So the story behind "Not Bad" is simply that once again I wanted to combine a few unrelated items into one little film.
The aspects of this film that are true are (get ready): 1) One time I did have to get Pat to dig what appeared to be a small unidentifiable pebble from my teeth, because I couldn't reach it; 2) I hate accidentally getting my feet wet when I'm wearing socks; and 3) I have tasted BJ's Milk Bones. C'mon, I'm only human!
It took a few minutes to get BJ to come into my office, where we were wating to film him. He is a little hard of hearing so wasn't really receptive to our frantic calling for him. Actually, he's not the most obedient little dog in the world so he probably wouldn't have come even if he could hear. It was a complete surprise and delight that he barked upon entry, as if on cue.
The shot where you see Pat's point of view, digging in my mouth was tricky. She had to sit on my chest with the camera in one hand, and her other hand in my mouth. Then I had to pluck and stifle the low string of my guitar (laying on the bed next to us) for the sound effect.
It took several minutes before Pat could compose herself for the one shot where I am digging at my teeth with dental floss while reading her magazine. I had to wipe the tears of laughter from her eyes a few times, but she finally pulled it together..
"Not Bad"
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
An Italian Affair
So Doctor, I've always had this secret desire to do like those acrobats do (or maybe it's just in cartoons?) where I'm lying on my back and I'm spinning someone tucked up in a ball, around in the air. I always threaten to do it to Patty. So as we know if I get something like that in my mind, about the only way to purge it is to film it.
I needed two things: a mannequin dummy and a story. We ended up building a dummy. I traced Patty lying on the ground on an old sheet, and made two copies of it. Stuffed it full of pillows and those foam tubes you use in the pool, sewed it up and wigged and clothed it. The story, we decided to incorporate our upcoming trip to Europe. Patty decided she wanted to be the "stooge" in this one, insisting that the Eiffel Tower was in Venice. (Although she does really know where the Eiffel Tower is, in real life Patty will be the first to tell you that when she is convinced of something, no matter how erroneous, she will NOT give up on it.) So the story was to be that Patty loses a stupid bet and then has to pay the consequences.
Patty is becoming much more comfortable in front of the camera, and it shows: An Italian Affair
Monday, March 7, 2011
Secret Stash
Secret Stash I don't know, the idea just kind of came to me in stages. I think first of all, my hatred for all things forced down our throats had to become manifest, for catharsis' sake. Of course I don't really hate Justin Bieber (because I don't know him well enough), but let's face it, I was sick of him within seconds of seeing the very first pictures of him. And then it only got worse. Patty likes to point out that we recently received a copy of Vanity Fair magazine that had him on the cover. I demanded that the cover be removed for as long as it was loitering around our house.
Thank god I don't have a young daughter.
Anyway, the idea came together thinking about how messy our place can be (no discredit to George and Ann, they do the best they can with the situation). Add to that watching several hours worth of The Three Stooges, the above mentioned mental disturbance and voila a little film. You either get a laugh out of it or you don't, but at least it only costs a minute and a half.
The best part was what you don't see. I wanted to get across that Pat slaps me because I am pretending to yell "No!" in slow motion. Anyway I thought for effect I should also put shaving cream in there, just to mix things up a little - who knows where it came from. Pat is to slap me, yell "Stop That!" and then cut. Pat slaps (reluctantly?) but can't get the words out because she is laughing too hard. I told her we only have one take because obviously there is going to be shaving cream all over the place. Well we had to clean up the shaving cream and try it again. Same results as the first time. Fun stuff.
Thank god I don't have a young daughter.
Anyway, the idea came together thinking about how messy our place can be (no discredit to George and Ann, they do the best they can with the situation). Add to that watching several hours worth of The Three Stooges, the above mentioned mental disturbance and voila a little film. You either get a laugh out of it or you don't, but at least it only costs a minute and a half.
The best part was what you don't see. I wanted to get across that Pat slaps me because I am pretending to yell "No!" in slow motion. Anyway I thought for effect I should also put shaving cream in there, just to mix things up a little - who knows where it came from. Pat is to slap me, yell "Stop That!" and then cut. Pat slaps (reluctantly?) but can't get the words out because she is laughing too hard. I told her we only have one take because obviously there is going to be shaving cream all over the place. Well we had to clean up the shaving cream and try it again. Same results as the first time. Fun stuff.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
One Night Stand
One Night Stand trailer, View Here:
What can I say, One Night Stand was a blast. Early summer 2009, I had just finished up Latro and was feeling pretty good about myself. Then I catch an ad on Craigslist looking for cast for a feature length film. I check out the guy behind the film, Ryan Justice, and he's legit, so I send in my headshot and brand new (but sparse!) resume.
