Matthew Rauch: The Man Behind Banshee’s Scary Guy

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“I love the work. I love the people I work with. I hope other people like it. It’s a nice way to make a living.”-Matthew Rauch

One of the perks of my job is talking to actors, directors and the minds behind the creative process of television shows and movies. There are good interviews andtn-500_rauchwm101104713395 then there are ones where something is missing and you just get through it. Two days after the finale of Cinemax’s Banshee, I had a chance to talk to Matthew Rauch, a hard working NYC actor who just so happens to be on our televisions this month on two different shows.  NBC’s Believe and Banshee. He plays the scary Clay Burton on Banshee, the right hand man to the Amish gangster in town, Kai Procter. It must be mentioned that I scored this interview simply by talking to Rauch on Twitter. The entire cast of the show is on the social media site, mixing it up with fans and truly connecting. Rauch got on Twitter and quickly coined the nickname, “Bowtie Guy”, something that comes from the outfits Burton wears on the show.

Sometimes, an aspiring writer has to take chances and reach out to actors to get chances. I can count myself lucky because Rauch turned out to be a true first class individual and an actor who is passionate about what he does and wants to connect with his fans while scaring the shit out of them on Friday nights. We talked about the glasses coming off, Ulrich Thomsen’s European star power, Martin Scorsese, training in the theater and getting to play somebody as fearless as Burton.

Me-With the least amount of dialogue on the show out of anybody, you sure do make an impact as Burton.

RAUCH-He’s a scary guy. I have good material to work with and it’s great to watch him grow. It’s been a lot of fun. A funny story is when I got there I didn’t have much to go on with this character. So I talked to anyone I could about who he was and what it meant when suddenly Jonathan Tropper[Writer, Executive Producer] told me, “Look, think about it this way, Burton is the scariest guy on the show. This a scary world and he is the scariest guy.” From there on out I was good.

Where did the taking the glasses off thing with Burton come from?

A combination of a lot of things and I am not sure where it originated from exactly. It was in the script that I auditioned with and Jonathan and Greg[Yaitanes, Showrunner, Executive Producer, Director] had a thing with Burton having this dual nature. Burton is efficient and assistant like when the glasses were on and when the glasses were off he is the scariest guy in the world. I have had some fun with that. I have a feeling we are going to get to see more versions of him in the upcoming season.

I have this scenario in my head where Lucas Hood[Antony Starr] punches Burton, breaks his glasses, and Burton suddenly turns into the Incredible Hulk.

I do remember one of my first days of shooting and Antony and I were working together, which is rare since I usually only get to work with Ulrich[Thomsen} and Lili[Simmons]. I think he was going to arrest Proctor and sort of stepped toward Ulrich and as a natural response I stepped towards him. I think he was taken aback because someone wasn’t afraid him. I thought, man if this show goes long enough him and I are going to go round and round.

Have you gotten noticed around New York now that Banshee has gotten more popular?

Yes. There is this great bagel store around the corner from my house. I walked in and I ordered, and the guy said “Are you on Banshee? Man I love that show”. This guy had a full on tickled moment that he saw this guy who was on Banshee.

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The Buffa Bullet Round

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A true round of random material. I come here often with one topic doses or one team prescriptions, I let it rip. Uncork the filter and let it all stream through. There are times when you have to just let it rip and forget about rules. I wouldn’t coin it driving with a blindfold on but letting your knees steer the wheel for a few streets would be appropriate. So let’s hit it. Wednesday stream of consciousness begins now.

