Director's Cut

(upbeat music) (speaking Arabic) (upbeat music) Hi, welcome to Director's Cut. I'm Pete Schwaba, and that was a clip from Detroit Unleaded, a film about two cousins trying to run a gas station they've taken over from a deceased family member in a tough Motown neighborhood. We're joined today by one of the film's actors, Mike Batayeh. Mike, welcome to Director's Cut. How's it going, man? Great. Great to have you here. I'm kind of excited about this because usually, we have directors, producers, and you're one of the actors in the film. Yeah. So, I'm excited to get your perspective. Tell us a little bit about how you got involved with this. Was it just a typical casting process, or did you know the filmmakers? No, I was living in Los Angeles, and I'm originally from Detroit. Yeah, because you have to go through casting directors and blah, blah, blah. But I heard about this through Facebook, of all places. Somebody messaged me and said, "Hey, they're doing a movie in Detroit. "The director named Rola Nashef." And then I just contacted my manager and said, "Hey, can you find out what this is all about?" And she contacted the director, Rola Nashef, and she sent me the script, and I auditioned for the role of Mike. Put myself on tape, and I get a call a week later, and it's Rola Nashef that calls me. She goes, "You got Mike." I go, "Yeah, it's Mike." She goes, "No, yeah, you got Mike." -

Pete

You got Mike. - I go, "Yeah, it's Mike. "This is Mike." She goes, "No, idiot, you have Mike, the role of Mike." I go, "Oh, okay!" I had no idea. You almost cost yourself the role. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I had no idea. She called me personally and told me I had the role. And I flew back to my hometown, Detroit, and we shot for a little over a month. -

Pete

Wow. Yeah, back in my hometown, yeah. And one of the most dangerous areas in Detroit. Is it? What part of Detroit was that? It was right near Wayne State University. So I want to say, like, east side? Okay. If I'm not mistaken, it's the east side. -

Pete

Right. Nice. And where are you from in Detroit? I grew up in southwest Detroit. Actually, you know, Jack, White Stripes? You ever heard of that group White Stripes? Jack White grew up right behind me on Ferdinand. So there was a lot of talent in southwest Detroit. -

Pete

You should have got him to do the music for that. I know, exactly, exactly. So I've been out in LA for like 19 years and, yeah, I just shot back and did the movie. -

Pete

Great. - Yeah. So, you know, to the best of your knowledge, you have a lot of actors from Detroit. Do you know if they went through the casting process, or did they know the filmmakers? There's a lot of Detroit actors. Yeah, she held... All the casting was in Detroit itself. Dearborn and Detroit area. And she told me that I was the last role, that she couldn't find a Mike. And she did a short film before this of Detroit Unleaded. And I think she was going to cast the Mike from the short film. Things just didn't work out. So, yeah, she said that that was it. I think I was the only one that casted out of state. -

Pete

Really? Yeah, yeah, she caught me on tape and you know, I was the last one to get cast. So the other guy was from Detroit too, Sami, the lead. Yeah, EJ. And did you know him before the-- No, I just met him. I just met him in Detroit. He actually recently moved out to LA, I'd say about a year and a half ago. -

Pete

No kidding? - Yeah, yeah. He's an LA boy now. Have you guys had a screening of this yet in LA? Wait a minute, did we? Yeah, I think we did. Yeah, we did have a screening in LA. At the LA Film Festival, actually. -

Pete

Oh, cool. - Yeah, yeah. Let's talk more about that. We're going to see another clip from Detroit Unleaded. (telephone rings) Hello. (speaking Arabic) (bell dings) How you doing, Sam? (speaking Arabic) (bell dings) (speaking Arabic) Thank you. (speaking Arabic) (cash register beeping) (woman singing in Arabic) (bell dings) (gun cocks) What do you want? (gunshots) (shells clatter) (drawer clunks) (money rattling) (Arabic song continues) Okay, so there. Maybe you can't answer this as an actor, but there are two kind of gaps after the patriarch dies, in the scene we just saw. And then at the end when he, Sami, gets together with the girl. Do you know if that was a conscious decision by the director not to show the immediate aftermath or-- You mean after they drive off in the end? Like what happens? -

Pete

Yeah. Yeah. Like it looked like she was gone, and then all the sudden they're together. Yeah, you know, a lot of people asked about that. And she kept it ambiguous. She wouldn't even answer in the Q&As during screenings. -

