The Actor Cafe

Meeting Mark Borkowski

2010-11-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

Mark Borkowski is the star and writer of The Perfect Witness (starring Wes Bentley: The Last Word, P2, Dolan's Cadillac, American Beauty) and writer of numerous plays: Box of Nails, Within the Skins of Saints, The Kids are Awake, etc. Prior to this interview, I had no idea this very established playwright I was recommeded to interview was the same guy who gave me nightmares when I watched him in his believable perfomance. The Perfect Witness is a movie you can never forget. Maybe because he was so charming and calm I didn't put two and two together....

Chris Kerson and Mark Borkowski interviewed in the Star to promote
"Cost of a Soul" written and directed by Sean Kirkpatrick

Meeting Mark Borkowski

When did you start writing?

I began writing as a child when I was 11 or 12 years old. I wrote a lot of short stories…usually horror…as a kid, I identified with monsters. Especially the more sympathetic ones. I was a weird, lonely kid who felt like an outcast so they really helped me, I don’t know …I worked out a lot of stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39EKw2pAFdA
Click on above link to view trailer for "A Perfect Witness"

Your first play was produced when you were quite young.

Yeah, when I was about 18 years old I took a nervous breakdown… it was a manifestation of drug addiction and trauma I went through as a child. I was hearing voices and a doctor told me to write the voices down as part of my therapy. They came out in the form of dialogue—as voices would-- and after a while I realized I had a play. I had already been involved in theatre as an actor so I was more than familiar with the form. I called the play Saturday Mourn. I showed it to a friend of mine shortly after that and he gave it to the late great Albert Benzwie (artistic director of the legendary Theatre Center Philadelphia back in the 80s). The play went on to win his one-act play festival.

That’s an amazing story.

And when I went to see it something opened inside me and I realized I could help others. From there, I continued to write play after play because I realized I could work out my demons and give them a platform to maybe help others.

What was the response?

After that play people came up to me and said they were not only touched by it but felt comforted because they too felt so alone and really related to my characters. At a young age I realized I could be of service through my work by expelling and sharing my demons.

How long did it take after that to write your next play?

Oh I immediately went into my next play. I was driving a cab when I wrote, Suicide, Inc. It was a full length play, produced at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.

How were the reviews?

The Philadelphia Daily News called it “a multi level masterpiece”.

Did you get paid well for your initial plays?

No, you’re lucky if you break even. It’s only in the past few years that I’ve done more than break even. People, especially in New York, know who I am.

Mark as "Jake" in Cost of a Soul

What is your genre? Has it stayed the same or changed throughout the years?

Psychological drama seasoned with black comedy. My stuff can be pretty brutal. I push the envelope in order to get my point across. I tried to conform to the mainstream, writing “commercial” type stuff but I usually end up losing interest and shelving it. I have to really feel a direct, even soulful connection to my characters in order to live with them and tell their story. In reference to form, I started out writing realistic plays, then I took the reality into the absurd. I like to place characters in hardcore reality and then challenge them with ultimately absurd circumstances which shake and transform their reality or reality as we know it. Then I found myself slipping into hyper-realism. And now, while always keeping my work rooted in reality (so people can identify), I incorporate mystical, even spiritual layers. Metaphors and symbols. Shakespeare wrote on different levels; he had witches, dreams, ghosts… He had all kinds of stuff…you know? My writing has become much more of an exploration of not just reality but dreams, mysticism and spirituality…

Can you explain hyper realism, I’m not familiar.

It’s hysterical realism… much like what we find in dreams or in madhouses. Or, less dramatically, the average hysteria we might experience when we’re being tormented in, say, the throes of addiction or the loss of a lover… For a while there I loved writing about hysteria, you know?

Give me an example.

Well in one of my plays, Within the Skins of Saints, a girl is getting ready to jump off a subway platform and a guy enters and has until the subway comes to stop her. By the end, she almost succeeds in convincing him to jump with her. She shares her dreams of saintly mutilation and the hysteria that caused her to be institutionalized and medicated. She decided to stop taking the meds and escaped the madhouse and is now ready to die and be with her lover, God (a notion that many female Saints also shared at martyrdom). I know it sounds like a dark journey but there is a tinge of hope the end. A branch for the audience to grab onto. I feel it’s kinda my responsibility, after having taken an audience into a dark tunnel, to give them a tinge of light at the end. Or at least furnish road signs so they can get themselves out.

http://www.costofasoul.com/

Wow, tell me about another play of this type.

Another dark play I recently wrote is called Painting Corpses. It’s about a painter who’s bottoming out on drugs and alcohol. He gets a call from an aristocrat who asks him to paint a picture of his dead wife. The money is too good to be true (100 grand) and he accepts the commission. The aristocrat delivers the body to the artist’s loft. When the artist begins to paint her…as the days pass…he starts to fall in love with her…

Whoa!

…and one night he’s very drunk and he’s imagining her lips saying beautiful things to him, her eyes looking at him, her ears listening… he imagines her the woman of his dreams. And…eventually…he makes love to her…

Oh My God!

…the next morning he wakes up and he comes to…he’s very hung over and… she’s sitting there. She’s alive! He thinks. He doesn’t know if she’s a supernatural phenomena or a psychotic delusion. One thing leads to another, and she tells him that she doesn’t want to be painted. She didn’t want it in life and she certainly doesn’t want it in death! BUT she’ll make a deal with him… He needs five primary colors to paint her… she says she will grant him the five colors if he does five favors for her. He finds himself bargaining with the dead. These five favors take him on a journey that ends up changing his life forever.

One of just many of Mark Borkowski's Plays

Wow! What happens in the end?