  • Jason Motte is known to the baseball world as a pretty good reliever. The kind that comes in and finishes things. Last year, he got hurt and went to work. While his right elbow healed from Tommy John surgery, Motte started a bold cancer awareness foundation, K Cancer. It grew into something huge and gave Motte and his family a chance to connect with many young victims. I think this is pretty cool and worth mentioning often. A baseball player taking the time away from the field to take part in a fight against a deadly beast. I own one of the K Cancer t-shirts and you should do. They are located right here and a portion of the proceeds go to the cancer foundation. Motte isn’t messing around. The reason I bring this back up today is that every team in Major League baseball will now carry the backwards K on their shirts and give each team’s fanbase a chance to get in on the act. Well done Motte. That’s called using your down time well.
  • The duality of father and husband roles is a tricky plank to walk. On one hand, you think you are doing enough to keep your wife happy but at the same time you wonder if you are helping the kid as well. There are days where the balance is so bad you think about it all night. Did  I do enough for each? I bring this up because my wife and I can have some terrible fights that pit us against the wall of stress and anger. Those fights are a result of me trying to figure out the balance in my daily responsibilities. A man can’t be too hard on his son yet also has to remember the wife is there too. Being a good parent is hard enough.  Adding the good husband part to the equation is the true test.  This was kind of  hot air section. Moving on.
  • Which QB should NFL teams draft this year? Take the guy who makes your team better. Avoid the flashy talent and examine the one who may be good on paper yet can’t adjust to the rigors of the more aggressive game. In my mind Blake Bortles could be better for The Texans than Teddy Bridgewater or Johnny Manziel because he can be put into any offense right now and function very well. The other two need some work.
  • The St. Louis Rams have two picks in the first round. Head coach Jeff Fisher has never taken an offensive lineman in the first round. I doubt he will take a safety in the first round. Fisher likes to set his targets on wide receivers. I think there is a good chance the team uses one of the two picks on Sammy Watkins, a potential game changer for their offense. Sure, we said that last year with Tavon Austin but Watkins is a bigger body with more bruising ability. If he is there and rated high on your board, take him. Don’t worry about what mock drafts say or what others try to tell you. The Rams need to pick their guy. I trust Fisher and Les Snead. Jake Matthews, a lineman, doesn’t look too bad either and could really strengthen the line and provide some security. There are lots of options. I’ll evaluate afterwards.

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Sizing Up The Cardinals in The Spring

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Good morning folks,

Fresh off work and a hit and run with the gym, I wanted to take the chance to talk about the Cards today. While I officially cover the Cards for Sports Rants and do most of workCardinals_Spring_Base_inev_________t607 there, I wanted to take a detour and present to you a bullet round that covers the recent actions of the team. Things to remember, a fresh take on certain players and maybe a few surprises.

  • Stop worrying about Oscar Taveras’ health. Sure, the kid can’t stay healthy and is showing more signs of becoming the next J.D. Drew than the second coming of Albert Pujols but it’s still early. He hasn’t played a major league game yet and deep down, the Cards aren’t counting on him to contribute a ton this season.  They didn’t trade Matt Adams for a reason and traded for Bourjos. Insurance for the plight of Oscar. Luckily, the Cards aren’t in dire need of a young outfielder right now. We have him in the arsenal and set for a future impact. Oscar’s body is running behind his potential.  He had an ankle injury in 2013 and was rushed back only to go down for the season. This spring, eager to please a Cards staff and management team, he pulled a hamstring. Slow the train down folks. Let Oscar get healthy and play some games at Memphis. There is NO need to rush the kid. Last time I checked we weren’t in Chicago or San Diego.
  • It has been talked about and rehashed over and over, but let me say I am very happy with the Matt Carpenter extension. It’s a quality deal that springs optimism on both sides of the ball and provides the team with a versatile player with the potential to be a top flight leadoff man for a long time. Carpenter’s winning attitude, steady defense and ability to consistently get on base the past 2 years gave the Card a hint of locking him in. Then he went off and put together one of the best years by a second baseman ever, smashing 55 doubles, scoring over 110 runs and putting together an on base percentage around .400.  The kid can play and 6 years at 52 million dollars is a bargain for this kind of talent. Allen Craig got less, but Carpenter provides more stable health and gives you more options in the field. Both deals keep these two vital pieces of the Cards offense intact.

