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!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Integrity
I am most proud of my work in "Integrity", a short film made by Waddy Padilla of Waddy World Productions in Ft. Myers. This was a very exciting film for me. It was filmed in the Fall of '09. I had done a few films with a couple of leading roles under my belt prior, but this one I knew was going to be important for me.
When I received the script and started reading the lines out loud, I just kind of immediately clicked with the lead character Alex. Pissed off corporate guy. Easy! When I auditioned, I was looking Waddy right in the eyes and delivering the lines like they were coming right out of me. I could see in his face that I was hitting it on the head.
This experience was really important to me because after I auditioned, and before I heard anything back from Waddy I thought to myself "you know, if you get this role, it means that you really do have something. It's not a fluke". I suppose I felt that way because Waddy knew nothing about me and hadn't seen anything I had done. I can honestly say that I'd never had that feeling before in my life.
It was and always is pure misery waiting to hear back if you got a role or not, so I was ecstatic to be cast as Alex.
Besides all that, it is a great little story and I've used the film as my main entree into several other opportunities. Thanks Waddy!
When I received the script and started reading the lines out loud, I just kind of immediately clicked with the lead character Alex. Pissed off corporate guy. Easy! When I auditioned, I was looking Waddy right in the eyes and delivering the lines like they were coming right out of me. I could see in his face that I was hitting it on the head.
This experience was really important to me because after I auditioned, and before I heard anything back from Waddy I thought to myself "you know, if you get this role, it means that you really do have something. It's not a fluke". I suppose I felt that way because Waddy knew nothing about me and hadn't seen anything I had done. I can honestly say that I'd never had that feeling before in my life.
It was and always is pure misery waiting to hear back if you got a role or not, so I was ecstatic to be cast as Alex.
Besides all that, it is a great little story and I've used the film as my main entree into several other opportunities. Thanks Waddy!
Told You So
Told You So was my second home made film. Unlike The Contract, it could not be done in one shot.
Believe it or not, when I'm deciding whether to make a film or not, it has to pass my 24 hour is-it-still-funny test. I can come up with all kinds of crazy ideas that crack me up, but a day or two later and the magic is gone. If the idea still makes me laugh, I go for it. This one passed the test.
The story is based on the truth, that our 12 year old Jack Russell Terrier "BJ" likes Pat more than he likes me, although I'm the one that has taken care of him since he was 6 weeks old. We'll save that saga for another time. And Pat genuinely does nothing to encourage the dog's affection. Anyway, so BJ hangs out with Pat in her office, and she is always accusing him of farting. I go in there and I never smell anything, and Pat just gets more annoyed.
I set all the shots up beforehand, and got some makeup from the party store. Of course I wanted to give the impression of a skull face at the end, not so sure how well that turned out, but... sometimes bad can be funny too. I tried to make my post-nuclear blast hair look like a mottled mess but it doesn't end up looking that different from how I look before "the incident".
BJ ad libbed and stole his scenes, no surprise to me.
To my disapointment I discovered that using the Flip camera, when you piece together the scenes of a film, they dissolve into one another instead of a straight cut. That was a bummer to discover. I think there are ways around it but I'm not that ambitious!
This was Pat's first acting gig where she had lines and we actually see her face. I think she did a great job. I wanted her to be like Jeff's wife on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", just pure violent anger. I had to make mean faces at her from behind the camera while I was filming her, to try to get her more Angry. You can see how she goes from mildly annoyed to very angry during her lines. Oh and this was about one month before Pat learned of her niece's cancer diagnosis, and about six months before her own.
Believe it or not, when I'm deciding whether to make a film or not, it has to pass my 24 hour is-it-still-funny test. I can come up with all kinds of crazy ideas that crack me up, but a day or two later and the magic is gone. If the idea still makes me laugh, I go for it. This one passed the test.
The story is based on the truth, that our 12 year old Jack Russell Terrier "BJ" likes Pat more than he likes me, although I'm the one that has taken care of him since he was 6 weeks old. We'll save that saga for another time. And Pat genuinely does nothing to encourage the dog's affection. Anyway, so BJ hangs out with Pat in her office, and she is always accusing him of farting. I go in there and I never smell anything, and Pat just gets more annoyed.
I set all the shots up beforehand, and got some makeup from the party store. Of course I wanted to give the impression of a skull face at the end, not so sure how well that turned out, but... sometimes bad can be funny too. I tried to make my post-nuclear blast hair look like a mottled mess but it doesn't end up looking that different from how I look before "the incident".
