11 Questions for Walton Goggins

On TV’s The Shield, the powerfully emotive Walton Goggins is sometimes difficult to like as Shane Vendrell but he’s impossible to turn away from. As Tino Armani, in the Capricorn Pictures release Randy and the Mob, he’s difficult to “get” but impossible to stop watching. No matter the tone he’s trying to strike, Walton Goggins does it with pitch perfect accuracy. Better still, the Georgia-raised actor is one of a small handful portraying Southerners respectfully. With collaborators Ray McKinnon and Lisa Blount, he founded Ginny Mule Pictures, the folks behind the Oscar-winning short The Accountant and the feature film Chrystal—both depicting a view of the South that askew the stereotypes to reveal something more complex and far more realistic. If you’ve been looking for movies and actors that are actually Southern instead of just set in an imaginary South, be at the Cox Capitol Theatre on Wednesday, October 17, for the Macon premiere of Randy and the Mob—followed by a Q&A session with actor/director Ray McKinnon. – Chris Horne   1.)    I loved Randy and the Mob. How do you feel about the finished product?   I think it loves and really celebrates some of these Southern people we know all too well. And then it throws one in the mix we’ve never seen before. …I think the other thing about this movie is that the other people in the story don’t really comment on Tino and how strange he is. They just kinda note him and how he’s different and then they just accept him.   2.)    Where’d you come up with Tino Armani?   You know, Ray has a way of writing that is so sparse and so specific and so dry that the framework for Tino was all on the page. For me, as an actor, it was deciding how he spoke and to compliment how he spoke with his movements, to define the physicality of Tino. This is a guy who wastes no movement whatsoever. Then it was a matter of taking that dry, monochromatic delivery and infusing that with some emotion without showing emotion. I took the words and infused them with some heart, with a three-dimensional quality.   3.)    Where’d the ringtone that Randy has on his phone come from? It’s hilarious.   We were looking at songs for a ringtone. I went to Dwight Yoakum, who’s been a friend of mine for a long time. I wanted to do: “Maybe I’ll be fast as you. Maybe I’ll break hearts too.” And we just didn’t have the money to get it. Lisa and Ray were talking about it, and she came up with the lyrics. “I got my freak on. I got my freak on.” It’s got that white boy, Wet Willie funk. They had a band come in and record, and that’s how it came out.   Chris: Can we download that somewhere? Walton: Buddy, we are so trying to get that geared up.   4.)    Tell me a little bit about what it’s like to try to represent the South and to do so respectfully.   Well, I’d been asked, early on in my career, to play the dumb racist—to perpetuate this Southern stereotypical landscape and help paint it. I did that because it afforded me an opportunity to get in the door and to make some money to feed myself. But after doing that for two or three years, it became so empty. I’m looking at these characters and I thought, “I don’t know these people. I don’t know any person that you’re asking me to play.” And it was after that that I had the opportunity to play Southern people that reminded me of people I grew up with, that painted a whole picture, a living, breathing person—that show you the complexities of Southern culture and Southern people.   5.)    Is it harder to do that as a producer and an actor in the same film?   When you’re wearing multiple hats, you damn well better understand the person that you’re playing before you get on the location because you don’t have the money and you don’t have the time to figure that out there. You’re making these other decisions all the time. Thankfully, we’ve spent a lot of time rehearsing before we got to the locations—and really before we got into production. For the most part, we understood who these people were so we didn’t have to think about that so when we get in front of the camera it’s like, “Okay, knee-jerk reaction.”   6.)    From what I know about them, Phil Walden and Benjy Griffin were right on the same page as you all. What was it like first meeting with them?   When our producing partner Dave Koplan was talking to Phil—I mean, this is Phil Walden, man! This is Capricorn Records, man. I mean, I got married to a song by Otis Redding.   Chris: Really?   