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Shut Down “The Cardinal Way” Title

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First, let me adamantly remind you folks that I am a die hard St. Louis Cardinals fan. I live and die by this team. I allow my mood to be handed over to them for roughly 7CardinalsWay months out of every year. They find a way into my nervous system every summer. So when I say I am fucking tired of the Cardinal Way and the Best Fans in Baseball titles, trust me, they come from a sophisticated yet firmly planted point of view. I am simply tired of them.

St. Louis Post Dispatch writer Bill McClellan is a Cubs fan and he has made that known in several columns. Last week, he had some fun with Cards fans when he wrote a piece about being worn down by this Cardinal Way and idea that the Cardinals were perfect knights. I usually don’t like McClellan. He is known to troll topics, slide his take in and run away from the scene. This time, however, I couldn’t agree more. Enough with these fictitious labels.  The Cards are a good enough baseball team that they don’t need these tromped up mantras.

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Clean Addictions

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On Monday, I found out that a friend of mine from high school had overdosed on heroin. I had just talked to this woman two weeks ago. We talked about a variety of things. We talked about our kids and ancient memories that included me asking her out so long ago. It’s something that we laughed about and made light of. She didn’t seem lost and didn’t seem on the verge of leaving this rock. This week, I found out she did and it hit me like a bad of bricks to the side of the head. What happened to this single mother inside the past 14 days that made her dip so far into drugs and make a quick departure? Addictions are a serious and very deadly game to participate in, so the outcome here wasn’t surprising. It was the fact that I was friends with this person once, followed her on Facebook, talked with her and never once sensed a person dealing with addiction. It’s horrible and something you can’t blame yourself for but also find sitting up for hours wondering how it all went wrong.

The way humans are wired leaves us with these feelings. Whether we like it or not or even care to admit, our emotions play a heavy part in our everyday lives. It connects all the hours and minutes together. Sometimes, they get the best of us.  Other times, they provide us with our best moments. We can’t escape feeling something for a person we barely know yet felt a connection long ago. I felt like an ally to this person recently and someone to talk to, but now that they are gone, I can’t help but wonder what addictions could befall my son Vin in the future.

When you have kids and wish to be a good parent, every waking second is attached to their well being. Party all night, sleep all day and dance the night away if you want. Your kid is waiting for you to come home and hang. I know this because I walk through the door in the morning after an overnight shift and see a pair of eyes focused on me. The Cardinals don’t wait for me. Movies don’t give me big hugs. My son Vincent does and it’s something I can’t live without. When a parent I know meets their end like this, it makes me reexamine myself and how I operate. When you become a parent, your life is dedicated to your child and you must set the right example and do the right thing. Sometimes, that shit is hard and bad things happen.

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Thank You, Oscars

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That was easily the best show in years. Sure, you didn’t have Hugh Jackman dancing around the stage or James Franco looking stoned throughout his hosting duties, photobut you had a nice pace, a great host and a crowd of performers that loosened up as the telecast went on. There aren’t many hosts that can get Meryl Streep to shake her tail feather at Pharrell Williams as he dances out by the seats during his musical performance. There hasn’t been a host that gets pizza delivered to a starving audience who have jammed themselves into tight fitting dresses for the allure of a camera. Other hosts won’t break Twitter with a selfie shot including at least 6 Oscar winning actors. I am talking about Ellen DeGeneres and her fabulous hosting work last night at the Kodiak Theater.  Let’s talk about that and more here.

