THE STRONG, SILENT TYPE—UNPLUGGED
BY LEN SOUSA
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What we have here. David Wike as Russell and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Stan leave New York City for a little bucolic splendor and manual laboring in Champions, written and directed by Wike.
PHOTO BY PICTURE FARM PRODUCTIONS
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For an actor who once played a character whacked by the New Jersey mob on The Sopranos (nearly an acting rite of passage), David Wike reveals the kind of intelligence and charm needed for staying power in an industry marked by would-bes and could've-beens. From a humble start as a stagehand in Pennsylvania to a career as a New York actor, Wike has appeared in the films Hitch and Fresh Cut Grass, as well as in episodes of shows such as Law & Order, The $treet, and Sex and the City.
His filmmaking debut, Champions, will close the Newport International Film Festival this year and provide a humorous peek into the varied communication flaws of the modern American male.
"Trying to communicate and preserve the male ego at the same time is one of the most hysterical and tragic phenomenons out there," Wike says. "Like, why did my friend pull a weedwhacker out in the middle of a party? Hurling it around the yard until someone needs stitches. Great! How did that happen? It wasn't the alcohol. Don't just keep blaming it on the booze. He had something to say and he needed a weedwhacker to say it."
Wike's party anecdote isn't in Champions, but it provides the kind of questioning that led to writing his film. In an age of mass communication and information, where does the traditional male role fit in? Men seem to be wrestling with the need to appear in control while completely uncertain of their surroundings. Growing up, men believe some wisdom will strike from the palms of Zeus and transform them into versions of their fathers—strong men who say little but speak volumes. John Fucking Wayne. This naive belief is at the heart of the three main characters in Wike's film.
The film centers around Russell (Wike), Stan (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Derrick (Kevin Corrigan), three friends who all venture into the countryside for a weekend of farmwork with Russell's uncle (Xander Berkeley).
"Russell is someone who can't survive without heroes," reveals Wike. "Stan's looking for heroes, and Derek's lost them all. They're all trying to wrestle with their own inabilities and insufficiencies and then communicate with each other, but the only way they can do that is to seem like they are in control of what's really going on."
It's a typical male hang-up and one Wike believes is a cause for concern. "Communication problems are at the root of so much hell," he says bluntly. "And basically, men are just scared shitless of being alone." A point of view that makes sense when he reveals the way each character essentially takes the other hostage for his own gain; failing to actually communicate until the very end and bringing a unique moment of lucidity.
Still, as an actor and now director, does Wike believe he can connect with those of an older, more pragmatic generation? "It's not like we're not all a bunch of art freaks and can't communicate with them; it's just a different time."
Originally Published:
The Mercury (6.7.06)
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