Will Estes – All in a Good Time

Q.  What are the current projects that you are working on?

A.  Well, I just did a movie for Lifetime called The Dive From Clausen’s Pier which will be out shortly and I’ll be working on a one hour drama for FOX called “Reunion.”  I think that is going to premiere September 8th, and I’m just about to start shooting that in about a week. 

Q.  What can you tell us about the premise for your new show “Reunion” and about your character Will?

A.  The premise is, the show is interesting, it’s sort of this part coming of age drama, it starts in 1986, each episode will be a year later in time.  So, that’s why it’s called
“Reunion,” we’re all going to age twenty years in one season.  The show itself is part coming of age story and part murder mystery, you find out early on that one of the characters, one of these six best friends, was presumably murdered by one of the other ones.  I think we find out sooner than later who has passed away, who was murdered, but we won’t find out until the end of the season who is the perpetrator, so you will have to stay tuned all season!  That’s basically the storyline, I play Will, my character’s name is actually Will as well, and he is a kid that, my character came from sort of a blue collar upbringing.  He is a good kid, he has a strong sense of himself, he got a scholarship for lacrosse actually, and he is sort of excited to embark and get out of his home, this small town.  When he goes out into the world he ends up, in trying to do the right thing for his friend, taking sort of a big fall for his friend in regard to a car accident.  They get in trouble in a car accident and he ends up taking the fall for his best friend which lands him in jail for a year.  So he’s in jail in between the first and second episode.

Q.  What made you want to be a part of this project?

A.  I guess just part of what I just said, what really sort of grabbed me about it, it’s just a really genuine really cool coming of age story with these kids.  For me, one I love the 80’s, I love 80’s music, I’m sort of a baby of the 80’s, I grew up in the 80s.  I love the music, I love the times, so to me that was exciting personally just to play something that starts in 1986 with graduating high school, we’ve got a great soundtrack in the pilot.  But, on another level it’s really sort of this really cool coming of age story, it reminds me of like The Breakfast Club or something like that, if I can be so bold to associate with The Breakfast Club.  Then it’s peppered with this murder mystery and I think that’s sort of the intriguing part, this sort of genuine, sweet group, these six kids that are really best friends and one of them ends up killing one of the other ones presumably.  I think it’s interesting to watch!

Q.  Previously, you had worked with a cast diverse in age on “American Dreams.”  What has it been like working with a cast more around your age with “Reunion”?

A.  It’s been just I think it’s been a lot of fun, we all sort of a big cut up fest to be honest with you.  A lot of the time we keep each other laughing that’s for sure in between the serious parts of work.  You know “American Dreams” was a ball, it was fun, it was a really wonderful experience.  We certainly laugh a lot with a bunch of kids the same age.

Q.  Do you have a most memorable moment so far from filming “Reunion”?

A.  Well, we only shot the pilot, that’s a hard one.  I think, I don’t know there is a lot of stuff, we had the A-Ha video for “Take On Me,” the music video on TV in the pilot.  You get to actually see the music video on the TV in the pilot and we have the soundtrack playing at this big party.  I thought that was sort of a cool moment, to actually have the A-Ha video is pretty cool.  There are a lot of things, I could go on and on, but definitely that one sticks out.

Q.  Where was the film The Dive From Clausen’s Pier filmed and what was it like working with director Harry Winer?

A.  It was great, we shot it in Halifax, Nova Scotia, it was wonderful honestly.  A lot of directors are great and they are fine but you know I think that Harry really takes a special point to really engage the actors and really make it feel like a safe place for them to explore whatever it is they want to explore in whatever scene with their character.  He was just so consistently a safe sounding board and guide for the project as a director and as an actor it’s hard to ask for anything else.  It was really great working with Harry. 

Q.  Did you do any research for your role as a quadriplegic?

A.  I did as much as I could, in all honesty I did get a chance to do quite a bit, maybe more than any other character I’ve done before.  The first thing I wanted to do was completely understand the injury.  He’s technically a quadriplegic with injury at the C5, C6 level, which is referring to the vertebrae in your neck.  I went online and read as much as I could to sort of understand the injury but, what went way beyond that is when I got to Halifax I got a chance to work with what they call a physio therapist, but we call them in the states a physical therapist who works with quadriplegics every day.  I just got to ask her basically every question in the book and go to the center where people with that injury are rehabilitated and work sort of to get their lives back to some resemblance of normal.  One of the technical advisors on the movie is a quadriplegic at the C5, C6 level just like my character and he was kind enough and generous enough to just let me spend a lot of time with him.  Let me hang out, we actually became good friends and keep in touch, but I got a chance on a lot of levels, what I set out to do is to completely understand the injury so I didn’t have to think about it.  It wasn’t my job to play an injury, it was my job to play a character who is a person like anyone else but has this injury, so what I did was set out to completely understand the injury so I wasn’t really thinking about it, so that I was just working with a character.  Like I said, I got a chance to spend a lot of time with a person who has that injury and it really brought the whole thing home for me.  He’s a really amazing individual and I guess what I want to say is that one of the striking things about something like this, I really think a lot of people think that this could never happen to me.  They allow themselves to believe that sicknesses or whatever else, I think it is truly undeniable that this could happen to anyone, anyone could jump off a pier or just fall and incur this injury.  That was something that was sort of a focal point for me.

Q.  “Reunion” has a lot of 80’s music and we read that you’re a fan of those kinds of tunes.  Do you have a favorite band or artist from the 80’s?

A.  From the 80’s there are a lot, A-Ha, The Fixx, there were a lot of one hit wonders.  There are a great songs that I don’t even know the names of the bands to but there are a lot of great songs.  Those are just a couple that come to mind. 

Q.  Why is it important for you to be involved in various animal charities?

A.  I guess it’s just something I grew up with, I’ve sort of always had strays or rescue dogs growing up with my family.  I guess growing up I realized that there is really this huge epidemic in a city like Los Angeles, and many other cities, where they put down thousands upon thousands of animals every day.  It’s really a sort of needless, shameful situation, it’s really do to people’s negligence, people that don’t neuter their animals.  Animals aren’t wild and out of our control, it’s just people’s sort of negligence that there is an epidemic.  I think that there is a day in the future when it will all be under control, there won’t be so many animals that the shelters won’t take care of them.  The reason that they put animals down is that they don’t have any room in the shelters when new ones come in and ones got to go out so they have room.  I guess I just love my dogs, I think it’s pretty much as simple as that for me, I like to do whatever I can to sort of help out with the situation. 

Q.  Is there a summer movie that you’re really interested in seeing?

A.  Not really, not right now.  I really want to see Murderball, maybe because I worked on The Dive From Clausen’s Pier but it’s about wheelchair sports from what I gather. 

Q.  What is your latest obsession, are you into any particular sport, book, music group or activity?

A.  I am into motorcycles.  I try to read as much as I can, I’m sort of a bike fanatic, I am kind of reading a book right now called Long Way Round.  It’s about Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman’s trip around the world on a motorbikes.

Q.  What would you like to say to fans and supporters of your career?

A.  Thanks, I think I can call most of them on the phone actually, maybe that will change when “Reunion” comes out.  I think that actors are more guilty of feeling self important than a lot of people so just in regard to that, ultimately what we do as actors is something that people watch and it’s entertainment.  It’s drama, it’s a lot of things, but you know it’s always about every movie or every TV project ever made is meant to be watched.  If people like it and support it, that’s what it is all about, really it’s sort of the important part about it.