The cast of Coherence collaborated in one of my favorite movies of the year which blew me away at Fantastic Fest. Director James Ward Byrkit told me how he crafted the sci-fi mind bender, by giving his actors notes and letting them improvise and figure out the plot. So really I have the cast to thank for taking me on this journey.
The film is about a group of friends having a dinner party when they experience a case of quantum decoherence. Look it up, or donât if you want to remain spoiler-free. One of those friends is played by âBuffy, the Vampire Slayerâ star Nicholas Brendon who plays, of all things, a former TV actor from The WB show âRoswell.â I got to speak with Brendan by phone.
Related: Fantastic Fest 2013 Review: Coherence
Coherence opens June 20 in NY and LA and VOD August 5.
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CraveOnline: Of all of the TV shows Mike could have been on, why âRoswell?â
Nicholas Brendon: Iâve known Jim for like 10 years, so I think it was our little inside joke, like the fact that Iâm a recovering alcoholic. Itâs kind of like paying homage and also giving the audience a little wink, weâre also in on the joke.
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Is recovering alcoholic a personal homage also?
Yeah, yeah.
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Did you know the âRoswellâ cast when you were on the WB with âBuffy, the Vampire Slayer?â
Yes, because we would do photo shoots and stuff together. Jason Behr was actually on an episode of âBuffyâ right before he did âRoswell.â Wasnât Katherine Heigl on that show? I tried to steer clear of her. Sheâs got teeth. [Laughs] Whenever we would do functions together, we actually hung out a lot. They were all awesome.
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What was it about Katherine Heigl back in the day?
Itâs funny, I knew Katherine because I used to date Marley Shelton and Marley was up for My Father the Hero. It was Marleyâs part and then it was Katherineâs part so I knew of Katherine because Marley couldnât do it for a particular reason. I just kind of knew of her through my girlfriend at the time.
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I understand the way Coherence was done was that everyone got notecards about their characters and the scenes. What was on your notecards?
I canât remember now, but every day we had five different things that we had to convey, which is really kind of crazy. I guess was easy because it was all shot in chronological order as well, which is the first time Iâve ever done that. I donât remember specifically what was on them, but I do know that Jim, and then Alex [Manugian], the other writer, had to make sure that we were all on point. So it was just a matter of getting that information out.
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How long did it take you to figure out what was going on in the plot?
I never really knew because the first time I saw the movie, Jim had just gotten it done and we had a screening at a small industry theater. Since there was no script, I had no idea how it ended. So I still never really knew. When I saw the movie, Iâm like, âOh shit, this is awesome!â I was a fan of the movie because since there was no script, I didnât know how it ended because I wasnât in that scene. To be quite honest with you, I never really knew what was going on fully until I saw the movie done.
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At a certain point, the characters figure out what the phenomenon is. Were you ahead of them or was that live in the improv?
Yeah, it was live in the improv. I honestly still to this day, Iâm not really sure what Schrodingerâs Cat is because in my mind, in my very narrow view of thinking, that catâs either fucking dead or itâs alive. Itâs not both. Itâs never both. Itâs just going to be alive or dead. The fact that thereâs a play on that play, Iâm like, âAll right, you guys lost me.â Thereâs a point in the movie where Iâm like, âHold on, let me get this straight. The catâs in the box. Heâs both alive and heâs dead.â Since my mind just doesnât particularly think that way, that was the only thing that was scripted. Iâm like, âJim, I know this is important. Write out what you want me to say, because Iâm still not really quite sure whatâs going on right now.â Itâs alive or its dead.
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Once the audience catches on and many of them know you have a twin brother, we probably expect to see him show up at some point. Does he get approval when there are films that need two of you?
Luckily, thereâve been two times where thereâve been two of me, and Iâm not quite sure how many actors can lay claim to that. So on âBuffyâ he was there and we did it, and in Coherence he was available and was there. Obviously Kelly loves me a lot so if ever we need him, heâll show up.
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âBuffyâ also dealt with very complex mythology, so with Coherence could you understand making a very high concept story human?
Oh yeah. We definitely became aware of it, Iâd say, by probably halfway through season two. It wasnât just âBeverly Hills 90210â and it wasnât just about monsters. It was very analogous to life demons. We just gave them legs and teeth and fangs. I do have a problem, actors like to hear themselves talk so when they pontificate too much about the deep meaning, I just really want to kind of put a fist in my mouth and make myself vomit. Joss is great at giving life to our inner demons and our turmoils. He gave them a body so that we can equate that to what was going on.
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Did you see any similarity in Coherence, using this very specific scientific phenomenon to explore these characters?
Not towards âBuffy.â I equate Coherence more to an episode of âThe Twilight Zone.â Rod Serlingâs âTwilight Zone,â not the UPNâs âTwilight Zoneâ or the movie Twilight Zone. To me it was an episode of that, which leads to the question: how great was that fucking show? You know what I mean? It was wonderful.
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Would you want to work in this style again?
Absolutely.
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Do you know what James has planned next?