Pete

Really? Yeah, she wouldn't even answer. I mean, I didn't have a problem with it-- She didn't even tell me, I was asking. I was like, "What, you know, what happens?" She's like, "I don't know." Got to use your imagination. Maybe they're together, maybe they're yeah, I thought the same thing, too. I was kind of confused at a certain point. Then you see them in the car together driving off. But, yeah, I... She kept it just like a suspension of reality, she said. Okay. Detroit has a large African-American population. Also has a lot of Arab Americans. Being from Detroit, can you talk a little bit about those two groups and the relations? Does it mirror the film? Yeah, it does. The biggest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East is a place called Dearborn, which is just outside of Detroit. It's a little suburb. But a lot of the gas station owners and the convenience store owners are Arab, but they go to Detroit and open up shops. So Detroit is mainly African American, but the relationships, I mean, she really caught it perfectly you know? The chemistry that they have. And there's respect, you know, amongst both. You know what I mean? - Right. No, and it was. It was like they got along just fine for the most part in the movie. It was an interesting dynamic, I thought, you know. So, tell us, you've been on Breaking Bad. Mm-hmm. Everybody Loves Raymond. You've done Adam Sandler films. What's it like? Talk about that process when you do an indie film as opposed to a bigger budget studio film. Contrast there. As an actor, does it change your approach? Yeah. I actually like independent films more. There's something about the shoestring budget and just living that grimy. And it's just... There's more camaraderie, I think, because I think the big budgets, everybody's kind of separated more. You got the trailers and, you know, you just go in and out maybe like a day player. So the experiences, for me, I've been on longer shoots for independents, so I can only speak from that experience, but I'm sure big budgets are funner too. I think I've only done one, the Adam Sandler one, which was, you know, a couple of days I did on that. But, me, I prefer the independents. -

Pete

Yeah. - Yeah. Does it make you, like, what did you have to bring to this character? It is an indie. What did you bring to your own personal life to Mike? Well, you're Mike, but this Mike. On-screen Mike and off-screen Mike. Yeah, like I said, I grew up in that area, so I know. A couple of my uncles owned a convenience store. I actually worked in a convenience store when I was in high school. So I kind of saw firsthand, and I kind of tailored Mike after a couple of the gas station owners that I've known. They're just not refined people. Let's just put it that way. "Yo, cuz, hey, cuz, bro, cuz!" And they're just really animated, you know what I mean? There's no down time for them. So you worked in a gas station. Did you have moments in your real life where you were actually selling stuff? Like you were selling or working a bunch of jobs, or was that written into character? Is that something you brought as an actor? You mean did I have experience like what he was doing? Yeah, exactly. No, no. I worked just, I just strictly worked the liquor store aspect of it. That was it. -

Pete

You were Sami. Yeah, yeah, yeah I was that. But those things actually didn't come into play until I'd say about seven or eight years ago. That's when they started selling just... Gas stations were gas stations. And then they started doing the mini mart thing, and then you just had everything. You had beepers, you had gold chains being sold or fake gold chains. It just started becoming a one-stop shop. -

Pete

It's like a candy store with gas. The Arabs are very, yeah, they're very entrepreneurial. They'll sell anything. Let's just put it that way. Well, let's see another clip from Detroit Unleaded. (hip hop music) (bell dings) Hey, uh, let me see that 4X right there. Nah, it ain't big enough, dawg. I can't deal with that. Are you gonna ask me if I want anything? Listen, we just got here okay? Don't mess the first date up. I don't want anything anyway. (sighs) How much, man? $12. $12, man? Come on, man. What's the real price? I'm not trying to feel that price. Nothing in here is $12. Yo, where's Mike? Yo, Mike! Yo, Michael! (Middle Eastern music plays) (brakes squeal) Huh? God bless come in? God bless. God bless. (speaks native language) (ice cream truck music plays) (brakes squeal) We got no orange push-ups. All we got is Fudgsicles and ice cream sandwiches. -