As best as I can figure, Ryan had become aware of me from The Source. He held an open casting for the various roles and I showed up to meet him. When we finally talked, he told me that he really wanted me to play the film's lead villain, Vinnie Valentino. No audition necessary - it doesn't get any better than that!
So I asked Ryan what films I should watch to get a glimpse into what he had in mind for Vinnie. He told me to watch Dustin Hoffman in Billy Bathgate. I did that right away, and I studied Dustin Hoffman. It looked like this was going to be a lot of fun. I was pretty stoked to play the lead bad guy, not just a goon this time. I'll have my own goons!
Ryan sends me the full script and it really bowls me over. It is a combination of Starsky & Hutch, The Godfather, and Rambo. I start to get really excited about the film and go to work developing my Vinnie Valentino.
Vinnie appears at the beginning and at the end of the film. The first scene, he and his henchmen have abducted his rival crime lord and 2 of his men. Vinnie's nemesis is played by Sean Collins, a veteran actor. We get the scene set up in an empty warehouse and begin rehearsing. Sean's character is understandably angry that he has been taken hostage, and the scene revolves around the power struggle between the two. Anyway, once we start rehearsing the scene I am blown away by Sean's intensity. Holy crap! I was thinking to myself "Oh shit! I really have to up my game here! This guy's a volcano!" But I was directed to play it cool, Vinnie was in control in the scene. So we did this scene take after take, with Sean reaching the same level of intensity all through the shooting, several hours. Very impressive, although eventually I started getting concerned for his health!
Ryan Justice has become a prolific and award winning director in his own right. He keeps me in his back pocket for other projects and I am happy to help whenever I can.
What can I say, One Night Stand was a blast. Early summer 2009, I had just finished up Latro and was feeling pretty good about myself. Then I catch an ad on Craigslist looking for cast for a feature length film. I check out the guy behind the film, Ryan Justice, and he's legit, so I send in my headshot and brand new (but sparse!) resume.
As best as I can figure, Ryan had become aware of me from The Source. He held an open casting for the various roles and I showed up to meet him. When we finally talked, he told me that he really wanted me to play the film's lead villain, Vinnie Valentino. No audition necessary - it doesn't get any better than that!
So I asked Ryan what films I should watch to get a glimpse into what he had in mind for Vinnie. He told me to watch Dustin Hoffman in Billy Bathgate. I did that right away, and I studied Dustin Hoffman. It looked like this was going to be a lot of fun. I was pretty stoked to play the lead bad guy, not just a goon this time. I'll have my own goons!
Ryan sends me the full script and it really bowls me over. It is a combination of Starsky & Hutch, The Godfather, and Rambo. I start to get really excited about the film and go to work developing my Vinnie Valentino.
Vinnie appears at the beginning and at the end of the film. The first scene, he and his henchmen have abducted his rival crime lord and 2 of his men. Vinnie's nemesis is played by Sean Collins, a veteran actor. We get the scene set up in an empty warehouse and begin rehearsing. Sean's character is understandably angry that he has been taken hostage, and the scene revolves around the power struggle between the two. Anyway, once we start rehearsing the scene I am blown away by Sean's intensity. Holy crap! I was thinking to myself "Oh shit! I really have to up my game here! This guy's a volcano!" But I was directed to play it cool, Vinnie was in control in the scene. So we did this scene take after take, with Sean reaching the same level of intensity all through the shooting, several hours. Very impressive, although eventually I started getting concerned for his health!
Ryan Justice has become a prolific and award winning director in his own right. He keeps me in his back pocket for other projects and I am happy to help whenever I can.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Latro
Latro Trailer HERE
Spring of 2009, after The Source, I feel at the same time energized that I might be able to pursue a new career, and intimidated by my own lack of experience. Regardless, I want to go to the next step.
By now I have sought sources of film acting opportunities outside of Craigslist. You meet people and you talk about things. I become aware of Full Sail University, which is a big film school outside of Orlando, about 2 hours from me. They are perpetually making student films so they are perpetually auditioning actors. I tap into their casting notices which are published bi-monthly.
And lo and behold, they advertise one film in particular that grabs me immediately. A father, a daughter, and an intruder. I can't explain but I know I have to go for this role. Something tells me very clearly that this is right for me.
