He’s the lead singer of Sex
Bob-omb. He works at Happy Avacado restaurant. He’s starring
as Stephen Stills in SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, based on the comics
by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I was lucky enough to check out the Toronto set
last year, mere moments after San Diego Comic Con, where I got to chat
with Mark Webber about the film, his character, and freaking out about
singing in front of people.
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
opens August 13th, 2010.
Mark Webber
Can you describe your character
Stephen as you see him?
He’s like a lot of typical musicians
that I know. He’s very focused on the music and just the music. And
also has some extreme insecurity and anxiety about if he’s ever going
to make it. And in terms of performing, when he really, luckily, is
able to kind of get out of that anxiety a bit, but he’s very anxiety-riddled
and very focused on the band and has a very big dream of making it.
How’s your character differ from
the comic? Has there been any changes to it or is it pretty much in
line?
It’s pretty much in line. And that’s
what’s been really amazing about this is that the cast with Edgar
and we’ve really been able to remain really true to the books. And
yeah, there’s certain qualities—he’s a bit grumpy and that anxiety
and there’s like these key overall emotions that you try to have and
then figure out who’s this guy as a real person. And that just comes
from having a really good director and really good actors to interact
with, you know?
I’ve heard that from all the other
directors, that there have been little bits of sort of back-story that
we don’t really know about from the books from Brian. Did you get
anything about your character?
Yeah.
That we wouldn’t know that you
want to tell us?
I don’t know if I allowed.
Johnny [Simmons] already ruined
everything. (laughter)
You know, there’s one thing and it’s
a big thing and I’m concerned that maybe it comes out in the next
book, so I really…I mean it’s really amazing. I worked with
[co-star Allison Pill]. I did a movie called “Dear Wendy” with her.
It’s where we first met.
That’s a great film.
Thanks. And then we went on and did
a play together—a Neil LaBute play called “The Distance From Here”,
so me and Allison were friends. And then so coming into it I knew at
least I had that. And then getting to know Michael has just been amazing.
He’s just a really great guy and Johnny’s amazing. He’s one of…a
really great young actor who is really fun to watch and be around, so
we all really get along so well. And we’re like a real band. We spent
pretty much all of March, before we started shooting, kind of having
band practice. We all show up at our rehearsal space together and learn
how to play the songs and like real bands do, we fight and argue and
it was great. It’s been one of the best experiences about this thing
is how much everyone really enjoys each other’s company.
Johnny complained that he didn’t
get to do a stunt in the movie and that everybody else gets something
to do. What work have you done that’s been sort of a
… because I would assume that’s sort of a new experience of
doing that sort of thing?
Yeah. No, totally. I actually just
last Friday came in to practice with what my stunt is which is being
I’m on stage at the Chaos Theatre when we get blow off-stage by the
twins. And I just finally got to put on this harness that I’ve seen
Michael and everyone else in and everyone talks about it being incredibly
painful and uncomfortable. And it is. I have huge bruises on my stomach
now. But it’s really a lot of fun to be strapped into this thing and
being lift up and pulled 30 feet in the air and spinning around and
having to somehow control it and act on top of it has been quite an
experience. It’s fun. It’s really fun.
Since Stephen is the lead singer
of the band, was that a little nerve wracking because I know that singing
can be kind of scary for some people?
Yeah, it was incredibly nerve wracking.
I mean it was the biggest challenge for me to that I’ve had on this
film for me to overcome. I never really…like I’ve sang “Happy
Birthday” in front of people. I mean that was the extent of my
singing in front of an audience, so I had some vocal lessons and it
was made very clear to me early on that I had the shot to be able to
go an re-record these vocals and if it was good enough we would use
my voice. So it’s the type of pressure that like I really want and
like really look forward to as an actor. It’s something to really
sink my teeth into and I had a really good coach and then I came up
here and had an amazing recording session with [music producer/supervisor
Nigel Godrich], which…
That’s amazing.
…yeah, and that was a really
big deal for me and it’s just a testament to just how good of a producer
he really is. I mean I guess apparently early on we were going to be
in a big fancy studio with a bunch of engineers and he kind of cleared
that all away and we actually recorded the songs and the guy Jimmy from
Metric like his home studio and just me and Nigel. So it made me very
comfortable that there wasn’t a lot of other people around and he
was able to really…we became friends and he really helped me go there
and it worked.
Were you coached by [Canadian musician/consultant]
Chris Murphy as well?
Yeah for the guitar.
What was your musical background
like before? Did you have any kind of musical background?
I had guitar lessons in Los Angeles
before I came out here and then worked with Chris Murphy. He was, you
know, our coach every day in the rehearsal rooms. And yeah, he’s there
every day when we’re on-set doing the musical sequences.
You say that if you were good enough
they would let you record your own vocals. For a band like Sex Bob-omb,
how good is good enough? (laughter)
That’s the best thing I had going
for me (laughs) is that I didn’t have to sound like Thom Yorke, which
I constantly had to remind myself. You know, it’s pretty good. It’s
all right. He’s trying.
We were talking to Allison earlier
about sort of reacting to the supernatural elements and how sort of
just of part of that world it is. So how is that for you as an actor
trying to react to that naturally?
It’s tough. I mean it’s a lot harder
than I thought it was going to be. And that’s another one of the big
challenges about this is that…but the cool thing is that when we go
to shoot our coverage, we’ve generally been able to see….I mean
there’s been so many little bits from just like storyboards being
cut and edited together that we can watch and then we get to watch portions
of the fight and we can kind of see where things are going and get a
sense of what we have to react to. Before, it was just us looking at
a pink X on a screen. And Edgar’s been really good about really reminding
us what’s going on. “There’s a giant fireball coming now!”
and things like that.
