Noah Segan, working actor

March 9, 2015 4:51 AM

'Looper's Noah Segan (aka Kid Blue) Explains What It's Really Like As a Working Actor

While waiting to interview Looper director Rian Johnson during Fantastic Fest, a chance encounter challenged even my notions of what it meant to be a movie star. Sitting there, in the garish luxury of the Four Seasons hotel lobby, I met a rather lost-looking young man with whom I struck up a conversation. He was passionate and sharp, and it took a good five minutes before I recognized him as Noah Segan, the actor who played Kid Blue in Looper. I assumed he too had been sent by the studio to promote the movie, but in fact he had come of his own volition, on his own dime, and was being soundly ignored by the publicists.

Talking with Noah, it became clear that, though he had appeared in several theatrical films, he was far from living the life of privilege and extreme comfort we tend to associate with movie stars. Noah’s experience echoes those of many with occupations in the creative field; the epitome of the blue-collar artist. This interview was completely unexpected, and we didn’t end up talking much about the movie, but if you’re struggling with the financial logistics of doing what you love professionally, you too will probably find a kindred spirit in Kid Blue.

Update: Brian has done a follow-up interview with Noah a year later, to see what has changed in his acting career since Movies.com last talked to him. You can listen to that here.

Two more interviews: From 2009, just after Brick, and another one from 2012, just after Looper.

posted by Lexica (6 comments total)

Thanks for posting this. I have enjoyed Noah Segan's acting when I've seen him, and I loved Brick. It looks like I've missed the vast majority of his filmography, and with 8 films in post, I'd speculate his career has picked up a bit.
What was the deal with that interaction with Rian Johnson? Was that a joke?
posted by staccato signals of constant information at 5:33 AM on March 9, 2015

the actor who played Kid Blue in Looper

No time to check the interviews now so maybe he mentions it there, but the character is named after him, not the other way around -- e.g. he's kidblue@ on twitter, and opened his account long before Looper.
posted by effbot at 5:40 AM on March 9, 2015 [5 favorites]

What was the deal with that interaction with Rian Johnson? Was that a joke?

Yes, that was just Johnson joking around. Segan and Johnson are good friends and have been for a long time. He talks about it a bit in the the last link in the post ("another one from 2012").
posted by IAmUnaware at 9:52 AM on March 9, 2015

Looper. Why send human assassins into the past, rather than simply sending the target to a past mineshaft or volcano?
posted by 0rison at 10:52 AM on March 9, 2015

Really very little about the premise of Looper makes any sense
posted by RustyBrooks at 11:02 AM on March 9, 2015 [3 favorites]

I just try to get my cinemazen on with movies like Looper.

(And, remember, the whole thing was about legal loopholes, which often make zero connection to real life.)
posted by Samizdata at 1:28 PM on March 9, 2015