Casey Chambers:  You really grabbed the cult movie ring with "The Lost Boys." (1987)  How did you get started on the acting train?

Jamison Newlander:  It's funny.  I had other interests.  But from the beginning, it was pretty clear I wanted to be an actor.  Basically, and you might be the same way, some people are sort of like actors or performers through their lives from the very beginning.  You can tell that somebody likes to perform, you know, for better or worse.  Anyway, my parents were divorced and when I was about 12 or 13 years old, my mom was dating an actor.  Just a really dynamic guy.  And my mom got to know his agent.  I was kind of awkward at this point, but I was beginning to come into my own a little bit.  All of a sudden I was not too bad looking and started to be sort of charming. (laughs)  And one of my mom's friends came over and said, 'You've got a good look for it. You should do it. You should do commercials.'  So we started to pursue that.

The agent of the actor my mom was dating was Beverly Hecht.  Back in the day, she was one of the biggest.  And she didn't like me.  Not at first, anyway.  She thought I was a heavy eyelid.  And that's something I was always self-conscious about.  And when I met her, she said, 'He looks like he's falling asleep.' (laughs)  But she recommended a class for me to attend, and little by little, I booked a commercial.  So I kind of got it going and it went from there.  I really only did one big commercial at the time and it was for Pearle Vision.  But the interesting thing about commercials then... and can be now too... are they're so lucrative.  For a kid to all of a sudden have access to a few thousand bucks. (laughs)  And it was an amazing job to start me out.  It took the pressure off.  Having to spend money on pictures and acting classes and things like that...it felt like I was already playing on their money. (laughs)

Casey Chambers:  I get it.  Nothing ventured.  But then you passed Go and made the jump to movies.

Jamison Newlander:  Yeah, and I remember my first feature film audition.  How it happened.  I was in high school, and by the time I was 15, I had done a few gigs.  I did a commercial and then a couple of TV gigs.  Small things, but just enough that people trusted me a little bit.  And my mom would pick me up from high school if there was something going on.  Back then, we didn't have cell phones. (laughs)  I would come out of school and if I saw her little blue CR-X Honda, then I was like, 'Oh, cool, I have an audition!'  So I ran down the stairs and out of the school and there she was.  'You have an audition for a feature film!' (laughs)  And it was the coolest thing.  It was for "Stand By Me."  It was called The Body at the time.  I was auditioning for what became (Corey) Feldman's role as Teddy Duchamp.  And I think that's what everybody auditioned with.  To get an idea of who they wanted in the movie.  It was such a great script.  But it was so early.  It was my first feature film audition. I was not expecting to get it, but it was exciting to be part of the process.

Casey Chambers:  Had you been doing a lot of auditions before "The Lost Boys" came knocking?

Jamison Newlander:  Yeah, I was.  The way it works out for kid actors in L.A., I felt like I wasn't auditioning anywhere near enough. (laughs)  But as I look back, I was auditioning probably once or twice a week, which is a pretty good clip.  So I auditioned for a bunch of them. "Stand By Me" was the first.  And then I remember "Like Father Like Son" with Kirk Cameron.  "Adventures In Babysitting."  I really wanted that part actually.  The part that Keith Coogan got.  And "Lucas."  That was a really good one.  And when I saw the movie, I remember thinking, 'I want to work with that kid.'  And then there I was...the very next year...working with Corey Haim in "The Lost Boys."

Casey Chambers:  That had to have been a rush being cast as one of the vampire hunters in "The Lost Boys."  The coolest vampire movie of the '80s.

Casey Chambers:  What was it like working with a name director like Joel Schumacher?

Jamison Newlander:  Movie-making was fun for him, but it was also very serious.  He was a screamer.  He could scream. (laughs)  It was hard when he was upset...because you respected this guy.  He had this vision he was putting together.  And so you understood.  There was one time when he wanted something from Brooke McCarter in a scene and he gave him a shake or something.  And it was a real shock.  But we all kind of understood that Joel was brilliant in his vision, too.  He was like an awesome camp counselor who could get a bit angry when tested. (laughs)

Casey Chambers:  Everybody who likes "The Lost Boys" loves the Frog Brothers.  Vampires all around and the Frog Brothers keeping it all stoic and real.  You guys were a blast.  Were the roles fleshed out for you guys going in?

Jamison Newlander:  He had a real vision of who the Frogs were before casting...and that was only enhanced when he saw us.  I came to the audition wearing my dad's old military fatigue jacket.  And Joel was open to that.  'Okay, cool! That's how this might look.  You know, these guys are looking tough.'  And he recreated it in the movie.  I mean, it wasn't my idea exactly, but he was influenced a bit.  He had that give and take about him.  But he was very clear that he wanted us to be really low and not too outwardly angry.  He said, 'Watch Chuck Norris movies. Watch Charles Bronson movies. Watch how they are. That's what I want you to be like. You guys are heroes.' (laughs)  That's what he wanted from us.  Low and really intense.  I didn't really get the comedy angle at first.  I mean, I knew there was comedy, but we weren't playing it for comedy.  Maybe by '...It's the attack of Eddie Munster!'  (laughs)   I mean, I knew that line was funny and had to commit to it in that way.  But the stuff before that... we're just trying to be tough. (laughs)

Casey Chambers:  Another reason the movie is so much fun is watching you guys bond together on screen.  The Frog Brothers and Corey Haim.  You can see the connect.

