Fans of morning talk radio may recognize a familiar face, or at least voice, of one of the eccentric characters inhabiting the Arkansas set and filmed feature movie "Antiquities," which has made the rounds of film festivals around the country and is now available to buy or rent.
Roger Scott, who was "born and raised right here in Hot Springs," graduating Hot Springs High School in 1982, is best known as one the morning crew on 103.7 The Buzz out of Little Rock, but has now added movie star to his resume with a role in "Antiquities," the feature-length directorial debut of Benton native Daniel Campbell, a longtime friend of Scott's.
Campbell had previously directed three short films, "The Discontentment of Ed Telfair" in 2013, "The Orderly" in 2011 and a short version of "Antiquities" in 2009, with all three winning awards at the Little Rock Film Festival.
Scott said he had a small role in the beginning of "The Discontentment of Ed Telfair" and a major part in the original version of "Antiquities," so "I'm reprising my role in this new one. I threatened him if he didn't use me again."
Scott said he was "scared to death" Campbell would use someone else and the director had teased him he was in talks with comedian Ron White and actor Bradley Cooper for the part, but ultimately "he fought for me to do it."
While Scott said he ad-libbed a lot in the original short, he "stuck to the script" for the movie. "I was afraid to do any ad-libbing. He entrusted me with it and I was terrified of messing up. I studied hard every single day and memorized my lines. People have asked me if there are any outtakes with me but I didn't have any. Not to brag, but I was too intimidated by all these other actors to screw up," he said, laughing.
Among the other stars in the film are Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen, "Twilight" actress Ashley Greene, former "The Walking Dead" cast member Andrew J. West, who has the main role, "Friday Night Lights" actor Troy Hogan, Michael Gladis of "Mad Men," and former Saturday Night Live regular Michaela Watkins.
While Scott did not get to share the screen with Steenburgen, who plays a psychiatrist whose only scenes were with West, he said he worked with everyone else. "I knew they were all professionals who make their living on this stuff and have been all over the place so I wanted to do well," he said.
Scott said the movie is "about a fella who comes back to town to find out about his father, who died in an automobile accident. His father worked at an antique mall so he goes there to try to find out more about him. The story centers around him basically trying to find himself and he meets a girl."
Scott's role is as West's main antagonist, he said. "I'm a jerk. I work in the mall. My mother owns the mall and is married to another fella I went to school with who is the same age as me so I'm bitter and just a jerk to everyone around."
Scott had high praise for Hogan, who plays his stepfather. Hogan is black and Scott's character, Blundale, has "all these models from Civil War battles, but all the battles I have displayed are the ones the South won," he said, laughing. "Just to stir him up. That's the kind of jerk this guy is."
Of Hogan, Scott said, "That guy is a star. All these people are super talented and just really good."
Scott said he knew he was "one of the guys" when West would "make crazy hand gestures" during one of Scott's close-ups to "try to mess me up. It was pretty awesome. You do scenes multiple times with the cameras facing different ways over and over so to break up the monotony they goof around. It was fun just to be around them."
Scott said the work that goes on behind the camera was incredible. "Good night, those people work hard," he said. "The key grip. The best boy. Everybody had a job and they do it well. It took everybody to do what they did."
The movie was filmed in November 2016 and while it is set in Eureka Springs and many of the exteriors were filmed there, the majority of scenes were shot in North Little Rock and some scenes were filmed in Hot Springs.
"It's supposed to be all Eureka Springs, but you will know Hot Springs when you see the scenes," he said, noting there are some shots along Bathhouse Row and one major scene on top of West Mountain. "You can see the (Hot Springs) Mountain Tower across the way."
Scott met Campbell when both were working in sales at Magic 105. "He started talking about doing movies. He left for a couple of weeks once and went to Memphis to shoot a film. I basically covered for him for a month," he said, noting he would pretend to be talking to him on the phone or tell people, "You just missed him."
Campbell co-wrote the feature-length version of "Antiquities," with noted writer-producer, Graham Gordy, known for "True Detective" and "Rectify," who also appears in the film. "Both of them are incredible," he said of West and Gordy. "Just two of the nicest guys there are."
He said it took about 10 years after the original short came out to raise the funds for the new version. He said it was shown at multiple film festivals last year and then was released theatrically at "some big markets" to qualify for awards, including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Dallas and "about a dozen cities" for a week.
He said it did so well in Little Rock that while initially shown only as a matinee, they soon added evening showings and now it is available on iTunes, Prime Video, Google Play and will soon be out on DVD, noting, "I am told I made the back cover of the DVD."
Scott said he has watched the movie "about half a dozen times now" including several times in Little Rock. "I thought I was going to be the worst part of it. I was afraid I was going to be horrible, but it got great reviews. Watching it I can't help but notice how great and powerful everyone else is in it. I am able to separate myself from it."
Scott said he would love to do more acting and has done television commercials in Arkansas, including being the spokesperson for Big Red Valeros, using many of the crazy characters he uses on the radio.
"It's fun. I don't know how to do a whole lot of stuff, but I can pretend real good," he said, noting being in the movie was "a dream come true. I always wanted to do something like that."
Scott said the movie is "very funny," depicting the quirky people who work in antique stores. "They just are. One man's junk is another man's treasure like they say. It really is a cute movie. My experience working on it was fantastic."
When it was shown at the film festival in Little Rock, he said he went one night with his wife, Samantha, his sons and their wives, his daughter and her husband, and his brother and sister-in-law. "I was able to say, 'I know I haven't always been the best guy, but I hope this makes you proud of me.' No one can take that away from me. I was able to do something that made my wife and family proud."
Scott said he will know he's really made it as a celebrity if and when he gets invited to participate in the annual World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade. "That's when I know the hometown boy has done good," he said.
Local on 02/10/2019