For the first decade of the millennium, Bourke Floyd was gaining momentum in Hollywood when out-of-the-blue, the actor disappeared. Known for working on the television program “Dawson’s Creek” and in films like “Big Momma’s House 2”, Bourke was an actor directors could count on and his face was missed.
Flash forward 11 years and Bourke is back with his latest film, the crime/thriller “Sour”, available on VOD. It’s the story of a down on his luck detective who moves into what appears to be a haunted house with his niece.
Tell me about your new movie “Sour”. What’s this one about?
“Sour” is really cool, it’s a thriller, really suspenseful, kind of a crime whodunit – actually, it’s less a whodunit and really concentrated almost. Again, horror films are such easy ones to peg right now because there’s so much to compare things to that are horror, but this one’s got a little different twist to it.
It’s more like “The Rental” with Dave Franco that came out earlier in 2020. It’s a thriller, and it’s uncomfortable and it’s interpersonal, it’s really close and in your face with only a couple of jump scares in there. Most of it’s really about that slow grind of uncomfortable. It’s a really cool, cool feature. I’m happy to be a part of it.
Let’s talk a bit about Marcus. What parts of that character are most like you?
Marcus is an absolute loon. He is way out there. I think what I related to, what I used and applied to Marcus, that actually are me, are the parts where Marcus is in an awkward situation, what would be an awkward situation, what would be uncomfortable, and how he pivots, and tries to apply charm to smooth over something, even though he’s oblivious to the reality of the situation that he’s the awkward thing.
He’s the thing driving the awkwardness of the scene. Or that moment, that’s the exchange, right? And yet he tries this charm approach. And I guess what I used from my own personal life is that when things are awkward, we’re all human beings, we all have exchanges that are awkward or different. I’m quick with a joke to try to deflect from being awkward.
I tried to make Marcus’s deflection really organic, like ours are as human beings. I tried not to make that look like a shaped piece of him. I tried to make it feel that’s just how he is when it’s awkward, he does this. The trick to it was to make his personality and his quirks feel as natural as ours, like mine being a joke. There are tons of people that make jokes about awkward situations. That’s their natural deflection, and we are all accustomed to it. Marcus obviously has a flair for the extraordinary and evil and insane, but I had to try to make it feel just natural, just like it is for us with the handshake. Are we going to handshake or we’re going to fist bump or we’re going to elbow?
Was it hard to get to that point to make that part of the character?
There would be circumstances where that would be really difficult. There were certainly challenges to it, but the entire cast and the director Clay Moffatt.
For Natalie Maher, this was her first feature film, this was her debut, and she was so integral in making it easier.
She was doing that dance, that character dance with Marcus – her character was really playing in and out of what we were doing, and it wasn’t improv. But we didn’t over-rehearse either, because again, that’s where that awkwardness comes from.
We shot a lot of reversals, we would block it, figure out where we were going to go, figure out cameras and lights and all of that, but not actually run the scene until we were picture up and then we would film that first rehearsal. And I dare say, without knowing, because I wasn’t in the editing room.
I feel like there are probably several of our tapes that I remember being like, oh that’s right. That was the first one because there’s so much awkwardness. It’s really cool.
Was it filmed during the start of the pandemic in 2020, or was it done before?
When I flew to London, with no one even asking me about my temperature, or anything, no screening, nothing. I had heard of COVID at that point, or maybe I’d only heard of it as Corona at that point. But that’s all there was at the airport. There was absolutely no masks, there was nothing at all. It was February or so and I flew back from London.
I remember flying back, just to get into the first-class Lounge at London Heathrow. They took my temperature. And I only remember it was that lounge. That’s not “Ohhh, I was flying first class”, it was for work. I only say that, because I remember that it was the first time and I was like, Whoa.
We filmed in seven or eight, maybe 10 days total, and we were done. Then everything shut down. It was literally a window.
I count myself very fortunate that I wasn’t sick after my trip.
Was there any concern about returning after being away for so long?
Absolutely. I worried about being able to shake the dust off. I worried about it, I still do, don’t get me wrong, I think the day you are performing, and you just don’t have any nerves or don’t have any excitement, any sparks inside of you, probably hang it up for a little bit maybe or pump those brakes and rethink what you’re doing that day. But I definitely still had some self-doubt, even on “Swagger”. I was definitely having, a little “fake it, till you make it” for lack of a better term.
I Forrest Gumped my way through life, in almost all ways. So, I always count myself really fortunate. But yeah, there was some rust, to be honest with you.
How does the family feel about acting?
They’re incredibly supportive. My son, Luca Bear is really funny, though. I think he just saw me at his friend’s house, I think it’s something on the Food Network, maybe Guy’s Grocery Games. I’ve done the Food Network a few times for charity.
He calls at some point and he goes, Dad, your on the TV, at my friend’s house. He is eight, so the realization that these are family videos of me hanging out with Guy Fieri, these are things that are on TV. Yeah Luca Bear it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere my son.
So, his little process of how he sees it is really cool.
But my wife has been amazing about it really, really incredibly supportive. I think it helps that I came back and again, really, just by the grace of God, no chance that I would have expected the work to come. And to be clear, I’ve not booked, I’ve auditioned for tons of things over this time since I’ve come back that I haven’t booked.