People have to see it to find out. We workshopped it at the Actor’s Studio and right now we’re trying to find finance for the production. The play is like a Charles Bukowski meets Sleeping Beauty… it’s actually a very beautiful play. One of the biggest qualms people, and some producers, have with this is the necrophilia. They don’t think he should molest the corpse. That the audience won’t forgive him. I think its bullshit. I mean, look at mythology—especially the Egyptians. Isis and Osiris. I mean, necrophilia takes on a whole different meaning when you look at it through those fucking glasses! So, okay, now I’m modifying, maybe… with extreme reluctance.

With Chris Kerson's wife, Stephanie Rose: http://stefanierose.com/

Any big actors in it?

Yeah… Elias Koteus played the lead and it was directed by Richard Masur.

How many of your plays have been on stage?

One acts, short plays, they’ve been done all over the world…too many to count. I also write screenplays.

"I’m a carpenter...survival job. I was very poor as a young man…"

Oh?

I wrote a film called The Perfect Witness.

I remember that movie, oh my god…that was you!?

With Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider, American Beauty). It was originally called “The Ungodly”. It’s still called that everywhere else except America. It’s being distributed in England this September.

That movie was so scary!

Oh you’re a chicken shit.

view his work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmxrbsUtBns

Tell them what it’s about.

It’s about a down and out film maker, he’s a newly recovered drug addict…he lives with his mom and he’s obsessed with a serial killer. Through months of research, he figures out where the killer might strike and, low and behold, he tracks him down.

You played the killer. You were great!

…. So he catches me murdering—or rather, he catches the killer murdering someone and videotapes it. He then blackmails him into being his documentary subject.

On the set of "Don't Listen to What it Sounds Like" Written by Mark Borkowski

And he agrees to it.

… and as he gets to know the killer, the killer gets to know him and… well, again, I would rather our readers rent it. You can get it at Blockbuster or Netflix. It’s also on Showtime and The Movie Channel. It’s a film about addiction (to drugs or murder) and ambition. Also, personal accountability. Ultimately, it’s about a person taking responsibly for their part in something. His ambiton leads him to look the other way and allow haenous crimes to occur, similar to Nazi Germany. People do it all the time and it’s fucked.

That movie was intense. I can’t believe that was you and that you wrote it. Was that your first movie?

First major feature length movie...I’ve had a lot of short films produced. I’ve sold screenplays but they haven’t been made yet.

Movie still from Film Production

How long did that take to write?

About a year and a half and it took twenty four (or so) days to shoot. Editing took a while.

What? It only took twenty four days to shoot it? That’s so fast!

Yeah, well that’s independent filmmaking. It comes down to making it as quickly as possible because everyday costs thousands of dollars…. The editing took several months though.

What inspired you to write The Perfect Witness?

It started out as a play. I had a few scenes but it didn’t go anywhere. Wasn’t working. Tom Dunn, the director, and I had been wanting to write something together but we couldn’t figure out what. One day I told him about this play I couldn’t finish. He was amazed by the story and told me I couldn’t finish it as a play because the damn thing is a film! We locked ourselves up and wrote the screenplay. Within a year or two he made it into a film and cast me as the killer.

Bet it got all sorts of awards!

Cost of a Soul (2010)

Yeah, I got best actor at the Portugal Film festival… We got into the Austin Film Festival. Brussels, Amsterdam, Sitges (Spain, it’s right on the coast), and a few others. Then First Look Studios swept it up, changed its name from The Ungodly to The Perfect Witness and… distributed it.

Mark with director Sean Kirkpatrick in the making of Cost of a Soul (2010)

Do you consider that your biggest accomplishment so far?

Yeah, it’s one of them….it even got picked up by Showtime and—oh, I think I said that already.

Wow! If you could do something else? I mean, if you weren’t an actor or writer?

Oh I’m a carpenter. That’s sorta my survival job. I was very poor as a young man…

Click on link to view Chris Kerson and Judy Jerome star in Mark's play, 4 Adults Only http://www.blip.tv/file/1321737

And now?

I get commissions to write screenplays…for example these Russians came to me with a short story called The Animals, and I adapted it into a screenplay. After I’m done, they translate it back and shoot it as a Russian language film. The money is okay. I also get royalties for my plays… right now three of my plays are being done…

Oh, where?

In Philadelphia TheWalking Fish Theatre is doing my play The Kids Are Awake. My two one acts, Don’t Listen to What it Sounds Like and I like to Watch ‘em Beg Ma are running at The Producers Club here in New York.

What’s that about?

Watch them all and find out.

Ok, I will and I'm going to tell my sisters I met that scary guy in A Perfect Witness, I can't believe it, that's one of my favorite movies!

Brittany Alexis Palmer

2010-07-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

Brittany Alexis Palmer has done everything from Head and Shoulders ads, to major soap opera roles (Guiding Light), to small roles in major movies (GI Joe, Blond Ambition) and big roles in indies (Spy Games) AND she has even been approached to appear in an extremely impressive photography book by Patrick Ecclesine, a book that led him to become a co-recipient of the SCIBA ART & DESIGN BOOK AWARD of 2009 http://www.facesofsunset.com/ ...the other http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZSHzx5mmpM recipient? Annie Leibovitz's At Work! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEjho8I8XBY In this book, she was photographed as a 'Merry-maker,' and dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, she was even quoted in his book! And this is what she said, "I see people with lots of dreams walking along the yellow brick road (Sunset Boulevard). It's a strange feeling. It's exciting, there's so many possibilities, and everyone looks really beautiful, there's a shimmer to it all, but you don't ever know what's real or tangible. And there's a lot of witches and monkeys. It's really easy to lose yourself on the Yellow Brick Road." Did I already mention…Brittany’s done it all?

