The Summer Of Mark Duplass

Summer 2012 is turning out to be the summer of indie hyphenate (actor/writer/co-director) Mark Duplass. The highly prolific Duplass has had a new film coming out almost every week since May. The actor, who usually works as a filmmaking duo with his brother Jay on such breakthrough movies as THE PUFFY CHAIR and JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME, is currently on screens with the Sundance sci-fi romantic drama SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED and as part of a love triangle with Emily Blunt and Rosemary DeWitt in the Lynn Shelton-directed YOUR SISTER’S SISTER. Not exactly classically handsome, he is kind of a rumpled version of a Hollywood heartthrob…..the kind of guy who exudes enough masculinity to make women interested but not too much testosterone to turn them off. The Duplass’ onslaught continues this month with a significant role in the family dramedy PEOPLE LIKE US and the low-budget indie THE DO-DECA PENTATAHLON, about two brothers who compete in their own Olympics, which he wrote and directed with his brother and frequent collaborator Jay Duplass. He also has a lead role in the Oscar bait film by Kathryn Bigelow (still untitled) about Navy SEAL Team 6 tracking down Osama bin Laden that will be one of the most talked about films of the Fall season.

The 35-year-old native of New Orleans acknowledges that this is a hectic time for him and points to a steady diet of caffeine and donuts to keep him going. On top of everything else, he is major sleep-deprived, since he and his wife have just had a baby. In a recent interview, he shared that “there is awareness of me in Hollywood now.” In SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, he plays a rumpled loner man who places a help-wanted ad looking for someone to time travel with him. He warns that he has only done this once before. “You really don’t know for most of the movie if he’s insane or brilliant,” Duplass commented. “I loved dealing with that ambiguity.” In YOUR SISTER’S SISTER, he works again with writer/director Lynn Shelton (after their collaboration on HUMPDAY) in a story about a love triangle that plays out in a remote cabin the Washington woods. While bigger budget films may be coming his way, his heart remains in the indie trenches. “I am always looking to make films or be in films that are tough to categorize, and that’s the way I like it…..otherwise you become lazy and too rich”, he quipped. So, meet indie film’s most unlikely heartthrob, a guy whose wears it on his sleeve.

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