Patty and I make a weekend trip out of it. When we get there, the procedure for this particular film is to present a monologue, provided by them. What this means is that they give you a paragraph, and you go away until you are ready to present it back to them. I go out to the parking lot while Patty cools her heels, and I try to grasp this paragraph.
I will do a separate blog post on the psychological torture that it is for me to try to memorize things like this.
OK so I deliver, I get some direction, I deliver again. At least with Full Sail, they tell you when you will be notified IF you are chosen for the part. That is a huge luxury, believe me.
A few weeks later I am notified that I got the role and I am beside myself.
So it turns out that there is a fight scene involved, and I need to go back to Orlando to choreograph the fight. OK, so again Patty, being Patty, tries to make a fun weekend around it and books a cabin at Disney wilderness park to wait for me while I work. I meet up with the cast and crew of Latro at an apartment complex indoor basketball court with the typical gymnasium wooden floor, and we have it all to ourselves. Now I am working with another actor who is more or less my age, he's the bad guy in the film, and these 2 twenty year old young men who are showing us what they want from us. "You punch, you fall, you get up, you get your head rammed into a wall. Now, you swing, you...." well you get the drift. Over and over again.
I go back to the cabin that evening completely bruised and beat up like I never have been before in my life. Patty is shocked, like "What the hell happened to you?!" I tell her it's OK, but I'm spent and sore.
So we finally shoot the film, but our production unit only has the studio from 5:00 pm until 5:00 am on two consecutive nights. So there's another first, I never pulled an all nighter before even when I was in college. Helloooo "5 Hour Energy"!
But now I've gotten my first leading role, and in a film that I really wanted... I feel good...
Spring of 2009, after The Source, I feel at the same time energized that I might be able to pursue a new career, and intimidated by my own lack of experience. Regardless, I want to go to the next step.
By now I have sought sources of film acting opportunities outside of Craigslist. You meet people and you talk about things. I become aware of Full Sail University, which is a big film school outside of Orlando, about 2 hours from me. They are perpetually making student films so they are perpetually auditioning actors. I tap into their casting notices which are published bi-monthly.
And lo and behold, they advertise one film in particular that grabs me immediately. A father, a daughter, and an intruder. I can't explain but I know I have to go for this role. Something tells me very clearly that this is right for me.
Patty and I make a weekend trip out of it. When we get there, the procedure for this particular film is to present a monologue, provided by them. What this means is that they give you a paragraph, and you go away until you are ready to present it back to them. I go out to the parking lot while Patty cools her heels, and I try to grasp this paragraph.
I will do a separate blog post on the psychological torture that it is for me to try to memorize things like this.
OK so I deliver, I get some direction, I deliver again. At least with Full Sail, they tell you when you will be notified IF you are chosen for the part. That is a huge luxury, believe me.
A few weeks later I am notified that I got the role and I am beside myself.
So it turns out that there is a fight scene involved, and I need to go back to Orlando to choreograph the fight. OK, so again Patty, being Patty, tries to make a fun weekend around it and books a cabin at Disney wilderness park to wait for me while I work. I meet up with the cast and crew of Latro at an apartment complex indoor basketball court with the typical gymnasium wooden floor, and we have it all to ourselves. Now I am working with another actor who is more or less my age, he's the bad guy in the film, and these 2 twenty year old young men who are showing us what they want from us. "You punch, you fall, you get up, you get your head rammed into a wall. Now, you swing, you...." well you get the drift. Over and over again.
I go back to the cabin that evening completely bruised and beat up like I never have been before in my life. Patty is shocked, like "What the hell happened to you?!" I tell her it's OK, but I'm spent and sore.
So we finally shoot the film, but our production unit only has the studio from 5:00 pm until 5:00 am on two consecutive nights. So there's another first, I never pulled an all nighter before even when I was in college. Helloooo "5 Hour Energy"!
But now I've gotten my first leading role, and in a film that I really wanted... I feel good...
The Source
The Source was very important for me because it was the first film I got hired for.
A little backstory: Winter 2009, I'm unemployed and OK with it, I have a little money in the bank and nothing but time. I take a stand up comedy class and then I decide that I would like to be involved with films that I find being produced in the area, via Craigslist mainly. Oh and I have no acting experience.
I have what passes for a headshot and of course no resume. I don't really want anything but to be involved. I send out my headshot to anyone who seems even remotely legitimate. I am invited in for my very first audition and I suck so badly that I want to excuse myself from the room. I am invited in for my second audition and it is only marginally better.
Needless to say I don't get either of those two jobs. But I continue looking.