Click link to get clips of her work: @ http://www.brittanypalmer.com/reel.html

Is there another Brittany Palmer?

There is! (laughing)

Okay, I was wondering about that actually. When I was researching, one of the pictures that came up of you looked a little different.

Yeah, it can get confusing sometimes with two actresses with the same first and last name! I know one time I gave my email to someone with my website and they told me to clarify it. I think she’s some kind of…oh, I have no idea. I heard we look a little similar so it’s sort of a little scary…she’s very sexy. All I know is we both have dark hair and dark eyes!

She’s a pretty well known actress I believe. So I read you were ‘Kerry’ in All My Children?

That’s correct. I also did some reoccurring work on Guiding Light; I was Darlene….

You were on both soaps? I didn’t know that…that’s so cool.

Yeah, Kerry was super fun. I just loved all the people so much, everyone from the casting director, Judy Blye Wilson, to all the people on set! It was my very first time on camera though so I was a little nervous.

I bet.

My second day was my make out day, it’s like you’re waiting back stage in your robe and people were like, ‘Ahhh, you got that scene today….’

The last thing I was looking for on the way here was what you did in the upcoming GI Joe movie...did it come out yet?

It did, I was a swing dancer in that movie, I haven’t seen it yet…I’ve been dancing since I was two, it’s my first love I would say. I did get a chance to see myself in the LeAnn Rimes video though…

http://www.slack-time.com/music-video-9367-LeAnn-Rimes-Swingin

I saw that…I’m linking that. Your dancing was amazing, you totally stood out too.

Thank you.

Did you get to talk to her?

For a bit…she was really cool; she’s worked very hard to learn the West Coast Swing…

And you?

I already knew how to do it, there’s probably twenty styles, maybe not that many but definitely a lot!

Did you audition for the video?

Not really, they just called me and said, ‘we need you…’ the dance community is very small…I actually did audition but it was a very brief process, they were basically like, “here’s a camera, here’s some really fast music, Go!”

How many commercials have you been in?

I’ve been in four different ones; I did one for Ford with Toby Keith, the country star, like four or five Head and Shoulders commercials, Dr. Pepper, print ads for Finesse…

And what about the Depression.com one?

Oh yeah, there was that one too (Laughing). When my friends saw it they were like, ‘Wow, that’s very funny because you are definitely not a depressed person!!’

Your acting was great in it though, I think like the LeAnn video, you stood out the most in this. So, what’s the next big project for Brittany Alexis Palmer?

When I get back to LA I might be doing a James Van Alden shoot…he’s been making some of his own films which have been really interesting…he’s a big photographer who does mostly cinematic photos.
http://www.jamesvanalden.com/frames/master.htm

I want to check him out…and what’s your NYC job you’re here for now?

I also own a business called Merrymakers which involves mostly entertaining. I’ll be hiring actor friends to put on musicals… last year we had a children’s’ event and we did Jack and the Soy Bean Stock…

Oh, that’s hysterical!

It was… it was an environmentally friendly show. Over the years I’ve made friends with all these musicians, actors, artists… I just love working with all of these friends. It’s sort of like having many lives. When I do this kind of work, I get to be in charge and I really love that. So this week we were looking at the space to transform a set and next I’ll just have to see what my team can do.

I love it, sounds very creative.

I started it right when I moved to the city; I was a dancer, singer, and actress but I wanted to work with my friends and be in charge of a production…so Merrymakers has been around since 2003. My business partner is Angelica Greuner. I’m the creative one…I kind of come up with a plan and create for it and she’s in charge of the other half…decides the numbers, the budget. What’s nice is that this year we decided to go bi-coastal; it’s always just been here in NY….

I really love how as the CEO of your company you were commissioned to be photographed for the famous photography book, Faces of Sunset Boulevard: A Portrait of Los Angeles by Patrick Ecclesine! This book really reminds me of Veronique Vial’s Woman Before Ten and Jacqueline Hassink’s Car Girls!

That was such a fun shoot. It was freezing…

In LA (laughing)?

Well, we took the shot at night… we had to walk across Sunset Boulevard so many times (laughing)…we had to wait for the light…and there was this homeless guy who insisted on giving me a rose and then he started to freak out and began to attack the lights! He was chasing me and I was in these heels!

Oh no!

Finally, the assistant had to just pull him out off the street and put him in a cab…it was so funny but Patrick did not find it funny at all! It was in all the book stores, it came out at Christmas and it sold out right away! I had a bunch of family members who wanted to get it BUT they had to wait a long time….

That’s so awesome. And it also got nominated for a major art award!

Oh my gosh…I didn’t know that! Wow!

Yeah girl, you’re in one of the most famous photography books of 2009 and if I hadn’t interviewed you, you would have never known! (Laughing). It was up against Anne Leibovitz’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO4pjdVseEs (A Photographer's Life 1990-2005, American Music, Stardust: 1970-1999, Olympic Portrait, The Dancers, Shooting Stars) latest book on photography, At Work! They were both the co-recipients for the SCIBA ART & DESIGN Book Award! I mean Anne Leibovitz…only the most famous photographer in the world right now. I would love to interview that guy…can you make it happen?

Maybe…I’ll try, he’s super busy but, he may be interested…he’s very talented. They spelled my name in that book the same way the other Brittany spells it…I also didn’t know when they had an exhibition of the photos at the Arc Light Movie theater, there was this huge picture of me there…my friend took a picture of it and sent it to me…I never knew it got chosen to be displayed.

Did you get to meet anyone else in book?

