Paul Risker chats with Keith Mason about making the jump from sport to the screen and his friendship with Mickey Rourke…
With Mickey Rourke’s latest foray into the action genre Skin Traffik now in the midst of post-production, Flickering Myth went a few rounds one Friday morning with his bodyguard/henchman Mr. Steiner – former Rugby League and Challenge Cup finalist Keith Mason.
How did it end? All I can say is a hospital bed is a wonderful place to escape the mad rush that is life and knuckle down to a bit of writing. As long as the morphine drip is working of course!
A fan of The Goonies and Ghostbusters (instantly earning him an induction into the Flickering Myth family), Keith took us beyond the Rugby star and henchman to discover the aspiring actor. He shared with us his thoughts on how his affection for certain types of films is set to shape his choices, the similarity of the world of sport to the world of acting, and took time to sing his praises of The Wrestler and Tom Hardy.
Paul Risker: Looking back, what are your impressions of discovering cinema?
Keith Mason: I liked a lot of the classic films when I was younger, films like The Goonies, and Ghostbusters. Then as I got a little bit older, I always enjoyed crime drama films, but in particular films that had a lot of depth and story to them. Whilst I like all genres, one film that stood out was The Wrestler. It was a film with a lot of depth, and it had a good story.
PR: Now starting out in film, and being aware of your own appreciation of film, is that something you are using as a guide?
KM: Yeah, exactly. I would always fit the action man type of role because that’s my make-up, but my acting coach in Los Angeles believes there is a lot more depth to me. A lot of action men have now pretty much been typecast as action men. Sometimes you only see that side despite there being other sides, despite there being a lot more depth to people than just showing someone like myself as an action man, and that’s it. But sometimes there’s got to be a bit more depth to the character, and that’s what I like to work on. The more depth and the more mystery is a good thing, because acting is about maintaining the audience’s intrigue.
PR: One of the ironies in film is that in spite of the multiple identities an actor assumes the business is trying to pigeonhole actors. Is the challenge for the actor countering that process?
KM: Yeah exactly mate and I think there are those people who aren’t scared of what the crowd thinks about them, because it is about being versatile. One actor who I can mention and who is a perfect example is Tom Hardy. He’s not bothered what people think of him and for a role he’ll go any way and any place. He’s very versatile, and a lot of actors are scared of being like that.
PR: As an actor or as a creative person do you think you have to be fearless, to be willing to trust your instincts and just go with what you think is best?
KM: I think so. You put all the hard work in, and when you audition it is entirely up to them whether they are going to pick you or not. But you just have to go in there with an hundred per cent confidence in yourself and do your best.
It would be nice to be an all-rounder, but there are not many actors like that nowadays. In fact there are only a handful of such actors, and people like Vinnie Jones still make money, but they are not the best actors in the world. They are typecast as the tough guy and I don’t think someone like Vinnie Jones could play a leading man because he comes across as too rough. I don’t think the crowd could take to him as a leading man like they have with Daniel Craig.
There are some actors are lucky and others who aren’t, but it is just about hard work and perseverance. There’s the saying that you are not an overnight success, and an actor’s overnight success is maybe fifteen years. It is the same challenge as being an athlete. You put your hard work in and then you let it all out. You better train and diet and look after yourself, and then you have to show your skills on the field. It is the same on the screen. I spoke with Mickey Rourke the other day, and he told me everything I need to expect, what I need to do, and what I need to stay away from.
PR: You’ve had a successful career in sport, and now it seems you are going for that second challenge. Do you look to challenge yourself, to give yourself something to work towards? As you say it takes perseverance to achieve success.
KM: Exactly mate, but I’m just going to enjoy the process; enjoy the journey, because I am very lucky that I’m in a movie with no acting lessons whatsoever, and to have lines in the film and to star alongside Mickey Rourke, who gave me the call and said “You’ve got the part son.” Thousands and thousands of aspiring actors who act for years didn’t even get a talking part. That in itself is unique and humbling, and I’ve told Mickey “Look, my career as a rugby league player will not last that long, but a career as an actor can last a long, long time if I don’t cut corners, and if I’m true to myself.”
My acting coach who has been coaching for over twenty years has said that I have talent, but I need to get out there. He’s told me I will get work, but I’ve got to make a few sacrifices along the way. Not everything’s given to me; I’ve got to work my ass off. But with that being instilled in me from the time I was a young man when I was in a lot of trouble, had everything against me and then coming out of it and getting my head down and knuckling down, I think that’s true to who I am right now. Sometimes you meet people and its fate, and I never asked Mickey Rourke to put me in the film. I only asked him for one piece of advice – what would your advice be to me if I ever starred in a film? He said, “Just be yourself”, and I kind of know where he’s coming from now. But when you put that many hours of work in, you can be yourself, you find all these little things inside you that are already there. It is just all about fine-tuning that instrument.
PR: Everything an actor puts up onscreen is channelled through them individually and their personal experiences which are unique to them. So what Mickey was saying and you are saying is true, even though the idea of an actor playing themselves seems to be in conflict with the filmmaking process. Of course you are channelling the characters on the page through yourself.
