Movie: Exclusive Interviews: Solomon Trimble
BellaAndEdward.com: First off, tell us a little bit about what you've been up to. What is Solomon Trimble doing in his life right now?
Solomon Trimble: Well I literally just got out of a class I teach, Native American dance -contemporary dance - at my niece's pre-school. If you hear my bells and all that, I apologize, if you hear a bunch of kids screaming... it's my little class!
BAE: Let's start back at the beginning. What was the first acting experience you had and when was it?
ST: When I was nine I was in a play, I think it was called Voices of the Native People. The director was Morey Evans, and I got to be a stand-in for a kid who played Chief Joseph. There was a monologue, Chief Joseph's infamous speech. I think that was my first exposure. I did some other things, like, I when I was six I did tap dancing, my mom was like "yeah, we'll put you in tap dancing classes" because I loved James Brown and I would always mimic the way he danced. It's rumored that he's Indian, but all Indians think that anyone great is an Indian, so whatever!
BAE: You originally accompanied your brother to the Twilight movie auditions, and somehow you got the role of Sam out of that! Can you tell us again how that happened?
ST: I had done a few things, I've chased fame until I was 21. It was kind of hard to be taken seriously at the dinner table when I was always like, "Oh, I wanna be a rockstar, man!" So when I was 21 I kind of focused more on college, but before that I had done a few things with Lana Veenker Casting here in Portland and I had gotten an email from them saying that they were looking for Native [American] boys 16-19 and I was 24 at the time so I wasn't going to go. But my brother lives up near Bellingham, Washington on the Indian reservation and he called me and said "I wanna go to the casting call! I'll be there in a minute!" and I was like, "Be where in a minute?" and he said, "I'm going to be downtown, I'm on the train, I'm five minutes away!" so I didn't really have a choice. He had some ripped up sides that he was reading from, probably had them for a couple of weeks. They were all torn up and Xerox copied from friends, there were a lot of Native people who came and read for the part. He [my brother] wanted to read and he wanted me to read too. He was like, "Come on, you've done this before!" so I practiced with him and I nearly had everything memorized before I went in anyway because I practiced it so much with him. I was really just there for his support, but Lana Veenker Casting was like, "You should just come in a read, you're already here!" and I had told my brother that I would read if he did. I went in and read for Catherine [Hardwicke], but I didn't know I was reading for the director of the film, I thought she was Lana Veenker because I had never seen her before! I probably called her Lana as I walked out of the auditions. So yeah, I just went in and read and there was this chance where I got to improvise off of one of the lines in the script. My background is in slam poetry, it was something I got introduced to as a Freshman in high school. I was really in touch with the emotion in the script, with whatever I thought was going on in it. Those lines aren't even in the film now, because the script changes so much *laughs*. I was reading for the character Jacob and I just went on and on for as long as I could. When I realized I had the attention of everybody I kind of felt self-conscience and stopped. I looked up and Catherine said, "You can do this!" and I was like, "Yes I can do this!". Then she said, "You're not what we're looking for for Jacob, but you are Sam in my mind!" I was like, "Sweet!" but I didn't know what that meant at the time.
BAE: Because you hadn't read the books at that time, right?
ST: Yeah, but I had heard of their popularity. My sister-in-law is a part of a Twilight book club, so I knew quotes from the book like "stupid, shiny, Volvo owner" and a whole bunch of other random quotes. At first I was like, "How can everybody be so hyped up about these books?" and then I read them, and now being a part of it, I understand the cultural phenomenon.
I've been working out like nobody's business! My family used to make fun of me because I was chubby, now they're like, "This doesn't look right!" because they're used to seeing me as a little, chubby guy. My brother's like, "Dang! I've gotta start going to the gym!" Him and I have always been in competition. He made it into the music industry before I did. But as soon as I got this role, I rubbed it in his face, but he can probably beat me up anyway!
BAE: Your brother wanted to audition for Twilight, is acting something that runs in your family?
ST: I think it started with my older sister who was in modeling. She was a pretty well known model for a while, but she decided to put it down for cultural reasons. I think it was really her that led the way in what I call "the biz." It's really the confidence you have to have when you go in to auditions or interviews, and just being conformable in sharing as much as possible. She gave me a lot of confidence, seeing her in photoshoots and interviews. And anytime I wanted to do something, she already had connections in Portland, so she really helped me to get some roles. But yeah, throughout my short modeling career, I got chubby from sitting around studying math all day *laughs*. I couldn't run very far for an extended period of time. Before that I had done some modeling that my sister had helped me get. One time, I was up on a horse holding up a trade blanket and a shotgun, very Native American *laughs*, but yeah, I think that was my first modeling gig. I wonder where those pictures are? Usually when you're in a big production all of these pictures show up that are either very unfortunate or you're just trying to take a bite of food or something.
