Stephen Dorff Accelerates His Career With ‘Brake’

Talk about unpredictable. Stephen Dorff, who began acting as child after an agent saw him in a school play, has shown his versatility as actor over the last few years. Best known for his work in thrillers, and particularly as evil vampire Deacon Frost in “Blade” opposite Wesley Snipes, he showed his sincere, dramatic side in Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere,” played raunchy comedy in Nick Swardson’s “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star,” and slung a sword as a Greek slave in epic “Immortals.” Now, he’s back to thrillers with “Brake,” but with the added challenge of practically performing a one-man show for the duration of the film.

In “Brake,” a Secret Service agent is locked in the trunk of a car with no idea how he got there or why he’s there. Although the screenwriter, Timothy Mannion, was only 19, his idea for having one actor in one space inspired Dorff. “The script read like ’Buried’ meets ‘Die Hard’ meets a psychological meltdown torture movie,” Dorf says, and he decided to produce and star in the film,

“It was an experiment for me,” says Dorff. “I wanted to see if I could manipulate an audience and hold a crowd for as long as I was in that trunk.”

Dorff talks with Back Stage about the experience, his method of acting, and what he’s loved and learned throughout his career.

Back Stage: What was shooting the film like?

Stephen Dorff: We made it in 10 days and for nothing. I said to [director Gabe Torres], “You just keep it inventive and moving with the camera and I’ll do the rest. I want to be locked in this box every day for 10 days. I want to shoot it in order and look at it like a play.” That’s what we did. Frankly, you don’t get that kind of freedom, usually, but I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. But the most excruciating thing usually – and I’m sure a lot of actors would agree – is the waiting. An actor’s ready to go and there’s 50 other people you have to wait for, whether it’s camera, crew, lighting, effects –but we just had these two cameras on me rolling all the time so I could just cut and start over whenever I needed.

Back Stage: Are you a method actor?

Dorff: Each project lends itself to a different approach. Some I'll want to be more spontaneous, and I won't think about too much. Some I'll spend months working beforehand, if it's a character that's really different than me. And some will be more method throughout the shooting of the movie where I hold on to the character a lot more. I don't really follow one specific thing. I never went to acting school, but I've developed my own little rhythms and tricks. Also, I find great directors will open new doors to different ways of approaching things. I'm not right all the time. I know my character but they're seeing the whole piece. I think every great actor needs a great director.


"Brake" (IFC Films)

Back Stage: You’ve been acting since you were really young. What’s been your favorite role?

Dorff: I loved the movie "Backbeat" that I did about the Beatles, but I was able to show a different side to me in "Somewhere." If it wasn’t for that film, I probably wouldn’t have gotten some of my recent opportunities like "The Motel Life," "Boot Tracks" with Michelle Monaghan, or this film [“Zaytoun”] I'm going to do in Israel, which is really exciting. I want to do more dramas. I'm not really as excited to play villains anymore. I'm more interested in playing nicer people. People that might have issues or flaws, but aren’t killing everybody.

Back Stage: So would you say you have a different view on the film business now than you used to?

Dorff: Acting's a trippy game. You could be the biggest star in the world but it could be taken from you. Somebody with the most talent in the world might never get an opportunity to show it. There's a lot of luck involved. You never know what’s going to happen. The world is a lot different than when I started. It was much more selective. Movie actors - I was in that group. There were TV actors. There were theater actors. Now we're all part of the same circus. Now, it’s like, I want a career that's based on the longevity. I want to create a huge body of work.

"Brake" opens in theaters on Friday, March 23.