Here is an updated list of what I am working on, and what is coming up in the future.
Armageddon of the Kippered Beef Steak (25% Shot, Delayed till January 2006) - Short Comedy (30 min.) about a man who is forced between killing one person in 24 hours, or allowing the earth to be destroyed. This lowbrow comedy is in the vain of South Park and the Simpons. I play a hip college professor who helps the lead contemplate the moral dilemmas he is forced to deal with. This movie is cursed but we are managing to push forward little by little!
Out of Alignment (25% Shot, Delayed till January 2006) - Full Length film about a pilot who gets grounded. I play a comic relief character. I play the small town cop with a bad attitude who harasses and tries to arrest the main protagonist throughout the movie. The star of this film Joey Gironda lives in LA, so the shooting schedule of this movie is determined by his visits up here to the frigid northeast.
A Means to an End (Fund Raising Efforts Continue, Shooting Delayed till February 2006) - Full Length crime drama about a streetwalker whose difficult life becomes perilous when she witnesses a brutal murder. I play a not so honest Captain of the local police force. The script is very good, and I am very excited to be involved. From what I hear the budget on this one is going to be the biggest of all my movies so far. I am also very happy that this movie will be directed by Arnon Shorr for whom I have great respect. His vision and directing style are amazing.
Pretty Dead Things (May 2006) - Full Length comedy horror involving vampires and government corruption. I play a comic relief character. A sleazy pornography director who has no limit to the depths of his immorality. This movie is written and directed by an excellent film maker named Richard Griffin. He has had two of his movies get picked up for world wide distribution (Feeding the Masses,Raving Maniacas) so I am excited to be working with him. I had a small part in his latest movie Seepage! which the distributors also have great interest in I hear.
SlamBoston! Play Competition (February 2006) - And lastly I will be on the boards once again in February 2006 at the Devanaughn Theatre in Boston. I have been cast in a short play that will be competing in the February SlamBoston! short play competition. I have not received the script yet, but I am looking forward getting started with this play.
Ok this week has been kind of lousy due to a serious case of PGD. After having such an amazing weekend of filming and general unreality last weekend, my normal mundane day to day life just seems too damn pale and gray in comparison. I have heard that this is pretty common with all sorts of performing artist. The one positive thing during the week was working with Christopher Russell, the director of the movie Swink, on ADR for his movie. It turns out the 16mm Film Camera was making some noise and most of the dialog from the first half of the movie needs to be post-synced by the actors. This was actually a lot of fun and very challenging. It works like this: They show me the clip of the movie with the line they want me to redo. I view this and listen to it a few times, and then I try to say the line matching the original as close as possible. This means tone, volume, intent, and emotion. Do and repeat until all the lines are redone. I had lots of fun doing this, especially in the light that my role in the movie was comic relief and I had a lot of funny dialog. Plus the Swink guys are a lot of fun to work and joke around with. It was a bright and shinny moment in an otherwise dull and mundane work week.
On the bright side I still have 4 gigs in the works and I shall be acting on film again very soon.
I had this really cool magical weekend of filming. The filming site was at Salem’s Pioneer Village, a replica village of what Salem might have looked like in 1630. Saturday was great and very surreal, but nothing compared to Sunday when it snowed. It was really great, lots of people in period costume, orange filtered lights giving the impression of firelight, laughter and screams of horror in the distance. I was taken away. One very cool thing was the long house. This was where all the actors who where not on camera hung out. Because there was no modern entertainment, everyone fell back to the entertainment of ages past: signing, telling stories and jokes and magic tricks. One of the actors named Dan is a professionall magician and he blew our minds with coin and card tricks. All and all I had a great weekend that I will not soon forget.
On the business end of things this was a great weekend because it challenged me on many accounts. The first task at hand was to remain professional, courteous and pleasant while freezing my behind off without complaint. I feel I did well with this task and hope that I am remembered by the director and producers as an actor who focuses on the work at hand with out complaining and bitching about the work conditions. Most of the other actors did the same, and it made it an enjoyable set despite the cold.
Secondly, I had the challenge of not being able to say my lines in English. This movie is to appear as on old lost silent film from some country in Europe, so even though the subtitles are in English the director did not want the words on the screen to easily match the actors lip movement. So I had to get across the emotion and intent of my lines while speaking in gibberish. Challenging and fun!
And the final challenge was the physical exertions I had to perform on the set. This movie required a lot of running, hopping and gesticulating widely as I was an insane preacher trying to sway the town with my mad ravings. I was totally wiped out by the end but I feel I am better for it.
‘Tis all for now.
Stumble it!