STEVEN GRAYHM AND MATT DALLAS
INTO THE HEART OF AMERICA: A SOLDIERS STORY
by: Lisa Steinberg
Q. Matt, what are some of the recent projects that you’ve been working on?
Matt. Actually how I met Stephen was that we worked on a Western together called The First Ride of Wyatt Earp with Val Kilmer. We were sitting in our trailer and one day he started telling me about this project Into The Heart of America: A Soldier’s Story and I was like this project is amazing, you have to get it made. The next day he came in and was like I have a part for you, that’s kind of what started this whole process. We worked on that and then I worked on another project that’s a movie musical that is right now doing the festival circuit which is called You, Me & the Circus. It’s like Moulin Rouge meets Closer and that’s kind of exciting because I grew up in theater so this was getting to go back to my roots for this one. I look forward in the future getting to do more theater. I am also getting ready to go and shoot a movie in Dallas in a couple of weeks and it’s called The Ghost of Goodnight Lane and it’s with Lacey Chabert and Billy Zane.
Q. How did the idea for Into The Heart of America: A Soldier’s Story come about?
Stephen: I had just moved to Los Angeles in 2003 and I was sitting in my car at the time, a little Honda Civic, on Melrose Avenue and I heard that President Bush declared war and listened to his complete address. I was sitting at a stop light and I sort of pulled over and continued listening and I just didn’t know how I felt, I had never felt that way before. I found myself continuing, especially that nigh, hearing that our troops were going in to Kuwait and hoping that they were going to do well and that everybody was going to be okay. By the morning I realized that I hadn’t slept at all. Then the first American casualties came in and I couldn’t even go to the auditions or meetings that I had scheduled. I basically froze and everything sort of changed for me. I came up with the film and I didn’t know what direction it was going to go in because I had written and directed a short film that I had won awards for in New York and LA a few years prior on The Holocaust, but I knew I had an agenda. The reason why I did that short film was because it was a true story my grandfather used to tell me in the top bunkbed that we used to share. It was very personal to me and I had been working on it and had the characters very developed. It got to a point where I had met Charlie Bewley about a year ago through friends and he was perfect, just in his essence as one of the British soldiers in my film. I never vocalized that, I just made friends with him and just waited until about Christmas time and I dropped the bomb. I said I have this script that I have been working on but I think that you’d be great for this part. We had this actual conversation on Skype and he was like this is the greatest Christmas gift that anybody could give me. He was like I am with you all the way brother, I want to see this through. From that point I went on and kept writing and I began to do a Western which is where I met Matt Dallas. Matt and I ended up sharing a trailer, he would come back to the trailer and eat lunch and we’d sit around and talk. He had this beautiful essence about him, this vulnerability and sweetness. He asked me what had I been doing and what I had been up to and I told him I had been working on a script. I told him the entire story and he was like, dude, you gotta make this! I went home that night and talked to Charlie and told him about it and Charlie said it sounded extraordinary. I said I know I think I should tell Matt tomorrow you’re the guy! I was so excited about it and when I went to set the next day I said I’ve been writing this piece about the current war and I think you’re the guy and I would love it if you come on board and help us research this and get it right. Matt right away from the get-go was open arms and that’s how we all sort of came together.
Q. What has been the biggest challenges with the film that you’ve faced so far?
Stephen: We love each other to death and I can say that I’ll know these guys for life. You just forge a friendship and we knew we had to feel comfortable around each other to be able to make this work. I think the challenge is that there is a lot of bureaucracy. I have say that we are so fortunate for the sponsorship that we have received and there was a lot of difficulty with that in the beginning. We were really, really pounding the pavement on that and put ourselves out there. We took countless meetings and were turned away. Those are like small obstacles, the bigger things were trying to prepare ourselves for what must be shared with us. I mean there is no sort of handbook for this, there is no blueprint, and so to prepare yourself for this sort of expedition was one of the biggest concerns. As far as obstacles go, it really was just being invited into people’s homes and people trusting us. We went with a team we trusted and I sat down with everyone and I just said, listen, like any story we hear we have to listen without prejudice. We will go to any place that anybody will invite us to and we will just listen and just get the story, let’s get all angles. I think that helped to overcome those obstacles.
Q. Stephen will you be directing the film?
Stephen: We haven’t decided on a director. We had some meetings in New York at the end of last month with some people, but I am really hesitant to mention any names on that because it is up to them. We have obviously received a lot of interest with directors that we really admire. I haven’t yet said that I am going to direct yet. I have directed pieces before, but my concern is that I would not want to deviate from my performance, I would not want to jeopardize my performance by waiting until we have belief in this.
Q. What have you learned the most from working on the project?
Matt: I think the biggest eye-opener for me was what all of the troops were coming home to. When you are putting your life on the line for our country you would think that they would come home to at least some sort of open arms. It is really kind of insane if you think about it that they come home to such lack of programs to help them reintegrate into society, into normal civilization. The fact that there is not more set up for them for success, and the fact that a lot of them don’t even come home to the person that they were, is just really unfortunate. It’s really sad for the people that are fighting for our country and there are not more programs that are set up to help them reintegrate themselves into society.
Q. Matt, what would you like to say to your fans and supporters?
Matt: I couldn’t be more proud of my fans and excited because I do have such a strong fanbase and one of the most important fanbases that I could possibly ask for. The fact that they are out there and are working as hard as possible to spread the word about whatever project it may be that I am working on, especially a project like this, it means so much to me. This is something that is so close to my heart and to know that I have the support of them means the world.
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