TNBT Cast: Adam Gregory (Scott Remington)

 

Want to know what this is about? Check out this blog entry!

Though the pace of these entries has slowed down (I view this as more of a long-term thing as opposed to a bunch of quick hits, just ’cause hey – it’s fun that way), but I wanted to be sure I got this one before the audiobook dropped. I teased this in the last entry, so those who have kept up should have known what was coming. Epic is not Epic without Scott Remington…and we have our Scott Remington.

I’m going to be honest and admit that I wasn’t even sure I’d cast Scott in this series. He’s hard because he’s Scott, the “face of the franchise,” so to speak. He’s also the reader. As people read the story, they’re reading Scott’s head, his thoughts, his transitions from one idea to the next. I had feared that he’d be far too personal a character to put an image to. I am exceedingly happy to say, I was wrong.

 

[stextbox id=”black” image=”null”]Excerpt from Epic 3: Hero

Beside Scott, Nicolai kissed his blood-encrusted dog tag—the one belonging to the man he’d presumably murdered. Scott would have been disgusted if he hadn’t grown used to it long ago. He looked sidelong at Svetlana. She would never have experienced anything like this before. This was a different situation than the one she’d been in previously with the Fourteenth. Now there were twice as many Nightmen in the unit, and they were ten times more radical than the Nightmen before them, Anatoly and Baranov. This new crew took totalitarianism to the extreme.

At that moment, Scott did something that surprised even himself—he gently squeezed the back of Svetlana’s neck. Unspoken reassurance. For a moment, he felt her tension release.

“Coming down hot!” Travis yelled from the cockpit.

Scott latched on his faceless helmet. It attached to the clamps of his armor. He stared through its interior view screen, where a transparent map of the church appeared. He watched as Svetlana removed her helmet briefly to pull an insulated layer of rubber over her head. The blond tips of her hair disappeared, and she slipped her helmet back on.

The Pariah’s inertia shifted. They were about to drop.[/stextbox]

 

I came across Adam Gregory, ironically, while looking to fill another role in this casting series. The moment I saw him, that search I was on (and I don’t even recall who it was for) came to a halt, and I said to myself, “That’s Scott – I’ve got to reach out to this guy.” He was extremely gracious about the concept of this casting series and was completely down with my tabbing him as Scott for this entry. Believe it or not, this all went down over a year ago! Just goes to show you how time flies.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about Scott the character, because if you’re a fan of Epic, there’s nothing I can tell you that you don’t already know. If you’re not among the Epic faithful, all you need to know is that Scott Remington is the protagonist of this entire novel series. Not one of the protagonist. He is the protagonist. So putting a face to the name – even for imaginary purposes such as this one – is a really big deal. Without spoiling anything (and Epic fans just know this), Scott is a man of strong faith who has been to the depths of emotional hell and back, and who has a dark streak because of it. He describes himself in Dawn of Destiny as a “nice guy with a guy,” but I think we all know there’s a lot more to him than that. He’s a battle-scarred soldier with an inclination to take things over because, well, he can do it and you can’t. He’s a one-woman man who can’t seem to escape love-triangle-infused personal demons. In other words, he’s a very challenging cast. That I was able to ask for and receive Adam’s blessing for this is very, very meaningful. So I’m going to turn my focus for this entry on Adam himself, because he’s got some ridiculously cool things going on!

What most people who already know Adam will know him from is Bold and the Beautiful, where he played the role of Thomas Forrester for several years, and the CW’s adaptation of 90210, where he played Ty Collins. You can find ample information about those shows online, as they’re both ginormous and have massive, massive followings. But what I want to touch on in regards to Adam is something different that people may not know about – something called The Janus Project.

 

 

The Janus Project is listed as a psychological fantasy thriller, which is a category in and of itself that catches your eye. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember ever hearing a title listed as that sort of “genre” before, so it’s immediately intriguing. There’s a lot of info about how and where the film is being produced, and the tagline for the trailer, which you can see below, is pretty direct: The relationship of SHANE, an ex-special ops soldier, and LEXI, a gifted psychology student, is tested as supernatural forces threaten to transform reality as they know it. Targeted by this evil, an ancient secret society called The Vii, SHANE must overcome the trials of his past to embrace his true self and unlock his power.

 

 

You guys should know by now that I’m a big fan of being different and taking chances. That’s one of the allures of this project to me. It most decidedly looks different, and as far as independent films go, budgeting one for between $10-30M is a pretty big chance. So I have this one slated as one I’d like to see, however it ends up being distributed. I can say this with all certainty: I’ve seen a lot of independent films advertised, as I tend to run in those circles with moderate frequency. This is hands-down the highest-quality one I’ve seen, judging by the trailer and sheer size of the production. I almost don’t even want to call it independent, but it is what it is. The production value is definitely several steps up from what you’re likely accustomed to seeing in indie film. I don’t mean that as a slight in the least to other indie projects! This one just seems to have a truly titanic budget to work with.

There are other projects, of course, that Adam has either in the works or being released, such as Saints and Soldiers – the Void, which released about a month ago, all of which you can learn about by tracking Adam on IMDb or at his Twitter account here. What you’ll find (and it’s always refreshing to find this) is a normal guy doing the whole husband/daddy thing when he’s not busy on set. I can relate to him on a lot of these counts, as we both have toddlers at about the same age. You’ll find a lot of kid photos, and family-related tweets, which is always just nice and a reminder that people aren’t the roles they play. I’m so grateful that I was able to discover Adam and that he was kind enough to lend his likeness to Epic’s little casting series.

It’s getting those blessings that makes this casting series what it is – something above the norm of just sticking people’s photos on a blog entry. Hearing back from someone I contacted and hearing that they’re game for this just makes it special. Adam is a perfect Scott Remington, from his look, to his style, to who he is as an individual (he, like Scott, is a man of strong personal faith). It actually can get a little bit frustrating, as finding these spot-on actors and actresses just makes me want to start filming a movie! But that’s a good kind of frustrating. It’s the kind of frustrating that makes you want to push harder and reach further. Slowly but surely, we’re getting there.

Thank you, Adam, for your willingness to be a part of this. I’m excited to see what Janus has in store.

No more casting entries in the immediate future, folks, though I have some targets on my hit list! But there will be a kind of “Season 1 summary” entry coming up, just kind of recapping where this unique little set of entries is now. There will be more to come at some point!

Take care, people!