Walton: Oh hell yeah—“These Arms of Mine”, buddy! The first song I danced to at my wedding. And so like every other person in America, certainly everyone in the South—I mean, that’s the soundtrack of my childhood. To meet the maverick and music impresario responsible for discovering the fucking talent that gave you the opportunity to make those memories with your family, it was unbelievable! I hopped on a redeye, drove down to Macon and sat there with these two incredible Southern men—and I’m not just saying that because you have a paper in Macon. These men were exceptional. We told them exactly what we wanted to do and listened to their concerns, and we decided to make this movie on a handshake. There were no papers signed. We went forward on a handshake.   7.)    How’d Ginny Mule Pictures come together?   They (Ray and Lisa) began this production company, starting with The Accountant. Through the course of two weeks, we realized we had the same goals in mind. So, I joined the company. We were looking for a name. We wanted it to be a Southern name—Cold Collard Films, Sweet Potato Pie, Sweet Tea Films. So I was listening to Gillian Welch, just looking for inspiration, and I heard, “We leased 20 acres and one ginny mule from the Alabama trust.” I thought, “My god, that’s it, boys and girls.”   8.)    What are some of the challenges you face portraying a character like Shane Vendrell on The Shield?   You know, man, it’s a daily figuring out, buddy. He’s a guy who lost his way morally, and whose moral compass has been defined by Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis). It all goes back to the original sin of the show, the killing of Terry Crowley, the police officer. A lot of his behavior stems from that situation. He has finally, over the course of the show, come into being his own man. If you look back, you’ll see a person looking for his way, ultimately accepting who he is, which is: “I’m a dirty cop. I am many things: a good father, I am trying to be a good husband, and I am a dirty cop. What is right for me may not be right for anybody else but I accept it.” When you add all that together in this damn Vendrell soup, the dish you’re going to serve is one with a lot of flavors in it.   9.)    I’ve heard you stay in character between takes and even after filming is wrapped. Is that something you have to do to keep that continuity?   Well yeah, I, ah—actually, how’d you hear that? That’s interesting.   Chris: (stutters) I have my sources, man.   Walton: Ahhh. Well, you know for me, if I’m in the middle of a situation—I’m raping a girl or attempting to rape a girl, something I don’t actually enjoy—I have to stay in that frame of mind. For me, that’s easier than it is to come out and joke with people. I’m the guy who’s kind of off by himself and staying in my own head because I need to be in that world. The longer I spend in that world around other people, the more authentic my interpretation of that character is.   10.)                        How do you feel about series coming to an end?   It’s breaking my heart. It’s bittersweet. We’re going to end it in a way that is befitting of the show that we’ve cared so much about. You know, I’ve been asked this question: “Who are you going to miss the most?” Well, I’m not going to miss Michael because I’m going to see him the day after we wrap. Same for most of the actors—I’m going to see them all the time. It’s Shane Vendrell that I’ll never see again. I do happen to think that he is one of the most complicated characters on television, and I love him. He’s an alter ego, in some ways, and a dear, close friend of mine. So when they yell, “Cut. Check the gate” and I hear that for the last time, I imagine it’s going to be really hard.   11.)                        I’d heard that your girlfriend was one of the filmmakers behind the documentary “The 11th Hour”. Is that true?   Like The 11th Hour paper that you write for? Yeah, I was looking at that and I was like, “Is this because they struggle to get their deadlines in—they’re always unbelievable but they deliver it at ‘the eleventh hour’ or, is Macon in ‘the eleventh hour?’” Yeah, it’s an environmental documentary that doesn’t just highlight the problems it focuses on solutions. The movie doesn’t preach at you. It just asks you to listen to some facts and see how you feel about them.   Chris: Is this something you’ve always been involved with?   Walton: C’mon, man. I drive an SUV. I’m from Georgia. Hell, I go to a tanning bed in a strip mall—I mean, all day long. I eat nothing but Applebee’s. That’s just where I come from. Through the course of dating her, I’ve become extremely educated about the environment and its ills and the cause of those ills. It is something that I’m taking up and taking very seriously in my own life.