Arts :: Movies And Tv
Big score by Scott Kearnan
Arts EditorThursday Apr 30, 2009Albert Chan knows a thing or two about typecasting.
"I was cast in Brotherhood as a brothel manager," the openly gay actor recalls of his work on the Providence-based Showtime series. "I was the Asian owner with a bunch of Asian prostitutes," he laughs.
Throw in a Fu Manchu mustache, and the set-up might sound like something out of an outdated spy flick. But Chan knows how to challenge expectations, and then exceed them. "I really try to work within the parameters of a script, but not just play right into the stereotypes," he says. "So when this brothel manager character was confronted by the police, I made the choice that he wasn’t going to be intimidated or bullied around by these two larger, physically imposing guys. He wasn’t going to be a pushover."
Evidently, neither is Chan. In fact, the Bostonian’s local and national film, television and theatre work has recently culminated in two major career milestones: the release of his short film and directorial debut Fate Scores, which recently screened as an official selection of the 2009 Boston International Film Festival, and a role in the major Hollywood release Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, a Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner vehicle released in theaters nationwide on May 1.
From director to actor, self-produced short flick to major movie event, and the role of a musician in the former to that of a groomsman in the latter, Albert Chan is certainly managing to dodge pigeonholes. Well, mostly.
"If anything, I think it’s the whole dorky, nerdy role that I might get typecast to play," chuckles Chan. "That more so than the Asian or gay stereotypes... but the beauty of acting is that it recognizes and affirms your entire history. I’m comfortable in my own skin and proud to be who I am, all the different facets of me: gay, Asian, nerd."
Nerd? Nah. But Chan certainly has a smart streak. He studied electrical engineering for 11 years, and was enrolled in a PhD program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when, after a bit of "soul searching" he says, he decided that he needed to find some kind of professional outlet to flex his brain’s creative muscle. He started with photography, then moved to acting: auditioning for student films, independent films, and eventually registering with several New England casting agencies that have helped him land bigger gigs, like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Still, the decision to put so much effort into his art wasn’t without some curious reaction from others in his life, he admits.
"One of the questions I get asked quite a bit, whenever I get a role in a Hollywood movie, is the question, ’Do you have any lines?’" explains Chan. "That sort of underscores the incredulity that I’ve actually pursued this, that there’s potential, and that it perhaps could pay the bills."
Perhaps there’s no greater proof of Chan’s successful work than seeing it light up the silver screen. Besides the Boston International Film Festival, his directorial debut Fate Scores has been selected for similar film fests in Wisconsin, southeast New England and Memphis. Shot in October 2007 on the MIT campus, the short film packs eight characters into 12 minutes and one long, concrete park bench. Silent save for Chan’s original musical score, the film explores the nuance of personal connections in an urban sphere via the subtle, wordless interplay of human interaction.
"It was inspired by my own experiences riding the subway," says Chan, who cast himself as a guitarist struggling to fix his instrument on the bench, even as the film’s actual score drives the action around him; it’s a poignant and appropriate choice for the director. "I’m an observant person, and I like seeing little things that most people wouldn’t notice. ... [For example] I remember when there was a man with a cane, hobbling toward the platform, and the people on the bench - they didn’t know each other, but it was as if they were somehow connected mentally - they all rose and parted in the middle [to make room] without ever saying a word."
Silence also paid off when it came to Chan being cast in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. After his initial audition for the film, he was vacationing in Barbados when he received a call from his casting agent.
"She said, ’They need you for a callback tomorrow,’" he recalls. "I said, ’Well I don’t think I can leave.’ She tried to persuade me, unsuccessfully, and said she would give my regards to the director and producer."
"One of the questions I get asked quite a bit, whenever I get a role in a Hollywood movie, is the question, ’Do you have any lines?’" explains Chan. When Chan returned to Boston, he discovered that he had been cast in the flick anyway.
"Who knows what would have happened if I had actually gone to the callback," he laughs. "Maybe I wouldn’t have the role!"
Chan plays a groomsman in the romantic comedy, which was shot in and around the Boston area last year. He was hired for five weeks of the shoot, and filmed the wedding scenes at two separate locations, the 165-acre Crane Estate in Ipswich and at Elm Bank Reservation in Wellesley, edited together to appear as a single home. The film is actually supposed to take place in Newport, Rhode Island.
The actor says he enjoyed working with some of the film’s big names. "It was really exciting, but they were very down-to-earth people," says Chan. "Actors are just normal people who are forced to be slightly private with their life."
"I had a brief conversation with Jennifer Garner," he elaborates. "I asked, ’Have you shot in Boston before?’ She said, ’Oh no, I haven’t. But my husband has lived here.’ I had to think about that for a moment, but then I remembered: oh yeah, Ben Affleck is her husband."
"It’s not as though she said, ’My husband, Ben Affleck,’" he says, stressing the Boston-bred actor’s name. "Robert Forster [Oscar nominee, Jackie Brown] was so humble and generous. He gave the entire cast gifts, and would entertain with his stories."
"It was a milestone for me," says Chan of working with so many marquee names. But not the last, certainly: he also recently filmed Every Day, playing a doctor opposite Helen Hunt and Brian Dennehy, now in post-production. And while he’s still submitting Fate Scores to additional film festivals, he already has an idea in mind for his next directorial effort.
"I do want to make some kind of comedy-drama centered around family," says Chan. "I’ve always been drawn to family relationships, especially between parents and children."
Fair enough. But this is a LGBT paper, so there’s at least one more question we can’t let Chan get away without answering after shooting a film with Matthew McConaughey:
How often was he shirtless?
"Everyone asks me that!" laughs Chan. "He wasn’t, at least not from what I saw. I know, it’s a shame."
Albert Chan stars in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, opening May 1 in theaters nationwide. For more information on the film, visit ghostsofgirlfriendspastmovie.com. For more information on Chan’s film Fate Scores, visit fatescores.com.
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