No, each shoot was an entirely different part; I really like Patrick’s stuff…

Any one picture stood out to you?

I was impressed by Henry Winkler ('the Fonze' from Happy Days) and his son Max and of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger….it was really great he (Patrick) was able to get all these famous people to be in it…I bet he had to snap them pretty quickly…probably didn’t get a lot of time with those guys.

I was impressed to see Pamela Des Barres! What was your role in that Jessica Simpson movie, Blond Ambition?

Oh, it wasn’t major… (Laughing) I just stole a cab from her in one scene…

That is major!

It was pretty funny…

What was she like?

She just seems sweet…she posed for a lot for pictures, the paparazzi were all over her…I’ve NEVER seen such an explosion like that in New York. They also shot in New Orleans…

Any indie films?

A few… I did this Russian Film called Spy Games in English…I might be doing that again in September. I played Agent Susan. That was fun….

Did you have to go to Russia?

No, we shot in New York for my part. It was mostly ADR so they had to shoot separately and then we sat and spoke our parts again and had to remember how we did it and do it all again. I’ve done some great Indies…another was Fire Cracker Flower, really interesting and artistic, it’s been in tons of festivals, it’s in black in white also. And Jason’s Big Problem… it was so silly…kind of raunchy comedy, very fun to do. I’m a little conservative, and not sexy like…I’m more comfortable in the swinging dance world.

I also read you were even a straight ‘A’ student in school and got involved in EVERYTHING! (She was named Miss Teen Glendale Arizona at the age of 16, studied Classical Acting, Opera, Dance and Musical Theater at the Shakespeare Sedona Institute and University of Northern Colorado, won the Sandra Day O'Connor Award from the National Society of Christians & Jews, graduated early Magna Cum Laude, was a cheerleader, member of the cross country team, dance theater, choir, honor society, flute player in marching band, and Student Body President of Greenway High School.)

It was sort of expected in my family. Everyone worked really hard. I got dropped off the whole day at school; I always just had to have a million things going. I’d get bored if I didn’t have a bunch of things to do. My dad was in the military and my mother was principal.

That’s really impressive.

At first she ran a day care from our house, and then she became an art teacher, then taught everything…and then became a principal. My father was an army master sergeant, and then he became a business teacher. I got all my business savvy from him and I think that’s why I don’t like being dependent on anyone. I think it’s always better to be in charge and my business is so fun.

Once we even created a scene from Narnia…we have a huge team so it’s really whatever you’re looking for. We work with whatever they want; ballroom dancing, a play, a singing gig, there’s just a huge variety...

Can you compare NY to LA?

When I first got to LA I felt like the pace just stopped. But I really like having the bi coastal attitude, I really feel lucky that I get to work in both places, it’s tricky though because sometimes right when I’m landing in LA, New York calls me and says, ‘Ok, there’s a commercial to shoot.’ So now I spend a few months a year in both places.

And the lifestyle…

LA: there’s the dog, house, beach…in New York…you get musicians on the street, art everywhere, I love it….

Any celebrity you particularly admire?

Well by just being in LA doing various things, I got to meet Julia Roberts! She’s just really sweet. But I really love Kate Winslet…she’s made some great choices and is very versatile…and Meryl Streep, she’s everyone’s favorite, Judy Garland, and Audrey Hepburn; they’re dancers, singers, and actors… and Audrey was such a big humanitarian…

What is your ultimate goal?

Do I have to have one? I don’t think I have just one!

The ultimate goals?

I’d like to do a lead in a film that is truly inspirational, learn to fly a plane, totally random, um…I don’t know…buy a big house with lots of land and horses, have a family…

Finish this sentence, ‘Do….

Live, laugh, love…’

‘Don’t…

Have regrets…’

Is there any question I forgot to ask and should?

You didn’t ask about the Children of our Villages…

Oh, that’s right…what is your involvement in that?

It was started by Erin Buckley. We’re both all about empowering youth. She did a peace core in Nibia, Africa and came back and had this idea that if we could get the kids to learn in a creative way; have them write a story, and create their own short film…we could bring awareness over there. She just got back from there again and we had a huge benefit in LA where we had entertainers and raised a lot of money for it. She got to show them their film over there. These kids were learning how to fend for themselves, find work…

Sounds amazing!

I kind of function as the ambassador… I don’t have all the time, but, it’s Erin’s baby…that’s a film you should really see…

I would like to.

I can’t pronounce it, it means “I am giving…” they came up with this story where there’s the first child president…the story goes: a little girl is told she can’t be president, she’s too young but then she wins the election…

That’s so cute... the kids came up with it?

Yeah. It’s really quite powerful. I mean these are kids who are told that they’re orphans and they’re not treated very good… but if you give them just a simple task, it’s brilliant…they were even editing the film! I’ve been researching about bringing this to India next…

Oh, I think you should, it’s supposed to be so spiritual there. I’d love to go. So of all these things: dancer, actor, singer, entrepreneur…which one relates to you the most?

Well, I’m an artist I guess, I’m just an artist. All those things relate… they all contribute to each other in some way, you know?

What is something that you’d like to see changed?

Health Care. My nephew was hit by an oncoming car and it cost my sister a fortune! She’s just a teacher! I mean I know a lot of people are against national health care but something does have to happen! There are good and bad sides to both but something needs to happen and quickly. It was really hard to watch what was happening for my own family. I set up a MySpace and got some donations from people for her.

Must have turned your whole world upside down!

My other sister is a lawyer, she got involved and they finally got a settlement…thank god for that otherwise they’d still be in this huge mess! The medical bills were atrocious! I just did a trip to Vermont. There people have chickens hatching eggs, they are growing their own food…it’s just so different…

What about plays?

