When Lucas Myers returned to Nelson he figured that was the end of any chance he’d have at acting in a TV show or even a movie, so there’s a great bit of irony for the local actor that it’s here in Nelson that he landed a speaking role in the Hollywood film The Tall Man.

Myers dressed as Deputy Campbell ahead of his audition for The Tall Man. Photo courtesy of Lucas Myers.

Myers can’t give out man details about his role, other than he’ll be Deputy Campbell, he has four lines, will be in three scenes and he will be “working” with actress Jessica Biel who is starring in the thriller that’s being filmed throughout the West Kootenay.

Landing the role is a bit ironic for Myers, who worked as a stage actor in Vancouver and had a fair bit of work as an extra (known as a background performer in the biz).

Myers never made a serious effort at breaking into television or movies. He didn’t want to shell out the $500 for glossy headshots or hire an agent, both necessary to get a role with actual dialogue in Vancouver, known as Hollywood North and home to several TV shows and used in many Hollywood movies.

Myers shares a story of a friend who bought the photos, hired the agent and spent a year trying to get work. The result: one line in a show.

“That’s the great irony for me,” says Myers. “I’ve come back to quote-unquote Nowhereville where I expected my career to die.”

He’s careful to say he doesn’t think of Nelson as Nowhereville, but to the outside world, especially the movie industry, Nelson is the hinterland.

Instead, he’s built a successful career as a one-man performer on stage and now he has four lines and three scenes in a Hollywood production.

Myers says it’s a good chance he wouldn’t have had the same chances of getting the role if the movie was filmed in the Lower Mainland.

Lucas Myers at the casting call for The Tall Man. Photo by Chris Shepherd.

Myers went to one of several open casting calls for The Tall Man. He arrived dressed in his best “small-town” attire, a costume he made up from a character he created called Randy the Benevolent Redneck.

He got a call back, practiced the lines he was given and arrived at the second audition dressed for the part he was auditioning for: Deputy Campbell.

Dress the part

Arriving in character helped, Myers says.

“When I went to acting school, I was told that when you go to an audition you should go dressed as the part. I thought it was so dorky,” Myers admits.

But after going to a few auditions for commercials, Myers saw how effective it was to dress up.

Myers rented clothes from the Captiol Theatre’s costume department and arrived dressed as a deputy.

“They loved it,” Myers says of the casting crew’s reaction. “It’s true. Dressing up as the part helps.”

Myers doesn’t expect his part in The Tall Man to lead to anything else. He’s looking forward to the experience of being in a big Hollywood production and then expects to continue on with his career, creating one-man shows and holding the attention of a theatre full of people all by himself.

In fact, this weekend Myers is performing at the Capitol Theatre. DECK: How I Instigated The Overcame an Existential Crisis Through Home Improvement tells the story of a man’s struggle to repair his deck and the identity crisis that came from that.