Patrick Cavanaugh in the spotlight
Alison MillerIssue date: 12/3/09 Section: Movies
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His latest project, "Transylmania" is a spoof horror comedy that follows a group of college students who embark on a semester abroad in Romania. There, they attend Razvan University, an old castle located in the "cursed land" of Transylvania, which also used to be home to a group of vampires during the Dark Ages.
The flick marks Cavanaugh's fourth film working with directors David and Scott Hillenbrand (his previous works being "National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze," "Game Box 1.0" and "Dorm Daze 2").
In "Transylmania" Cavanaugh plays Pete, a "total stoner" who "just wants to party and hang out with his buddy Wang" (Paul H. Kim).
Without a doubt, Cavanaugh said the film is piggybacking off the success of the "Twilight" saga, especially with "New Moon" being released a couple weeks before "Transylmania."
"We kind of hit the lottery when it came to that," Cavanaugh said.
The filmmakers were able to shoot in Romania, where the study-abroad program takes place. Cavanaugh compares that experience to the initial plot of the movie.
"It was like going to study abroad. There is this group of us, from America, some of us knew each other, some of us didn't, and we became close, fast friends because you are kind of stuck with each other regardless."
While it was hard to be so far away from home during production in Romania, Cavanaugh said it allowed him to focus more on his acting.
"You don't have any other distractions, you don't have your normal life distractions, because you are there living the set every day and around the other crew members and actors every single day," Cavanaugh said.
Besides his work with the Hillenbrand brothers, Cavanaugh has also starred on several television series and currently plays the character Smitty on the award-winning AMC show, "Mad Men."
Cavanaugh says he loves doing both film and television for different reasons.
"I like having a home and having a daily routine. But once and a while, it's nice to shake it up," Cavanaugh said, adding that his dream job would be to work on a television show for six months out of the year and then star in a movie during the off-season.
But for now, Cavanaugh is still waiting to hear back if he will return to the next season of "Mad Men." He also has another independent movie coming up as well as an animation pilot that he is hoping Disney will pick up.
"A bunch of maybes, ifs and hope so's, as it is always in this business. But it's better than nothing on the plate," Cavanaugh said.
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