Corin Nemec – The Wrong Cheerleader Coach

By starrymag | October 17, 2020

By: Talya

 

 

Q) You’re in the new Lifetime movie The Wrong Cheerleader Coach. Please tell our readers what it’s about.

A) It’s about a crazy assistant cheerleading coach who becomes obsessed with my character for some strange reason because the way I created my character he’s discombobulated. He’s struggling to sort his life out again after his wife has passed away and he’s a single dad in a new town now. I really wanted the character to be one of those kinds of these men who isn’t really paying attention to what is going on around him. He’s just so busy paying attention to what to do to get by.

The director Dave DeCoteau (love the guy so much) really let me make the guy clumsy. Make him trip over things and make him bump into stuff. Have too many things in his hands at one time. That kind of stuff. I really enjoy that part of being able to bring the character to life in a way that wasn’t in the script.

Q) You have a background in comedy and you have very good comic timing. So it makes sense, at least to me, that you put a bit of comedy in something that might have gone quite dark.

A) Absolutely and I love to try and do that when it makes sense to. I love to bring a bit of levity to a part and I think it works really well especially for this character.

Q) What were some of the challenges playing a father being pursued by his daughter’s assistant cheerleading coach?

A) Like I said, creating the character in a way where he’s not really that aware of what’s going on. Like she’s hitting on him, but at the same time he’s like, “Who would hit on me?” He doesn’t see himself as being a catch. So, when it finally starts to come to the surface, he’s really shocked and thrown off because he doesn’t get it until it’s so obvious that he’s like, “This is weird and you’re crazy. So, can you leave?” It’s kind of an immediate kind of response rather than getting sucked into her scheme. I think that adds a really great layer to it because if I played the character to where he was attracted to her or he thought that she might be a good idea it would have been very strange story if I had made that character choice. And he was kind of written that way – that he is sort of attracted to her but doesn’t go along with it. I was like “nah.” The director David DeCoteau allowed me to take it in the opposite direction of what was on the page. I think it worked out better that way.

Q) Vivica A. Fox, who you’ve worked with in the past, is producing and starring in The Wrong Cheerleader Coach. What is your favorite story about working with Vivica?

A) She is a sweetheart. You can never tell what people are like when they’re off camera and she is just an absolute doll. What a beautiful woman. She’s fantastic all the way around.

My favorite story is actually when we did a film together called The Christmas Cruise, which was with the same director, David DeCocteau. And, again, he allowed me a lot elbow room. When we did The Christmas Cruise together my character was a really nondescript part. I ended up making the guy a hypochondriac. I would just riff. I would just go off on stuff that I would be having problems with and this and that and she was just so great in terms of just being there and watching me and allowing me to go off script and not break character. I think that’s when we really hit it off because she was like, “This guy’s crazy.” I’m like, “Yeah, you’re probably right. I might be a little wacky.” That’s when we really hit it off. It was when we did the first scene together in The Christmas Cruise. Since then we’ve done a couple other films together, which is really awesome.

Q) Yeah, you were really funny in The Christmas Cruise.

A) Yeah, that character. What a clown.

Q) You have done several Lifetime movies. What is it about working on Lifetime movies that challenges you as an actor?

A) I wouldn’t say that they so much challenge me as an actor. I just enjoy doing more of the thriller style of film. There is a lot more to them, generally speaking. And also the one thing I like about the Lifetime movies is that they’re really character driven pieces. The story is a huge factor in it, but there’s a lot of dialogue in it. There’s a lot of great beats and moments that I really enjoy as an actor. When you get a meaty scene with a four- or five-page dialogue scene it gives a lot of room to play as the character and I really love that.

Q) David DeCoteau is the director of The Wrong Cheerleader Coach. How was his style of directing different than other directors you have worked with in the past?

A) His style of directing is that he doesn’t over shoot his scenes and he allows the scene to play out in two shots or four shots. So, you get to see how all the characters are reacting in a moment. I like to think of it as more of an old school style of directing – like back in the 40’s and 50’s when they really limited how much footage they would do of a scene. A lot of scenes took place in almost a single shot and they just moved the characters in and out of close ups and they’d find the moment they needed most for the close ups. So, when you did jump to a close up the impact was even greater. There was a reason why you were in that close up. I think his style of directing is very actor friendly.

