While editing his latest Titan masterpiece last summer, Joe Gage — a multi-nominated Hall of Fame director with a huge library of hits — decided to take a stress break and turn on the television. While flipping channels, he came across a show called Combat on the Nostalgia Channel.
"It said, 'Tonight's episode, Combat: The Gun.' And I went, You know, I think I'm in that," recalls Gage. "And lo and behold, I was in it. I had two or three minor sequences, and a great little death scene."
He hadn't seen the episode in nearly 35 years, but it was one of the acting appearances he made early in his career, before directing took over in the early 1970s. "I started out as an actor. As soon as I got out of school I went to Hollywood and started doing TV shows and commercials and stuff like that when I was eighteen," says Gage. "That's how I supported myself in my twenties."
The day after seeing his old appearance on TV, his phone rang. It was friend and fellow-esteemed director Jerry Douglas. "He said, 'I'd like to talk to you about acting in this movie I'm about to start shooting,' and I thought, This is just so weird, and I explained what had happened to me twenty-four hours earlier. I said, 'I bet this is a sign!'" says Gage. "I read the script and said, 'This would be fun, I'd love to do it!'"
The role of Dr. Scott — who counsels troubled lovers Brad Patton and Jason Kingsley in Buckshot's Beyond Perfect — beat out some tough competition ("Wasn't it four drag queens and me?" laughs Gage). "I had a ball; it was a gas. I hadn't done it in so long, and it truly was like riding a bicycle. I just got back on it and just went. It was fun, the set was cool. The first day of the shoot, everybody was getting to know everybody. Jerry set up a great experience," says Gage.
Gage will be busy fulfilling his contract extension at Titan, with ten more films to be made, but doesn't rule out more work in front of the camera. "If it comes up and it's good, I'd love to do it."