I did operas and musicals…the last opera I did was Oedipus, it had like 20th century music… To transfer from theater to film took a little adjusting…

Really? Why?

On film you have to be more subtle…and on stage it’s a little bit of a different feeling…the last film festival I attended in March…was for Jason’s Big Problem…the role is just so far from me, the whole process of it was really fun though.

How long did it take to shoot?

Several weeks or something…..

Do you see yourself ever directing?

Yeah and possibly writing or co-writing….

Well, thank you so much for sharing your adventures with me. Your work as an actress, business owner and model impress me and I’m really in awe of all your humanitarian efforts, it motivates me to get more involved, thank you Brittany!

You’re welcome!

Chris Kerson

2010-06-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

Chris Kerson is the star of the new hit indie, Cost of a Soul directed by Sean Kilpatrick. His past acting credits include several NYC plays both off and off off. His films Flesh Suitcase and Angel Jellyfish are two of many that are always quite captivating. In Mark Borkowski's NYC play, Don't Listen to What it Sounds Like, Chris brought the house down. He has done everything from Arrested Development to Tennessee Williams and now, his depiction of a man who leaves one war only to return to one at home is truly remarkable.

Thanks for coming and for what you said.

How was the rest of the big night? How do you feel after the sold out show at the Brooklyn Film Festival?

Tired just took a nap...out till 3am and just got back from Brooklyn.

Yeah, I didn't get home until 2 am. You weren't kidding about this film...it's just incredible.

I feel such a close connection to this one and really care what happens to it...

I do too....Everyone in it was amazing...even the little parts were majors like your daughter in the film who only spoke a little but was just as important as everyone else!

True. Maddie Jones is one of the emotionally intelligent children you’ll ever meet. She asked me on set what nationalities I was – I told her Irish and Russian. She said to me you have the Irish temper after seeing an emotional scene for “Tommy”. She said great for acting but could be troublesome in life. She’s 9 and we have had some of the most meaningful conversations while filming and after. Made me think a lot about having my own kids.. She’ll be there next Saturday.

I think definitely the stars of this film are going to go very far.

We’re always looking for people to promote it. Promotion can be tough when you are working with such a small budget. Sean used all 150,000 to get the film finished in a short time. Seasoned directors couldn’t believe how cinematic it was and the production value he got for the money.

Well, I’ll promote the film as much as I can... love it. Also, I feel this movie will sell and do well on its own.

That’s cool. From your mouth to God’s ears…

Your wife must be over the moon about his film...

The film is bitter sweet for my wife.

Oh, why was it bitter sweet?

She loves my work but knows what I went through when I was preparing for it. I was so focused and internally something very different was going on...

When everyone sees this film they’re going to know exactly what you mean...your character was really raw...

...and the Judy relationship was so real for her though she is now accepting that it's a strange thing to see the one you love with another woman..

Chris Kerson and Stephanie Rose on their wedding day

Yeah, come to think of it...that would be tough for anyone to see. Even though it’s just a movie, it all looks so real! The director and you impressed me the most...he's very good!

What’s most amazing...it’s his first film or feature!

He's a genius!

And a great guy.

Yeah, that scene blew everyone away...everyone's mouth just dropped to the floor...people were covering their mouth, trying not to laugh because of the sheer intensity.

Which scene?

The one with you and Judy where she’s slapped your face a couple of times and then you guys rip each other’s clothes off!

Oh yeah, that was one take too...Sean was like, ‘We got it on the first take!’ we never shot another.

Damn! That's pretty amazing!

Judy gets up on the high wire with me and so does Mark.

Nice!

They were great to work with and made me so much better...

Whatever it was... it worked!

It’s something special to work with close friends in a movie... we grew a lot closer too...I learned a lot about Mark being in his neighborhoods.

Must have been cool to see where the famous playwright was raised and how he grew up. Was it a slum?

Real working class... the guys he's friends with would give you the shirt off their backs. Mark is such an amazing and beautiful soul... he's the best to spend time with.

Everyone always says that about him. When I heard you recommended him to get cast in this film I was keeping my fingers crossed. The fact that he's cast both you and Judy as lovers in two of his plays Don't Listen to What it Sounds Like AND Within the Skins of Saints and now you're lovers in this film and he's trying to interfere with your lives in the film is ironic.

Both of those plays were also directed by Robert Haufrecht http://www.oobr.com/top/volSix/five/basis.html
It's true thougth and Judy's just easy to work with...

I love Judy’s character...it's edgy, mean and nice at the same time...I felt like your character made the film because in the end, he's like ‘fuck all of you for fucking with my sick daughter you punks!’

Judy really transformed to create that edge. Sean was hesitant to cast her because she is the absolute opposite of that character in life... Tommy lived and died for his daughter and faith and I get emotional saying that.

...and even though he didn't live in the end, the daughter did and that's what counts...why didn't he write to his wife when he was away? Was it just too painful being in the war zone...was he just too shell shocked?

Yes

Oh.

He did horrible things...became a machine and animal so to speak hence the first scene with the interrogation. When Tommy perpetrated such violence Sean called him at such time "the Machine."

Yeah. It's going to go very far!

...and being a father is something he doesn't know how to do... scares him most of all... he comes from a bad home life or none at all...

I can’t wait for it to blow up.

I hope honestly for the films sake, it does... it has a great message and thanks again for everything you said...
glad to know you like it so much and you got our backs... you were so supportive before and now you get to see it - I’m glad.

You’re very welcome...thanks for making a great film. Did you hear how it's doing in Hollywood?