So I find these guys at the University of Tampa who are making a police drama. They invite me in to audition for the lead role. I tell them I don't want to audition for the lead role, I have no acting experience. I want to be a guy in the background, or someone to get coffee or whatever, but thanks anyway. They say "Just come in and audition. Acting can be very easy and very natural". That took a lot of pressure off of me so I went in.
I did the best I could but still couldn't believe I was even auditioning for the lead role. I knew I was nowhere near ready for something like that but I did the best I could anyway. Long story short, I didn't get the lead role, but they did want me to be a "goon". I figure they thought I looked like I could act like someone who looked like someone who could kill someone.
That was fine with me, my first role! I was pretty stoked. Now my scene lasts for all of about 3 seconds but what happens is I am a mobster's muscle/goon and I'm washing up in a nightclub bathroom. I hear my fellow goons getting shot in the otherwise empty bar adjacent. I pull my gun and rush out of the bathroom to find a rogue cop killing my buds. I take a shot at him and miss, he takes several shots at me and I end up in a crumpled mess on the floor. This by the way is the first of a series of acting experiences where I am the recipient of harsh violence, much to my parents' horror/delight (You'd have to know my parents).
So that was that, and my first IMDb credit as "Bathroom Goon". Very exciting stuff!
Now what's really exciting is that a year later, The Source is shown at the Cannes Film Festival. It still blows me away to think that there are people in the world who have seen me in a film shown at Cannes.
Anyway, thank you Joshua Long et al, for selecting me as Goon #3. It was a lot of fun.
A little backstory: Winter 2009, I'm unemployed and OK with it, I have a little money in the bank and nothing but time. I take a stand up comedy class and then I decide that I would like to be involved with films that I find being produced in the area, via Craigslist mainly. Oh and I have no acting experience.
I have what passes for a headshot and of course no resume. I don't really want anything but to be involved. I send out my headshot to anyone who seems even remotely legitimate. I am invited in for my very first audition and I suck so badly that I want to excuse myself from the room. I am invited in for my second audition and it is only marginally better.
Needless to say I don't get either of those two jobs. But I continue looking.
So I find these guys at the University of Tampa who are making a police drama. They invite me in to audition for the lead role. I tell them I don't want to audition for the lead role, I have no acting experience. I want to be a guy in the background, or someone to get coffee or whatever, but thanks anyway. They say "Just come in and audition. Acting can be very easy and very natural". That took a lot of pressure off of me so I went in.
I did the best I could but still couldn't believe I was even auditioning for the lead role. I knew I was nowhere near ready for something like that but I did the best I could anyway. Long story short, I didn't get the lead role, but they did want me to be a "goon". I figure they thought I looked like I could act like someone who looked like someone who could kill someone.
That was fine with me, my first role! I was pretty stoked. Now my scene lasts for all of about 3 seconds but what happens is I am a mobster's muscle/goon and I'm washing up in a nightclub bathroom. I hear my fellow goons getting shot in the otherwise empty bar adjacent. I pull my gun and rush out of the bathroom to find a rogue cop killing my buds. I take a shot at him and miss, he takes several shots at me and I end up in a crumpled mess on the floor. This by the way is the first of a series of acting experiences where I am the recipient of harsh violence, much to my parents' horror/delight (You'd have to know my parents).
So that was that, and my first IMDb credit as "Bathroom Goon". Very exciting stuff!
Now what's really exciting is that a year later, The Source is shown at the Cannes Film Festival. It still blows me away to think that there are people in the world who have seen me in a film shown at Cannes.
Anyway, thank you Joshua Long et al, for selecting me as Goon #3. It was a lot of fun.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sometimes Called Falling in Love (as Clint)
Oh boy, where do I begin with This one?
I auditioned with Mike Rembis in Largo FL about 6 months before we ever actually shot the scene. Mike encouraged me to get a little goofy during the audition. I had never met him before, there were other people in the room, so I did the best I could. I was initially auditioning for the role of a policeman, but Mike somehow saw me as The Goof. That's OK with me, I just still wonder how he saw it!
Mike asks me if I can grow a handlebar mustache. I can, but not a great one. So I buy one online that turns out perfect.
Anyway, so I get the script and the character Clint is just this vulgar egotistical monster. It's painful to read the things he's saying to this woman he is meeting for the first time in a dive bar. I can't relate to the character at all. I find him offensive. And then there's "B.J. for Five" - Oh my god. I am hoping Mike just drops it.
