to Switzerland, the acting
business in the US offers a vast amount of great projects, theatre and
film, to audition for. Even as a foreigner, the opportunities to make this
dream reality are higher here than in Switzerland. What can you tell us about your
filmwork prior to Rooftops
of My City? I have worked on a few off-off Broadway
plays produced here in New York City, one of which won two awards, and
several short films here and in Los Angeles that have been accepted and won
various film festivals. Also, I recently finished to film my first feature
film called Old Man & The Love that will be pitched to
Lifetime television channel where I played one of the lead roles. How would you describe yourself as
an actor, and some of your techniques to bring your characters to life? I
would describe myself as a more serious type of actor. I typically use The
Method as a technique with a little bit of my own "set of tools"
so to speak. Each project I do, I like to try different things to see what
does and what doesn't work to achieve that imaginary reality during the
performance. Whatever works in the moment, I'll use it. Actors
(and indeed actresses) who inspire you?
My biggest
inspiration are Daniel Day Lewis, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, and Robin
Williams. Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
Website: https://www.terenceschweizer.com/
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7447543/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terenceschweizer/
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user63587068
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Terence-Schweizer-251852775235298/
Thanks
for the interview!
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