‘Glee’s’ Cory Monteith on Real-Life Role in Canadian Indie Film (original) (raw)
TORONTO – For Cory Monteith, the former Walmart people greeter, the chance to play a department store manager in the Canadian indie film All The Wrong Reasons just fell into his lap.
The Glee star recalls reading writer/director Gia Milani’s script about four lives intersecting in a big box department store, and immediately seeing in the James Asher character what he might have been in real life, had Hollywood stardom not changed his life.
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“I think having worked in a department store setting, if my life had not taken a drastically different turn when I became an actor, there’s a very high probability I would have continued to work at the department store,” Monteith told The Hollywood Reporter while on the Halifax set of All The Wrong Reasons.
Besides Walmart, Monteith also worked briefly at The Bay, a major department store in Victoria, British Columbia, a job he adds was a step-up for someone who entered the work world early, and with few skills.
“As someone who never graduated from high school, and who started working dead-end, low paying jobs at the age of 15, I relate to the (James Asher) character in that sense,” he explained.
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The Canadian indie, which also stars Emily Hampshire, Kevin Zegers and Karine Vanasse (Pan Am), is also giving Monteith a chance to show fans of Finn Hudson another side of his good guy talent.
“It’s always exciting to explore adult roles when the vast majority of viewers that have seen me on TV know me from Glee, from something of a different tone,” Monteith insisted.
“Coming from high budget TV, and going to low budget film, it’s a challenge as an actor and gets me really excited about the work,” he added.
All the Wrong Reasons is produced by Milani, Tony Whalen of Shore Road Pictures and Phylis Laing of Buffalo Gal Pictures.
Myriad Pictures is handling worldwide sales.
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