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5/31/01: Last night I went to the General Auditions for Arizona Theatre Company at the Herberger Theater Center. When making my appointment, they had let it be known that a four minute limit on audition times would be enforced, so I decided on doing only one monologue. How could a person be expected to perform two two minute monologues in a total of four minutes? Once I signed in, I noted that everyone seemed to know everyone else except me. Which indicates that they keep casting the same people over and over again? I don't know. Some chatterbox was in the 'Green Alcove' and he kept loudly explaining the history of The Wallace & Ladmo Show to an actor who had performed in the play, The Wallace & Ladmo Show, which was actually the history of The Wallace & Ladmo Show. It would have been quite comical, but for the fact I needed to get into character and could not and never did. I mouthed my audition on the actual Main Stage to a sole, nice auditor. After my audition, she gave me some tips . . . "If you don't mind", which actually translates to, "We won't be calling you back." I was depressed stepping into the audition and was depressed as I left. However, I managed track down family friend, whose name I noticed on the security sign in sheet, Mike Eddy, who was doing an excellent job of hanging some lights on Stage West in the west end of the building.
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5/29/01: According to a May 23rd, 2001 column by David Robb writing in [INSIDE] ezine, there are various articles of contention facing the studios and the networks in the upcoming contract talks. SAG and AFTRA have over forty 'wants', here are a few: They desire the Fox network to pay residuals at the same rate as the Big Three. Fox now pays only 67%. They want a bigger share of foreign TV residuals. They are looking for "significant increases in employer contributions to union health and benefit plans." They are asking for increased minimum pay. (Yeah!) And the desire to prohibit the current practice of a personal manager illegally getting a job for his actors, rather than dealing solely through and with SAG franchised agencies. SAG is also looking to halt the practice of "paint-downs", where a white stunt actor is painted 'black' to double for a black actor. And probably, largest bone of contention is the "runaway production" challenge, with an estimated $10 billion in economic impact lost in the United States due to shoots conducted in Canada. Good luck on that one! I realize, in a free society, there is no answer to my own major desire, that being: Rather than a super-star receiving $20 million a film, how about trimming that to a 'mere' $18 million or $17 million with the difference being proportionately spread among the hundreds of individuals it takes to assemble a successful movie? (Yes, I realize, in TRW, that the producer would most likely pocket the difference instead.)
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5/28/01: Early this morning I finally saw American Beauty on my dish system. (Gasp! I haven't seen Titanic or any of the Godfather movies either.) From the reviews I read, I expected some kind of X-rated mess. All the reviewers were aghast at the 'risk' Kevin Spacey took at whacking off in the shower. Hell the shower-scene quickly flashed by and I couldn't see anything anyway - like I would want to be humiliated again by the whole 'size thing'. It was a very good movie. I was surprised and guess what? The current rage of showing various individuals urinate was absent. The movie was so believable because it was so frank. It was real life. I informed my teenage son that daughter (Jane Burnham) reminded me of a girl I dated during high school 32 years ago. And then when she walked to the window and removed her top, she really reminded me of former high school girl friend and future porn star Diana Hardy. |
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5/27/01: Last night the Mrs. and I watched the Bravo Profile of Marlon Brando. (It will repeat on Sunday, June 3rd, 2001.) During the Profile I listened as Robert DeNiro recalled how during the filming of the movie The Chase, Mr. Brando went seamlessly from chatting to with him off-camera and dove directly into a scene. "He was the same before the scene, the scene and after cut. He taught me to neutralize any sense of beginning." Bob DeNiro (his friends can call him 'Bob') went on to say that in a scene, "You talk, I listen. I talk, you listen. It gets filled up with emotion; if you leave yourself open." This is a technique your Master Thespian sometimes uses and I get so wound up into what the other character is saying to me, that I actually have to snap myself out of my mini-trance in order to respond! |
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5/25/01: Today I updated my investigation results on the O'Brien/Rottman Talent Placement scam.
