If aliens landed and found Ron Perlman in the desert, he would give them no information other than rank and serial number. When asked what his rank is, he said corporal.
“In the big military of life, I’m just a corporal doing all the grunt work,” Perlman said. “I would be more interested in hearing from them (the aliens) and getting their takeaway about what they see here.”
Although he can be described as surly and opinionated, Perlman takes little credit for his life’s work and the success in the industry he has seen. Having worked on numerous films, television shows and voiceovers for animations and video games, he said, “What you see is a representation of a guy who was just trying to put his kids through school and keep the lights on.”
“I feel like I have been the recipient of a great deal of fortune,” he said. “It looks like I have something to do with the shape and scope of my career, but I have little to do with it. Most has come out of the blue.”
But today he is working to make systematic changes in the industry and leave a mark on how grateful he is to cinema. While it’s almost like an act of God every time he gets work, he said there is a great deal of responsibility involved in what you do.
“When you receive grace, there is responsibility to make the most of it that you can, leaving nothing on the dance floor or in the locker room,” he said. “It’s putting your all into a beautiful character that somebody wrote.”
Perlman said his reverence for great writing is unequaled. It all starts with the written word, and everything emanates out of that.
“When you have been endowed with the imagination of a great writer and he has identified a piece of behavior in a character that engages you fully then, and only then, you are in a position to do great things,” he said. “So now it’s just a question of marshaling your forces and rising to the challenge.”
Perlman is disgusted with changes in his industry that involve the corporation of everything including art forms, he said.
“It’s mostly degradation that comes along with the corporation of the studios,” he said. “It’s the opposite of growing the industry and almost unrecognizable. Now they think they can deliver everybody’s culture into their homes. Once you had to go see a movie, sit in a darkened place with 200 other people. If you think those two things are the same, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.”
He said the model of staying home and delivering things to your house is unsustainable.
“I feel like cinema and all the things it provides is way too important to turn into a business that looks like selling blue jeans,” he said. “You can only belittle it for so long before it roars its way back.”
The film festivals have always been a celebration of the “power and glory, poetry, sound, fury that movies provide – as important as any of the humanities.”
In 2014 Perlman launched a production company Wing and a Prayer Pictures. He said he enjoys all the aspects of the work of putting pictures together as a producer.
“I love everything about how holistic it is in terms of projects, from picking the script to the font on the poster.” he said. “I love doing everything that gets that movie from the page to the screen. It’s the most engaging thing I’ve ever done via my relationship with movies.”
He is looking forward to a visit to New Mexico as he will be in Las Cruces for a couple of days. In addition to participating in talk with students at New Mexico State University’s Creative Media Institute, Perlman will be doing Q & A sessions in conjunction with screenings of his film, “Hellboy,” on the evening of Thursday, April 4.
“I will be at the mercy of the people bringing me down there,” he said, which he loves. “You see the world through the people who live there. Those are the colleagues who live in an area. You sort of create these families throughout the world, far away from your little circle and it’s a great privilege.
“I have no idea what they were thinking or whether they were thinking at all, but I am grateful,” Perlman said, referring to his invitation to the film festival and being given the “Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment” award.
“Ron Perlman is a legendary actor known for his historic roles in ‘Sons of Anarchy’ and ‘Hellboy,’” said LCIFF founder and executive director Ross Marks. “His outstanding and diverse body of work is simply impressive. He is the consummate actor whose values and work ethic reflect the film festival”
Past recipients of the award include Giancarlo Esposito, William H. Macy, Danny Trejo, Brendan Fraser, George Lopez, Cybill Shepherd, Richard Dreyfuss and Edward James Olmos.
The five-day festival is held at Allen Theatres Cineport 10. VIP passes are $150, All-Access Passes are $75, Day Passes are $25 and admission to the Outstanding Achievement celebrity screening is $25. Tickets are available now at LasCrucesFilmFest.com.
