In this interview from the World Premiere of "Connie and Carla," Mihok discussed his singing skills (or lack thereof), working with Nia Vardalos, and two of his upcoming projects - "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Mojave."
INTERVIEW WITH DASH MIHOK ('Mikey'):
How tough was it to sing ‘Memory’ from “Cats” in “Connie and Carla?”
I have a terrible voice so it’s kind of frightening to be around the whole camera crew, especially these manly grips and whatever, and having to sing that and play kind of loopy drunk was tough. But I had to do it when I auditioned so I knew what I was getting in to. I kind of knew I was going to play drunk and tired and depressed and then sing. I didn’t really know I was going to fall off the chair. I fell off one time and the swing hit me in the back of the head. Everybody thought that was a riot, but it probably didn’t make the movie.
How hard was it for everyone to have to work in drag?
You know what? For me, it wasn’t nearly as hard because I didn’t have to put all that makeup on every day. They spent hours and hours in makeup every day, and hours and hours of doing dance numbers and singing and all this training. I just had to come in and do a couple of little fun scenes and sing a little bit. So I can’t really say it was all that tough.
What's like to work with an actress who is the writer but not the director of the movie?
It’s fantastic because, first of all, the director Michael Lembeck is fantastic. He’s quick to ask Nia [Vardalos] what she thinks and she’s such a comic, she can come up with anything. I mean, if I had a problem at all I could just ask her about a line and she’s so quick, she’d come up with it really, really fast.
So she’s not possessive with her script?
No, she’s really generous with her writing, and really cool and really great to work with.
And you’ve got “The Day After Tomorrow” coming up soon. What’s your role in that movie?
I play Dennis Quaid’s assistant. He’s a paleoclimatologist and we have to go save his son, Jake Gyllenhaal, in New York. We travel through this ice age sort of, this ice storm. It was a lot of fun.
Were many of your scenes down with blue screen?
Almost all of them were blue screen. It was a lot of staring at the blue screen, pretending you were looking at ship that was stuck in the middle of Manhattan.
Did you have to do much wire work or stunt work?
Oh yeah, definitely. A bunch of stunt work like we were walking the top of this mall, like the snow has covered it so much we’re on the top of this mall and the glass breaks and one of us falls through. He’s hanging there and we have to try and get him up – that was a lot of [action].
Would you say it’s basically a special effects film?
I’d say it’s basically a special effects film but it’s got some heart. You really will like the characters enough to care about what happens to them.
So the relationship between the father and son is convincing?
Yeah, definitely. More so than most [action] movies.
Is there any film you’d compare it to?
I really couldn’t tell you because I haven’t seen it. The special effects are going to be bigger than life.
You’ve also got “Mojave” coming up soon.
I’ve got “Mojave,” too. I play the villain so I’m the bad guy. [This group of friends] are going to a rave and they get stuck in the desert, and they end up stumbling across one of my little desert gangs. Then I come and try and track them down.
Is it fun to play a bad guy?
It’s real fun. I do some pretty brutal things. I don’t want to let anyone escape with their life, basically.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Interviews from the Premiere: David Duchovny / Michael Lembeck / Nia Vardalos / Alec Mapa and Robert Kaiser
”Connie and Carla” Premiere Photos
”Connie and Carla” Press Junket Interviews, Production Photos, and Trailer
