Parks stated the five stages of being an actor to director Kevin Smith on the “SModcast” podcast. The quote also bookends “Long Lonesome Highway: The Story of Michael Parks,” a new documentary about the life and career of the late actor, directed by Middletown native Josh Roush.
A screening of “Long Lonesome Highway” from AntiCurrent Productions is Saturday, April 26 at the Neon, a part of a small-run US tour of the film. A Q&A with the director will follow the screening.
Parks, who arrived in the mainstream starring as the titular character in the short-lived motorcycle TV show “Then Came Bronson,” remained on the outside of the movie industry for decades, continually taking work where he could get it, resulting in dozens of small yet incredible performances.
His hard work culminated in a career resurrection at the hands of filmmakers like Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Mark Frost, and Kevin Smith.
In fact, it was on the set of Smith’s 2014 black comedy “Tusk” that documentarian Roush first met Parks. Due to Parks’ declining health at the time, Roush, who currently lives in LA, switched gears from behind the camera to become Parks’ personal assistant throughout the shoot.
There, the older curmudgeonly actor and the young brash punk rocker, seemingly with little aesthetically in common, struck up a friendship that lasted until Parks’ passing in 2017. Roush documented his friend’s life in his honor.
Executive produced by Kevin Smith, this decade-in-the-making tribute to both the late actor and his work features notable interviews from Kurt Russell, Mickey Rourke, Leonard Maltin, Haley Joel Osment, Justin Long, his son James Parks, and many others whose life had been impacted by him.
“He could just bring a gravitas to the most weird, dumb [stuff],” Roush said. “It didn’t matter what the budget was or who the filmmaker was, he took everything as seriously as somebody possibly could.”
Among the peaks and valleys of his career, Parks’ personal life, as documented in the film, was also riddled with tragedy — namely in the deaths of his young wife, brother and child. And just prior to his role as Howard Howe in “Tusk,” Parks had a fall down a flight of steps that nearly ended his life, putting him in a coma with a slow recovery to follow.
But after that fall, Parks, as a man who visited the brink of death, transferred that experience into his character, bringing a morbidly serious tone to a movie otherwise about turning people into walruses. That’s how good of an actor he was.
Behind the scenes, Parks would divulge the great tales of his life to Roush, about bumping elbows with the likes of Lenny Bruce, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Elvis.
“I kind of got more enamored by the man himself,” Roush said. “I just did not want that friendship to end. And also, it was very selfish, I didn’t want to stop hearing those stories. I didn’t want them to get lost.”
The documentary never materialized before Parks’ death.
There wasn’t a lot of material of Michael Parks speaking about Michael Parks, according to Roush, though there were a few BTS interviews and one lone grainy VHS tape of him telling his story, which is why the Smith-Parks “SModcast” conversation acts as a throughline throughout the documentary.
“I tried and failed at so many different versions of this project,” Roush said. “But I always felt like his voice was missing without it.”
The title “Long Lonesome Highway” — a reference to Parks’ 1972 country album of the same name — thematically adheres to the vagabond lifestyle the man led.
“I think the path he traveled was very nomadic and very solitary for the most part,” Roush said. “He lived on houseboats because he couldn’t afford rent, but then he’d have a mansion two, three years later. He had a lot of love and friendships and relationships, and a damn good amount of those came to an end.”
Roush captured many of the actor’s failures, and triumphs, throughout the unflinching and intimate documentary.
But even as the credits roll, you still may be wondering: Who is Michael Parks?
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
What: Screening of “Long Lonesome Highway: The Story of Michael Parks”
When: Noon April 26
Where: The Neon, 130 E. 5th St., Dayton
Cost: $12.50
Tickets: www.neonmovies.com
More info: Josh Roush’s Long Beach-based punk band Empired will be playing April 26 at Blind Bob’s after the screening. Nightbeast and the Heartwells will also be performing. Doors are at 8 p.m.
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