Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Water Line

Kevin Lasit uses the metaphor of the iceberg in his acting classes. That is, the personna of the individuals you may be asked to portray in a film or on stage are submerged, like an iceberg, beneath the water. Your task, as an actor, is to find a way to allow the audience to see that hidden portion, to take them beneath the water line or, at a minimum, to hint at what lies beneath.

Then of course, there is the problem of the audition. Though the producers are ostensibly looking for an actor who can best portray the totality of the character, human nature is such that the casting agent, producer, or director that views your audition may be more influenced by an audition that displays your range, as by one that accurately depicts the characters'.

Somehow you need to strike a balance between the two.


For my first scene in Kevin's Advanced Acting Lab, I was given 'sides' from the Richard Gere film, "Nights of Rodanthe". In this particular scene Gere is confronted by Diane Lanes' character, after he meets with a man who blames Gere for the death of his wife. Gere is guarded, defensive, and at the same time quietly defiant. He goes from defending himself against the suggestion that he is afraid of dealing with his emotions, to accusing Lane of the same sort of emotional cowardice. My sense is that Gere's character (Paul) is too controlled to go either too far below, or too far above his 'water line': that perhaps the key to his personality is control. For that reason I have been rehearing his lines, with an emphasis on slow, measured responses. I was reminded of a scene of another 'control freak' in a recent film, that of  Helen Mirren's portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II. The only time Mirren dipped beneath her water line in this film, I thought, was in the scene where she she comes across a magnificent Stag while walking alone on her Scottish estate. Empathizing with this majestic creatures' plight, she surprises everyone (including herself) by beginning to cry. She doesn't break down. She doesn't - as in the romantic tradition, have an epiphany and forever change her ways. The important purpose this scene serves in the film is to reassure the audience that, yes, she is human, after all - which allows the film to be both satire and - almost, documentary in tone (Mocumentary?). So I don't see Gere's character - especially in this scene, becoming too emotional in any way. Instead of dipping beneath the water line, I think he tries moving side to side. I imagine his character full of little, subtle 'tells': hand clenching, grinding of teeth, excessive sighing, long pauses.. And yet I wonder if - for the purposes of an audition, a more histrionic display might be in order?

Just sharing a few thoughts on the process, out loud..

Thursday, September 24, 2009

HOT: African American Family Call

BOSTON CASTING is seeking AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES for a photo shoot for a computer company on Martha's Vineyard on October 13 and 14th. If cast, the pay rate will pay $700 per day for each family member.  Hotel accommodations will be provided, and gas expenses will be reimbursed.


Age Ranges:   Women 30-50 and 60-75; Men 30-50, and 60-75, and Children 5-9.


Email 1 photo by noon on Thursday, September 24 to:  hilary@bostoncasting.com.

They will also accept photos of single moms and dads with  their children and grandparents with grandchildren.

If chosen, you will be contacted with more information.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

It's Getting Hot in Wichita!


Demand for extras and background actors is heating up on Tom Cruise's new film - Wichita, which has been filming around Eastern Massachusetts for the last two weeks or so. Now Boston Casting is  looking for people  to portray Firemen or EMT's. The shoots takes place Thursday and Friday nights so you must be available to start in the afternoon or early evening and work into the night or early morning and must be available both nights.

They are looking for union or non union people, preferably with experience as firefighters or EMTs. 

If you are interested and available, email aaron@bostoncasting.com.  You must include your full name, the best number to reach you at, and a recent photograph.  Also, please indicate your sizes as best you know them, particularly suit sizes, and indicate whether you have experience in these positions possess any gear that you could bring to the set.  
 

They are stressing that you do not call the Boston Casting office.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Zombies Need Not Apply?

Boston Casting is seeking NONUNION audience members for the show "Deal or No Deal." The job shoots in Waterford , Conn. ( about a 2 hour drive from Boston ) tomorrow(Tuesday, Sept 22nd) through Thursday, the 24th. They are looking for people 18-45 years old with High Energy (Zombies need not apply). Please email a photo and phone number to casting.dealornodeal@gmail.com.