  • Ellen knocked it out of the park and did so by delivering a funny and biting opening monologue that didn’t make her crowd uneasy yet made them laugh and set them up for a good night. She did things differently, refusing to be a skeleton on stage or get too insulting. She didn’t try as hard as Seth McFarlane did last year to generate laughs and wasn’t afraid to ask Harvey Weinstein and Brad Pitt for pizza delivery money. She got the crowd to loosen up and that’s not easy. These stars and filmmakers are sitting in theater styled seats hoping to be noticed on camera or win an award for their craft so to see Ellen get Lupita Nyong’o shake it and Amy Adams dance with Pharrell was refreshing. She didn’t do that herself but had the audience so relaxed that those kind of spontaneous things just come around. I tip my tip to the lady who was hosting the awards for the second time yet seemed like she was ready to do it again next Sunday. I was skeptical about her going in last night and she made the show inviting for non movie buffs.
  • The right people won the major awards. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto each delivering rousing speeches after they took the prize for Dallas Buyers Club(currently on Redbox, Blu Ray, and DVD for your viewing pleasure).  McConaughey talked about letting GOD define his path but did so in a laid back cool and not Tim Tebow like. He didn’t paint his eye lids with her favorite Biblical verse.  McConaughey said something really cool and that was his hero is himself but 10 years from now. Ever since he was young, he always said his hero was himself but 10 years down the road, because it gave him something to live for and strive towards. He looked grateful, stunned and honored. And he deserved that trophy. No actor in Hollywood has had a hotter streak these past few years and no one had a better 2013. Leto was more personal and reflective. His single mom raised him and his siblings early on and he pointed to his mother in the crowd. Leto talked about giving all those sexually insecure souls a voice and never forgot about the film’s message. Great work gents.

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Slates For Sarah: A Movement for A Fallen Film Crew Member

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Life is a cruel son of a bitch sometimes. This unfair world takes people well before they are supposed to go and we are left lingering in the aftermath wondering whySlates-for-sarah such a thing had to happen.  Before her death became a hot news item these past few weeks, I am sure NO ONE knew who Sarah Jones was.  I didn’t and now look back at her life as if I should have paid more attention.  Last month, Jones was killed while working as a camera assistant on Gregg Allman’s biopic Midnight Rider. The crew was setting up a shot on a train track thinking there weren’t any scheduled locomotives coming through the area during that time. When a train suddenly came down the tracks, most of the crew didn’t have time to react. Jones was struck and killed. She was 27 years old.

Since her death, the film community has came together and tried to raise awareness about the safety hazards for crew members who work on a movie set while getting Jones’ name out there. A group of people have contacted the Oscars to include Jones’ name in the segment “In Memoriam”. There is a facebook page called “Slates For Sarah” that has also gained steam the past week. It’s a proper name since crew members like Jones held the slate at the beginning of each take.  Sitting at 62,000 likes and basically including photos, kind words and different things from people around the business who either worked with or knew the woman. I think it is an important stand to take for Hollywood.  Why are hard working people like Jones never talked about or given the proper respect? They are a huge part of a film’s production and add the tiny details on a set that often go unnoticed.

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Ryan Miller Changes The Blues Outlook

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hi-res-453667981-ryan-miller-of-the-buffalo-sabres-skates-off-the-ice-in_crop_northIn the immortal words of The Joker, Ryan Miller coming to the St. Louis Blues tonight in a blockbuster trade with the Buffalo Sabres changes things. A team that had the best win percentage in the league and ranked in the top five in goals per game, goals allowed per game, penalty kill and power play efficiency still had a small leak. Their goaltenders produced a save percentage that ranked 17th in the NHL. Sure, Wednesday night, Jaro Halak made 34 saves in a 1-0 loss on the road in Vancouver. However, that doesn’t mean there was consistency there or an ability to take over a series of games in net. In short, the Blues had a need that wasn’t glaring but utterly apparent from a short distance, so general manager Doug Armstrong made a move and pushed this team into Stanley Cup contention.

