AN INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT SCHIAFFO
BY CHRIS GRAVES
1. For those who do not know, what is your background and how were you introduced to the world of View Askew and Kevin Smith?
I have been a musician since I was a small child, and I always loved film and dreamed of being an actor. My high school drama coach told me after auditioning for the part of Renfield in DRACULA, “Scott, stay out of it, you don’t have what it takes.” So he made me the stage manager for all of the high school plays. Of course I wasn’t going to let that get in my way, my mother believed in me and used to jokingly call me MARLON (Marlon Brando) because she said I was always acting! By college I was getting all the leads.
As far as CLERKS, I actually answered an audition ad that was placed in a local NJ paper, it was a fluke really because like most actors I had been combing papers like BACKSTAGE at the time which was “the” paper for auditions for actors here in The NY area. But somehow one day I looked in the local classifieds and there was this audition notice for a film being shot at the Jersey Shore. I still have that clipping archived away in a scrapbook somewhere. It was an interesting ad, something like “new film production explores the lives of convenience store clerks etc…”
Of course much has changed since those days, now there are a plethora of online postings for actor auditions, plus I have a small camp of indie people I work with that keep me in the loop on projects.
2. What would be your fondest memory from being associated with View Askew? Any entertaining anecdotes that haven’t been shared as of yet?
That’s a hard one because CLERKS became such a huge cult success that none of us could have possibly seen that coming. Being in a cult film was actually a life long dream for me. I wanted to be and actor/musician since I was a small child and I grew up watching and loving many cult films. You know, small budget films with heart and passion that somehow broke through to mainstream success on some level.
As far as anecdotes one goofy memory was the actual lung the gum guy pulls out of his bag, I think Kevin has since said it was something other than what I remember it to be. I could swear they got a hunk of halibut or some evil piece of fish and globed on dirt and filled it with snuffed out cigarette butts. Funny though because the shot is so wide you can’t really appreciate what that thing looked like up close. We should have had a tight insert shot of that heinous prop.
3. Can you describe the Clerks audition process? I think I read once that you got pretty intense right before auditioning and were seen talking to yourself and then were approached by police? And besides Vulgar, did you audition for any other View Askew/Kevin Smith related projects?
The first CLERKS audition was held at a local community theater down the shore, now remember I come from Northern NJ, I drove an hour and a half one-way to the audition. I got there really early. The theater was located near a beach that had a jetty, so I just strolled around the area till it was time to go in for the audition. I remember how beautiful the area was as the sun was setting but it was during the colder months. I walked out on the jetty rehearsing my monologue (from the film DINER) out loud and waving my arms around and a “local” spotted me from afar and thought that maybe I “wasn’t correct” – that’s how the whole Police thing came about, it wasn’t like it was a big scene or anything, they were concerned that maybe an inebriated individual was playing around on the jetty and they questioned me briefly. I think it was more of a beach patrol type person rather than an actual police officer; you’ve got to remember it was a long time ago. And the police story makes better copy! LOL
A week or so later they had “call backs” and luckily I made the callbacks. This time we read from the actual script with other potential cast members. This was the first time I briefly met Brian O’Halloran. They gave me my sides and we got a few minutes to look them over before we were called in to give a performance. I read it and thought ok, this is great a real showcase piece. What I didn’t know was that there was more than one scene for the gumguy because the first appearance of Jay and Bob is smack dab in the middle of the gumguy scenes; I thought my first scene was my only scene. I read his first appearance and thought that was it. So when I got into the room with Kevin and read he said “Great now do the second scene”, and I was like “gulp” second scene you, mean there’s more? LOL and of course this is the scene where the gumguy really goes ballistic so that one I did off the cuff. Lucky for me these cats liked me and hired me because again, being in this film has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my acting career. This movie never dies.
And no I have never had the opportunity to audition for any other View Askew production.
4. What was your experience like at the Quick Stop during filming? And what was your reaction to the film’s sudden rise to fame and glory?
We filmed mostly at night, so it was a nutty schedule. Kevin actually worked at the store during the day! He had to wait for the store to actually close to begin filming, that’s why the windows are blocked out, so you can’t see that it’s really night! Needless to say my schedule with all the driving was pretty hectic. We also had a number of rehearsals too but I think for some reason we were able to pull off those in the daytime.
And again it’s difficult to articulate just how mind blowing to this day it is to have been in a film that became such a huge cult classic. I call it a cult classic but it’s not even a cult film at this point, it’s mainstream.
5. How did you come to be involved with the film Vulgar and what was your initial reaction to the material after reading it?
I received the script long before it was filmed. Very long before actually, I got a note from Bryan Johnson asking me if I’d be interested in the role of Travis Lee and after reading it I thought great, they want me to be a loud mouthed jerk again, I’m IN.
Then the film was in a state of pre production limbo. It had been a long time in the making. Kevin was now making MALLRATS and I think VULGAR was going to be his pet project etc…. time just passed by and I began to think this wasn’t going to happen for me. It almost didn’t because along the way they cast different actors during their postproduction. Somehow I lost the role along the way, but lucky for me they weren’t happy with the cat that got the Travis Lee part and in the 11th hour Bryan Johnson called and said Scott are you still interested in doing Travis Lee? I said OF COURSE! In a nutshell, I had the role, lost the role, and then got it back again.
All I can remember thinking is holy shit, a clown rape movie, talk about pushing the envelope. I thought the “sucking 37 dicks” joke in CLERKS was going to make the movie impossible to release. But I was proven wrong a few years earlier, so I said I’m in no matter what. If anyone can sell a clown rape movie it’s Kevin Smith right?!?!? Kevin is hilarious in that flick isn’t he?