You know though... I wonder what a show like that would pay for a cast of Zombies? That is, if we could promise them 50 Zombies for say, a show meant to be shown on Halloween or for a special event, would they be interested. Right now, if you signed up to be an audience member you'd get the standard 8 for 8 (I guess): that is, $8 an hour for eight hours, time and a half after that. These kinds of TV shoots usually keep to their budgets, so you might get six hours of work and earn $48 before taxes. That's not a lot - especially considering the two hour drive to Connecticut. But for Zombies delivered to their door, maybe they would pay twice that.. Any thoughts? Otherwise, for the standard pay, and the limited experience, I wouldn't suggest anyone who isnt already a devotee of Howie Mandel to bother. (By the way, that's Howie in the pic above, playing a sort of Zombie, with Fred Savage in the film "Little Monsters".)

Monday, September 14, 2009

Zombies: condensed, cannned, cream of..



Condensed: The band -The Longwalls, creating a video to go with their song entitled, 'Zombies', from their CD "Field Guide for the Zombie Survivalist", teamed up with Plymouth Rock Studios in Plymouth, Massachusetts (HollywoodEastTV.com) and wunderkind Louis Janetty (director) over three days (Sept 11-13), filming in an abandoned Walmart (now that was scary), and the former home of the local cable access TV production studios (mold, rot, moist carpeting and weeds aplenty).

Canned: The script called for the creation of a post-zombie-apocalyptic reality (Welcome to Walmart!) where concerts were few and far between and required armed security. In this environment fans had to be, well, fanatical, to go out at all, since there was a high probability of close encounters with the recently deceased. Sure enough, before the first song is completed there's a commotion at the back of the hall and - you guessed it, Zombies have sniffed out the show and scalped - ironic justice, the scalpers. The band escapes but, not before the first few rows of fans are treated to... or that is, are feasted upon. Interspersed between the concert footage are scenes of the band relaxing at home - so to speak: nailing up boards, and taking other standard precautions to keep neighbors from looking in on them. Before they can secure their house completely though, zombies surround it and the band has to make a dash for it. Lead singer and songwriter Alan Wuorinen manages to break through - first smashing the head of a particularly slow and slow-witted zombie (Sam Bourne), but the other band members are waylaid by a horde of fleshy fiends. Drummer Kurt Von Stetten manages to impale one winsome lass (Vicky Dauphinais) with a drumstick through the eye but he, guitarist Brandon Comstock, and bass player Dan London are last seen being eaten by a motley crew of assorted mutants. Alan breaks free - but a moment later comes face to face with what is obviously a never ending supply of perambulating putrefescence and - though the film leaves his ultimate fate in doubt, he looks as if he has lost the will to carry on.
Cream of: From a professional 'Extras' perspective, this was as good as it gets. Zombies not only get a good amount of time on camera, they are in a real sense, the featured players in productions of this sort. On this production there were many special moments:  the transition (that moment when a valiant human succumbs and is reborn a zombie) of Rock Education's own Kevin Lasit; the green meatball projection vomit scene (Megan Dupes?), Vickey Dauphinais'

drumstick through the eyeball; and the penultimate, orgiastic, musical necks contest at the end of the concert (kind of like a Zombie Animal House Food Fight).. Kudos to the band members too. Normally the stars of a production are whisked in when they are needed, and whisked back to the Ritz when they are not. But the members of The Longwalls were not only on the set the entire time, their scenes often required them to be chased, attacked, mauled, bitten, and killed. No, I take that back: all their scenes required them to be either chased, attacked, mauled or bitten. I myself knocked the bass player down into waist-high weeds  - several times, and then chewed on his neck.

Link: The Longwalls music can be downloaded from StaticMotor.com. The finished video - accompanying a lengthier, enhanced version of "Zombies", is expected to be available just before Halloween, both from StaticMotor.com, and also off the HollywoodEastTV.com site (home of Plymouth Rock Studios). I am available to play zombies, mutants, accountants or just self-absorbed suburban poet-cowboys right now.