It’s the idea, the fact that I’ve been consistently working has been amazing, I’ve also been consistently not being booked for things.
So, anybody out there listening, it’s not like, Oh, these are the only audition, yeah everything I audition I book. But the fact that the work has been so consistent, and I think makes it easier for the family to go, hey, there you go. The income is real, and the opportunities are endless.
You’ve been involved with a few really big actors over the years – Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis, for example. Of the biggest actors you’ve worked with, who is the most approachable?
It’s tricky, because the person I’m going to say was incredibly open and giving and fun, but wasn’t the most approachable because I would have never spoken to him had he not started speaking to me.
But once he spoke to me, and I spoke back, we started having a conversation. I was like, Oh, you’re so cool, I can’t read this – and that was Sir Anthony Hopkins who insisted that I call him Tony. But he wasn’t the most approachable, right?
But that was my fault that had nothing to do with him as a human being or a fellow actor. I felt like I shouldn’t talk to him. I’m not gonna talk to that guy. No, no, no, no, no, guys like this don’t talk to guys like me. But he talked to me and I spoke back, and we ended up becoming work buddies on “Hearts in Atlantis”. And he was amazing, I was shocked.
His ability to do impersonations and impressions will blow you away. He’s hilarious, they’re spot on. I’ve seen him do an impression of me. And it’s surreal.
Tom Cruise was actually incredibly kind and giving as an actor, but he wears 50 hats on set. So, he’s constantly working on everything. He’s looking at where every atmosphere actor is, in addition to everything else. So, it’s not to say that he was abrupt with me or short with me or unapproachable. But almost any time, somebody would have said something to him, other than Steven Spielberg, they would have been interrupted, because he is a diligent, constantly working on set.
Who of the big actors did you learn the most from?
Mark Joy who is an actor I did “Beast of Burden” with. Mark’s been in tons of things, he’s a native from Richmond, Virginia, where I’m from. On “Beast of Burden”, it was just like Mark didn’t win an Oscar or doesn’t have 50, 100-million-dollar movies, but his work? Absolutely. Mark Joy is where I learned the most from and it was more from wanting, studying and really trying to watch and just see how he works in and out of a scene.
That made it really cool and how you don’t see him act. You never catch him act. It’s just so natural and organic.
I can’t imagine being on a scene with Martin Lawrence dressed up as Big Mamma and keep a straight face.
That’s for sure. It helps if he’s gonna kick you in the groin. It helps knowing that at the end of it, you’re gonna get kicked in the groin a bunch of times and you keep panicking. We filmed that in New Orleans. And it was so hot and humid.
He had a space, glycol tubes underneath that suit, another suit underneath it of this coolant refrigeration stuff pumping through it, and he and Zachary Levi were filming
American Underdogs: The Kurt Warner Story”.
I will say, even in the prosthetics, Martin’s ability to make faces and to be expressive, even with the prosthetics, is legend. I mean, I’ll never forget it.
He’s supposed to be on the stool in front of me and we were just running the scene for everything and just looking at it, roughing it out, basically. I remember he turned around and he had only the face on, they hadn’t put the body on yet, and he turned around and made this expression.
Even now thinking about it, it was hilarious. He’s a comic genius. He really is of that next level. At one point, I actually messed up a scene and he was so cool. He told me a story from filming Bad Boys 2. He said, ‘Oh, you think that was bad? Wait until you hear what I did’. And then he told me the story. We make mistakes. Don’t worry about it. We’ll get it on this one. It was really cool for him to share this. It was a really funny story too. Zack Levi and I are still buds and I surprised him and my son with a little zoom audition recently, too. So that was a lot of fun. That was a great experience.
What’s your favourite genre to act and similarly, what’s the easiest for you to act?
When the material is great. That’s also the most exhausting because how you have to be playing chess, not checkers the whole time. So there’s a lot of mental acuity to delivering comedy. That’s my favorite and it’s also probably the one that’s the most exhausting too.
I really love the honesty of dramatic scenes. There are a lot of qualifications to what I’m saying. Drama doesn’t have to be sad, but feeling that vibe can really be heartfelt and organic.
You have a few movies on the horizon – Peach Cobbler looks a bit off the wall.
A lot off the wall! I’m not even sure that Peach Cobbler has walls to be off of. It’s no holds barred. It’s raunchy, American Pie, Animal House style. Oscar nominee Eric Roberts is in it. His wife Eliza, who’s actually in Animal House is in it. It’s really fun. It’s a great time R-rated comedy.
How about Prankster? The poster for that is crazy.
I’m super excited to start filming on Prankster. We’ll go into production here in about a month. Nex is on that poster. He has a YouTube following of well over two million subscribers and he just makes these prank videos. He does all these giveaways and makes jokes and he’s just such a great spirit and high energy. I’m the jerk in the movie, but pranks don’t always go as planned. It’s just a melee of a script. I’ve seen so much of Nex’s YouTube stuff, I’m really looking forward to being on set for that. I’m also really looking forward to the gag reel because I can only imagine with live pranks what that gag reel is going to look like since so many times pranks happen but the wrong direction.
