Interview | Rob Mayes
Photographer: Sonalli Castillo
Words: Ally Ferraro / ally_ferraro /
If you’ve watched “A Soldier’s Revenge”, you are already familiar with Rob Mayes. He is, as French Fries discovered, incredibly open and honest. To hear his whole story, we arranged a phone interview with the LA actor and musician to tell us about his interests, the future and more.
You are playing as lead “Major Briggs” opposite Val Kilmer in the western film “A Soldier’s Revenge”. What is your favorite moment of the film?
There is a moment where, actually, longer than a moment. It’s like a ten-minute sequence and what was interesting is that I came to work that day to shoot that particular scene and it was like ten pages, seven-page, eight-page, nine-page scene, I forgot what it was, but it was extraordinary long and you know, generally speaking, you do a TV show, a movie, and most scenes are a half-page, a page and a half, maybe three. It may be a little longer if it’s a long scene, but this was like a ten minutes long scene if not longer and the dialogue was mostly paragraph after paragraph of speeches, and it was a tremendous amount of words to learn and I was struggling with it. I did my best, I came to work, and I talked to Mike, who is a friend, this is our third time working together and I told him I was nervous as hell.
Anyway, we did the scene and somehow got through it without a hiccup and I think it was one of the most powerful scenes I got to do, and the crew stood up after that take.
You did it all in one shot?
That setup, yes, and obviously we cut it with different angles, but yeah we didn’t do a lot of takes with that scene.
Usually strong scenes like this are very emotional, you had to give a lot of emotions right?
Yes, it’s all intense. A movie of revenge and PTSD and yeah, there was a lot to play there.
Obviously, I would love to know how it was to shoot with Val Kilmer.
Yeah, I mean, it was all crazy. I mean the entire cast, and Val Kilmer, the most legendary person. To see him giving a hell of a performance with all the health issues that he has, it was amazing. He is very open, there is so much love in his performance.
Did you shoot in LA, if I can know?
Yeah, we did. Around LA, up in the northern LA area, the Hills of Canyon’s Country.
Are you from LA?
Originally from Ohio.
So you moved to LA to pursue your career right?
I did, yeah, after spending time with the Naval Academy. I was going to be a navy seal, but I decided to leave. I moved to NYC and I got back to acting and then a movie brought me to LA. I have been here ever since.
Would you say you career path was quite easy? Were there any difficult moments?
Oh man, yeah. There are moments of doubt, I would say, almost every day. I can only speak from my experience and where I am in my career at this point. There are the highest highs and the lowest lows. Being an artist and working in the entertainment industry is such a wild ride and it was so easy to let the rejection, the jobs you didn’t get, the time between the jobs discourage you. But I think what, at the end of the day, what you learn is that you need to believe in yourself. And it’s all worth it and that you will work again. You look at a lot of hope, at least for me, that comes from the world of art. Whether it is from a beautiful house painting or a movie, music, a painting, whatever art form it might be, there is so much hope and inspiration that speaks to us through art. And I think a big piece of that is the hardest struggle along the way. What we are trying to get back to the world is hope, but that’s the very thing that keeps the artist alive along the way.
You had a new song coming out as well, “Damage I Done” Could you tell us a little more about it? Is it personal?
I’ve been releasing so much music, starting with “Closer” early April last year and I keep on releasing songs every four to six weeks. There is a lot of content, you know, just telling the story about how I am feeling and the message that I would like to share. I just released this song, the end of April, called “Didn’t I Do This On My Own” which I wrote with Bud Lee, who also wrote “Friends in Low Places”, one of the greatest country songs of all times. That song is about acknowledging the things we accomplish in life, most likely we didn’t do on our own. It’s a team effort, everything is. I wanted to follow this up with something a bit different, and yes, I like beer, top answer your question, so it is personal.
The way you release your songs every month or so, it is more that you need to express yourself? To let it out?
Yeah, music for me has always been my way of processing things. I have played the piano since I was 5 and guitar since I was an early teenager. It is my meditation. Looking back through all my work, the message I want to transmit is hope. I think after experiencing a piece of art, you should be left higher. Art has a duty to do that. Even if it’s a movie about a serial killer or something crazy. If there is a story of redemption, it implies justice. Without justice, without redemption, without hope, without these themes, there is no point to any of this. And we need them right now, more than ever.
You’ve organized a virtual festival during the festival, you stayed very active. What is it that you miss about the life post Covid 19?
This is just such a strange and odd time for everyone. I miss having that certainty and not feeling fear. Being able to leave your home, gather with a bunch of people, and not having to worry about it. To be able to create and send hope into the world through my art.