Last week I had the chance to chat with Luke Healy a British actor making his American debut as one of the stars of the 2012 viral marketing campaign along with Woody Harrelson. Luke plays Dr. Soren Ulfert who works for The Institute for Human Continuity (IHC), a fictional organization from the film created to choose via lottery who survives the Mayan-predicted end of time. The viral marketing campaign story is told in via a series of YouTube videos and blog posts. You follow Luke’s character as he is fired from the IHC and how he begins to search for the truth behind the IHC and the Survival Lottery itself.

Although this is the first time we Americans have caught a glimpse of Healy, he isn’t actually new to America or acting in what is quite an interesting story to tell you the truth. Luke was actually born in Portland, Oregon to British parents living in America at the time. While growing up in London, he started acting at a young age at the National Theatre in London and worked for the BBC acting on several BBC shows Chalk, The 10th Kingdom and My Dad’s the Prime Minister. He is now trying his hand at Hollywood and I honestly think a gig with one of the most hotly anticipated movies on the season opposite the star of Zombieland is not such a bad gig.

So what inspired you to get into acting?

My parents really, they joined an amateur theatre company called Questors in Ealing as students. So they always acted. And because the nature of the beast, they would be doing something that would have kids in the play and more often than not my brother, my sister and myself were in them and then I got spotted for a few things. As kids from Questors, I got a few jobs in the theater and then I started doing some work for BBC, as a kid as well. So it was sort of was through my parents’ love of theatre that spawned my own and then I started working.

What was it like working on a show written by Stephen Moffat? I’m a huge fan of Coupling, Doctor Who and Jekyll. I was wondering what it was like to work with such a great writer.

I loved it. I was back in London the week before last, and I saw him at a casting. He’s…doing you know him at all? Cause he’s quite a sort of bumbling Glaswegian, and he writes very unlike how he is if you know what I mean. Except for Chalk. Chalk was quite reflective of him. It was supposed to be a parody of Fawlty Towers, where the head teacher was sort of based on Basil, and the wife was based on Sybil, and the headmistress was sort of based on Connie, or the head teacher. It was a lot of fun, I was in my mid 20’s when I did it, and I was playing the captain of the soccer team, as if I were 17 or something. Which is even funnier. I thought it was very funny, in a dark sort of way, which pleases me. He’s a good man and has clearly gone on to great, great things. Justly deserved.

I don’t know what he’s doing at the moment. We did have a conversation, but it was about 2012 actually, he had seen some of the stuff and was quite interested. I’m sure I asked him what he was up to as the moment, busy man I’m sure.

What was the transition like going from the BBC to Hollywood? I know the BBC is much different from the way we do things over here across the pond.

For sure. I’m still finding my feet over here to be honest. It’s so different, I feel like I love London and I love the work that comes out of London, but I sort of feel like we’re some sort of distant middle relative now. It feels so small compared to LA. Essentially it’s all comes down to the same elements of truth and storytelling for me, anyway. But there is just so much here, and there is a real work ethic here, which I love. I think it’s much stronger here than in London. It is an industry town, with no glamour and sparkles to that statement. So in terms of transition, there are people who have been here for 10-20 years and they are still getting caught out on different ways, and I’m just loving the difference, the different animal that is here. MORE AFTER THE JUMP!

What it’s like working on the viral campaign of 2012, one of the biggest films of the holiday season?

I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m not a computer orientated person, although we spend all too much time in front of them these days. So I didn’t know anything about viral marketing before taking this job. It was a completely new thing for me, and although I think they’ve done this in a very smart way, they haven’t tried to replace the movie theatre going experience. It’s just dropping scenes along the way to get you to the movieplex, I guess. I’m in it, so I guess I don’t know how objective I can be, but I think it’s a really clever little story that they’ve created which builds up towards the movie. It’s so much more accessible now, with You Tube and all the other mediums that exist, I find the whole thing very interesting.

Can you tell us a bit about your character and his impact on the bigger story of 2012, how it fits into the whole story arc?

Yeah, Dr. Soren Ulfert is the communications director. He is sort of a conduit between the general public and the Institute of Human Continuity, the agency that was established, so that man survives after the cataclysmic events of 2012. Intitially, the first short we filmed at the beginning of the year, was sort of a horrified newsreader, presenting information and detailing facts. But now Dr. Soren’s story has progressed and once he got fired, it’s become much more character based. It’s certainly been much more interesting to play because, things are starting to go wrong and not working out well now. It’s much more about the character now rather than imparting information, which all sort of fun to play.

So is the story going to progress even more as the movie comes out, to some type of conclusion?

Yup, yup yup. I won’t say what it is, but there is definitely more to come.

What are your thoughts on viral campaigns for films as they become more an integral part of film marketing these days?

I think that viral campaigns are a great idea, it offers a lot of potential creativity and, a lot less time is required. You have less people to say yes or no to you, so you can have a go at stuff and if it doesn’t work then you can do it again, and change tack. I think that people can’t afford not to do them now, realistically. I really don’t think there are any movies right now that don’t need them honestly; it adds layers to the story. By seeing that story, you are much more well informed, and invested in the world when you go see the movie.

When did they start principle photography on this project?

We actually started in January, but that was partly because originally the movie was scheduled to release in the summer. We started with the newsreaderly sort of stuff where I was just imparting information in January. Then we then started the IHC stuff over the summer where I got fired up to the storyline, which is currently running.

After 2012 wraps up what’s your next project?

I write as well, and my writing partner is out here right now and we are going to be working on what we think is a very funny script for a cop show. But normally it’s just normal actor stuff, auditioning and learning about LA and getting called back or not.

So, my last question is – have you ever been to Philadelphia?

I have been to Philadelphia. I’ve been to Philadelphia three times. I was born in Portland Oregon as I’m sure you can tell by my accent, I spent some time in the States in my life, and some of our friends, some of our old neighbors from Portand moved to Doylestown, Pennsylvania. So I’ve been there twice and been in Philly a few times. I love Philadelphia.

Before you check out 2012 tonight check out the viral campaign here.