Well, heâs writing a movie right now I think for Sony but weâll all do this again in some way, shape or form. It was a lot of work, more on Jamesâs end and the editorâs end. Since we didnât have a script, they had to go through 100s of hours of footage of us just improvâing. Since we didnât really know what was going on, we were latching onto anything and talking about that. Once the editor looked at James and said about me, âGood God, this guy swings at everything.â Iâm a talker. So the amount of work that they had to do to get a movie out of the footage is just astronomically challenging and they did it.
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When I think about other shows youâve done, if youâd had the cast of âKitchen Confidentialâ today, it surely wouldâve made it, right?
Oh my God, when that show got cancelled, I took a two year sabbatical. I was still going on auditions but it was so unfair how they did it. It was the first time that I had seen Hollywood politics at work and I really didnât care for it. So I took a sabbatical without letting anybody know. I was still going on auditions. To this day, David [Boreanaz] got âBones,â Aly[son Hannigan] got âHow I Met Your Motherâ and I got âKitchen Confidentialâ all in that same year, and we were all shooting within three stages of each other on Fox. I was truly heartbroken. I love that show so much. I loved the 13 episodes that we did, the camaraderie that we had. Iâm sure Coops is cool with it, but I had such a great time. A couple years later I was told what had happened, why it was cancelled which made me even hate the business of show.
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Is that public? Has it been reported?
No, no.
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Is there any hint you can give?
No, no, no but it was very political.
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It had fans and I think Bradley Cooper is very fond of the show.
Oh yeah, we had a blast. We all had a love for each other. We were together for like four months and it was such an amazing time. Coop had just had Wedding Crashers come out so we were all so supportive and loving of each other. I was upset that I wasnât able to have these people in my life more.
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When you look back at âBuffy,â do you remember individual episodes or more of a big picture of the seven year experience?
Amalgamation of it? No. The first year was very magical just because I couldnât believe I was getting paid to be an actor. All these trucks were here and I had a trailer, and people doing my hair and my makeup. Then obviously there are many, the episode called âHush,â the episode called âThe Body,â there was âOnce More With Feeling.â There are a lot of individual episodes that were above and beyond. âHushâ and âThe Bodyâ to me, and âOnce More With Feelingâ are probably three of the best hours of television out there ever.
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Were âHushâ and âThe Bodyâ very collaborative episodes, taking the whole cast to make âHushâ work and everybody reacting to âThe Body?â
Everything was collaborative but any episode that Joss wrote and directed, I loved it when he wrote and directed. He was the only person, because I am Xander and Xander is me, Joss would just give me a line and Iâm like, âOkay, cool, Iâve got it.â I trusted him implicitly. I didnât have to stress, he didnât have to stress. He knew when he was going to cut out of a scene because in his head he was already editing it. It was wonderful so anything Joss did was completely the control that he had and the micromanagement which I love because I just so trusted him.
Also one of the things on âBuffy,â since it was the first thing I ever did, we could not miss an âuh,â a âthe,â a âthen.â Our emotions could be perfect and [he] said, âI put that word there for a reason.â So I was trained to know every single word and to say every single word as it was written on paper. Now, on âCriminal Minds,â if we get around what our dialogue is, then weâre moving on. There was never any improv. We were given the scripts as the writers had written them and we were expected to know every single line.
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Thatâs probably the first time Iâve heard micromanagement described in a positive way but it totally makes sense.
It was. Typically if someoneâs micromanaging, you think that you can do that micromanagerâs job bette than that micromanager can. I knew there was no fucking way. Joss was my God. He was my master. In that regard, I wanted and needed a master.
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Besides those big three episodes, were there any other favorites?
I love, love, love âThreeâs Companyâ so when John [Ritter] did an episode of âBuffy,â then we did a table read and John pulled me aside and said, âI just want you to know, I think youâre the star of the show.â Iâm like oh my God, John Ritter. Youâre the star of my show. I was really taken aback and then we became fairly good friends. He would come to my house and we would watch episodes together. Then I was in London and my mom called and said, âDid you hear about John?â Iâm like, âJohn who?â âSheâs like, âJohn Ritter, he died.â I started bawling and Iâm like, âMa, I need to call you back.â Itâs crazy.
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That was really sad and shocking.
Well, more shocking is how much my mom loves to give bad news. I think that was more shocking than John dying. âMom, you do realize youâre talking about a friend of mine, right?â
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What else is coming up for you?
Well, right now Iâm doing the big circuit for Coherence. Iâm going to shoot a short next month. I might be doing another movie, weâre just trying to figure that out and Iâm just going to still go around the country and meet fans at different conventions and stuff. Iâm known for my hugs. By the way, I hug everybody. I hug men and women so they didnât come off as creepy, and I do make every man hug. Heâs like, âNo, weâll do the handshake.â Iâm like, âNo, this is a handshake free zone, buddy. Weâre going to hug.â
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I would totally hug if we met in person.
And we will and I will hug you. Youâre in 818. Iâll just find you. Iâve got your name now, Iâll find you. Iâll be waiting in the bushes in front of your house, âHeyyyy Fred.âÂ
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Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
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