Ron Livingston Discusses "The Conjuring," Boardwalk Empire & Post-It Notes (INTERVIEW)
Ron Livingston Discusses “The Conjuring,” “Boardwalk Empire” & Post-It Notes
The Conjuring is a frightening film guaranteed to make you scream!
The movie takes place in Connecticut, wherein Rodger and Carolyn Perron, played by Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston, relocate their family to a small farmhouse in a sleepy town. Not long after moving in, the family realizes that something is off about their humble abode. Eventually they reach out to a ghost-hunting duo, played by Patrick Warren and Vera Farmiga, who inform them that they’re dealing with demons! The demon has latched on to Lili’s character and has no plans of letting go.
Together, we see if the family and the paranormal investigators are able to fight off the evil spirits and win back their lives.
We sat down with Ron to discuss his character, his groovy ’70s makeover, and success!
Check it out.
GlobalGrind: What was it like the first time you saw the movie? You had to put a wig on, I’m assuming, or was that your hair?
Ron: That was a wig. Funny thing is, when they do a wig like that, it starts shoulder-length because that’s how a wig comes to start and then they cut it and then they cut it again and once you cut it, you can’t go back longer. When I first put the wig on, it was in a hair band and then they cut it and I looked like Collin Farrell in Troy and then they cut it to look like that, you know what I mean? It looked like my dad in 1974.
Was there any envy on the set? I feel like stuff happens to everyone in the movie except you.
It’s a big thing. When I first read it, my first reaction was, “Ah you know this is not that great of a part.” Lili gets to do all of the possession stuff and Patrick gets to be this expert coming to save the day and Vera is clairvoyant and has superpowers and stuff and all I really get to do is be overwhelmed and ask for help. I get to run around and ask everyone for help. But I thought about it, sometimes what you don’t like about a part is the hook. So my next thought was, “You know what? This guy probably didn’t like that either.”
Nobody likes to be the guy that is ineffectual and has to ask for help, but at the same time, to me that’s kind of at the center of what the story is about. It’s a family that gets in over their head and as long as they put it off, finally you have to surrender and say, “This is more than I can handle by myself and I need help.” We have to ask the Warrens for help and then we ultimately have to go and ask God for help. It actually turned out to be the thing I enjoyed most about the movie.
You once said, “If you play your cards right, things are going to happen in the long run and the short run is anybody’s guess, but in the long run, shit happens.” Looking at IMDB, you got six projects for 2013, do you feel like you played your cards right?
Yeah! Things come in waves like that and it’s funny because some of those are movies that I did awhile ago and they all are just starting to come out around the same time, but it is definitely that long game a little bit. I think if everything you do, you bring your best to it. Any project that I do, if it’s big or small, I want to try to help the guy making that movie or the woman making that movie. I just want to help them make the best movie they can make and tell the story as best as it can be. If I do that, then it’s really up to them to make it work. I figure ultimately you don’t really work for the director, you don’t really work for the studio, you work for the audience – they’re the ones paying the money.
You’ve been on a bunch of those shows on HBO. Do you feel like you’re an HBO guy?
I love working for HBO and I love that they ask me back to do it. Band of Brothers was my first thing there and that’s just a big part of my life and a great experience. Sex and the City was a blast.
Do people still talk about the Post-It shit? (His character broke up with Carrie Bradshaw via Post-It.)
I get that every once in awhile. I think they’ve forgiven for the most part, but some people still carry a grudge about that.
Do you get to do any of the fun stuff? Because Boardwalk Empire is drinking, killing, having sex. Do you get to do a lot of the fun stuff on there?
I’ve done a lot of stuff with Gretchen Mol. And so by definition, that’s fun.
Be sure to check out The Conjuring in theatres July 19!
Photo credit: Wenn.