BAE: You've done small films and such before Twilight, but this is your first major film. What is something you've learned through this experience about the film/movie industry that you didn't know before?
ST: I studied Quileute as much as I could and met with a bunch of tribe members to make sure the clothes we were wearing were authentic. I also wrote some contemporary Native American pow-wow songs in their language and listened to their stories. I didn't realize how much time can go into just one scene. I have more respect for the business now, there's just so much that goes into it. I got to work with wardrobe a lot and we talked about history and what kind of clothing the tribe members would wear, and if you a part of the wolf pack, what clothes you would wear, and stuff like that. Which brings me back to Pendleton blankets, there was a big Pendleton coat that I was wearing and on it was a picture of what looked like a shapeshifter wolf, I thought that was really relevant. My mom took the Pendleton blanket and made a coat out of it for me for graduation as an honor for me finishing high school. Not a lot of Native Americans get a chance to graduate high school. So yeah, I brought it [the coat] on set and Catherine fell in love with it. We ended up using it in the film. I wanted to bring as many little intricate details that I could. I also brought a Quileute basket that I made, but they didn't use that in the film. I also brought a fishing net on set, because I was wondering, "What are the boys doing on the beach anyway?" I pulled some of the Quileute boys aside and asked them, "What do you guys do? Why would you guys be on the beach?" and they were like, "Well, you live in a small town, and a lot of people come to visit the beach, you come to pick up chicks!" Me and Krys would joke about that all the time.
BAE: Do you hope to become a big star in Hollywood someday or would you rather lay low and do indie films?
ST: You know, I get asked this question a lot. I would actually like to do both. I studied martial arts from 7-14, it was mostly contact sports but I stopped that after I got hit in the face a couple of times. My mom would always joke around with me because I was so concerned about being famous, she would always be like, "Well, we've got to protect the money maker!" But yeah, I would like to do big action films and then small indie films. I do have a little bit of Mexican descent in my family as well as Russian and a quarter Irish, and I studied Russian for a while along with Spanish. I would like to play a Russian in a film, or a Hispanic character *laughs* you know, stretch the bounds of my own personality.
BAE: What are your thoughts/feelings about Catherine Hardwicke leaving the future Twilight movies?
ST: I don't know why she's not the director anymore, but I'm sure it was for a good reason. Whatever the new director does to take it in a new direction is completely fine with me. I'm sure Twilight has helped Catherine's career, she's probably buried behind a pile of scripts right now! But yeah, I support whichever direction the next film takes. I understand that the film industry is about entertainment, but at the same time, it's about making money.
BAE: Now about the set of Twilight, who was the funniest person you got to work with?
ST: Oh... dang! There was this cameraman... his name was Jeff, he was a really funny guy. He was there on set every day of Twilight, every where they went. Me and him became good friends and we went out to buy longboards to go longboarding *laughs* but my skateboarding career is over! I went skateboarding with Krys last June and hurt my shoulder probably more than I would like the admit. I had to take a month off from working out because my shoulder hurt! But Krys was hilarious just because he was so freakin' adorable! Everytime we were in an argument or he was trying to make a serious point, he would get close to me and his breath smelled like peanut butter so it was really hard to take him seriously! Even when I told him that we were [at the beach] to hit on girls, he would bust out these cheesy pick-up lines. Krys was just really funny, probably second in line after Jeff. But I can't really say much else because we were constantly doing things they told us not to do and getting in trouble. We were joking around and talking really loud, we had to be hushed a lot. Catherine thought it was hilarious though, but I'm sure some of the crew members were like, "Come on! We're trying to make a movie here!" I'm sure on my next film I'm going to be known as the prankster and get yelled at all the time, but you've gotta live the life, you've gotta be happy *laughs*!
BAE: I read that you've had some pretty interesting encounters with Robert Pattinson. Can you tell us about that?
ST: Ha ha... Robert! The first time I met him was, like, three days before the shooting of the beach scene. Him and Kristen were hanging out in tree branches for this one scene. There was a lunch break and I got to meet people. Kristen [Stewart] walked by and she was like, "Hey! You're Sam, you're Solomon! I've heard a lot about you!" I was kind of star struck for a second, it was really weird because that was the first cast member I got to talk to. So we go in to eat and I saw Robert and his double sitting next to each other. I could tell who was who at first. I went up to get a drink or something and Robert started walking towards me so I put out my hand and said, "Hey! I'm Solomon, I play Sam." and he was like, "Oh! Of course, I'm sorry, I have to pee!" or something like that. It was hilarious! That was our first encounter. The second one was at the after party after the premiere. We were out at some rooftop place in LA and I saw Robert again and I was like, "Hey! What's up?" and again he was like, "Gosh, I've got to pee!" I said, "Every time I see you you've got to pee!" and he just walked by laughing, but when he came back we traded numbers and he was like, "Call me when you're in LA." It was pretty funny!
