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Q&A with LUKE PERRY: "I don't get to be rude and obnoxious much"
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Q&A with LUKE PERRY: "I don't get to be rude and obnoxious much"
In the jovial rom-com A Swedish Midsummer Sex Comedy, now out on DVD, a group of friends — one of whom is played by Luke Perry — gather to celebrate what one character calls “a festival of fucking.”
Perry, on the phone from Los Angeles, explains that he didn’t know anything about the Swedish fertility festival before making the film. “I thought it was going to be like Labor Day or Memorial Day, where you play volleyball and cookout.”
The laconic actor pauses and adds, “The Swedes kick it up a notch.”
The lone American in the cast, Perry plays Sam, the best friend/best man of Emil (Daniel Gustavsson) who hopes to marry his girlfriend Susanne (Lisa Werlinder) at the Midsummer festivities. Over the course of the sunny day and equally sunny night, however, things go awry, and some bedhopping begins.
While the randy Sam seduces some women in the film, he also has a scene in a co-ed sauna, about which Perry recalls, “I go in [the spa] with a half-dozen naked Swedes, and the director’s wife flogs me on the back with eucalyptus leaves!”
Making a film about couples coupling, uncoupling and re-coupling was mostly an enjoyable experience for the actor. “The chemistry was so immediate and casual and cool — that it is a testament to how great the Swedish actors were to me. It almost made me want to get a big dragon tattoo,” he says with a big, hearty laugh.
Perry took the role in the film after co-writer/director Ian McCrudden showed him the script. “The title made me chuckle,” he admits. “I play the ‘Ugly American’ and I don’t get to do that — be rude and obnoxious — much.”
The actor demurs when asked if he gravitates to playing outsider characters, stating simply that he is not a rebel.
In fact, he likes to be part of an ensemble. “I was lucky that [actors] were all very welcoming to me. They all knew each other and worked together before. I liked hanging out with them.”
The appeal of being part of an intimate cast and crew included eating every meal together. Perry remembers, “We went back and forth between the two restaurants in town.” He even mentions getting to know the owners who ran the establishments quite well, as if verifying his genial personality.
Shooting in Trosa, a small Swedish town, was attractive to Perry, who seemed to enjoy the isolated environment. While most cast members went to Stockholm during the time off, Perry says he remained in the charming hamlet. “I stayed in a converted barn, where they dried herring. The hotel rooms were 10’ x 10”. I had no desire to leave. It was an idyllic little fishing village on an archipelago.” He marvels at the chance to use the word archipelago in a sentence.
Trosa’s beautiful archipelago is showcased in A Swedish Midsummer Sex Comedy as much of the non-bedroom action takes place outdoors, on the water (where characters go boating and skinnydipping) or in the nearby woods.
Perry apparently likes the outdoors, acknowledging that the concept of the Swedish film — getting friends together in a picturesque location to hang out — appeals to him. He says he enjoys spending time with his friends “sitting around a big fire, drinking beer — nothing fancy.” And adds that he's “very lucky to have a core group of friends he’s known since junior high.” He continues, “I value my friends more than anything. I would never do [what Emil, or Sam] do to my friends."
The actor maintains that Sam is, in fact, very different from Perry’s off-screen persona. In this film, it is revealed that Sam has a particular addiction. Perry explains how he tapped into this facet of his character: “I’ve known people who are addicted to things, and I’ve seen it up close.” He then confirms, “I hope it never touches my life.”
Perry also reveals that while Sam dreams of biking through Europe, he has a different personal goal: “I want to drive the Appalachian Trail on horseback, or travel from the Ohio Valley to California in a covered wagon.”
One mode of transportation Perry is unlikely to take is the Porsche Sam gets to drive in A Swedish Midsummer Sex Comedy.
“Porsche came and brought us a new car, and I test drove it. It was good — that was a fast car.” But then he asks, “Why do we need fast cars? We’re running out of gas and oil. We need smarter vehicles, not faster ones.”
The comment suggests something along the lines of the “balance, focus, and purity” Sam talks about in the film. But when asked about his own sense of balance, focus and purity, Perry responds, “Purity? There’s no purity in show business. Fuck, that’s like crying in baseball! There’s no crying in baseball! Just ask Tom Hanks.”
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