Lion’s Gate is looking at the film ... I should have been at that screening in L.A but was too poor to be at both with short notice and Sean wanted me in NYC. But more industry was there and Sean, the film, and all the acting got a lot of praise.

That's wonderful. That doesn’t surprise me. So many of your films have made it to the festivals and are still making it...

Three for this one as I already mentioned. Flesh Suitcase made it to Slamdance/Sundance, Berlin, Seattle, and World Fest, the film Modern Romance was shown at the Greenwich Film Festival and Insult to Injury played at the Cannes Film Festival.

Wow!
I heard people were shocked that no one knew him (director of Cost of a Soul) and he made this amazing film...that’s what Will said. Sean is very humble and I think Will was worried how far understated humility goes in Hollywood. Sean said people were very inquisitive about who I was too..

But even the old guy in it, you, Judy, Will, his mom in the film all especially stood out as people that were so recognizable and yet you've never seen them before!

Sean has a gift for casting and an eye.

Seriously...when people see it...they’re going to be like ‘I've seen you in a lot of movies, right?’

Chris Kerson-NYC Actor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S2bKZAIGqk

Honestly Sean said they were comparing me to James Dean... I heard Brando too... Forgive me for repeating that this character was compared to those two icons… and of course James Franco - but Franco might be a troubling comparison...

" they were comparing me to... James Franco..."

Why?

He’s a little younger and he works all the time and people think we look alike – a well known independent film director said it could hurt or help me ...it doesn't matter...

The plant was cool use of symbolism and I noticed the part where you were bending down but with great difficulty because you'd just been shot...it was all very real...every last detail!

Thanks. Teacher of mine, Charlie Laughton, once said “God is in the details.”

You’re very welcome. Can’t wait for it to hit theaters all over New York!!

Daveed Ramsay

2010-06-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Daveed Ramsay is just one of the many up-and-coming stars cast for the new Indie favorite, Cost of A Soul. He played the character Maliq in the hit show "Ugly Betty, " made his appearance on HBO's The Sopranos, played a small role in Moe n' Joe and got to meet his hero, 50 Cent when he was cast as one of the kids in Get Rich or Die Tyin.' I was very impressed by how effortlessly he played the role of a younger brother to one of the main characters of the film. His perforance in this movie left quite an impressoin on me. Today we spoke about this film and what he's planning to do next....

Where you from?

I was born and raised in Brooklyn.

Really? I LOVE Brooklyn!

Yeah… my mom was only 13 when she had me. Everyone discouraged her but she didn’t listen and chose to keep me and said I would be special…she’s pretty much the foundation of my life.

That’s pretty powerful Daveed.

She planted the seed obviously. She’s always installed in me to not be dependent on anyone and not to let anyone tell me what I can’t do…

Wow, I love that…she sounds like quite an amazing woman!

She just remarried and now I have a responsibility for my little siblings. My little sister was at the film.

I saw her…she was so spellbound…very adorable!

She said to me, ‘you never came back in the movie…’ and I had to explain it to her. I really care deeply for them. I’m very big on being a role model.

Good! We need more of them in this world. You are very young and very talented you are on the right track to being a role model.

Like a leader of New School…I’m a rapper as well…

Leader of the New School?

You know, like the new generation?

Oh, I see what you’re saying. So like where it used to be considered Old School….

It’s just about me living my life right… you know of course I’m going to make mistakes…but you know I have power and with this power comes responsibility.

Very true. Whenever people become well known in the acting business…people become very curious about them and what they’re doing: what they’re wearing, saying…who they’re dating…

But you know it is what it is. You know my mother had me young and we struggled a little bit but now, 19 years later…here I am! So you know I’m just really into acting, music…I just opened up my own club and as far as acting goes, I was about 12 when I got into acting which was my first…the 50 cent movie…

Wow! That’s a great start. I heard he’s supposed to be a very open kind of guy. He really tries to be a positive role model for young people…would you agree with that?

Yes, most definitely. I seen the commercial and I told my mom I’d love to be in that movie and the very next day I got cast.

What was that like?

I got to meet him and I knew from that day on what I wanted to do with my life you know acting and everything that goes with! He really changed me.

I saw you taking a picture with your grandma after the film and she seemed so ecstatic…what did she have to say about this film? Did she think it was a little violent?

Well she doesn’t really watch movies but she really loved it for the most part…I mean everyone was just so excited to be a part of it…such a good cast! The director did something very good.

Seriously. Was this your first feature film?

Basically yes but I was in a bunch of stuff…most recently I was in Ugly Beauty and was supposed to come back for the second season but then they canceled the show. I’ve been in Sopranos and… I’m very humble. I’m young and like I said it’s just wonderful right now… I’m in a space where I’m very creative with whatever it may be…don’t be surprised if you don’t always see me in roles like that….

I thought you were amazing in it!

What I mean is I don’t want to become type cast. I do movies like that but I also do other roles…my next step would be horror or comedy or drama. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do that again you know I’m trying to get a Grammy here… I want to make movies that have purpose and meaning in all areas of life.

I see. Does this depict real life then or is it stereotypical?

Well yes and no. I mean in places like Philly it can sadly be a reality but also I feel that there are many more entrepreneurs that are young and black like myself…I mean I understood…that time in Philadelphia that’s just what it was. I just don’t want to be doing too many of these roles…

You want to be well rounded…I understand that. I think that’s what most actors want. I’ve heard a lot of female actresses say they will only do serious roles but sometimes getting them is a different story.

I want to be like Will Smith; he’s done so many different roles, not just this black gangster role. I love everything new you know I’m still young…for future reference people will see me a lot after this film…

That’s good to know. Now, you said you’re also a rapper too?

