With a name like Will Power, you’d expect this guy to be a circus performer. “Will Power; the man who holds his breath underwater while escaping from a straight-jacket!” Instead, his resume includes Indianapolis 500 winner and double IndyCar Series Champ. Now he can add ‘actor’ to go with his stage name.
Damien Power is a stand-up comedian down in Australia, and quite successful. Now he wants to expand into filmmaking, and he’s hired his big brother Will to star in a short film he’s written, directed and produced.
The as-yet untitled short is expected to be seen at film festivals later this year, hopefully including the Toronto Film Festival in September.
Despite Damien being a comic, and Will being the wildest personality on the grid, the short film appears to be serious in nature. Will plays himself, the central character in a drama about coping with the death of a fellow driver. By comparison, here’s a sample of Damien’s previous work.
Will Power has never taken acting classes, and despite playing the role of ‘Will Power’ he found it a difficult and challenging task.
“It was very hard to act. It was draining. Man, doing those scenes put you in an emotional state. I got to the end of each day and was totally drained. You realize how lucky are to be a race car driver and not an actor, because at the end of a race day or a practice day, you feel awesome – it’s an extremely fun thing to do. Acting is not fun… that serious stuff is hard.”
– Will Power, to RACER
Damien Power has wrapped up principal photography, and is now in the process of editing the short film. Demaras Racing plans on attending the first screening, and will provide a complete report.