In Praise of Michael Johnson...

Still one of my favorite GSP productions, This Song (re-embedded below for your convenience), recounts the romantic foibles of of a singer-songwriter named Michael Johnson, portrayed by Michael Johnson.

This Song from grammar school on Vimeo.

Portraying an exaggerated character has a number of inheirant risks, the most significant of which is the potential for the viewer to project a character's extreme behavior or attitudes onto the actor, himself. This risk is further elevated when an actor agrees to allow the character to share his name and portions of his personal history. Creating even more potential for confusion, This Song consists almost entirely of interviews and musical performances with the characters - it never feels quite like a fictional narrative.

And Mike is perfect in that role. We shot about six hours of footage for this 10-minute short and there was not a single false note in his performance. Mike (the actor) fully commits to allowing Mike (the character) to be the punchline of the film. The other characters have their quirks and weirdness, but the camera's critical eye is focused squarely on Mike and his confusions and frustrations. Watching Mike (the character) struggle to articulate the inspiration behind his art is funny and fucked-up and kind of pitiful all at once.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Michael Johnson (the real person). He's a talented, hard-working musician who's extremely studied and articulate about his work. If you want to see the difference between Mike (the person) and Mike (the character), check out this recent interview he did with Willamette Week.



You can see the superficial overlap in cadence and mannerism, but there is no mistaking the sizable gap between the actor and the character.

So, my general point: Mike is a huge talent. We at GSP feel lucky to have him as a collaborator.