‘Starting from Scratch’ focuses a comedic eye on year in James Huang’s life
“IRS audit” and “comedy” are terms that rarely appear in the same sentence.
But if you’re James Huang, actor and filmmaker, you can mine a lot of laughs from a situation that sends most people straight into the arms of a panic attack.
Starting from Scratch, a new independent film by the 1998 Rutgers graduate, will be showcased at the New Jersey Film Festival on the night of February 1, with Huang on hand to introduce and answer questions about his semi-autobiographical project.
The Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center and the Rutgers Program in Cinema Studies sponsor the two-month long festival, with most screenings held at Voorhees Hall on the College Avenue Campus.
Starting from Scratch tells the story of Jake Lew, played by Huang, who’s on the verge of a divorce from his wife Ally just before they are slapped with an audit by the Internal Revenue Service. The audit forces the couple to sift through mountains of receipts – and the memories they stir up – while ultimately unraveling what went wrong in their relationship.
Professors advise aspiring screen writers to write about what they know, and this is one narrative Huang knows all too well. The film re-creates a year in his own life that anyone else might gladly have assigned to history. Instead, he made a 90-minute film about it.
The introspective angle marked a dramatic reversal for Huang, whose 15-year career has featured appearances in such television hits as Lost, NCIS, Las Vegas and two out of the four Law and Order series.
“One impetus for me to write this story was the opportunity to play a complete character and not just another small plot of an action film or a cop story,” says the native New Yorker and third-degree black belt.
Not that he regrets any of his small-screen roles as a police officer, FBI agent or soldier.
“It was exhilarating to make Starting from Scratch,” Huang says, “but it’s also exhilarating to get flown to Hawaii to film an episode of Lost and punch [series star] Matthew Fox in the face for a nice paycheck.”
The youngest of 10 children – five boys, five girls – Huang graduated from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School before heading to New Brunswick as a participant in Rutgers’ Educational Opportunity Fund Program, which offers academic and financial assistance to low-income New Jersey residents.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in theater arts, with a minor in cinema studies.
A theater 101 class exposed him to New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse, where he later got his first resident acting job his first year out of college. During the Playhouse season, Huang met acting legend Uta Hagen, who gave the actors lessons during her final days of performing.
“It was incredible to be in her presence,” he says of the Tony Award-winner who died in 2004. “All of us were clearly in awe of her. She was, in the best sense of the word, the original diva.”
The George Street Playhouse also gave Huang his first long-term contractual acting job, playing a newcomer to America in New Kid.
“I got the call that I booked the job 24 hours after walking in my graduation processional,” he recalls. “I went from freaking out for a day to thinking maybe I really could make a living as an actor.”
Huang went on to claim recurring roles in ABC’s Women’s Murder Club and TNT’s Rizzoli & Isles, as well as in the long-running soap General Hospital. Television viewers also have seen in him such sitcoms as Will and Grace and The New Adventures of Old Christine. His movie credits include the Dreamworks feature Eagle Eye, and the Disney/Bruckheimer feature film G-Force.
As a director and producer, Huang won a Prism Award in 2007 for the MTV documentary True Life: I’m Addicted to Crystal Meth. He has written, produced and directed several short films featured at film festivals nationwide.
Although they’re both facets of the same business, acting and directing differ tremendously, he says. “When you’re an actor, you’re a kid on the playground having a blast. When you’re producing and directing, you’re the parent overseeing everyone else having a blast.”
He calls Starting from Scratch, which was also selected as the opening night film of the Asians on Film Festival in Los Angeles on February 15 as well as the festival's Best Comedy Feature, his most ambitious project to date.
“I began small with short films, funny little sketches,” Huang recalls. “I’ve tried to keep evolving. Maybe one day I’ll make something significant that shakes people to the core, but for now, I’m content with just making people laugh.”
All the musicians who contributed to the new film are personal friends, as are the actors and extras. Also starring with Huang is Elizabeth Sandy, his wife in real life; they produced the film together. He also cast fellow Rutgers alum Sadie Alexandru in a role Huang describes as “a sexy bartender.” Alexandru, who last season had a recurring part as Scarlett in Mad Men, graduated from the Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2000.
His appearance at the film festival next month will mark Huang’s first return to his alma mater since graduation. John Belton, professor of English and film at Rutgers, has invited him to speak at an Introduction to Film class – a class Huang took as a first-year student nearly two decades ago.
He expects the experience to be “fun, surreal … and a little scary,” he says.