Rising Star Spotlight
Lately, it seems that Seth Rogan isn’t the only buddy of the eternally busy James Franco to benefit from the multi-tasker’s increasingly varied entertainment reach. In fact, the Oscar Nominee’s former Playhouse West classmate, Scott Haze, has also seen his star wattage rise dramatically over the last two years thanks to their buzzy creative collaborations.
A talented writer and director, in addition to being an in-demand actor, he and Franco first worked together in 2011 on the short film, Brad Renfro Forever –about another handsome, precociously talented young performer who left us way too soon, Mr. Brad Renfro. From there, the fast friends continued their professional relationship in 2012 when Franco asked Haze to be part of his film adaptation of the William Faulkner classic, As I Lay Dying – the actor memorably portrayed lowlife drug store clerk, Skeet MacGowan, and received strong reviews for his immersive performance.
Yet clearly, no one was as happy with his efforts as his cerebral director, because Haze is currently filming another of Falkner’s masterpieces with James – the one widely considered to be the famous Mississippian’s best: The Sound and The Fury. And if that isn’t enough to sate his rabid fans, also on deck is the challenging lead role of Lester Ballard in another of Franco’s literary adaptations, that of Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God.
It’s quite a full, dare we say… overwhelming plate, but Haze, who’s been working in Hollywood for almost a decade has never been afraid of challenging himself artistically. In fact, rather than simply toiling though the ranks of the Los Angeles casting scene, the actor found creatively enriching ways to express his craft, even founding his own North Hollywood theater where – much like Franco has dedicated himself to doing today – the Dallas native could provide a space for artists to collaborate, away from the bottom-line obsessed suits of Hollywood. Started in 2006, the Sherry Theater (named after his mom) has been home to successful stagings of Haze’s own plays (2006’s Devil’s Night and 2011’s Angel Asylum), and even afforded a chance for him to help out Franco when the filmmaker needed a place to shoot his controversial festival pic, Interior Leather Bar last year.
Yet after nurturing both his own artistic pursuits as well as those of his peers for so long, it’s about time Mr. Haze stepped out into the spotlight and claimed for himself a little bit of that Franco glory. Cue his latest project, in which the actor stars alongside big names, Kirsten Dunst, Michael Shannon, and Joel Edgerton in a film by budding auteur, Jeff Nichol’s (Take Shelter, Mud).
Though only in pre-production, the movie is already one of the hottest tickets in Tinseltown, garnering buzz for everyone involved, but most of all, for Scott Haze, who was recently included in Variety’s hugely influential 10 Top Actors to Watch 2013 list. Though lovers of a good bromance, have no fear… the loyal Texan hasn’t forgot about his friends. Look for him to make a small cameo in James Franco’s latest pic, Bukowski, about the fast-living literary dynamo, Charles Bukowski.
All in all, it looks like 2014 is shaping up to be quite a year for Scott Haze, and we here at BNH couldn’t be any happier.