Tomorrow, on March 25, his episode of Timeless will air, where he portrays Barney Balaban, and DuMont also appeared on Stranger Things 2.
“Timeless is a big one,” he admitted. “We are going back to the ’40s to Paramount studios. I got to work with all of the main cast and the folks. It was a really amazing experience. I had the most incredible office.”
For DuMont, Stranger Things 2 was yet another “amazing” experience. “It was weird for me since I was doing six episodes of Law & Order on NBC, but when I did Stranger Things 2, my Twitter and my Instagram were blowing up. It is a testament to the cult following that Stranger Things 2 has,” he said.
Digital transformation of film and TV industry
On the impact of technology in film and TV, he said, “It’s a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing since people can watch things at any given time. In the ’70s, when I grew up, we had scheduled TV, where you scheduled your life around the TV schedule. I did everything I could (including my homework) to make sure that I was free on certain nights to watch certain shows. Now, things are so different. People can choose what they want to watch and when they want to watch it. They can DVR shows or watch them on their phone. Those are some of the pluses. Some of the minuses are the ability for producers to reach these massive amounts of audiences, but not share the profits with the rest of the actors. That’s the hardest thing to grasp. 10 years ago, there would have been better residuals than now.”
He revealed that with the help of technology, DuMont films his own auditions, and turns them around, in a rapid fast turnaround rate. “It is a little intense and demanding,” he admitted. “I have to nail the dialog, and the character in my body, and the costume, and shoot it and edit it and upload in a very tough time window. Sometimes, I do all that in less than 24 hours. With technology, you don’t have to be based in a certain place to have a career, you can do it from anywhere.”
For aspiring actors, DuMont clarified, “The misnomer is that New York or Los Angeles are the places to build your career, but the reality is that you go there to capitalize on your career. I always recommend people to maximize their marketplace, and book every job that is there.”
To learn more about actor James DuMont, follow him on Twitter, and his website.