In the comics Steven gets really excited about recording their music
whereas you’re pretty easygoing. Do you become kind
of gruff in the film?
Yeah, no definitely I do get…that’s
where I go. If you had to
pick one thing that kind of embodies his persona all the time, that’s
it. But for me when you’re taking something and making it like a real-life
character, you don’t want to be just one-note the entire time and
it’s about the reason why he has a tendency to get so angry and controlling
is because of his anxiety and a lot of insecurities about himself as
a musician and as a person, so. And I can do that pretty well, too.
Talking about the band you formed
with Michael and Allison and I guess Johnny sometimes. I mean if you
guys actually physically had to play songs live would you be able to
do that? Or is it in the playback to make it look like…
Well, Johnny played before and Michael
played before and Allison is like now an incredible drummer. I unfortunately
am… (laughs) I’m thankful we have playback. (laughs) I’m
thankful that Beck and those guys recorded the music. I mean I would
never…I’ve gotten over the months gotten much better and can actually
kind of play but if it were just on me, it wouldn’t be a good situation.
You’ll play at the wrap party
right? (laughs)
We might. We might. I mean Michael
jokes about it. He talks about how we should play our opening song at
like the premiere or something like that. And at that point I definitely
would be able to nail that song for sure.
Everybody’s talking a bit about
Chris Murphy and you mentioned recording at Metric’s home studio.
For the concert sequences and things where there’s other bands coming
through, have you guys been tapping into kind of local bands, local
music scenes?
Yeah, what’s been really great for
me is that I met Kevin Dru from Broken Social Scene and he’s been
around and I met Emily and I met Feist. I went with Kevin to a church
somewhere and saw this amazing performance. I forget who this guy was,
but he used a lot of like…he just recorded everyday people’ voices
and interviews and then like played this orchestra music along with
it. And just being able to hang out with Kevin and kind of talk to him
about the music here and I’m a big fan of his, so it was cool that
these guys are around. It’s really great. It’s been a lot of fun
for me. It makes me feel that much more like I’m a local musician
kind of trying to make it in the scene you know to be around these guys
that I respect and admire and just kind of hang around them and soak
up little bits of stuff from them.
They’re always talking about how
Edgar really knows exactly what he wants when he’s shooting, so do
you find that sort of confining as an actor or do you like that?
I go back and forth. I, for the most
part, really, really enjoy it. And it’s presented its own challenges
for me. But it’s really like I remind myself of how many times I’ve
been on the set of a first time director who really just doesn’t know,
and he knows down to pretty much the facial expression that he’d like
you to make. And it really suits…that style suits itself for what
we’re doing here, you know? So I actually really appreciate it and
it’s been really good to have someone who knows exactly what he wants.
Are you guys involved in the video
game—the companion video game they’re making for this film?
No, I just heard about it.
So have you been asked to do voices?
No, not yet. I would love to. That
would be like a dream come true.
Are you a gamer?
I used to be. Not as much now, but
I guess the way that Brian was talking about how he wants us to be kind
of reminiscent of like…what is it like kind of like Street Fighter
where it’s not…
It’s going to be sort of 8-bit-16-bit
style?
Yeah. Which sounds really cool to me.
Do
you plan to keep playing music once the movie’s over?
Yeah, I’ve definitely gotten bitten
by that bug. I mean that’s the great part about doing what I do is
that you essentially been able to have like months to learn how to play
guitar and sing and I mean it’s great. It’s a new skill-set that
I want to keep working on.
Can you describe Stephen’s look
a little bit? Are you Stephen today or just Mark?
This is a combination of both. I mean,
my beard’s a little bit bigger now just because I haven’t worked
in like 6 days, but it’s pretty much spot-on how he looks in the book.
It’ pretty amazing how we all kind of transform and really look like
the characters.
Spend a lot of time in makeup to
get that look or was it just someone doing your hair or…?
Not as long as some people had to.
But it’s been really amazing what the makeup artists and the hair
people on this film have done and the wardrobe and it’s very much
like you can open up the book and it’s like, “Wow.”
Do they have you tied up and if
you decide to make another movie have you been inspired to try to do
another movie now after working on this one?
I really want to…I’m working on
writing a screenplay. I really want to continue to direct and haven’t
had an incredibly a lot amount of time to do that up here. I might go
do a movie called “The Can” with Jesse Eisenberg after this in the
fall in Texas. And that’s it.
Has [author Bryan Lee O’Malley]
given you any insight into your character’s name? Is that just a joke
to have a Stephen Stills and a young Neil in the same group, or did
you go back and see some CSNY because it’s kind of an inspiration
or…?
Just that he really is actually a big
fan of Crosby, Stills and Nash and that I think if Bryan were to answer
that, I mean it is a joke in a way. And that’s what so really great
about what he’s done with this series is just these little jokes.
And even stuff very specific to Toronto and the scene up here. I actually
never heard to Sloane until I got up here and met Chris and started
listening to his music and then realized, oh yeah he wears a Sloane
shirt. You know, these little things—like right. It’s been really
fun.
How did you get involved with the
project since Johnny told us that he got in through Facebook?
Oh really? (laughs)
Yeah.
Wow! I guess mine was old-fashioned.
I just got the script from my agent and read it and really loved it
and went in and auditioned for Edgar and yeah, that was it.