KM: If you have to go through a painful experience or you have to be a certain type of character they are already there; it is already inside of you, and you have already lived the life. You have already been through that experience in one way or another, and then you have to project that personality onto the screen. You probably go through a little bit of pain for an hour and a half, but that’s what it is about: no pain no gain. You have got to search deep inside of you for what this character is. I’ve tortured my body for fifteen years just to be a professional athlete, and that’s a part of acting right there – being mentally tough. To be an actor you’ve got to be mentally tough. You’ve got to have belief in yourself and I’m scratching the surface now but I’ve been lucky to be in a film. Hopefully I’m going to go onto bigger projects and have a career. Where I’ve come from and the mental attitude; my attitude towards sport is very similar to being an actor, and so the worlds my oyster to be honest with you.
PR: Before you stepped on set you would have more than likely pre-visualised the experience. How did the actual experience compare?
KM: I hadn’t been sleeping well because I had just gone through a massive court case a few weeks before, which I won. As soon as I saw Mickey I just felt relaxed and everything just seemed natural to me. Then when he said “Let’s go rehearse” I thought we were going away for rehearsals, but we were actually filming. So we went on set and we started working out the lines. I only got my lines the night before, and so you can imagine how nervous I was. But I was myself, I didn’t put an accent on, I spoke clearly, got my lines off and I really enjoyed it. Mickey told me, “Look it’s not all it seems to be is this acting business.” But you know Mickey was saying that because he’s been in the business a long, long time, but this is the start of a new era for me. If I’ve only made a film which is true for me to say just now, “Okay I’ve made a film, let’s just see what else I can do with my life?” Why not? Give it a go and if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out. It just felt natural, and being friends with Mickey it worked well with me being his henchman/bodyguard in the film.
PR: A question I should probably ask is how did you meet Mickey?
KM: I played in the Rugby League challenge Cup Final at Wembley in 2009 for the Huddersfield Giants against the Warrington Wolves. After the game we got an invite to Stringfellows and that’s where I met him. I walked up to him and I applauded him on his film The Wrestler which he had done earlier that year. He just took a liking to me straight away. We swapped numbers and he said to me “What are you man? Are you an athlete are you..?” We were wearing these grey suits with black shirts and ties and I said “No, no I play Rugby League.” When I mentioned that I’d played at Wembley that day he said “Oh I love Rugby, in fact I watched the game.” From there we became friends and I have been over to his place in the U.S. maybe eight times now to stay with him. Two weeks after meeting him in Stringfellows he invited me to the GQ awards, and I went out with him and Jason Statham. So I’ve been meeting these people and because I had four or five years left on my contract, it was nice to be with a different type of company, but they are just human beings at the end of the day.
PR: You’ve spoken about liking all kinds of genres, and your ambition to create a diverse range of roles. Are there any stories you’d like to be a part of, or are there any genres that are close to your heart which you’d like to explore?
KM: It would be picky for me to be saying what kind of genres I would like to be in because I am just stepping onto that ladder. So maybe in a year’s time I could say what I would like to be in, but any genre right now would be nice, and just the chance to be in another film. Mickey and I have been working on the film The Welsh Man, the Rugby Union film about Gareth Thomas, who came out as a gay sportsman while he was still actively playing the game. The idea was for me to make a Rugby film but Mickey needed a good idea, a good story and one day he phoned me and he said, “Listen son we’ve got a film.” I have a part in the film, and I’ve put a lot towards the script. But Mickey’s worked his ass off to get the budget for the film, and touch wood it comes off. So look out for that film as well.
Any types of film: crime, action and even rom-com one day. But I really enjoy watching Tom Hardy. The top actors have a mystery about them, and he’s got that about him, which is why he is so appealing, and why people want to watch him. You just don’t know what’s going to happen next. The best actors are those who can do that, where you ask what’s going on; what’s he thinking? I just don’t want to typecast myself as an action man, but at the end of the day if you are getting work, then you are working. You’re on that ladder and you are making a living. I can’t be picky. I can’t pick what I want to do right now. I just want to put the work in, make a few sacrifices and when I receive scripts I can see what takes my fancy, and what be good to take me forward.
PR: With The Welsh Man you have been afforded an opportunity to explore another side of the filmmaking process. How valuable has this been at this early stage in your career?
KM: Someone such as Sylvester Stallone, he was a writer before he became an actor, and look where he is now. He wrote a story about Rocky Balboa, and they wanted to cast someone else in the story but he took a chance and said “No, I want to play the part.” He had the chance to star in the film and he’s gone on to do big things. I do think a lot of it’s to do with hunger as well; you’ve got to be hungry, and you’ve got to have a certain look about you. You can’t look like Sloth from The Goonies [laughs], so you have got to have a certain look about you. But the people I have met out there in America have always been very complimentary, and so the best place for me to learn is LA. I can get the best training there, and I just need to get in plenty of hours of acting lessons and see where I go from there.
Many thanks to Keith Mason for taking the time for this interview.
Paul Risker is a critic and writer for a number of on-line and print publications, including Little White Lies, Film International, Starburst Magazine, and VideoScope. He is currently based in the United Kingdom.
Originally published January 18, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
