The Hatchet did an interview in this week’s print edition with Darren Miller and Kevin Mead of improv comedy group receSs, who discussed Charlie on Parole, a 25-minute short they are releasing through beast.films, which they run out of New York with a third member, Paul Briganti. Watch the trailer – the short will premeire Oct. 11 in Betts Theater.
After discussing Charlie on Parole, Miller and Mead discussed their hope to secure funds to complete another project in the future. Here’s what they had to say about Thrill Seeker: The Darren Miller Story.
KM: It’s called Thrill Seeker. The lead I guess you could say is Darren. And it will involve Darren Miller traveling the country meeting other Darren Millers and taking them out for a sandwich.
What kind of sandwich?
DM: You opened up a huge door. Like a really nice ornate door. I love sandwiches. I’ll start there. I guess that’s one thing about me that’s really important to me. Sandwiches are one of the most important thing in my life and so I want to share that with as many Darren Millers as possible. But that’s the point of where this comes from, really. I’ve always had a 80 percent – 60 percent – serious obsession with Darren “The Thriller” Miller who is a professional dirtcar racer from Milledgeville, IL who I found one day on the Internet. I just thought it was so funny that I shared a name with this guy who was so completely on the other side of the earth conceptually from me. And I was like I have to meet this guy, I just want to someday in my life go up to this guy and say ‘Hey you’re Darren Miller, so am I’ and then wherever that goes from there is awesome. Then we decided, I realized there’s some other really hilarious Darren Millers out there too. There’s Darren Miller, he owns a ranch with his wife Ronda.
KM: Darren Miller who recently was convicted in New York City, lived in Brooklyn, was convicted of illegally using an open lot as a parking lot and making money off of it.
DM: Oh yea that was recent breaking news. He looks a little bit like Jay-Z, actually. Like a cross between me and Jay-Z probably. There’s a professional CPA who has a really high-profile Web site. There’s a character on a show called the EastEnders on BBC who is named Darren Miller, but he’s fictional. Maybe I’ll take the actor out to lunch…I love sandwiches. I want to take them out for a sandwich. And we’ll talk about who they are and what they’re like. I’ll have each Darren Miller introduce themselves on camera and we’ll cut it together while we’re traveling so I’ll be able to show each Darren Miller video showing a bunch of other Darren Millers and maybe we could start a community of some sort.
KM: Making a network of friends out of people who are named Darren Miller.
DM: There’s a stronger story in there about identity and about society I guess because I’ll end up through this one arbitrary connection meeting and connecting with people who are completely different from each other. I feel like I’ll be able to get my foot in the door and establish a connection by having the same name as them and I think that’s more important than all the fun that it will be…The whole idea is like the last person I meet is Darren The Thriller Miller, he’s like the culmination of the whole thing.
What if he doesn’t meet with you?
KM: Then that’s the end of the movie.
DM: It’s a documentary you don’t know really what’s going to happen. I think it will be even better if he doesn’t meet with me because then it will say something about fame. It goes to your head. He’s too big for me. He just won a big race in Nebraska, I think.
KM: Maybe we should try him first, bank on him denying you, then go around the world find Darren Millers and say hey look Thriller –
DM: Hey Thrill!
KM: Come on Thrills…
Interview conducted and condensed by Amanda Pacitti.