But Mike doesn't drop it, every month or so he gets in touch with me to let me know that this thing is going to happen. I am very reluctant, to say the least.
So the big day arrives and I am still very apprehensive. I still don't know how I'm going to play this guy that I really don't like. Instinctively I want to be goofy with him so people will know that it's not the real me! So the morning of the shoot, everything is getting set up and Mike is going to everyone individually to tell them what he wants from them. Finally he comes to me and I'm still desperately trying to connect with this guy Clint.
So I ask Mike, "So is Clint kind of a goof?" Hoping that Mike says yes. But Mike says "No! Clint thinks he's God's gift to women. He is a Man's man who thinks that every time he goes out to a bar, he's going to get laid." I'm thinking Shit, no wiggle room there! Finally, Mike says "Oh, and he should have a mild southern accent"
A mild southern accent eh? OK, well I've spent enough time in the south to be able to finesse a mild southern accent. At least it gives me something to go on.
And now, we're getting all set up to do the scene in its entirety. Mike the Director is also Mike the boom microphone operator. He's positioned behind me at the booth, holding the mic over Rhea Rossiter's and my head. "Action!"
For some unknown reason, what came out of me next was the most ridiculous, affected southern drawl I could imagine. I still don't know where it came from. I was in my zone, half panicked, but we got throught the whole scene. As soon as I heard "Cut!" my very first thought was "Well, Mike's never going to go for that, that was just stupid!"
I turn around to look at Mike and he is doubled over in laughter. He is worried that because he was laughing so hard during the take, that he had to look away and couldn't keep track of where the boom mic was - it could have dropped down into the picture frame. Then the director of photography (cameraman) says that he was laughing so hard he couldn't keep focused on me as I moved around in the booth.
So we did several takes that way, and I haven't eaten nachos since. I like to send this scene out to people with whom I am interested in auditioning, but I have to think twice sometimes - some people do not have the sense of humor for it!
I auditioned with Mike Rembis in Largo FL about 6 months before we ever actually shot the scene. Mike encouraged me to get a little goofy during the audition. I had never met him before, there were other people in the room, so I did the best I could. I was initially auditioning for the role of a policeman, but Mike somehow saw me as The Goof. That's OK with me, I just still wonder how he saw it!
Mike asks me if I can grow a handlebar mustache. I can, but not a great one. So I buy one online that turns out perfect.
Anyway, so I get the script and the character Clint is just this vulgar egotistical monster. It's painful to read the things he's saying to this woman he is meeting for the first time in a dive bar. I can't relate to the character at all. I find him offensive. And then there's "B.J. for Five" - Oh my god. I am hoping Mike just drops it.
But Mike doesn't drop it, every month or so he gets in touch with me to let me know that this thing is going to happen. I am very reluctant, to say the least.
So the big day arrives and I am still very apprehensive. I still don't know how I'm going to play this guy that I really don't like. Instinctively I want to be goofy with him so people will know that it's not the real me! So the morning of the shoot, everything is getting set up and Mike is going to everyone individually to tell them what he wants from them. Finally he comes to me and I'm still desperately trying to connect with this guy Clint.
So I ask Mike, "So is Clint kind of a goof?" Hoping that Mike says yes. But Mike says "No! Clint thinks he's God's gift to women. He is a Man's man who thinks that every time he goes out to a bar, he's going to get laid." I'm thinking Shit, no wiggle room there! Finally, Mike says "Oh, and he should have a mild southern accent"
A mild southern accent eh? OK, well I've spent enough time in the south to be able to finesse a mild southern accent. At least it gives me something to go on.
And now, we're getting all set up to do the scene in its entirety. Mike the Director is also Mike the boom microphone operator. He's positioned behind me at the booth, holding the mic over Rhea Rossiter's and my head. "Action!"
For some unknown reason, what came out of me next was the most ridiculous, affected southern drawl I could imagine. I still don't know where it came from. I was in my zone, half panicked, but we got throught the whole scene. As soon as I heard "Cut!" my very first thought was "Well, Mike's never going to go for that, that was just stupid!"
I turn around to look at Mike and he is doubled over in laughter. He is worried that because he was laughing so hard during the take, that he had to look away and couldn't keep track of where the boom mic was - it could have dropped down into the picture frame. Then the director of photography (cameraman) says that he was laughing so hard he couldn't keep focused on me as I moved around in the booth.
So we did several takes that way, and I haven't eaten nachos since. I like to send this scene out to people with whom I am interested in auditioning, but I have to think twice sometimes - some people do not have the sense of humor for it!
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