{"id":10999,"date":"2015-10-02T12:11:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T16:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=10999"},"modified":"2015-10-02T12:11:24","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T16:11:24","slug":"right-now-judd-nelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/right-now-judd-nelson\/","title":{"rendered":"Right Now Judd Nelson"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 2015 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

The actor has checked in with us across four decades. Shouldn’t you get a blazer or something for that?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Interview by Colin W. Sargent<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"OCT15-Judd-Nelson\"Which character you\u2019ve played over the years would you most like to play in a sequel? <\/span><\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t any characters I\u2019ve played that I\u2019d necessarily want to revisit in a sequel. Part of the uniqueness of film, as opposed to a television series, is that it\u2019s a \u201cone-off\u201d experience. Not that I\u2019m opposed to sequels (I did one in Return to Cabin by the Lake<\/em>), but the beginning, middle, and end nature of a film\u2019s story has a completeness I enjoy. <\/span><\/p>\n

We know you\u2019re intimately familiar with Portland, but when you return, have you ever gotten a strange feeling being somewhere in the city?<\/span><\/p>\n

Any strangeness I might feel when I return to Portland comes when places that I frequented and loved are no longer there. Terroni\u2019s\u2013opposite King Jr. High, Together Leather on Exchange Street, The Boom Boom Room\u2013Cumberland Ave., Recordland\u2013Congress Street, and though not in Portland but crushing, The Sea Hag on Badger Island, the best lobster rolls I\u2019ve ever<\/em> had.<\/p>\n

You told us in the \u201980s that your goal was to be a real working actor. Can you name three films where you\u2019ve said to yourself, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m working, I\u2019m close to where I want to be?<\/p>\n

I feel very fortunate that I\u2019m able to make my living being paid for what I\u2019d do for free. But I\u2019ve never said to myself, \u201cYes, I\u2019m here. This is where I want to be with my career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m of the opinion that the work of an actor is a continual learning process.\u00a0 <\/span>I think of \u201ccareer\u201d as a retrospective term, like let\u2019s look back over the career of Marlon Brando.<\/span><\/p>\n

What fellow performer has had your back through thick and thin?<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years various people have given me some good advice or a helping hand. But no fellow performer has had my back through thick and thin for any length of time. However, I am extremely fortunate that my family has always been very supportive my whole life. My father, mother, and sisters have always had my back through thick and thin, and I am forever grateful to them for their love, wise counsel, honesty and humor.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you were buying a waterfront house on the Maine coast, where would it be?<\/span><\/p>\n

A private, forested island off the coast of Maine anywhere from Portland north to Canada (close enough that I could row to the mainland in less than an hour), with a freshwater well, a huge fireplace, and high cliffs facing east.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the Record,<\/em><\/strong><\/span> 2009<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Where are your Maine touchstones that you feel you need to visit whenever you return?<\/span><\/p>\n

When I\u2019ve been out of state for any length of time, that first moment when I cross the border into Maine\u2013wherever that might occur\u2013brings me a feeling of comfort, a sense of knowing I am now standing where I am from, and where I belong.<\/span><\/p>\n

[For] touchstones, I almost always take a flight to Boston, then rent a car and drive the last 100-plus miles.<\/span><\/p>\n

I get off Interstate 95 at Portsmouth, head down toward Strawbery Banke, then cross the water on the old bridge so that my first tracks in Maine are on Badger Island.<\/span><\/p>\n

I always stop at the Sea Hag for a couple of lobster rolls, which I eat where I stand (I get some lump crabmeat and lobster to go)\u2013if there is a better lobster roll anywhere else on the planet, I\u2019ve not tasted it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Then I head north until I reach the outskirts of Portland, and I like to drive by the house of my infancy on Catherine Street, then drive by the house of my cavity-prone years on Falmouth Street, then head up to the Western Promenade so I can drive by the old Carroll Street house, and if there\u2019s snow on the ground, I\u2019ll boot-slide down the long curved \u201csled-track\u201d that runs along the old cemetery.<\/span><\/p>\n

I always drive through the Old Port, and down Exchange Street. The first \u201creal\u201d job I ever had (other than delivering the morning Press Herald<\/em>) was working at the old Candle Factory on Exchange Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

1998<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If you could tell your 1986 self advice knowing what you know now, what would you tell yourself?<\/span><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t have followed up The Breakfast Club<\/em> with Saint Elmo\u2019s Fire<\/em>. I\u2019d have tried something alone rather than becoming part of another young ensemble cast. Better to dip my foot in there instead of diving all the way in.<\/span><\/p>\n

1986<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

How\u2019d you get your big break? What took you out of Portland?<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t like that. I was going to college. I went to Bryn Mawr and Haverford for two years, majoring in Philosophy. Then I decided to go to acting school [Stella Adler\u2019s acting conservatory in New York]. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 2015
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