Interviewdatum: 26.11.2014.

OBZ: In Deutschland ist der Film „The Dark Place“ gerade erschienen. Können sie uns was zum Film und zu ihrer Figur erzählen?

DESCAMPS: The Dark Place is a Mystery thriller. Even though the movie is pretty gay, I wouldn’t describe it as a gay film. Keegan Dark – played by Blaise Embry – is taking his boyfriend Wil (me) to visit his mother whom he hasn’t seen for a while. When they arrive, Keegan notices that everything has changed. His mother got remarried and Keegan now even has a stepbrother. Keegan senses something isn’t right and thinks his mother is in danger. The movie is about Keegan trying to figure out what’s going on as he has to deal with mysterious disappearances and possibly even murder.

OBZ: Wie ist der Film bisher beim Publikum angekommen? Wie war die Resonanz?

DESCAMPS: The American audience has been great, the movie is yet to be released here but the reactions from all the different festivals the movie has played at were amazing. I visited my home country Belgium recently for a Belgian premiere of the film. Writer-director Jody Wheeler and executive producer Steve Parker flew over from California to be there for that. It was a very nice experience to show the Belgian audience and also friends and colleague actors what I have been up to in the US.

OBZ: Wie sind sie an die Rolle in „The Dark Place“ gekommen?

DESCAMPS: I was part of Blue Seraph’s first feature film Judas Kiss, on which Jody Wheeler was one of the producers. When the Dark Place was selected as their next project, Wheeler rewrote the part of Wil for me. The character was originally Australian, but when they decided to cast me they turned him into a Belgian who had moved to California at a younger age. I was really lucky to get the part. And I have to say, it’s an enormous compliment as an actor when they rewrite a role to fit you into the movie.

OBZ: Hat das für sie viel Überwindung gekostet, diese Rolle zu spielen? Wie war für sie die Erfahrung?

DESCAMPS:  As an actor you usually play many different characters and you want the audience to believe the characters are real. Whenever I get to play a new character I try to analyse their personality and I look for things I have in common with my characters. I think with this part I got a little bit lucky. There are a lot of things in Wil that I recognise in myself and vice versa. It makes it a lot easier to develop your character in a very natural and credible way. Of course it’s not just Timo standing there, but I do feel like on set it was confusing at times, and for the duration of the shoot I think I was turning into Wil a little bit.

OBZ: Wie war die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Regisseur? Wie war die Zusammenarbeit mit den anderen Darstellern?

DESCAMPS: It was great working with Jody Wheeler for the first time. Between being cast and the shoot, I got to know him very well and now we even became close friends. It was his feature film directing debut and although there’s always room for improvement I think he did a tremendous job. The atmosphere on the set was pretty unique I think. We had a lot of talent coming from all different backgrounds. Put a lot of actors with different visions in the same room and you’re bound to get some fireworks.

OBZ: Was war für sie der schönste Moment beim Dreh?

DESCAMPS: I think the entire shoot was pretty amazing. We shot this film in and around Portland Oregon, a beautiful location. I have to say the nice weather and beautiful environment sometimes made me forget I was working. It almost felt like I was at some crazy fun summer camp.

OBZ: Sie machen auch Musik? Erzählen uns was darüber. Wo kann man in Ihre Musik hören?

DESCAMPS: True true, I’m very passionate about pop music. I love to sing and I love writing my own music. Two of my songs are even used in the movie. One of them “Something Bad” plays over the closing credits. Most recently I wrote and recorded some songs with Swedish dj/producer Otto Blücker and I have to say I’m so exited about the result. You can check out our EP “Find You/Numb” on Spotify. http://po.st/ottofindyou

I’m always looking for ways to record new songs and put them out there cause to me, working on music is the most creatively rewarding thing in the world.

OBZ: Sie kommen aus Belgien. Wie hat Ihre Karriere begonnen? Wie sind Sie nach Amerika gekommen?

DESCAMPS: When I was 16 and still in high school I auditioned for a soap series in Belgium. I guess I got really lucky cause it was my first tv audition and I got the part. Two years later I was cast in a popular Belgian teen drama series “Spring” and was able to start a professional acting career because of that. I got a lot of fun opportunities in Belgium, participating in a celebrity singing contest, working for Nickelodeon and Disney Channel but also as a musical theater actor and voice actor. I had a great time and was even able to work in the Netherlands for a while, but I just always dreamt of living and working in Los Angeles. I like the mentality here and I just love the weather. People dream big overhere, everyone’s trying to make it and is giving it 100%. I really enjoy working on American projects. But every now and then if there’s an exciting project in Belgium I still go back. Earlier this year I went back to be the Belgian voice for the lead Hiccup in „How to Train your Dragon 2”. I love doing those kind of things, and as long as I keep getting these opportunities I will always make time for them.

OBZ: Würden sie auch in einer deutschen Filmproduktion mitspielen?

DESCAMPS: Absolutely! I love German cinema. Das Leben der Anderen, Goodbye Lenin and more recently Freier Fall are some of my favourite movies. i don’t think my German is good enough though. I had it in school for 3 years. Every time I’m visiting friends in Berlin or Köln everyone starts speaking English to me, so I think I probably have a very thick accent or something. But hey if I can play the role of a foreigner in a German movie, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.

OBZ: Mit wem würden sie gerne mal zusammen arbeiten?

DESCAMPS: If I tell you Zac Efron, would you believe it’s for professional reasons only? Probably not, right? Yeah, you’re right, I would probably have a hidden agenda there…

Music wise I’m a big fan of the songwriting skills and vocals of Swedish artist Tove Lo. That is definitely someone I’d love to work with. One can dream right?

OBZ: Sie haben jetzt die Möglichkeit Ihren Fans, Ihren Freunden, Ihrer Familie und allen anderen etwas mitzuteilen (Danke…). Was möchten sie sagen?

DESCAMPS: Oh that’s simple. Thanks for putting up with me! I’m a very sociable person, and try to be very easy going and flexible, but I can be very difficult from time to time. It’s only the people I am super close with who get to see me like that. So yeah. Thank you guys!

OBZ: Was können wir von Ihnen in Zukunft erwarten?

DESCAMPS: In February I’ll be going to Belgium for a few months to perform in the musical theater show “Lelies”. We played it once before, three years ago and it won a lot of awards including best Belgian musical of the year. It’s a gay themed story (same as Canadian movie “Lilies“) When I’m there I will also be doing voice acting for the Belgian and Dutch Disney Channel. In the mean time I am working on a book project I’m doing with my dad. We published a young adult fantasy trilogy called “Eilanden” (Islands) There are talks about turning the first book into a movie and there’s a lot of interest from international book publishers (including Germany) to translate and publish the books outside of Belgium and The Netherlands. Of course there will also be more acting and music. Busy times.

© Dewey Darko.

© Timo Descamps.

Mehr über Timo Descamps: obzstars.jimdo.com/timo-descamps/