Will Bouvier Makes It at Sundance

By Jason W. Prokowiew
Will Bouvier’s dreams are coming true, and we get to watch.

The actor from Shirley, MA is getting his first taste of the big screen as one of three antagonists making Kate Bosworth, Lake Bell and Katie Aselton’s lives absolute hell in the upcoming film Black Rock. LD Distribution bought the thriller for more than $1 million at Sundance.

Bouvier’s dreams have been turning to reality since his 2005 graduation from New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Driven partially by a desire to come home and help his ailing mom, Bouvier broke the rules about needing to be in New York to “make it.”

“I knew acting was what I wanted, but it got impossible. I thought, ‘Why the hell am I in New York to bartend? I can go home and be an actor.’”

So home he came, and it turned out to be the right decision. He dominated the local theatre scene as Tom in Glass Menagerie and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice at Fitchburg’s Cornerstone Center. He’s currently acting with Wellesley College’s Theater Studies Program and is still bartending, now at Wachusett Mountain. He saw his mom get better and is now a husband and stepfather.

Bouvier speaks about his family and acting with the same passion as he does Black Rock.

“It felt like the heart of independent film. Everyone was there in Milbridge, Maine filming last June, within a quarter mile of each other, and it was a labor of love. It was the love of theatre on a much bigger scale.”

Bouvier raves about Black Rock director and star Aselton, a friend from the acting academy who asked him to play the role of Henry Wallace.

“It was awesome seeing an old friend in her element and how good she is. It was beautiful the way Katie set it up, with just the right amount of violence to make your jaw drop but not be grossed out,” Bouvier shares.

As Bouvier takes his latest steps towards living the dream, we hope for him the same as he hopes for himself.

“It feels like for the first time in my life it could happen. This film is a huge push. For every time I’ve been discouraged or put it on the back burner, it feels like I could start being able to just act, and support my family that way.”

Black Rock will likely be released nationally this summer.

(top) Will Bouvier – Photo by C&J Photography
(bottom) L-R, Jay Paulson, Lake Bell, Katie Aselton, Kate Bosworth, Will Bouvier, Anslem Richardson. | Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images. January 21, 2012 in Park City, Utah.