The action thriller Habit is now out in select theaters and everywhere you rent movies. The film stars Bella Thorne, Paris Jackson, and Bush frontman and guitarist Gavin Rossdale.
“The action begins as LA party girl Mads (Bella Thorne, The DUFF) gets a gig running drugs for Eric, a washed-up Hollywood star,” reads the official synopsis. “When their cash gets stolen and Eric is slain by a rival drug lord, Mads and her two sexy BFFs hide out by dressing up as nuns. But in spite of their costumes, these bad girls are no angels…”
RELATED: Exclusive Habit Clip Featuring Bella Thorne & Gavin Rossdale
ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Bush frontman and actor Gavin Rossdale about his new film Habit, which he stars in alongside Bella Thorne.
Tyler Treese: Gavin, this is such an interesting role and Habit is such a wild movie. You get to play this washed-up actor turned drug dealer. What really drew you to this role?
Gavin Rossdale: Identification. No. [laughs] I rarely stay alive in movies. I’m always the bad guy and it just felt like we all have times when we lose our way and he just felt like a dude that just totally lost his way. It’s funny people don’t prepare for success and when you get success it just blows your mind and you gotta be careful not to turn into a joke and you’re cool with it. But then when you slide down the mountain and the things aren’t as rosy, it’s really tough.
So seeing this guy who clearly was someone, I imagine it was some sitcom star and big in people’s lives and suddenly wasn’t big. So he turns to dealing drugs and I don’t know I sort of empathize with people that take the wrong, more human side of life, not the sort of perfect manicured success stories. I like it when people lose their way. So I liked the words, the words were fun and they bounce off the page to me. Sometimes you read scripts and it’s a bit tricky because if they’re not written well, you’re just like how do I put life in this? You know?
So it felt like a script full of life and all the people involved from Janell through to Paris. I love Paris. She’s an amazing person. Bella is a terrific actress, so it was really good fun. I love The Kills, one of my favorite bands. I was like is this a long-form video for The Kills? I didn’t know what was happening. We had Alison [Mosshart] and Jamie [Hince].
Yeah, it was so cool that Jamie was there. Did you actually know him before this? How was it like working with him?
First of all, The Kills are literally one of my favorite bands. So for me, it was a little intimidating. Because if you like someone’s work so much, not only are you scared that they aren’t the person that you want them to be, but also the what if you don’t get along and now suddenly you’ve got this disconnected vibe with a band you love. So we just got on great. He was an actor first. Before The Kills, he trained as an actor and in fact, The Kills were signed from him doing a play at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. So I think for him finally coming and doing a movie was a really big deal for him. He was brilliant to work with because he had a sort of vulnerability about his process that I really liked.
We rehearsed a lot. We really connected, I loved him. It was only at the end after working with him for like three or four days, whatever. Then when we said goodbye, I took his number and hugged him. I was like, by the way, I love your band, they’re an amazing band. So he said some nice things to me, which I was surprised about. Then we vowed to stay in touch. So once the pandemic starts to subside a bit further, I look forward to hanging out with him. I want to force him to be friends with me.
You have this wonderful monologue very early on in the film about Los Angeles and how the valley was a swamp and all these animals got stuck and died. Is it difficult to memorize such a lengthy speech or is it a bit similar to remembering songs?
Those words were so delicious and I just wanted to try to treat every line like a piece of fruit. So just by running it enough, I did get it. I’m very close with Janell and we worked together great. It did make me laugh where she’d be like, “Yeah. You do your boring bit and then we go into next bit,” I was just like crushed as an actor. I was like, “Oh my God, she’s tough.” But I just liked it, you know? I think by doing a lot, I found it. I mean, it’s not a lot compared to Shakespeare.
Bella Thorne is so great in the film and despite being so young, she’s a veteran pretty much. She’s been doing it for so long and she’s so charismatic.
Yeah, she’s a special girl. I really enjoyed my time with her. When people are really good actors, it makes the job much better because you can really bring things to life and really make things real and believable. So for me, it was just such a pleasure to be opposite her because you feed off of that. Acting is about exchanges of ideas and emotions and dialogue and stuff like that, like regular conversations. So, it just helps when someone is that assured and that confident she’s got such a swagger. You know what I mean? She’s like formidable, actually.
You mentioned how a lot of your characters in the films you’ve been in end up dying and there’s a torture scene in this. What’s it like filming that where you’re screaming for your life?
I’m becoming used to it. I have been being killed in most movies I’ve been in. I played a good guy once in a film with the most beautiful Brittany Murphy. That was kind of fun but weird. We had such a great rapport. They cut me out most of the film. So I got [removed] on that film. So the film that was Little Black Book. It was a great experience with Brittany. That’s the only time I play the good guy and see what happened?