BAE: Do you have any crazy Twilight fan encounters you would like to share?
ST: The most recent one! Someone sent me their diary, there was note that went something along the lines of, "You really pull yourself into interviews, you're really real and I just wanted to let you know who I am." And they sent me their diary for the past four years. I didn't know who she was or where she was from, there was no return address. It was really weird, because there was no name, the diary could be completely fictitious for all I know. Another fan encounter happened at a mall near my house. This father and daughter came up (they waited until I was finished eating, which was nice) and they wanted my autograph. I was expecting the daughter to say something, but the father pulled this shirt out with signatures all over it. It was a Twilight shirt, like an extra large or something, and he asked me to sign it for him. As soon as I signed it for him, he was like, "Yay! All I need is Taylor's signature!" and he skipped off. His daughter and I tried to hold back the same expression, kind of like, "Yeah, I don't really know how to feel about this!" because it was obviously for him. But I'm glad the fanbase is growing!
BAE: You seem like a really busy person, with guitar, poetry, studying math, and now Twilight. How do you manage all of it?
ST: All of my friends are like, "You disappeared, are you too good to hang out with?" and I'm like, "No, no! I'm just busy." I have guitar lessons, and I teach guitar, take voice lessons, study Spanish on my own, I teach dance three times a week, and I read poetry twice a week. Wow... thanks for bringing that up, now I feel stressed *laughs*. There's a lot that I do, I travel all across America reading poetry and surprisingly, there's only been two places out of, like, 12 that I've seen Twilight fans. But then again, most of the gigs are at bars and such. I've also been trying to get a poetry book out. I had a date set on my birthday, June 19, but I've just been so busy. I gave a huge book of poems to an editor and he was like, "There's no way I can even read all of this!" We'll work something out. I was kind of upset because at the premiere after party I got to talk to Stephenie Meyer and I had told her that I wrote some poetry from Sam's perspective and she was like, "Yeah... Sam's really not a poet." I was like, "Dang!" *laughs*
BAE: You said in an interview a while back with the Twilight Lexicon that you were undecided as far as what career to pursue now that you're out of college. Have you made a decision yet?
ST: I definitely want to stay in film... I know a lot of the Twilight fans want to see me in other films and I want to continue to do that. With that question, it's more like "What am I going to do with my degree?" I'm getting my masters in Statistics now and I could become an actuary or crunch numbers for an insurance company. I've always wanted to be a company man and have children and awesome Christmases. Really, that what I would love to do. My academic career was always plan B because film was always in the forefront of my mind.
BAE: Let's get some of your "favorites"! What is your favorite movie?
ST: That's funny... it's the one I watch the most. John Carpenter's "The Thing." The acting in that one is all on, though the special effects are not as up to par. They're not computer enhanced so it is a bit more genuine, but it does also look like puppets. *laughs* I don't know why I watch that the most. A lot of people have asked me if I watch anime, I have nothing against it, I just haven't invested the time. But of course, Twilight, when it comes out [on DVD] I'm probably going to watch that a crapload of times. Just so I can see what my voice sounds like in different languages. I want to see if they choose someone close to my age or some deep announcer voice or something. It's going to be hilarious.
BAE: Favorite genre of music?
ST: Oh... this is the hardest question. It drives everyone in my family crazy. I don't listen to music unless I'm in the mood for it. So I can go three months without music, which sounds really strange to people. I kind of like listening to the sounds that are around me, I find it [music] distracting when I drive. Just in general, I like being where I am and listening to the music that people play, like at different coffee shops and different places that I go. I like to get an essence of a place by listening to their music instead of ruining it by playing the same stuff you always hear. But Paul Williams (The Temptations) is my favorite singer, I wouldn't define his voice as having a crazy range, but it has a nice depth to it. My favorite song of his is "For Once in My Life"... which is hilarious because I'm not dating anyone and that song is all about finally finding love. And I love Cee-Lo Green from Gnarls Barkley, he re-did a song called "Reckoner" by Radiohead. It's a great re-mix, I actually like it better than the original.
BAE: Favorite food?
ST: A favorite food... it's really, really bad for me. My favorite food is a split between Chicken Fettucini Alfredo and Papa John's supreme pizza. I haven't had either in seven months! I broke down yesterday and had a piece of chocolate. It was the first time I cheated on my crazy diet. But yeah... Alfredo sauce, I put it on rice it's so good! Maybe after ten years I'll take a break from this industry and just get really chubby *laughs* or go for a role where my character gets pregnant or something... yeah that makes sense. Sorry, I get really goofy when I haven't eaten in a while.
A big huge thanks to Solomon Trimble for taking time out of his busy schedule to do this interview with BAE!
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