Stephen Dorff Gets Personal About His New Nashville Drama ‘Wheeler’

Rudy Cecera

Stephen Dorff has been making movies for 30 years including “Blade,” “Immortals,” “Backbeat,” and “The Power of One.” He’s been directed by Oliver Stone, Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, John Waters and starred opposite Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Elle Fanning to name a few. In addition to his many acting credits, Dorff is also an accomplished musician, writer, and producer.

For his latest film, “Wheeler,” he combines all his talents for what is perhaps his most diverse role. His title character plays a middle-aged aspiring musician who travels to Nashville to fulfill his lifelong ambition of becoming a country singer. Dorff recently spoke with Entertainment Voice about his reasons for making the film and the many challenges that he faced.

What inspired you to write this story?

Technically all that was written was a 10-page treatment. My guru and director on the project was Ryan Ross. When one of my films got pushed back, I began writing music and played some of it for him. He liked it and thought we should do something with it. However, I wasn’t interested in doing an album but I wanted to get the music out there. So we thought of a movie soundtrack, and then just built a character around it. Once I found a voice for that guy, I approached it the way Andy Kaufman or Sacha Baron Cohen would but we kept it real, not comedic.   
   
Your appearance is different from anything you’ve ever played before. How did you create the look of the character?

I had previously worked with makeup artist Christien Tinsley who did such tremendous work on “Westworld.” He read my treatment, loved the concept and idea, and began working on Wheeler’s appearance. Early prototypes resembled the caveman from the Geiko commercials and Meryl Streep from “Into the Woods.” Finally, after six weeks we had the look and it required me to sit in the make-up chair for 3 hours. I believe it’s the first time this kind of make-up has been used in a drama as opposed to comedic or fantasy films.       

The movie is very realistic, from the way the characters talk to the filming style. Why did you choose to format the story into a documentary style instead of making a traditional fictional film?

Well, we didn’t have a script. I wanted a realistic look of a songwriter going to Nashville, so we grabbed a small camera and filmed real people.

In the movie, it was said that Wheeler was a mix of modern and traditional sounds. When creating the character of Wheeler, who did you imagine were his influences?

I thought of Wheeler as a sexy throwback to classic country music stars like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson, who also appears in the film.

For this movie, you sang, wrote songs, played instruments and integrated a little music history too. Can you talk about your personal history or experience with music? Have you always liked country?

Not really. I grew up listening to Bob Marley and The Beatles. I haven’t bought a country album in a long time. Through my brother and father, who had both written country music, I knew Nashville was the hottest city for an aspiring songwriter and musician so I went with that style.

You’ve appeared in several iconic music videos. How do you get involved with them and what was your favorite?

Videos appeal to a younger audience and gave me a chance to be a part of that area of pop-culture. I enjoyed appearing in “Cryin” by Aerosmith and “Everytime” with Britney Spears.

The piano was a compelling component to Wheeler’s sound and added touching moments to the film. Why include piano and how does this inform the character?

Country music is mostly guitar driven, so the piano was different. There’s not too many of them in Nashville, so I thought it might have a little bit more of an Elton John feel for me to be behind the keys.

It’s always inspiring to see a story of someone striving toward their dream no matter what age or what hardships they’ve experienced. Why is Wheeler taking this journey at this point of his life?

He’s had a lot of pain in his life and I felt it was more inspiring for him to pursue his dream at 41 instead of 21. He wants to see if the music he played his whole life would translate. It builds throughout his life. Perhaps it can be a dream in his head that never happened.

What was your favorite song from the film?

I naturally love them all, but “Pour Me Out of This Town” is very personal to me as I wrote it with my brother. I also loved “Fever,” “Showed Me The Way,” and “Tribe.”

“Wheeler,” was released in select theaters Feb. 3.