Michael Damian Enjoys Being A Director

All photos:  Alan Mercer

Michael Damian is an actor, director, singer and producer, known mainly for his role as singer Danny Romalotti on the soap opera 'The Young and the Restless,' which he played from 1980 to 1998.

Damian made his feature film debut as an actor in the Garry Marshall-directed comedy 'Young Doctors in Love.' Later followed a recurring role for two seasons on NBC's 'The Facts of Life' as a rock singer named Flyman, who romanced Nancy McKeon's character, Jo. After leaving 'The Young and the Restless,' Damian landed the starring role in the Broadway production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical, 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.' The production became the highest grossing revival in Los Angeles history, before hitting Broadway, where it continued to break box office records as well as earning him a Grammy nomination.

In addition to his Broadway career, Michael has released five albums and has had eight top 40 hits including his number-one cover of the David Essex song 'Rock On', which earned him his first gold record. He also won a BMI Song-writing Award for his hit single, 'Was It Nothing at All.' Damian also recorded an alternate version of the theme song to NBC TV series 'Saved by the Bell' which was used during the first season.

Michael Damian made his feature film directorial debut with the award winning indie comedy 'Hot Tamale,' which he co-wrote with his family. He went on to write and direct the family dramedy 'Moondance Alexander,' released by Fox in October 2007.

He reprised the role of 'Danny Romalotti' on 'The Young and the Restless' in March 2008, as part of the show's 35th anniversary celebration.

Michael has remade 'Rock On' along with some of his past hits on his album released March 3, 2009, on Caption Records.

His most recent project has been directing 'Flicka 2' which came out on DVD this past May. I had a chance to catch up with Michael on the campus of UCLA while he was promoting the DVD release. He is an easy going, warm hearted guy who has a bunch of fans eager for photos with him and autographs. In between we took some snap shots and talked a bit about what's going on in his career.

AM: Hi Michael! I know you have directed a handful of films already and I'm wondering why you decided to go into directing?

MD: It was after years of being an actor and singer/songwriter that I was really interested in movie making. I was inspired by working with so many wonderful directors like Garry Marshall. Working with him was an amazing experience.

AM: So working with directors made you want to direct?

MD: I just really wanted to be more creative and I felt that as an actor I was limited to what scripts came to me through my agent. I wanted to start creating things that I could play a part in.

AM: When did you first realize this?

MD: It started when I was shooting a pilot for a television series in France called 'Red Eye.' We couldn't get a director so we had a big meeting with all the producers and one of them said, "Why don't you do it? You seem to have the vision for this project."  I said I would do it.

AM: Were you scared?

MD: No, because I've spent so much time on sets and I've observed in detail everything that was happening. I paid attention to the technical side, the creative, artistic side, and the writing side. I'd really done a lot of research by then. It felt very organic to jump to the other side of the camera.

AM: Does this mean that you're done acting?

MD: Oh no, I would never say done. Who knows? Maybe there is a great part in one of our projects coming up.

AM: Would you direct yourself?

MD: Well I would probably do a small scene in a movie. It's really hard to direct yourself in your own film. It's very difficult. Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner have done it brilliantly, but it's really hard.

AM: Did you emotionally connect with 'Flicka 2?'

MD: Yes, absolutely, the script by Jen Robinson was fantastic. It's just such a beautiful story about this young girl who is misunderstood. She has a lot of angst and difficulty fitting in. She is from the city and having to live in Wyoming and meet her Dad for the first time. It's just an amazing story arch and emotional as well. Of course Flicka is the animal who brings it all together.

AM: Did you get approached to direct this?

MD: Twentieth Century Fox distributed my last film 'Moondance Alexander' so it was the natural progression. I just came off of doing a horse film and they asked me if I wanted to do another horse film, especially one as monumental as Flicka that so many people have an emotional connection with already do to the books and the last film with Tim McGraw and Allison Lohman. It was a big responsibility but I was totally up for the challenge and had the most wonderful time making the film.

AM: Michael your new CD is so good. I notice it's covers of songs you've recorded before. What inspired this?

MD: I had to remake the songs for technical reasons because none of that music is available on I-tunes. I was on A&M Records and they got bought by Sony BMG and there was a big dispute about who owned what, so no music could be uploaded. So I just re-recorded everything.

AM: What I find interesting about the re-recordings is they are as good or better than the originals and that doesn't happen very often!

MD: Oh! Well that's good. Thank you very much.

AM: Do you intend to keep recording?

MD: Absolutely, I recorded a lot of music for this film. I produced a lot of the tracks and wrote some of them. I'm singing on some of the tracks. That's what's great about directing and making movies is you can be involved in so many aspects, not just the script but the casting, the music, the editing and the overall feel of the film. You have so much control as the director that you can really mess it up or make it wonderful. I really hope that people enjoy this film as much as I enjoyed making it.

AM: I think they're going to. You have a big following. People must recognize you all the time. Do you enjoy meeting your fans?

MD: Oh yes! People are so kind to me and they say wonderful things. I'm part of their memories from the 80's, 90's, and even the 2000's. It means a lot to me. People remember me from the 'Young and the Restless,' my music and from 'Joseph.' I'm just thrilled people remember me.

AM: Would you take on another Broadway show?

MD: I think later on I would. Absolutely, why not? That would be fun! I've always had a fantasy of doing 'Phantom of the Opera.' That was one of my favorites.

AM: Do you run your own web sites like Facebook and Twitter or do you have an assistant do it?

MD: I want people to know that I'm the one doing it. I don't have an assistant doing that.

AM: So you must enjoy communicating with people.

MD: Yes I can talk with people from all over the world. Maybe I can't be there physically but I am there with them through the internet. It's amazing and I love it. Twitter is great because it's fast and I can do it from my phone. I just tweeted before we started talking so let's see if I got some reactions!

To learn more about Michael Damian visit his web site http://michaeldamian.com/