This Is The List (Part 12)

JOHN WEISENBURGER (Ringo Barnes)

John Weisenburger — or Johnny Ringo as we like to call him — is an amazing performer. Oh wait, we’re talking about his acting right? Ok, let me switch gears here.

Ok, all kidding aside, I met John through a friend when I first moved out to NY almost 3 years ago. He jumped right in and agreed to help me with my GRIT promotional trailer that I shot back in early 2007. When I saw him perform….even in those tiny scenes, I knew I had to work with him again and give him something meatier to chew on. The way I love to work with new actors on a project is see how they work and perform, then write something specifically for them for the next project.

For NEW YORK LATELY, I wrote the part of RINGO for him…..but didn’t tell him. In fact, I changed the name during the audition process just to see him squirm and sweat a bit — I really wanted him in the role, but just had to be sure he could pull it off. He nailed the audition. In fact, he nailed the role so much and has chemistry with his fellow actors that many times his scenes in the film ended up as “one’ers” — one full take — no cutting. That’s a testament to him and what he can bring to a scene.

John is a very humble actor — which makes him one of the easiest people to work with. We both hold a mutual respect and understanding regarding the actor/director relationship — so it’s always pleasant to step on the set knowing I’m going to be shooting with him.

Now about his nickname Ringo…..we’ll leave that for another day.