One of the most iconic deaths of you was in Constantine. Do you have any memories of that and working with Keanu Reeves?
Yeah, of course. Bush did the song for the last John Wick. Chad Stahelski is the director John Wick. Now he was the stunt director on that. First of all, it was an amazing experience with Keanu and I learned a lot and I watched. I figured going to work on that set that I was the least experienced person, that the janitor had way more experience than me. I was like wow. So I just poked at it the whole way because I had no right to be there and do anything in that. But it was a wonderful experience than to be reunited with them in the form of John Wick. It was good seeing them again.
I love Keanu, he’s amazing. He’s a wonderful, wonderful man, a great actor, and really an underrated actor. I mean, maybe now when John Wick last came out and suddenly the world was in love with Keanu as it should be. Because previous to that, when he acted so well in Bill & Ted, he got accused of being the actor in Bill & Ted. Like, you know, a little bit dumb because he’s just a fantastic actor.
There’s a lot of scenes with drug use. What exactly are you snorting during this?
Apparently, I have to kill you if I tell you. So I can’t. No, I dunno. I thought it was glucose, but apparently, it was almond flour, some vegan stuff. So apparently it was gluten-free, but my nose suffered for like three months after that. Like the worst kind of crusty bloody nose. It was not good. I suffered for the film.
Speaking of vegan, I saw you did some wonderful cooking videos of preparing some vegan dishes. Are you ever going to do a full-fledged cooking show?
Thank you for asking. I’m trying to get this one show made. I made a pilot for a show called Eat With Gavin Rossdale and we’re in the process of finding a home for it. So I’m doing that and it’s always been a passion of mine and people are always a little bit surprised. I have an Instagram page of my food and stuff, and people are surprised for some reason that I can cook. You know what I mean? I think maybe it’s a European thing, I don’t know what it is. Like to me, it’s normal because it’s what I do, but people like it. It’s a wonderful sort of hobby to share with people. I mean it beats golf.
Definitely. You’re in a position where you don’t really have to act and you can kind of be picky with your roles. Do you feel that acting is a good recharge for you creatively when it comes to music and how do you balance all of your different artistic endeavors?
Well, at the moment I’m writing a film, doing my next film with Janell. It’s called The Edge of Nowhere. So we’re working on that, and I’m trying to get this TV show made, and I’m writing a record. So I like having three major jobs that I keep pushing up the mountain and they each inform the other because as soon as I spend a few days in one discipline, I kind of miss the other one. Obviously, music is my main life. So I always feel that I gotta run back in the studio and I love acting. I just liked the process of bringing words to life. Then I love the process of writing songs. I mean, I’ve written songs forever. When I write a new song, there’s the alchemy. I can’t believe how it came together.
I look it back with all the layers, I don’t know how I did it, but I’m the only person doing it. So it’s really magical for me and I love that. It’s the same magic with movies. When you do those scenes, whether with Bella, with Jamie, or Josie [Ho], it’s just so fun when it just feels real. Just the action and go, I don’t know. I just like that. sort of weird pressure to sort of create something, and you have these moments to just not fuck up basically. Indie films, you can’t really fuck up your lines because they’ve got no time.
One of your first film appearances was a cameo in Zoolander. I’ve always been curious. How did that come about?
Just being friends with Ben. That’s on my IMDB page and stuff like that, but I think I’m literally in like one frame and then two frames. The day I go in there with Gwen and we didn’t really know where to go. We sat up in the bleachers and the camera [moved past us]. Right, that’s it. Little Black Book, where I ended up on the cutting room floor because apparently according to Brittany Murphy, the energy was too good. Our connection was too good and the audience wanted us to end up together. So they just cut me out of the film completely to get the other guy in it. So that’s what Brittany told me and told me I should continue acting. That I was really had something special and especially to consider we lost her and it’s such an unfortunate, unnecessary death. It was wonderful to have that experience with it. So my memory of that is a much bigger experience than Zoolander, where I literally pass through. Little Black Book, I was in it actually.
This film is an interesting exploration of religion here, and there’s been some Christian controversy around the film and its depictions. It kind of feels like we’re going back to the 90s with some of this protest stuff, but do you have any thoughts on that? It feels like art should just be able to explore different things.
In the context of what’s happening in Afghanistan and the women who are literally being killed and face fear of death, and completely medieval behavior. I just have nothing to say to anyone who has a problem with this movie. I mean this is a movie and if you don’t like it, don’t watch it, you know?
