There are two new movies opening this weekend: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. starring Henry “Superman” Cavill and Armie “The Lone Ranger” Hammer, directed by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) and Straight Outta Compton, the critically-acclaimed biopic about the groundbreaking Hip Hop group NWA. But what I really wanted to write about is an actor who is coming to town for a fundraiser.
It was 20 years ago that I had one of my best experiences as a theatre manager. On July 28, 1995, Waterworld opened at Landmark Cinemas Paramount Theatre (which I managed at the time), and I played hooky for the first afternoon showing to watch it (it was really much better than the media made it out to be).
That same afternoon, I got a phone call from a man who said he was in the movie and was wondering if I could reserve 10 seats for him and his family for the early evening show that evening. I thought to myself, “Sure, he was probably one of the extras on the oil tanker cheering whenever Dennis Hopper addressed the masses.” However, I took his name and number and out of curiosity phoned the head of marketing at Landmark Cinemas at the time and asked if he had heard of this actor (remember—this was pre-IMDB).
As soon as I mentioned the name, the voice on the other end of the phone said something to the effect to do whatever he wants and see if he will do any local publicity for you. While his role was not very big, it was significant and memorable. He played a character called “Drifter” and he not only introduced Waterworld and talked about his experience working with Kevin Costner on our opening night, but he also did some media interviews.
Although he was not the most well known Canadian actor at the time, he created a buzz in town that lasted for some time afterwards. At that time, he was best known as a character actor, who played mostly bad guys in movies like The Last Boy Scout with Bruce Willis and The Client with Susan Sarandon. He has had so many TV and movie appearances since the mid-’80s that you could almost create a drinking game around whether or not you see him on-screen at any given night.
He also starred in a movie filmed in the Okanagan in the early ’90’s that co-starred Canadian music legends Jim Byrnes and Lisa Brokop and directed by Sandy Wilson (My American Cousin). And although he plays “the heavy” in many of his roles, he is one of the nicest people you would want to meet, which brings me to my point.
By coincidence, 20 years after he helped create one of my fondest memories of being a theatre manager, he will be back in Kelowna to help create memories for others. Up until Sons of Anarchy, Kim Coates was best known to me as Drifter or even Carl Ertz in Entourage, but now he will be forever remembered as Tig.
And now you could have your chance to meet him and Anarchy co-star Theo Rossi at Konquer Motorcycles on McCurdy Place in a fundraiser to benefit Kids Care. The cost is $125 which includes a Sons of Anarchy T-shirt and poster.
