Behind the scenes with Sam Long: 25% Push-Ups/75% Research
Roz is an incredibly rich character to inhabit, with her own individual hurdles that I have to face. She is a complex human being with a back story that presented some seriously exciting and challenging opportunities for me as an actress. Before the filming process even began, I had underwent quite a bit for this woman. She had so many facets already built into her story, thanks to the talented writers. She was a military leader, dealing with traumatic events in her past and an unstable family life, THEN she’s thrown into the given circumstances of epilogue. So, my prep for Roz was about 25% push-ups 75% research. I’m just glad I had a shot at doing the lady justice, because she’s pretty damn cool.
The format of the project was exciting too. Much of my experience was in stage performance, however, I had done multiple film projects. Here’s the key: They had all been filmed in a one-camera format. So while the role of Roz was already a wonderful challenge to my mind, body and emotions, I was also faced with the task of translating all of my technique and character work into a completely new performance space for me. I’ve always thought that the things that involve the most risks are the things that inspire the most. This couldn’t be more true than with epilogue. Much of Epilogue was filmed with one or more cameras following each actor on the same take and on different axis on the same take. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? That’s because it is! This format is a whole different beast for both the actors and production crews. Luckily, we got more awesome shots than head-on collisions. This is mostly because of all the awesome people working on this project.
I consider the friends I made and the things I learned to be priceless. I learned so much working on this project. I feel like I owe a lot of my growth as an actor over the past year to epilogue, both on screen and in general. I can’t speak highly enough of everyone involved, and I’m extremely proud to have been involved myself.