BJ ad libbed and stole his scenes, no surprise to me.
To my disapointment I discovered that using the Flip camera, when you piece together the scenes of a film, they dissolve into one another instead of a straight cut. That was a bummer to discover. I think there are ways around it but I'm not that ambitious!
This was Pat's first acting gig where she had lines and we actually see her face. I think she did a great job. I wanted her to be like Jeff's wife on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", just pure violent anger. I had to make mean faces at her from behind the camera while I was filming her, to try to get her more Angry. You can see how she goes from mildly annoyed to very angry during her lines. Oh and this was about one month before Pat learned of her niece's cancer diagnosis, and about six months before her own.
The Contract
The Contract was my first little film I did with Pat. I just set up my little Flip camera and turned it on, the whole thing happens in one shot.
The idea came a long time ago, I just had a picture in my mind of 2 guys talking, one is a boss type and the other is a goof-type. The boss has given an order and is trying to make certain that the goof understands him, using a list of confirmers like "you got it?" "you catch my drift?" "you see what I mean?" etc. etc. on and on. And then the boss realizes that the goof, despite his acknowledgements, really has no idea what the boss is talking about.
So for the film I had to set up a situation: some important papers urgently need to be signed across town.
Once I set the camera up, I had to figure out how to bring Pat into the scene once the action is underway. At the last minute I figured that it might just be a distraction to call her character ("Lennon") in, so I had her sitting there while the Boss is chatting on the phone. The whole time, the Boss is apparently unaware that "Lennon" is sitting not two feet away from him, judging by his flinch. By the way, "Lennon", "Trivits" and "Ogden" are the last names of three of my closest friends from way back when.
This was Patty's first acting gig! Of course all we see is the back of her head. I had to direct her when to nod and then when to shake. My mother still teases her about it, that it's no good just to have the back of your head in a film!
Anyway, I thought it turned out OK. Short piece of business.
The idea came a long time ago, I just had a picture in my mind of 2 guys talking, one is a boss type and the other is a goof-type. The boss has given an order and is trying to make certain that the goof understands him, using a list of confirmers like "you got it?" "you catch my drift?" "you see what I mean?" etc. etc. on and on. And then the boss realizes that the goof, despite his acknowledgements, really has no idea what the boss is talking about.
So for the film I had to set up a situation: some important papers urgently need to be signed across town.
Once I set the camera up, I had to figure out how to bring Pat into the scene once the action is underway. At the last minute I figured that it might just be a distraction to call her character ("Lennon") in, so I had her sitting there while the Boss is chatting on the phone. The whole time, the Boss is apparently unaware that "Lennon" is sitting not two feet away from him, judging by his flinch. By the way, "Lennon", "Trivits" and "Ogden" are the last names of three of my closest friends from way back when.
This was Patty's first acting gig! Of course all we see is the back of her head. I had to direct her when to nod and then when to shake. My mother still teases her about it, that it's no good just to have the back of your head in a film!
Anyway, I thought it turned out OK. Short piece of business.
Baby's first Blog!
Hi guys, now that it is no longer in style, I figured I'd set up a blog! YAY!!!
A little about myself, I decided to be an actor about two years ago. Unlike most anything else, if you have the guts and desire, you can pretty much start acting today. Getting paid for it is another thing.
What I think I'll do for now is to post up my Youtube videos and talk about them here. Who knows what else but I can promise you that first and foremost I want to entertain you. I don't want to whine bitch and moan about things that none of us have any control over. If I can get you to expel one little laugh out into the universe, I'll consider that an accomplishment. I can't guarantee that every time, but that's what I'd like.
I'm sure there will be other things I talk about on here that may or may not be of interest to you. For example, I also like motorcycles, so maybe once in a while I'll post something that I think is interesting. Who knows?
A little about myself, I decided to be an actor about two years ago. Unlike most anything else, if you have the guts and desire, you can pretty much start acting today. Getting paid for it is another thing.
What I think I'll do for now is to post up my Youtube videos and talk about them here. Who knows what else but I can promise you that first and foremost I want to entertain you. I don't want to whine bitch and moan about things that none of us have any control over. If I can get you to expel one little laugh out into the universe, I'll consider that an accomplishment. I can't guarantee that every time, but that's what I'd like.
I'm sure there will be other things I talk about on here that may or may not be of interest to you. For example, I also like motorcycles, so maybe once in a while I'll post something that I think is interesting. Who knows?
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