MIKE O'CONNELL (THE LIVING WAKE)
By JOHN WILDMAN, Contributing Writer
Watching THE LIVING WAKE is like
having abject, arcane and anachronistic
silliness served up for you over
and over again as if it were placed on a lovely
plate of hors d' oeuvres. Mike O'Connell cowrote
and stars in the film, playing the role
of a self-proclaimed artist and genius on a
Monty Python-esque mission to stage a final
"brilliant" flame-out performance with the
zeal of a truant student with a neverending
supply of get-out-of-jail for free cards in his
back pocket.
There is a purposeful nod to the style and
wordplay of Preston Sturges as well as the
Marx Brothers' nonsensical banter. Do
those comic rhythms come naturally to you
(as either a writer or actor) or did you find
yourself having to do some homework to get
it note perfect? I have always been drawn to
entertainments that are playful with their language
and these entertainments have taught me
the perpetual possibilities of pen to paper.
Is Jim Gaffigan always "on?" And if so, what
techniques did you employ to wrestle him into
submission for your scenes with him? If by
"on" you mean super tits and ready for school,
then yes. And no sedation was required for him
to furnish his glory, not even wrestling.
Did Jesse Eisenberg have to submit to frequent
drug testing due to all of his bike riding
throughout the film? Yes. He passed them all.
But I think it shows up in the film that he was
huffing paint the whole time.
Why is it particularly upsetting to have ham
steaks thrown at you? Unfortunately, it must be
experienced to understand the true horror. And I
am not cruel enough to indoctrinate you into this
cursed club.
Should libraries relax their policies of only
placing books in their shelves that have
actually been published Ð by an actual publisher?
Everyone knows that a book is not real
until it has a publisher. If you feel otherwise,
your lunacy is obese.
Seriously, was the entire film simply a ruse
for you to have a reason to break out into
song at the end? Yes, and I do suppose it
worked. My first successful ruse.