6. Any entertaining or memorable anecdotes from the set of Vulgar?
Well getting to tell the cops to FUCK OFF is every actor’s dream! LOL Not a big stretch for me, at that time I had many of my own scrapes with the law. I don’t think that Bryan or Kevin had any clue just how much of a non-stretch that scene really was for me. Although I was never armed or had a child hostage, I did have my share of run ins with the law. Mostly silly crap, I had a pretty severe drinking problem back in those days and brushes with the law is almost a given at some point in every drinker’s career.
I remember working with the adorable little girl who played my daughter and saying all that foul language with her around the set, I would sit her down and apologize after every take and remind her “We’re only play acting here, honey.” She was totally fine with it, she took it better than I did.
7. Is it true you were injured during a rehearsal take for the film?
I got a small scrape on my neck from the screen on the door during the rehearsal of that stunt because the whole “flying through the screen door thing” was pretty much created on the spot. All I remember is ok, go with it, Brain O’Halloran, who’s is a pretty big dude is going to tackle me through this door when they say ACTION…LOL There was an ambulance on stand by and I am thinking holy shit this is the real deal. No stunt doubles…. But no, I didn’t sustain any real injuries and the adrenaline rush was worth it. I also want to say that no one on that set was careless, they watched out for all of us always. It just was a bit of shock how severely that scene changed from the original script, I feel for the better, the more action the better. Film is a visual medium right?
8. You’ve won an award for the short film “Caught Off Tard” which you scored and edited. What made you want to try a hand at other things besides acting?
Yes that’d be Joe Basile’s film, which actually won a number of awards at the New York International Independent Film and Video Awards. I could say I did it because I love this business, which I do, but the bottom line is I have to keep the bills paid too, right?! LOL It was a paying gig and Joe was very respectful of my input. Plus I am a pretty big PC geek and I have edited and scored a number of indie features over the years in my modest studio. It’s also nice to put my music and editing skills to use when I’m not acting.
9. You also won an award for the film “Idiots Are Us” for Best Comedy Feature in which you were the lead, at the 2006 New York Film and Video Festival. Can you describe that experience?
Working on that piece was wonderful madness; it took close to a year to shoot, because of the size of the cast and other logistics. I was allowed total freedom because the character I played was based on a character I created in an improvisational short I did years ago. So director Michael P. Russin let me really run with it.
I see it as a goofy stoner comedy with heart.. It’s just entertaining and fun. I think that’s how we won the award you can’t help but smile when you watch it because it’s a gag fest. Plus the punk rock band element is a lot of fun for the musicians in the audience, who can relate to everything being so intense and about the “BAND” ya know? I actually wanted it to be more of a mockumentary like SPINAL TAP but Michael our director didn’t buy that concept, he wanted more of a road / caper / buddy movie. His instincts served us well apparently.
That film, as of this writing is also a featured selection at the Garden State Film Festival this March 25th. It will also most likely be featured in the Hoboken Film Festival but that isn’t confirmed as of this writing.
10. Is it true that you are a musician as well? And if so, are you in a band or as a solo act? Any albums or upcoming tours?
I’ve done a lot of studio work over the years. I’ve also done a great deal of composing and playing on indie projects. I have been a musician since I was a small child, long before I began acting. I guess in many ways I am first and foremost a musician. Or maybe a musician who is an actor that’s really a frustrated director? LOL I’ve played in many bands over the years, a band called CHAYNE, which was like REM and U2 meets the CURE. But certainly my personal highlight was playing on and producing JULE CAREY’s first CD – LITTLE DID I THINK. To this day that is probably my best playing and producing as a rock player.
11. What is your favorite View Askew/Kevin Smith flick (Clerks and Bryan Johnson’s Vulgar excluded) and why?
That’s very hard to answer because I am so partial to Kevin’s films now. I loved MALLRATS from day one and I was pretty annoyed when he apologized for it at one point earlier on in his career. I guess that’s the pressure of having a Hollywood career, I’ll be damned if he apologizes for anything now! LOL Also, how could you not love Jason Lee in that flick?
CLERKS 2 to me was nothing short of brilliant. The way he continued the story, kept true to the original spirit, and brought us up to date with all the characters was for me, truly touching. That friggin’ flick made me well up, of course, I am so connected to the first film that I felt a very personal sense of everything going around full circle.
12. Do you still keep in contact with anyone from View Askew?
I talk to Marylyn Ghigliotti every now and then; everyone is out West now so it’d be difficult to keep up friendships. I had an opportunity to get close to those cats years ago and it didn’t really happen for various reasons. I’ll always feel a strong connection to them all though, like I said earlier, CLERKS is a film that grows with popularity and has endless legs.
I always tell people that I could have been cast in a huge blockbuster that same year and it’d be long ago forgotten, but not CLERKS. Without looking at the IMDb you probably can’t think of 5 other Hollywood flicks from that year that made as big an impact except for PULP FICTION.
13. Any new and upcoming projects?
I am playing an edgy detective this spring in an indie film from writer/director Buzz Cartier called “Filthy Rich Filthy Uncle Phil”.
We’d like to once again send huge thanks to Chris for his excellent work with these insightful interviews, and a thanks to Scott for taking the time to do some Q&A.
The property had been in development at Universal and Miramax, with Kevin Smith developing it for the latter studio a few years ago (Daily Variety, Feb. 18, 2004). Moritz obtained the film rights and optioned them to Sony, where he’s based.