Unfairly panned by critics but loved by movie-goers is the film out last week entitled“The Identical” starring newcomer Blake Rayne, who has a natural resemblance to Elvis Presley. He stars in a dual role as Drexel Hemsley and Ryan Wade in a story that is loosely based on Elvis Presley’s early life and later as an amalgamation of the best performers of that same era. The film stars Ray Liotta who gives a powerful and committed performance as Drexel’s preacher father alongside the equally talentedAshey Judd as his adopted mother.
The story reads a bit whimsical about a set of twins born during the great depression. One is adopted out while the other goes on to be a massive rock-n-roll star in adulthood. The title roll calls for an actor that can sing, dance, and perform in the style of the fifties/sixties rock-n-roll era as well as act.
They say you are more likely to be struck by a bolt of lightning than to become a movie star. Actor/Musician/Performer Blake Rayne tells me about his lucky life and how he ended up sitting across the table from “Goodfellas” notorious “Henry Hill,” actor Ray Liotta.
Allie Hanley: You play two characters in the film, but spend most of it as Drexel Hemsley. Your characters look and sound a lot like Elvis. How did you develop the ability to play and sing like the King Of Rock N Roll?
Blake Rayne: Well, I’ve been blessed with a lot of dumb luck in my life. I use to build websites for a living. One day my Mother faxed me an entry form to an Elvis impersonating contest with the words “I dare you to do this” written on it. Now keep in mind I didn’t grow up in an Elvis home. My mother doesn’t have an Elvis room, I never sang karaoke before, but people always thought I sort of looked like him. My mother and I have this back and forth competitive relationship, so I entered the contest as a joke trying to one up her; And I ended up winning this contest! I even had to write the lyrics on my hand because I didn’t know the words to the songs.
What happened next, is that the doors exploded open and it gave me the opportunity to learn how to sing and be an entertainer. The great part was being able to use Elvis Presley as a sort of vehicle to learn how to become an entertainer, which was just a blessing. Elvis definitely had an impactful career and just a great person to learn from.
Allie: So your initial steps into entertainment began imitating one of the greats.
Blake: Yes, but then there came a point in time where I just wanted to be myself. All the time I spent being Elvis I learned how to play guitar, I learned how to write music,… so when the time came I gathered the tools I needed and started writing my own music. I landed a song writing deal in Nashville and have just been playing with my band ever since.
Allie: Tell me how you landed the role in “The Identical.”
Blake: Ironically enough, I was in a studio in Nashville rehearsing with my band for our next tour and I ran into a producer Dustin Marcellino, who was looking to rent out space to work on the music for the movie. And ironically enough, that is how we met. We got to talking and he took me out to lunch a few times but one day, just out of nowhere he says to me, “I don’t know if you can act or not, but if you can I want you to be the lead in my next movie that’s going to be called “The Identical.”
Allie: You worked with three veteran actors, Ashley Judd, Seth Green, and of course Ray Liotta, who did an amazing job playing your character’s father in the film. Tell me about him?
Blake: Ray Liotta is the consummate professional. I watched him like a hawk while on set because from day one, there was something about him that was special, … about the way he came on set, the way he conducted himself on set… he was really professional and just for lack of a better word, into it. I loved that and it’s something that I wanted to emulate.
Allie: As a newcomer it must have been a combination of excitement and stress to do a good job.
Blake: Ray flew in two weeks prior to us starting the shoot just to hang out with me knowing I was a first time actor. He wanted me to get more comfortable and build that father and son relationship. We went and saw a couple football games and went to a couple concerts.
The first day on set wasn’t uncomfortable. It felt natural. I am just thankful that he did that because it really helped a lot.
There’s a lot of different scenes with Ray. Some of them are loving father and son scenes, and others are rather intense. Through them all, it was just, a kind of surreal experience to be across from him, watching him, just being in the moment and yet, knowing at the same time, this is Ray Liotta!
Allie: The movie is filmed with wonderful musical performances but there’s a powerful dramatic scene in which Ray Liotta delivers some of his best work in recent years, the one that takes place at the dinner table. What was that like for you?
Blake: That was the one moment in time when my character really stands up for himself to his father. It was an interesting dynamic. I remember going into that day and almost being afraid. I was thinking that I was almost going to be going up against the guy I saw in “Goodfellas” <laughing>.
Allie: Many say that a performance is only as good as those you are acting with. What’s your thoughts on that?
Blake: The whole experience looking back is sort of surreal, but I can say that working with Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta, Seth Green, Joey Pantoliano, and everyone was that they all went out of their way making me feel comfortable. I give them all so much credit for my performance because without that, it would have made a difficult situation far more difficult.
Allie: Did Ashley Judd take you under her wing?
Blake: She would always be very open to any questions I would ask. Sometimes I would ask her for suggestions on certain scenes, and she never forced anything on me. The thing that really sticks out in my mind about Ashley Judd the most, was that here she is, an incredibly beautiful woman and actress, and when she would come onto set, she would have such a lovely sense of humor. She would joke around and have fun with whatnot. She was totally not what I expected. I thought she would be really serious and just, you know, all business. It turned out she was just a lovely person to work with.
Allie: The early story really has your character mirroring some of Elvis’s own history as a performer. How do you think that translates to generations who didn’t grow up with Elvis?
Blake: It’s interesting. People will make the connection. The MTV generation kind of hears with their eyes and some of the earlier Drexel Hemsley <performance> people will relate more to Elvis, versus Drexel Hemsley later on in the film. My experience as an entertainer doing the Elvis stuff early on and later being myself after, definitely helps the performance in general.
I can tell you that we tried to make the Drexel Hemsley character an amalgamation of every magor rock star from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s including Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis but also including The Beatles, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix. We not only borrowed costumes, and music from the era, but even the choreography. I worked withJohn Carrafa… an award winning choreographer. It was interesting because you might see some of the moves from Jackie Wilson and Jame Brown. While I’m not necessarily an amazing dancer, if you know what to look for, you will see a lot of those throughout the movie. So it was one made-up rock star, that was pulling from all those amazing examples out there.
Allie: I genuinely enjoyed the music even though I am not of that era. It was probably the most surprising aspect of the film for me.
Blake: There are a lot of cool things that you could say about this movie but for me the music is the entire canvas. It had to have a really original and authentic feel to it. So Jerry Marcellino, who produced Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five back in the day, came on board and wrote this music. It’s the kind of music that you could have been driving down the road in 1957 and heard one of these songs on your car radio. It’s got that authentic feel to it. On the production side of it we felt like he had the music and we had to paint the canvas to go with it. It already had all the right colors so we just went with it. It was great. Jerry really went out of his way and it made a huge difference. Being able to have that as your starting point when you are talking about choreography and the performances later on, it just really added a lot to the movie.
Allie: It’s a stand alone sound track that I could see a lot of people enjoying today. So, now that the movies out and you are looking back, what do you see?
Blake: A lot of this has come about with a lot of dumb luck and I am just so grateful. I enjoy music… to the Nth degree and for the rest of my life I will enjoy music. This opportunity to enter the world of acting is something special that I don’t take lightly. I’ve enjoyed the creative process, I’ve enjoyed the craft and I hope that in some way, shape, or form that this will open doors for me in the future.
It’s kind of cool that whenever you are enjoying something like acting that you will never be perfect at; just something that you will strive and strive and just be average at is a hard thing. But I enjoy that and I hope it opens more doors. I am just taking one day at a time and loving it.
PG, 1 hr. 47 min.
Drama
Directed By: Dustin Marcellino
Written By: Howard Klausner
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