Voiceover

Okay, ice cream sandwich. Ice cream sandwich. Go, have fun. (speaks native language) (bell dings) (knock on door) - Open the door. No, no, no, no, no, no. Come on, man. Buzz door. That's how this works. (buzzer) Thank you. We're not selling flowers. Get outta here, no. Easy, cuz, okay? People need to get laid. Yeah, well, how'd we do? We broke even on the gas. Oh. You know he has a big neon sign lit up. God bless. What are you talking about? Exactly. See? He's building a freaking spaceship over there. We don't even have an "O." We have "PEN" lit up on the window. (bell dings) What, you think people are confused? We've never even been closed. Be careful what you wish for, Sami, okay? He will shut us down, put us out of business, without thinking twice about your mother or my wife. Wives, they tend to multiply, okay? They turn into kids and grandkids and cars and houses and layaway. Here we go. (sighs) - Sami! I have dreams for us, bro. So, Sami sits behind this sort of metaphorical and literal cage. Yeah. Mike is this free-spirited, free-wheeling guy. Talk a little bit about their relationship as cousins. You know, as the business aspect of things? Yeah. I know he's in a rut, and I know what he's about. He's depressed and he's just, he's just living in a box, and he... His dreams died, basically. He wanted to go to California. So I think he's working here out of guilt. And I, you know, this thing is in my blood. I wanted to build an empire, and I'm trying to get him out of, It's unspoken, but I know that he's depressed. I just don't say anything. So at the end of movie, you see that I kind of let him go into the world. Bring him out a little bit. Yeah, the whole time I'm just trying to get him to think big, you know what I mean? So, you've been in LA, you said, for 19 years. 19 years, yeah. You had a nice run out there with some great credits. Now you just went back to Detroit. How does that change? -

Mike

I just moved back. Yeah, as an actor, how does that affect you? Are you prepared for how it, will it be harder to get work? No, because a lot of times, I go on tape. I put myself on tape and send it out to the producers, directors, but I've always wanted to, You know, like Detroit was my home, you know? So I wanted to always move back and make it my home base and then just go to LA or New York or wherever I have to go for work as a comedian or an actor. But it has a culture shock. Like, I think we were talking about it. Yesterday, yeah. I come home twice a year to visit or do some shows, you know, shoot some stuff, and you're still stuck in that bubble of when you left 19, 20 years ago. Right. So I've been back since July, and it's been kicking my butt, man. Especially the wintertime. (chuckles) -

Pete

How so? - I wasn't used to it. (overlapping dialog) Oh, I wasn't used to it, yeah. And it's a slower pace too. Like you go back to Michigan, it's just... It took some time adjusting. I'm still adjusting. Like the first couple months I was like, "Yeah, I'm home!" And then after a month I was like, "Yeah, I'm home." And a month later, "Uh, I'm home." -

Pete

Oh, I'm home. (laughter) Yeah. -

Pete

You can't go home again. Yeah, like all my family is there and stuff like that so it's really good. And a lot of people thought like, "So, what are you going to do now?" Like they thought I left acting or left film. I go, "I didn't leave." I'm just like, "I wanted to come home and live." Is there work there? I mean, with theater too? Not work locally, no. It's still, you know, mainly the work is in Los Angeles and New York and places like that. Like the last few projects I shot were like Toronto, New Mexico, you know? Most of the stuff is shot in LA, and a lot of stuff was being shot in Michigan for a while, but then the governor kind of cut the-- -

Pete

Yeah. - Yeah, so... -

Pete

Incentives. Had I moved back like six years ago, five years ago, it'd been better, I could have worked more locally. But, you know, it is what it is. We'll see how it is. I'm going to stick it out for like a year or two and see, you know, see what it's like. And that's my dream is to, you know, have home base here just to kind of get out of the crazy stuff of LA. But I liked LA. So, is there a significance to the title Detroit Unleaded? Obviously, it's in the gas stations, it's about the gas. But there's also guns and bullets. Is there a correlation there? With the title? Yeah, do you know? I'm not sure. I don't know why she named it Detroit Unleaded. I have no idea. -

Pete

Okay. We never bothered to go into it. So I think it is what it is. It's just the gas station is in Detroit, and I think that's, you know. You as an actor had nothing to do with titling the film? Nah, I just kind of, I just put my sexy in the film and that was it. (laughter) Which got cut, obviously. Exactly, exactly. Unfortunately for you. -