The album should be out hopefully by September you know it’s just a work in progress...

Who was your favorite actress?

Do you mean in the film?

Yeah…well, actually wait…maybe I shouldn’t ask that question because there was really only two come to think of it (laughing)…

Well, with Judy Jerome she was just amazing… it was really something special. I mean a lot of the times you just don’t see that.

I agree…I was very impressed with her depiction of that character also…and then to meet her in person was a bit strange because she spoke differently…

She’s a very talented actress, very, very, talented. And like Sean was saying when we were being interviewed after the festival afterwards you know that movie had a very low budget but the money isn’t everything to me.

I think this movie will make a lot of money. This happens with a lot of indie films and it’ll happen with this one.

That’s why I didn’t hesitate…when I see something that moves me in a way…just being there with the cast members was amazing…

It must have…what was the set like? It must have been very exciting.

Being there was just great…I liked to make people laugh on set but I could not make Will laugh…he’s very serious and was always in character.

His hard work must have paid off then because this film is going to get him a lot of recognition.

Yeah, he’d never laugh, but that wasn’t till we said ‘cut’ then he was back to himself. He just brought the best out of me… you know you got to feed off of the others’ energy…especially the scene where we were shooting at the store…

What an intense scene…there were so many scenes like that throughout the film…I found myself holding my breathe through most of it…

…I just snapped into it for that scene...I would LOVE to work with anyone on that film again.

How long did this actually take?

18 days…and I was only on set for like four days BUT they were long…I mean usually when you have a major film you know you work for a few hours…that scene that I just mentioned took many long hours. And it was so cold! My hands were so numb… it was freezing…we did like 18 hours a day. I commend him (director) for that…it was really something else!

Now, this question will be tough, who was the best actor in the film…aside from yourself (laughing)?

Will all the way...that guy is so talented it’s ridiculous…he’s a good guy too. Whenever we got a chance to chop it up there was always something.

Have you been to every festival for this film?

Brooklyn, San Jose California …I won’t be making the one in Hollywood…

So how does any film get chosen for a festival? Is it really an almost impossible feat like everyone says?

Well, basically they send the film in and they watch the film and then I guess a certain number of people have to vote for it…I mean like the director said last night even for Brooklyn it was chosen from 4,000 films…that’s a lot of freaking movies…

Incredible! When was the first time you saw it?

Last night was the first time I watched it in its entirety...because when I was in California…. I actually missed the first part of the movie (laughing) there was just a lot going on that day.

I could imagine…all the excitement. I would have been so nervous if I was you. So you didn’t get to see it until it was shown to an audience? That’s a little scary.

You don’t actually get to see the film until it hits the film premiere and this adds to the excitement…

What do you see happening for this movie?

I mean you want to say you want the movie to be here and here but sometimes you just want things just the way it is….of course I want this to be played everywhere as a major film but there’s a lot of politics behind that.

What were some Hollywood films you were in besides Get Rich or Die Trying?

I was in another movie with Luke Wilson called Tenure….about a school teacher, it’s a comedy…I have a speaking role but it’s not major one…everything I’ve done has been good…a football commercial and one for Dominos…for some that’s a lot for others it’s not and you know for me I want to do so much more…I want to be like Will Smith…that’s the plan.

That’s very ambitious…let’s get back to 50 Cent, he’s had some life!

When you think about it…the man got shot 9 times and survived and made something out of nothing and you know his story is so incredible and he’s only 33!

Really? That’s so young!

You know mostly men don’t become men until they’re 40! I am his biggest fan and when I met him I was like, ‘Yo 50 let me rap for you’ and he was like, ‘okay, sure!’ and he let me rap for him and it was very big.

If you were going to attend the Academy Awards for one of you future films who would you bring and what would you wear?

My girlfriend… but if I didn’t have a girlfriend it would be between Megan fox and who else? I’ll just say her and the designer outfit would be by Louie Vouton….and my girl would probably wear YSL .

Nice choices. Now, let’s talk a little bit about your mother in the film. She was brilliant.

That was her first acting part and you wouldn’t be able to tell though… it was just so natural….

I can’t believe that!

Well, Sean (director) is by far is one of the most talented directors I have ever worked with…he sees things others just don’t see…he brought this movie to life and in 18 days….I mean a film can’t even get made in 18 days…he’s very talented….

Were you always acting?

Well up until I was seventeen I was in drama class. I graduated two year ago but I have since been represented by Abrams Artists.

It’s really impossible to get representation. How did you do it?

I just got lucky. My mom sent a head shot and normally when someone sends a head shot no one ever looks at it, but,…it just so happened to land on the bosses desk…he called me in and I did this little coke audition…I’m also very well known musically.

Really?

Little Mama was there last night to see me!

Really? I love her on that MTV series, America’s Next Dancer!

She’s HUGE…she did that album, Voice to the young people…she’s recorded with T-Pain and Chris Brown and myself…

What did she think of the film? Was she impressed with your performance?

She loved the film….

Maybe she can do a little promoting for it?

Oh, I don’t know if she’d do that…I’d love that but I don’t know….

So, what was it like preparing for the role for this film or any film rather, what’s the process?

During the film I was...the normal typical process doesn’t involve me studying the script all day….I’ll look at it, skim it, and then I’ll put it away…I did this for the last film I auditioned for recently, Lord of the Bad Axes…and that script was long and when I auditioned…I had only looked at it for maybe an hour and the next day I got on the hour long train ride and the funniest thing happened…I guess because I’m a musician/ rapper so I got used to memorizing things quickly…I just don’t do anything until it’s time. I just read a little of the dialogue and by the time I got there I had already memorized all 12 pages of the film…

That’s very cool.