Pics: From the top, that's obviously The Longwalls - off StaticMotor.com - from left to right: Dan, Curt, Alan, and Brandon; Followed by a group shot of most of the Zombies on the last day; Kevin Lasit being made-up for his 'transition' scene; me; and a shot of the crew preparing the Walmart for the concert scenes. None of the hundreds of pics taken on these three days would have been as.. 'appealing', if it werent for the work of special effects make-up artists Dave 'The Clown' Ellsworth, Mary 'Stunts' Narciso, and 'Gory Cori' Erickson: all three can be reached through HollywoodEastTV.com.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Zombie Pilgrims

Day three of the production of a rock video for the band, The Long Walls, and I have decided to go for the casual zombie look. On Day One I was dressed - allegedly, as a concert-goer, but was selected to be zombified before the music started. On Day two I donned a Goodwill suit (hideous green with a snakes-eye-tie to match), and the make-up artist (Corinne 'Gorey Corey' Erickson) matched my suit with a dark, Frankenstein-style demeanor. But after two long days mainly standing around waiting (the usual routine for extras in films big and small) I decided that on this last day of the shoot I would simply wear an old gray 'Colby' T-shirt, and tattered jeans. I'll write more of my first zombie film adventure in the coming days, but right now I have to do a few loads of wash, have breakfast (entrails, liver, and an assortment of chicken parts), and get down to the set. (pictured: Zombies Bob Maffeo and Mike Rydberg, pondering what to have for lunch)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Zombies, Deal or No Dealers, Wichita in Worcester..

When does the season end? You might assume that - given our normal weather, movie shoots in Massachusetts would begin to fade away, after Labor Day. But, this year at least, that doesn't seem to be the case. I don't spend the day scouring the web for news of flicks filming (and other on-camera opportunities) in this state, but without much of an effort I have come across a half-dozen.

Ben Affleck is directing and starring - I think, in a film that the nightly news is showing in production in Charlestown. Tom Cruise is the lead in a film called Wichita (apparently no relation to a film by the same name made some 50 years ago) filming in Worcester, at the moment. Deal or No Deal - the game show with Howie Mandel, a chorus line of attache-wielding runway models, and an anonymous Wall Street banker sitting high up in the rafters, is now filming in (of all places) Waterbury, Connecticut, and regularly needs contestants and audience members. And locally, Plymouth Rock Studios seems to be gearing up their marketing efforts - because for some reason they just put out a call for Zombies (sorry, they already have more dead than they can use).

And this comes on the heels of several major motion pictures which have only recently concluded their Massachusetts productions - including the Mark Wahlberg/Christian Bale boxing as life film, The Fighter (on which I am proud to say I made several Franklins).

It really is becoming - for me at least, a problem, a good problem. There are actually times when I have to choose between productions - because it is normal for casting agencies to ask you to commit several days ahead of time. Luckily for me, my 'day job' is writer - something I can do from just about anywhere, at any time. The choice though, isn't as simple as dollars and cents (though, that would be nice and easy if it was). At this point in my acting 'career' I still place a high value on the experience, on getting footage for a personal reel to use for auditions and on casting sights, and making friends in the business and the like. I expect I will be playing a zombie for the local folks - and while it is a 'freebie', I hope to be able to get to know the local producers and technicians during the two or three days of shooting that are planned - which could prove invaluable if/when Plymouth Rock Studios becomes operational. I passed though, on a paying job - being an audience member for the game show in Connecticut, because I didn't think the experience would add to my knowledge sufficiently, and because the four-plus hour round trip would probably cost more in gas and wear and tear on my car, than the $40 they offered for five hours of work. But I gave a committment (in advance of an offer) for work on Wichita, though it is also a four hour round trip and pays the same, standard $8/hr (though the days will likely be 10-12 hours long).

What am I saying? I guess I am just trying to get my hands around the fact that there actually is work for extras in this area, already. If you're persistent, plugged in (to all local casting agencies), and have some flexibility, you can still get valuable experience and a little folding money even now, as we approach autumn. And as Massachusett's film industry may be on the cusp of great changes - and rapid growth, now is the time to make the effort to gain those experiences.

And please, if you can - contact me and I'll set you up so you can share your experiences here.