Jamison Newlander:  Well, the beauty of it...and I'm really grateful...is that we really became good friends.  I was there at the beginning of The Two Coreys.  I watched them go from two different Coreys to become The Two Coreys.  They weren't doing movies together yet.  "The Lost Boys" hadn't been released yet and that was their first big success together.  But it's like when you go to a camp and spend a few weeks, a month, or whatever around each other, and all of a sudden you realize you've become really good friends.  We became tight.  That's what happened to us.  We spent every day together.  We would complain about the shoot together.  The long hours.  Something.  There was always a little bit of complaining to do. (laughs)  But it was also fun and we had a great time.  That summer, the summer of '86.  The two Coreys and me were coming together...but all from different places.  I was a high school kid who was auditioning.  Feldman had been acting since he was three.  Haim was probably acting since he was nine or ten.  All of us were different but we shared similarities and had a really great time trying to figure it all out.

And Joel loved that we were bonding and really encouraged it.  He wanted that.  Our chemistry together was the key to all the subtle ways we communicated and glanced at each other in a shot.  Plus we were also the only ones at our age.  Chance Corbitt who played Laddie in the movie was only like 10.  A pretty cool kid, but 10 is much different than 15 or 16.  And then the vampires...all those guys were like in their early 20s or late teens. So we three were just this little unit unto ourselves.  Our own little clique.  Me and the two Coreys.  It was awesome.

Casey Chambers:  And "The Lost Boys" was a success.  Perhaps even more so today.

Jamison Newlander:  Well, here's the thing.  The reviews were a little mixed.  First of all, it was a success in the movie theater, yes.  But it wasn't as big of a success as I think everyone was hoping.  As I recall, the movie was playing in theaters everywhere for a few weeks.  But movies that are really successful...they might play for two or three months   So for me it was a little bit like, 'Okay, this movie is not gonna be the thing that leads me to where I'm gonna start getting offers.'  (laughs)  And that was a bit of a bummer.  I was hoping "The Lost Boys" would bring me offers for other things and that wasn't the case.  I was getting some calls and getting shots at other parts.  And I did get some parts.  But it wasn't enough to keep me from thinking..."I should go to college.  I should go get an education.'  And I did.  I went to New York and studied theater.  Because the film people didn't come knocking down my door. (laughs)  It wasn't until the movie came out on video that it became truly cultish.

Casey Chambers:  And you were at NYU, right? 

Jamison Newlander:  Yeah, it was at New York University.  I remember when I was in college...meeting different people and hanging out in dorms...other students were gathering to watch  "The Lost Boys."  And someone had told them who I was and they were like, 'Frog Brother in the house!' (laughs)  And that was cool.  Everybody was kind of celebrating it.  I wasn't necessarily easily recognized.  I didn't see that reaction firsthand a lot.  But when I did see it, it was big.  The fan reaction was big.

It really became a thing about 2005 or 2006 when I was in my mid-30s.  I got a call saying they were having a "Lost Boys" reunion in England. (laughs)  It was in Milton Keynes.  A town outside of London.  They were going to fly us to England.  And they were going to pay us this amount. (laughs)  And I was like, 'Wow!  This isn't like...a joke, is it?' (laughs)  It was the first big fan convention that we did.  Erin Gray, who starred in "Buck Rogers," put us all together.  She was a big actress and she created a company called Heroes for Hire.  They promoted these kinds of conventions.  That's when I realized that not only did they want us to do conventions, but they wanted us enough that they were willing to pay our way and give us money, too. (laughs)  And we got to meet real fans.  Not just a fan here or there...but people lining up to get autographs and talk with us.  We were all new at this.  That's when I realized "The Lost Boys" had staying power.

Casey Chambers:  Comicons and Horrorfests are huge!  And so much fun.  Love'em.

Jamison Newlander:  Yeah, I've been doing more and more.  I do probably about four, or five a year.  I love conventions and seeing all the fans.  And it's also great seeing all the others.  Getting to see Feldman.  And reconnecting with Jason Patric.  We did a Comicon in Manchester, England in 2017.  That's a great part of it.  Having a chance to hang out with these guys.  Like your old camp friends. (laughs)   

Casey Chambers:  Just off the top of your head, how about recommending a couple of albums for us to check out or revisit? 

Jamison Newlander:  Okay, so, I was always a little bit self-conscious about music growing up because I didn't have MTV for a long time, as surprising as that may be.  All my friends were watching MTV.  'Have you seen the video for this?'  And I hadn't.  I felt on the outside of it.  So I went into my teenage years kind of a little bit intimidated by all these songs that people knew.  I love music, but I still have a bit of self-consciousness about it.  'Is the music I like cool enough?'  Stupid, but it's lingering. (laughs)  I love the artists from the 80s and 90s.  I still listen to that stuff.  I'm a big Prince fan.  Especially the album "Emancipation." (1996)  It's the album Prince came out with when he was like, 'I'm shedding the shackles of the recording industry.' (laughs)  It's like a four-record or 3-cd set.  He did some really amazing work on that.  It's really an amazing album.

I'm also a big, big Alanis Morissette fan.  "Jagged Little Pill" was my soundtrack while in New York City.  I'd walk through the streets and listen to that and it was just amazing.  And her follow-up album, "...Former Infatuation Junkie" I also think is incredible.  I wrote a screenplay while listening to that album.  That was my inspiration for this romantic comedy I wrote.  So I highly recommend those.  And there are plenty of other albums I could think of, but these are some significant ones for me.  

Casey Chambers:  Good stuff.  'I got one hand in my pocket, and the other one...holding a wooden stake!' (laughs)  This has been a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed talking with you this morning.

  

Jamison Newlander:  Yeah, me too, man.  Let's do this again sometime.