Jeff Auer was born in the Bronx and raised on the Jersey Shore. After working a variety of jobs, including one as a Saddam Hussein paintball target, Jeff jumped into acting. His latest film, The Incoherents, was written by and stars Jeff. A Rock n Roll comedy, it documents the attempted comeback of a 90’s band in current times. We spoke with Jeff about his interesting career.
I love it when the main character is also the writer of the script. How much of Jeff is in your character (Bruce)?
I definitely took certain parts of my past to help tell the story. Just like the main character, I was a paralegal in real life. I’m also married, with a couple of kids, but a lot of him was made up. What I brought to him on set, there are obviously parts of you that seep into the character, but in terms of his history were quite different. He was a guy who found his artistic talent early, where I didn’t start acting until I was 27. My character started a band in college and met his wife when he was 20. I didn’t meet my wife until I was in my 30’s. I was too interested in having a good time. I don’t know if I had the emotional complexity to have a girlfriend at 20 (laughing). He was also a guy who gave up on his artistic dream. I’m a guy who has been following his artistic muse since the day I became an actor and I haven’t looked back.
The movie was at its best during the interactions between the main character and his wife. How much room did you allow for improvisation?
The actors had leeway, but we stuck to the script. Certainly, there were certain scenes where there wasn’t much dialogue, so some improvisation would happen. Other characters had the same space as well, if they said something funny, then it would stay. I just wanted the best film. I didn’t care if it was every word that I wrote. It was all about whatever we need to make this the best film that it could be.
Nice appearance by Annette O’Toole and Amy Carlson from Blue Bloods, which is where I immediately recognized you. Is there a relationship that helped to bring them to the project?
No, our casting director presented them as choices and we thought that they were out of our league. But we approached their agents and managers, sent them the script, and they said yes. They jumped on board. They couldn’t have been more fun or positive to work with. They brought what they knew from their many years in the business and they just helped to create the experience. They helped make the experience even better for us
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on a script about where I’m from on the Jersey Shore, which is what I’d like to do next. But considering where we are right now, I have to ask myself if it is relevant to this new world that we’re about to enter. Right now, I want to see where we land in the next 6 months or year, to see if what I was writing before has any relevance to where we are in the future.
iTunes pre-order link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-incoherents/id1501037491
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