By Brandon Voss
As you've said, your mother, Wendy Lesniak, was a working stage actress. How did her experiences in the business influence your career path?
You went on to study theatre at Vassar College, and you ultimately pursued an acting career, so the negative aspects of the business obviously didn't deter you for very long.
And with that humble, realistic mentality, you became a movie star, and now you're making your debut on Broadway.
10 Apr 2012
Long in "He's Just Not That Into You."
JL: As a kid, the last thing I wanted to be was an actor, because I heard my mother on the phone calls with the douchebag agents who wouldn't send her out on things, and I saw the way that casting directors treated her, and it killed me. She was so good and so positive, but I saw the reality of the business and how soul-sucking it can be. My mom was such a hard worker and loved acting so much, but she also had three boys. We didn't have the money to have a nanny constantly, so I remember running around New York with her to her auditions. In retrospect, I don't think I ever really appreciated how impressive that is. I know now what a drag it is to bop around from audition to audition, dealing with all the rejection. I know how hard it is without having a family relying on you and obnoxious little monkey-children with bowl-cut hairdos trailing you, complaining. The fact that she was able to balance all that and still be the greatest mother in the world? I don't think I'll ever truly understand how difficult that was.
JL: When I first became an actor, what I knew about professional acting was the life of a working theatre actor. Whenever a kid says that they want to be an actor, 99 times out of 100 it's some version of "I want to be famous," but I always understood that you have to love acting. Even if you're doing regional theatre and making money from the occasional commercial like my mother did, that has to be thrilling for you; otherwise, you'll lose yourself, and you'll always be chasing some intangible, corrupt, empty idea. I was instilled with that mentality from an early age.
JL: Well, the fact that I'm doing this play on Broadway is a fluke. I was lucky enough to do a bunch of movies, and I worked hard doing those movies, but I know that I'm not doing this play on Broadway because I've established myself as a great theatre actor. I'm not delusional about what this is. I know the reality of the situation, and part of it is this interview we're doing right now. As far as breaking into the theatre world, I haven't come close to paying my dues. That makes this all the more pressure-filled, because I know that it's a huge opportunity that people usually have to work for years and slowly build toward.
JL: Oh, she's so proud, and it is a different kind of pride, because this is real acting to her. She knows that doing a play is a real measure of a good actor, and Broadway is the ultimate showcase. I'm aware of how lucky I am to have this opportunity, I hope I can make the most of it, and I really want to make her proud. She gave up so much for me when I was a kid, and she sort of gave up her own dream, so I hope this makes up for that in some slight way. Me getting to do Broadway is as much for her as it is for me, if not more so. I would never have been able to do all this without her influence and without seeing all her hard work.
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| Long on TV's "Ed." |
Do you remember when your mother first exposed you to Broadway?
JL: I believe my first Broadway show was Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan, because my mom had stood-by for her in another show. It was probably 1980, so don't really remember it, but I think Peter Pan was the first one. Broadway's so expensive — although I really shouldn't say that in this interview — so it wasn't something we were able to do on a regular basis. I went to a lot of regional productions that my mom did at places like Rich Forum, the Connecticut Rep, the Long Wharf Theatre, and so on.
What was it like to watch her on stage?
JL: Seeing her doing a play was surreal. I remember being freaked out by her onstage because she seemed like such a different person, and that was really troubling for a kid like me who was so dependent on his parents. It was like when she did a series of Entenmann's commercials — my mom was like the Entenmann's lady for a while there in the '80s — and there was this one commercial where she was in bed with her husband, craving an apple turnover or something. It ran all the time, and it was such a thrill, but the kids at school started making a big deal about it, commenting on how weird it was that my mom was in bed with another guy. I didn't know anything about sex, so I didn't get how weird that was. I still kind of don't know anything about sex.
And now, all these years later, your mother gets to watch you onstage.
JL: I was running lines with her the other day, and she just brightened up. She's still heavily involved in theatre, and up until last year, she was running the theatre program at the junior high where she works, so I'm mostly excited for her to see me in this. There's nothing better than knowing that your parents are proud of you. There's also nothing worse than the idea that you might bomb onstage and make them not proud.
At this moment, as you're just embarking on your eight-week Broadway run, what's your main focus or concern?
JL: I feel like I should just start shoveling sashimi in my mouth and hope it's not too late to get mercury poisoning. [Laughs.] I remember when I was going off to do my first big movie, and I was doing a play [The Hot l Baltimore at Williamstown Theatre Festival] with Sam Rockwell, who has since become like a brother to me. It was a cheesy horror movie, but I was the lead in it, so I asked Sam for advice. I was looking for some meaty actor-y advice, but he said to me, "Treat it like you're doing Hamlet and take care of yourself." At the time, it seemed like such trite advice — what, get plenty of sleep and take your vitamins? But he was right. When it comes down to it, right now I'm just trying to take care of my body and relax as much as I can, because I don't want to get in my own way.