Mike

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a love scene, she cut it out. (laughter) All right, let's see another clip from Detroit Unleaded. I don't understand what you want from me. I mean, don't you want to be with me? What do you think I'm doing here? I am here, I am with you. But you don't want to kiss me. You're the dream crusher, you know? (sighs) (soft acoustic music) (chuckles) Can you blame me? No, I can't. (chuckles) Just one kiss? No. There's your bed. You want my red ones? I'll take your red ones. I'm the one with everything to lose. Don't you see that? If I get caught, my parents will lock me up, and then I'll never get out of this place. Where are you going? What, you think I'm going to run Fadi's empire forever? I got plans, bro. What plans? Like what? I'm not gonna tell you. You'll get jealous and put a curse on me. No. Um, I was thinking, "Wow, this girl's really pretty, "and I want to kiss her." So are you gonna kiss me? (speaking Arabic) Don't you ever give up? No. So, most of the story takes place in this gas station. Uh-huh. Do you know how you guys found the gas station? Was that an elaborate set, or was it a, were you running and gunning? They were trying to operate while you were shooting? How did that work? From what I understand, she ran across it. It was abandoned when she saw it. I saw pictures of it. It was like in crack house status. It was really bad and really decrepit. And I think they worked on it, maybe it's a couple of weeks and they got it in that kind of shape, which is pretty amazing. -

Pete

Yeah. - Yeah. She hired a lot of people to work on it. You told me it's something else now, off-camera. What is it now? It's a, well, it's legal in Michigan now. It's a weed store. I think it's called the Grass Station now. (laughter) I was like, that's brilliant, that's brilliant! Yeah, so I actually want to drive by there. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if they still have the pumps out in front, I think they might have the pumps out in front. It's perfect. -

Pete

They dispense the weed through the pumps. Oh, it'd be brilliant. Weed juice, yeah. But they have the guys come out and actually do it for you like the old days. (laughter) So tell us, we talked a little bit about this, but for viewers who will encounter this when they watch the film, an up-do girl, I'd never heard that term. What is an up-do girl? Yeah, we were talking about that. I thought it was a Middle Eastern thing, like they call the up-do girls the girls that go to the weddings and they put their hair up in the up-do. But then I think your producer, she said it's a-- -

Pete

She had heard of it. She's heard of it. -

Pete

I thought it was like an Arab thing. Yeah, I thought it was just a cultural thing but apparently, it goes all the way around. I didn't hear about it until we were on set, and they said it in the movie and I was like, what the hell is an up-do girl? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Yeah, exactly. I'd never heard of it, yeah. What's going on with the counter? Whose idea was that, do you know? It was kind of a sweet scene. You know, they're not gonna kiss, but they're laying there. I don't know, but they made Skittles very sexy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very, yeah. Do you know if they had to get clearance to use Skittles? No, I think they got clearance. Yeah, they got clearance. Oh, really? If you put it on a girl's bellybutton, you have to have clearance. Is that right? The bellybutton you need clearance? Okay. So, talk a little bit about the leading lady here. She was really good, I thought. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you said that's her only-- That was her first time acting. She went there, she went on the audition on a whim. She just saw it on the thing, and her and her friend were supposed to go to the audition. She thought, you know, it'd be a fun thing to do. Just like that. That was her decision. It'd be a fun thing to do. And then her friend kind of flaked the last minute. She goes, "Well, screw it, I'm still gonna go." And she never had an acting class, never, you know, never thought about the movie. She just saw an ad randomly and went there and got the part. And then she never acted again. She never wanted to act. She had no aspirations to be an actress. I told her, I said, "You know, you're a natural. "You should really, you know, look into it." Beautiful, you know? Has a lot of good screen presence. -

Pete

So she doesn't want to act again at all? No. -

Pete

It's not because of you, right? It's not because of me, no. I tried to harass her on set, but it didn't work. She moved. She's in California now, actually. She's married in Orange County, and I think she has a kid right now. But, yeah, she's never, no interest in acting. - See, that perplexes me because a lot of people that aren't actors, they get the bug and they want to try it. And once they try it or, you know, I've put extras in movies or given people one line or something, and then they just get this "I'm moving to California, I wanna do this." But she did it, she did a great job, and she just walks away and says, "Ah, I did it. "No, thanks." Yeah, she just didn't... I think that was the charm about it too. Like she, you know, we'd do the screenings and Q&As and, you know, just, I think she might have gotten approached to do another thing too. Do you have an approach or a technique as an actor? Like, you know, (mumbles) all these-- I never took an acting class. I kind of bull crapped my way into the business. -

