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EXCLUSIVE: For Gary Dourdan, his latest on-screen effort serves as more of a career resurgence than a test to showcase his acting prowess.
The former "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" star, who for the better part of the last decade-plus has faced numerous trials and tribulations in his life and has managed to put those pieces back in place in years since, is hoping his showing in the psychological thriller, "Redemption Day," can serve as an avenue for those battling their own inflictions.
"Truly every day that I was working on this film was like that," Dourdan, 54, told Fox News of performing in the directing debut from Moroccan producer Hicham Hajji. "I think I feel very blessed to be working in the craft that I love so much with extraordinary people. Honestly, I got to work on a film where Ernie Hudson is playing my father and Andy Garcia is playing my higher up and Serinda Swan is playing my wife. I got to work around consummate professionals that work all the time and they raised the bar for me."
In "Redemption Day," Dourdan plays the role of former Marine Brad Paxton – who is constantly reminded of an aid mission in Syria that goes left and despite the haunting reminisces of the job gone sour, Paxton is forced back onto action after his archeologist wife, Kate, is abducted by a French Algerian terrorist after she discovers an underground city beneath the desert in Morrocco – a place where Dourdan said he’s personally frequented a dozen or so times in his life.
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Dourdan said he crafted the part of Paxton on relationships he’s cultivated with folks who themselves are Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and Marines and wanted to honor members of the armed forces with his performance of a man who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"Hopefully I was able to translate some of that. You know, it's good to play a character with some dimension and some depth there," said Dourdan. "What jumped out to me was the part about the character having some history there and having some past difficulties with PTSD, which was something that I felt very strongly about that I wanted to translate onto screen. Also, I think when we see action films, you know the action hero may be unstoppable, sometimes brutal and I wanted to put a more human element to it and have some dimension to play. So that's something that attracted me. I have friends that are in the armed services and I wanted to incorporate some of how I see them as human beings into the role."
There's a lot of people that may be out on the fringe that we are not holding and so there's a great deal of things that we can learn by people in the armed services.
Having enjoyed some time performing off-Broadway in his decades-long career, the "Alien: Resurrection" star said he holds great respect for veterans and those in the armed services "who just persevere, who maintain their composure and get up and go to work no matter what" and said in his time filming in Morrocco, he put himself in the shoes of those who have served by learning the Arabic language as much as he could and ingratiating himself with the local customs.
Through the film, Dourdan’s hope is he can bring a "human element" to the idea of veterans who return home and struggle with returning to civilian life.
Former 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' star Gary Dourdan stars in the thriller 'Redemption Day.' (Saban Films)
"There's a lot of people that may be out on the fringe that we are not holding and so there's a great deal of things that we can learn by people in the armed services," Dourdan pressed. "And, you know, there's a lot to be learned by people who do that. Some of the people in the armed services often talk about the difficulty that they have when they get back into civilian life because they often want to find jobs to go back in the field and go back on missions because they feel a bit more protective of the people that are around – because some people in civilian life don't have the same discipline or the same sort of honor systems and values and principles that people in the services are used to having to live with. So that's something that I wanted to try to translate into the film as well."
Asked to describe the arc of not only his life but his career as a performer, Dourdan was resolute that he focuses on making every single day count as for him, that’s where the blessing is.
"I think it's funny because I don't think that I ever could have foreseen that I would be a working actor for such a long time. When I came into the industry, I had locks down my back and I really was kind of almost a fluke," he recalled. "I was doing musical theater and some off-Broadway stuff in New York and that's where my passions were, was in the arts. But I would look at myself and other actors that were working steadily and I really didn't see the comparisons that I really see how I was going to fit into the industry for such a long time."
Added the actor: "[I was] this light-skinned Black guy with light eyes and nappy here – I just really didn't see a lot of older actors that fit my profile. And I looked up to Harry Belafonte and Sam Jackson and Sidney Poitier and Denzel Washington but I didn't really feel like I could fit into the game or how I could even redo some of those roles that they had played and done so deftly.
'Redemption Day' star Gary Dourdan said he hopes to portray a 'human element' for veterans. (Saban Films)
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Dourdan said he questioned how he could carve out a niche for himself in an industry where breaking out as an actor was a rare occurrence for someone with his features.
"I thought, ‘How can I even fit into a career with this?’" he lamented. "So first of all, there was that – then as I kept on working and I would get parts it was an amazement to me, and it still is to continue to go certainly through all the trials and tribulations I've had – there's a lot of actors and a lot of people in the arts community that aren't even here to tell the stories.
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I'm incredibly appreciative that I'm still here continuing to tell these stories and to continue being an artist. So I feel very, very blessed.
"Redemption Day" is available in select theaters on January 8 and via Digital and On Demand on January 12.
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