Interview: Scott “Raven” Levy (Pro Wrestler)

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WHO: Scott “Raven” Levy
MOVIE: ( actor : Sleeper, professional wrestler )
Scott “Raven” Levy – Interview – 04.12.09

In the movie Sleeper, you played the character of Resnik. What drew you to this project?

It’s interesting, the guy’s an interesting character, he’s a sociopath and I like sociopaths. And then there’s this girl and the things that he’s willing to do for her.

How was it filming in Australia?

Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous! One of the most beautiful places in the entire world.

Did you do your own stunts?

Oh yeah, 95% of the stunts.

What type of stunts did you do?

I got shot with these squibs which you think is no big deal, but apparently I got shot with squibs that were so ungodly painful. They were shot into my chest, shoulder, and arm. The pain was so agonizingly excruciating, a spinal tap didn’t hurt that bad. I was in so much pain. It wasn’t acting when you see me get turned around by them. I literally got turned around by them.

The stunt coordinator, Darko Tuskan, was Keanu Reeves stunt double in all the Matrix films. He was just brilliant and really generous. I mean, if he set up a scene and I was like, hey how about if we do this, he’s like sure whatever you want to do. If I was just an actor suggesting a scene like that, I don’t think an actor is coordinated enough to know what a fight scene is, but of course, that’s what I do for a living. We went back and forth, hey how about this and how about that, it wasn’t a matter of one-up-man-ship, it was more a matter of you gave a great idea, let’s go with this, you gave a better idea, let’s go with that. He really is a generous guy. It worked out well. We worked well as a team. I think even if some hoody toody actor asked him to switch stuff up, he would have taken it in stride.

That’s what Dru Brown said when I interviewed him, that you definitely had a lot to add to the table.

I came up with ideas that helped the script out. I think when you are there standing at the trees, you can’t see the forest. He’s been working on it for so long and here I come with some fresh ideas, being a creative individual. One of my biggest hatred that happens in movies is continuity problems. I’m such a stickler, and it happens in wrestling too. In wrestling in happens quite a bit. You start a storyline and then they’ll change things up, and expect we’re too stupid to realize you did something idiotic. I’m a bi supporter of A + B = C , you know. If you want to tell the story you have to make the steps, A to B to C to D. You can’t just go here’s A then we want to go to D, so we’ll skip everything else, which makes no sense. For me, I’m of the notion if you want to do that, I’ll find a way to fix that. If you want to go from A to D, then let me tell the backstory, and I’ll fix it in the back. That’s how me and Tommy Dreamer’s feud in wrestling went. I came up with this whole backstory before the thing even started. So, we jumped in at point “C” accept it made sense, because we explained A & B to the fans.

Where do you think creativity comes from?

It just pops in my head when I need it. My brain doesn’t ever really turn off and so in essence it can be very very annoying for me and for my friends. Unfortunately, whatever is in my brain usually comes out my mouth with editing. I sound like Robin Williams, however I never claim to be that funny, it’s very Robin William-esq! I think it’s a combination of things, if you study or watch TV and movies, you study human behavior, if you understand psychology, I mean, there’s a lot of different arenas here. If you know something about all these things, then if someone says something is missing, then I’m like ok, something’s missing, so how do we fix that? How do we get from here to there? Well, we got to get this point across, so do it this way, or think about how to do it more creatively, let’s do it that way. You have to be willing to think outside the box. you have to be willing to look stupid as well, to come up with clever ideas, because sometimes you are going to come up with some really stupid sh*t and then all of a sudden BAM!, there’s a clever one.

I remember going over a match at Halloween Havoc, me and Chris Jericho, I think. We didn’t have the finish yet. We had the whole match and everything we wanted to do , but the actual finish, we couldn’t get it right. He was like let’s come up with something. I was like, ah we got time. Literally 10 seconds before it was time to go to the ring I got the idea, It was simple, It was easy, but it was just the right idea. I knew that if it didn’t pop into my head, I had a backup plan. Anyway, I wasn’t worried about it. You know what you’re looking for. You know the holes you have to fill. You know there’s an exit. Sometimes it takes awhile for it to pop into your head.

It’s also kind of like, let’s say you had an idea and you forgot it. If I go back and do exactly what I was doing, the idea will come back. I don’t know why that is, but instead of trying to think about it and beat myself up, why can’t I think of that. Ok, I was in the kitchen and I saw the refrigerator, and 9 out of 10 times I saw something in the frig that made me think of something, so maybe it will make me think of it again, or the act of doing that. So, creativity isn’t as mysterious as we all make it out to be. Sometimes it’s as simple as, you know what the answer has to be and you just have to put it in a creative shell.

Are you interested in working on films again?

It’s love too, but other than Atlanta, that’s where I’m at, it’s hard to get a lot of acting work if you’re not in Los Angeles. To be honest, my celebrity is not nearly as it was then, granted if your a wrestling fan you know who I am. I would say at the peak of the Monday Night Wars, most wrestlers were B level celebrities. That’s how big wrestling was. Now, the top stars in wrestling are C & D level. So, it’s not like I’m pulling a whole lot of recognition. I still have a huge following to put people in the seats. To answer your question, Yes I would love to do it. I don’t want to direct because I’m too lazy. It’s too much hard work. I think I would love to attempt it but that’s a 24/7 gig and I don’t know if I have it.

What I’d really love to do is talk radio. It’s really just a matter now of getting something on Sirius satellite radio. I like to get a gig on there. Remember Dr. Drew when he was on Love Lines, I think that’s what I would do best at.

What would you want to talk about?

I want to talk about everything but wrestling. I know something about everything. I’ve taught myself everything from quantum physics to the three stooges.

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