Provence juggles acting, racing
Posted on Saturday, June 21, 2008
One of Lynnsee Provence’s part-time activities places him on the big screen. The other has him fighting for victory on dirt tracks around central Arkansas.
But don’t call either one a hobby.
Provence, 22, has appeared in feature films since 2000. He was also raised around dirt track racing and has been driving openwheel modifieds since 2002.
“Racing is not a hobby to me,” said Provence, of Little Rock. “Acting is not a hobby, either. Believe me, if either one would take off, I’d do it in a second.” There are few similarities between racing and acting, he said.
“Acting would be more like racing if, while you were doing a scene, someone would come along and punch you in the face,” he said. “There are more surprises on the racetrack, certainly. I’m lucky to have two options in life. Many people don’t have one option.” Provence stepped into acting in 1999 after he and his mother saw an open casting call in the classified section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“It said there were parts for 5-, 7- and 11-year-olds,” he said. “I was actually a 14-year-old who looked 11.” Provence’s first audition resulted in his first role. In January 2000, he boarded a plane for Savannah, Ga., for two months of filming for The Gift, a supernatural thriller co-written by Malvern natives Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson. In the film, Provence played Mike Wilson, the oldest son of Annie Wilson, a local fortune teller portrayed by Cate Blanchett.
The cast was chock-full of major Hollywood players. In addition to Blanchett, Keanu Reeves, Hilary Swank, Giovanni Ribisi, Katie Holmes and Greg Kinnear appeared.
“I was still pretty green to the industry,” Provence said. “We basically looked in the Yellow Pages to find an agent. I had a lot to learn, but that’s going to be the case the first time you do anything, especially if you are 14 years old.” Provence’s next role came in the 2005 release Static, which was filmed in Little Rock. He then appeared in two critically acclaimed 2007 releases. Shotgun Stories was written and directed by Little Rock’s Jeff Nichols and filmed in Arkansas at England, Scott and Keo. War Eagle, Arkansas was written by Conway’s Graham Gordy and filmed at the town of the same name.
“The [roles ] are coming a little faster,” Provence said. “They say your second film is the hardest one to get, which explains the dry spell I had.” As for racing, however, it came much easier for Provence.
His father, Tim Provence, began racing on dirt tracks in 1979. Ironically, his first race car was used in White Lightning, the 1973 Burt Reynolds film, in scenes filmed at the Benton Speedbowl, now known as I-30 Speedway. It’s the same track where Lynnsee Provence spends much of his racing time today.
“Film and racing has always been intertwined with the Provences, I guess,” Lynnsee Provence said.
Tim Provence gave up driving race cars in 1982, but his younger brother, Eddie, still drives modifieds and late models today.
“As early as my thoughts go, there was always a race car there,” Lynnsee Provence said.
In 1994, 9-year-old Lynnsee Provence began racing karts at the Saline County Fairgrounds. He was still in karts during the summer after filming The Gift. He and his father began building a hobby stock car in 2001. But before the car ever hit the track, he had decided to make the jump to modifieds.
“We pieced enough used stuff together to build us a modified,” Provence said. “We started racing it in 2002.” In 2003 as a 17-year-old, Provence raced the entire season at I-30 Speedway and finished second to Jimmy Dixon in the IMCA modified standings. Today, he races at several tracks in central Arkansas but leaves it to others to fight for the track championships.
“That year [2003 ], we raced every cotton-pickin’ night the gates were open at I-30,” he said. “That was a lot of work — more than we really want now.” Provence continues to juggle both roles. Last Saturday, he made the field for the IMCA modified feature at I-30 and spent most of the race battling alongside his uncle. Later this year, his fifth feature film — Resurrection County — is scheduled to be released.
Filmed mostly on Fort Chaffee in Fort Smith, Provence called the film a “low-budget, campy horror film” with plenty of “gory, gruesome stuff.” His character is killed early in the film.
However, Provence said, there is no such thing as a small role.
“My character is the catalyst of the film. That movie does not happen without my character,” he said. “That’s what I think anyway.”
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