5/23/01: The IMBd Movie/TV News reports on fitness for actors. Julia Roberts is tasked to perform four 45 minute workouts per week consisting of jumping rope, pushups and free weights. (Of course, when Master Thespian was her age, my stretching and abdominals exercises alone required forty five minutes.) IMDb also reveals Ben Affleck's ". . . stringent exercise regime . . . crafted by Jorgen De May . . . " to get ready for the filming of the movie, Pearl Harbor. Many people do not realize that a low body fat percentage has more to do with the appearance of 'being buff' than how physically fit a person is. To get his body fat low enough, Affleck's diet consisted of egg whites, protein shakes, steamed rice, one chicken breast, one fish entree, rabbit food, and an eight week course of treadmills and free weights. I'm glad that I am currently targeting myself for the 'fat-man' / 'big-man' roles, with a diet consisting of pizza, ice cream, lots of toasted wheat bread frosted with margarine, fried eggs, bacon, steak, pasta, fresh ground coffee, no exercise and a double shot of Tequilla every now and then! I am disturbed at the obviously high level of fitness so many actors flaunt while the Americans they portray are mostly unfit slobs. I'll always remember the movie where the 'scientist' took off his shirt and displayed pectorals as firm as Pamela Lee's and a shimmering washboard belly. That may have been great for the ladies but it drew me out of the show, because, I'm sorry, there just ain't no scientists who look like that!
5/20/01: Thirty seven days ago I was reading in an April 13th, 2001 Wall Street Journal article, by Lisa Gubernick, about how a Hollywood talent strike (which doesn't seem likely now) will drive actors onto the stages of New York. Broadway producers reported that agents of Hollywood actors they've been courting for years are now calling them. "These are people that didn't used to return our calls." Of course with many of these actor's, having slight stage experience, Master Thespian ponders on how they might perform faced with one hour scenes versus the typical eight minute movie segment.  The reason we don't often see the huge movie stars on stage, is that a starring role in a Broadway musical nets about $50,000 (so sad) and drama nets only a paltry $25,000 weekly. Apparently the main draw for these actors, is not the money, surprise!, but is the emotional feedback that theater audiences give. Sadly though, these Hollywood megastars, using capitalist coping methods, have forgotten what originally drew them into acting and now divert their emotions by amassing Emmy's®, affairs, Oscar's® and Ferrari's®. Which ain't a bad gig if you can do it and retain your soul . . .
5/18/01: The Washington Post reports that Dave Letterman took a lot of flak (and was forced to apologize) over the joke he made about Miss Colombia competing in the Miss Universe Pageant. Letterman's joke was: "You know what has really gotten impressive? The talent competition. For example, Miss Colombia, she swallowed 50 balloons full of heroin."
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5/17/01: Over at Anorak we hear George Clooney spilling the goods on the currently very hot J-Lo. While drunk out of his gourd in Atlantic City, N.J., the former ER star revealed that during the filming of the movie Out of Sight that kissing Jennifer Lopez was gross. He also said she ". . . was cold when they filmed love scenes together . . ." Gee, Georgie, don't you understand? What makes her hot is hanging with wanna-be tough blacks who threaten unarmed dancers with the business end of a 9mm and then duck behind their $500 an hour lawyers for cover.
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5/16/01: In the May 15th, 2001, issue of IMDb's Movie & TV News, former Monty Python member, and Cannes Film Festival juror, Terry Gilliam, agrees with Mr. Nolte, saying, (about British movies) "Perhaps there isn't the talent out there. Maybe I should not say it - but there may not be good enough pictures being made."
One of the difficulties Master Thespian, Mr. Nolte, and Mr. Gilliam face is that we were educated in the 1950s and 1960s when the emphasis was on history, proper English and spelling, memorization, attaining and retaining knowledge and developing technical skills using our hands in auto shop and woodworking class. Whereas, today's Gen-Xer's education leans strongly towards social activism, self-awareness and team work. With the result that they know more of the history of Amnesty International than World War II, live in Phoenix, but can't spell it and have chronic difficulties remaining interested in any presentation, that regardless of content, isn't a constant, unending, visual and audio explosion.
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5/15/01: In the May 14th, 2001, issue of IMDb's Movie & TV News, Nick Nolte slams "Hollywood's major studios for being motivated only by money." He went on to state that they are producing "little more than cartoons." His contrary pronouncements come only one day after I stood in my kitchen, re-heating an armload of fried chicken, pondering if my massive girth would ever grace a Hollywood movie. Why? Because I'm not athletic, handsome, young or hung. But, I know I can act. I know I can convince audiences to enter the reality of my character. However, if American movie-goers, wits dimmed and dulled by a floundering educational system, can only be attracted by the flickering of 180 edits per minute in an MTV video or the hopelessness of South Park (Tim-May!) I'm out of the film business before I started. (Do I have juicy gossip about the off-camera, hospital scrubs adorned Mr. Nolte? You bethca. Can I write about it? Nope.)
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