Blues fans have been frustrated by a strong regular season team the past few seasons but one that couldn’t excel in the playoffs. The last two times the Blues made it into the playoffs, they ran into a goaltender in Kings’ stopper Jonathan Quick who was a lot better than their guy. With no hard smack to the likes of Brian Elliot or Halak, they will never be Quick and that was the mountain the team could not climb. Halak and Elliot were serviceable goaltenders alone and strong as a duo but in order to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, a team needs one man in net who can be spectacular at any given moment. With this trade, Armstrong is telling his team, “Here is your guy, so please go win one for this city now”. The expectations have officially gone through the roof now. As I noted earlier, things have changed for the St. Louis Blues. That is the nature of the business of pro sports. One night you call a man a teammate. The next he is shipped to another team for a player who hopefully makes you a better team.

The official deal looks like this. Miller and Steve Ott come to the Blues in exchange for Chris Stewart, Halak, prospect William Carrier, a first round pick in 2015 and a third round pick in 2016. It’s a very good deal. Stewart, except for a few games in December, has been a huge disappointment for the Blues this season. A guy wearing the jersey because he can score and provide tenacity has done very little this year in terms of mere production. Carrier doesn’t rank too high on the upcoming depth chart train and the two draft picks aren’t easily offered but stand as unknown quantities at this current juncture.

Ott is a solid grinder, a 31 year old former first round draft pick and center who served as Captain of the Sabres and will provide more punch to the Blues depth. He isn’t going to light up the lamp but that wasn’t the Blues particular need. Once again. The Blues can score goals. They have maintained a goals per game average that ranked at the top of the NHL and have a lot of young talent. Ott is a guy who will give it all every single night and is a player other teams and their fanbases love to hate. Just ask Blues fans before 6 p.m. this evening how they felt about him. He will help this team currently struggling with injuries to key players.

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True Detective Spotlight

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When Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey made the deliriously comedic Edtv together in 1999, I would find it hard to imagine they would be tag teaming intrue-detective-poster-16x9-1 HBO’s darkly brilliant 8 hour miniseries True Detective over 13 years later.  Then again, each actor had taken chances by then in addition to their well-known comfort zones.   Woody didn’t stray too far from his weirdo humor except for random occasions like Natural Born Killers and The People Versus Larry Flynt(both involving a heavy dose of dark humor).  McConaughey flirted with his demons in Frailty and Lone Star.

Trust me when I say that each actor is on a completely different level here.  Their work on this show tells you how much of a roll they have been on in recent years. Playing a pair of detectives investigating a gruesome crime in 1995 while they tell modern investigators about their methods in present day, the two actors are spellbindingly flawless in their roles.

Creator and writer Nick Pizzalatto frames the 8 hours around these two cops and their personal lives.  Martin Hart (Harrelson) is a deeply flawed man with a wife and kids yet is slowly crumbling under the weight of infidelity and nerves that are nearly fried.  McConaughey’s Rust Cohle is the polar opposite, a spiritual outcast who gives new meaning to the word eccentric and practices methods other detectives find creepy and uncomfortable.

Watching these two work with each other and get lost inside these deeply layered roles, a viewer is taken aback at what they are watching.  Are these the same guys who wasted a decent part of their career playing softball instead of spending more time in the A List pro class?  It’s a marvel to partake in every single hour.

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Lucas Takes The Fight to Procter

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My take on the Cinemax HIT series.

danbuffa82's avatarA Shot Of Banshee

Ever since episode 1, when he stepped into the shoes of the sheriff and put on the badge, our anti-hero protagonist Lucas Hood has set his sights on taking down Kai b749309212964f8bcf8147aea9fc8f3dProcter. Call it a bad man keeping a far more evil soul from the door(hat tip to True Detective creator Nick Pizzolatto there). During the season 1, they had their confrontations, a fight, and large amount of bad blood.  Then the season 1 finale brought them together as a team for the greater….bad of things. However, I knew they were going to circle back around each other. Like a pair of alligators feuding off the rest of the creatures in the water and coming back one another to finish the game.  I compare this to the long standing duel between Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder on FX’s Justified.   Sure, Banshee’s rivalry is thicker and doesn’t carry the long…

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