Pete

Just like Mike, you're like that guy. Yeah, I kind of just kind of learned as I went. I think I got my first... I was out in California and joined a sketch comedy troupe and did a lot of the writing. And then I had done a little bit of standup out of high school. And then when I went to LA, I just kind of just did sketch comedy and got my first agent and just started auditioning. And within, I gave myself a year, and within a year, I booked my first role. -

Pete

Wow, nice. I think it was Everybody Loves Raymond. And I just kept going. I learned as I went. I kind of picked the brains of the actors and directors. Hands-on. Yeah, I don't like to sit in a trailer. I just like to sit there and ask questions. I want to talk more about your comedy background too after this next clip. So let's take a look at our final clip from Detroit Unleaded. Where's my sister? Najlah, where you at? Listen, Fadi. Fadi, please. -

Fadi

Shut up! What are you doing with my sister? -

Voiceover

Fadi, we weren't doing anything. Shut up. And get your (censored) from behind that counter. -

Voiceover

We were just talking, man. That's it. Who the hell said you could talk to my sister, huh? Let's go! Now! No, no, wait. -

Voiceover

Let her go. No! Let her, I'm telling you now, Sami, let her go. (buzzer) I got to plead and beg with you? Don't look at him. (sighs) You're not gonna embarrass me in front of my boys. Don't look at him. Look at the floor. When I get out of here, you got five seconds. And you. Wallah, this glass saved your life just now. (bell dings) (door slams) (buzzer) Naj. Did he leave? I'm sorry. Did he leave? Yeah, he left. Come... (bell dings) That was a good thing. I saw your, I went on your IMDB page. First of all, I love that you wrote your own bio and then actually put your name on it because so many actors go there and like, "This talent is up and coming!" and blah blah. Written by anonymous. You know it's the actor that wrote it. So I applaud you for doing that. But it said you were one of the first comics to do comedy in the Middle East. And we talked a little bit about this on the phone yesterday, that comedy is kind of new there. Talk a little bit about that experience. Yeah, over there, it's, they're just used to like sketch comedy, stuff like that. So, actually, there was a group called the Axis of Evil with Maz Jobrani, Aron Kader, and Ahmed Ahmed, and they started, they formed at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. And then they went to, they shot a Comedy Central special, and they toured all over America and they went to Dubai. And I went there like a week after them, and next thing you know, they're doing it in Jordan, and it just kind of caught like wildfire. So, you know, we've done separately and together. We've worked Egypt, Lebanon. I've been to, Jordan, which is my home country; Baharan, Dubai, and a lot of American and other international communities have gone there too. Like Russell Peters, Gabriel Iglesias, Fluffy. Yeah, quite a few people. Dean Edwards, people like that. But it caught on like wildfire, and it advanced. Like in America, it took like from the 1950s all the way up until now to kind of evolve and you can kind of cross barriers and boundaries and say certain things. Right. Like when we first went there, like, "Don't say anything about the king. "Don't say anything about this. "Don't say anything about the Pope." You know? There's nothing left to talk about. But now it's a little bit more open, and it really caught on. Like, I think in 2008, the first wave started. But it's really, it's going on pretty strong over there. So we have about 30 seconds left, unfortunately. Tell me, how depressing was it when you saw you were going to get killed in Breaking Bad? Yeah, yeah. I didn't know, I didn't know. Because he doesn't give the script out. Vince Gilligan, he just gives you, he's kind of like Woody Allen. He'll just give you the sides. So I didn't know I was getting killed until I saw, there was this Asian guy, and he had like a suit on and I just saw like a mask. And it kind of looked like me and it didn't. It was like a deformed face. Yeah. So he was a stunt guy. So he was me that got burned, this little Asian guy. I go, "What is this?" He goes, "Oh, this is you." (laughter) I go, "What's going to happen?" "I get burned, but this is you." I was like, "Oh, man." So, yeah, that's how I found out. I found out the day of-- Mike, it's great having you here. Thank you very much, man, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. -

Mike

Awesome. And thank you for watching Director's Cut. For information on Detroit Unleaded, please go to wpt.org and click on Director's Cut. While you're there, send us an email or find out how to submit a film. Also, don't forget to like WPT on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. I'm Pete Schwaba, and I am not an up-do girl. We'll see you next time on Director's Cut. (upbeat music) ("Let's Talk" by Hannah Georgas) Where's these lollipops? If they're so good, how come you haven't offered me one? (chuckles) But I don't think those words Would come out right But I know I could try So here it goes Just so that I could stay out all hours of the night, Just to stay out all night