Q) Lifetime is doing a month of cheerleader movies. How is The Wrong Cheerleader Coach different from the other cheerleader movies they are airing?

A) You know, I have to say I’m not sure because I haven’t watched too many cheerleading movies in my life. So, I don’t really know exactly how it’s going to be different than any of them or if it will just kind of fall right into the pocket of the theme. I think the style of directing is probably the thing that is going to set it aside, David’s approach when it comes to telling a story via camera.

Q) What do you think it is about this movie that will make it a fast fan favorite Lifetime thriller?

A) It’s hard to say. I haven’t watched a bunch, I rarely even watch TV to be perfectly honest, but it would be hard to say without being able to see comparisons. I think that from a writing standpoint, it’s a really streamlined and well thought out storyline. It’s a character driven piece. Hopefully, it will be the performances and the way that the story is told through the camera. That’s all I can hope for.

Q) Over the years you have done quite a few suspense movies. What is it about that genre that intrigues you as an actor?

A) It’s that there’s more layers generally speaking in these kinds of films. It’s within those layers that I appreciate as an actor. That there’s more going on that meets the eye and being able to play those deep moments as an actor is a great time to me. It’s a good way to spend my day.

Q) You are working on a project called The Love America Tour. Please explain to our readers what the tour is and why you started it.

A) What it boils down to is that I was so tired of watching the news and hearing certain news pundits making it seem like American people are a bunch of backwards, not so nice individuals. I was like that’s not my personal experience growing up here and when you take politics out of a conversation and just get to know somebody and get to know their life story and get to know the ups and downs they’ve gone through, you can find that there’s a lot more similarities between us than there are differences. Way more similarities! And that was really what it was about. I just wanted to go out, meet and interview people about their lives in a very kind of general way avoiding hot topics, especially the political thing or the religious thing. Now, if somebody had brought that up within the conversation I’m fine with that. I would have attempted to steer the conversation back into more of the life story part of it.

That was really what it was about. There’s so much divisiveness and division and tension right now as it is. The idea is love America for me was that we have a lot more in common with each other than we have differences and using that as a vehicle to break all of this down in a way where you can see that everybody has something in common. We just happen to be in America. That’s why it’s called the Love America Tour. If I was in France, Germany or where ever else I would probably call it that. Europe or Love Australia or whatever else. I’m not there. I’m here. I was really trying to not be cliché about it, but trying to introduce a positive vibe into a situation right now where there’s not a lot of positivity.

Q) Do you have any other new projects coming up in the near future?

A) Just the one with me and Jason London – “Backwater Blues,” which he and I created the pilot for and we’re going to shoot the pilot in November. Gas Money Pictures is the production company out of LA that’s behind it. I’m very excited and I think that we’ll be able to market it and sell it quickly and be able to begin principle photography on the full season by early next year.

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

Corin: You know, it’s just the way that it is. I personally don’t even like it. I have to be honest. I don’t like the internet in general. I’m a pretty private person. I prefer my life to be private. I really love the old days when actors were more mysterious. You didn’t know everything about their lives. Now, I get frustrated because if you’re not posting every day; if you’re not updating this or doing that or whatever you become non-relevant. I’m like that has nothing to do with real life. As an artist especially. I love what I do and I don’t want to have to be out there self-promoting all the time. It’s exhausting and it’s kind of ridiculous.

One thing I do like about it is having personal interactions with people in ways that weren’t possible back in the day. That’s why I like doing the conventions so much. It’s being able to meet people in person and have that kind of exchange, but those are limited moments. The internet, social media, it’s 24 hours a day 365 days a year. You can put the brakes on yourself. It can become too much. It’s a little overwhelming sometimes for me, personally. Other people respond differently to it. They embrace it more than I do. I try to do my part. I just love the fact that there’s friends out there. People that are on the same wavelength and I do enjoy the interactions, but at the same time I enjoy my private time too.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and your work?

A) I just want to say thank you. I do it because I love doing it and if other folks enjoy it and are onboard with me thank God. It’ll make my job easier. I just want to say thank you so much and I appreciate it and I love them all.