…and while I was waiting I was looking in the mirror and getting into character and I think I got this but we just have to wait and see…everything I go for is major…see in Hollywood…they just want to go for people that are already out there, like a familiar face… like for instance when I did uh…Big Mama’s House I did an amazing job but they just wanted Branden C. Jackson who was in a bunch of movies. He’s wonderful but a lot of times that’s just what Hollywood does or people are friends with the directors but I don’t let this discourage me because everything happens when it happens…I’m progressing with the acting and you now everything else is just falling into place.

It certainly has already…this film was one of my favorite movies. I’m looking forward to now checking out some of your albums as well…thanks for chatting with me today!

You’re welcome, anytime.

Finding Forbes March!!!

2009-05-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

Danni Minogue, Kyle Minogue's sister does a model shot with Forbes March

34th Annual Emmy Awards in 2007.

TV movie series, Mutant X (2001-2004)
Speaking with Forbes March made me feel like I was meeting Corey Haim in the mid 80s, I mean it was that exciting. For being voted one of the "50 Sexiest People "and the "Sexiest Star of One Life to Live " he seemed surprisingly very humble. Destined to go to med school, Forbes took a different turn one day while selling watches. He almost turned down the idea of acting because of his lack of experience. I know for all you Soap Addicts out there...I'm guilty of it too...we are so glad he did not!

Where did you get your start? Were you discovered at a mall like Tiffany?

No, (laughing) I was selling watches actually…on the street.

"Matt Malone" in the movie Manhattanites (2008),

What, those fake watches you see in Times Square…you were one of those guys? That’s worse.
Yeah, I was young. So I was selling these fake Gucci watches…and you want to know who my best customers were?
Who?

"At first they told me I wasn’t tall enough to model…"

People who owned real Gucci’s. They always bought the fake ones. I would tell them, ‘it’s like insurance for your watch man’ …so, I was selling my watches in a modeling agency to the staff there and I was discovered…sort of.
What do you mean?
At first they told me I wasn’t tall enough to model…
So the acting came first, okay…I was wondering about that actually.
The acting came first. And when one of the agents asked me could I act I said no. But when I left I took one of their business cards.
Thank god you did that!
Yeah but I didn’t have any experience in acting. So, shortly after that I reconsidered. I was just selling watches and saw the rain wasn’t going to stop and went back in and got my first gig (cast as Brandon in 1991 on Northwood . It was a Canadian Series like 90210). So that ran for a bit and after that when I began to look for work again I couldn’t find it.
Wow, so when you weren’t looking…
It found me. That’s the way life goes…always.
Not to jump around, but I have this picture here of you and Danni Minogue, Kyle’s sister...she is a huge Australian star. Growing up my sisters and I used to watch Kyle on the popular European show, Neighbors.
Really? She was sweet, very shy…she was very beautiful.
What was the photo shoot for?
I have no idea, that was a while ago.
I have this other one where it looks like you’re hosting an Emmy?
That was the 34th Annual Emmy Awards in 2007.
You’ve done some cool movies.

Forbes starred in the 2005 comedy, "Dirty Love" starring Jenny McCartney

I was Matt Malone in this movie called Manhattanites (2008), I was in this great indie, Way Off Broadway (2001). I got a Meth Fest Nomination for Best Actor in LA (Pasadena) for that one.
Wow, what's it about?
It’s like a requirement for every actor to do an indie flick like St. Elmo's Fire.
Not a bad requirement, sounds like that would be fun.
Oh, it was, I really liked the energy of all the young actors in the making of the film…it was very sophomoric.
Were you cool in high school?
I didn't think so...I wasn't really a part of any click at all. I was kind of all over the place; I was in three school choirs but I also played football, track, and I was on the wrestling team. I sure didn't have the cool kids phone numbers.
You always get mistaken for Jason Lewis, do you consider that a compliment or an insult?
He’s modeled longer than I have. I’ve acted longer then him though. He’s single and is having a good time.

In 1999 Forbes March made People Magazine's "50 Sexiest People" list

What is your work ethic like?
I like to work...I always take the best jobs that are offered to me and I've been pretty lucky to work steedily.
When you were modeling, did you have an agent?
When I was at my peak I had 13, one just to do the schedule, it was crazy.
Do you have a favorite director?
I’ve always wanted to work with Woody Allan. He seems so confused by the world and I can really relate to that.
What’s your favorite music?
I like everything. I really like Adam from American Idol…he’s amazing! He sings like his life depends on it. I think he’s going to be huge. I remember my mom telling me she wanted to go see Bob Dillon once but my father refused to go because he hated rock-n-rock at the time…this is before he got huge. I think this guy is going to go very far…he’s great, he’s just so great.
How has your lifestyle changed since becoming a parent to two children 9 years ago?
I really changed since my second child was born… I feel like I am no longer a boy. I was introduced to my wife when I was modeling in Milan and took her back to the States with me shortly after we got engaged.
You lived in Paris, right? What was that like? Compare it to NY?
Yeah, I lived close to Moulin Rouge. I lived in this tiny but cool apartment. I used to look out at the street performers doing mime and watch them from my window while sipping wine.
How has the recession hurt the acting and modeling world?
It hurts it in a major way! I mean when you see TV shows themselves advertising on their own shows, you know you’re in trouble.
Advertising on their own shows?
A lot of shows aren’t getting the ads because with so many people using the Internet, buying illegal movies, playing video games and not watching TV, these shows aren’t getting the ads, the shows suffer, the actors get paid less and less, it’s horrible…it’s so bad and many people have no idea just how bad it is.
What do you prefer to do? Model or act?

Forbes played the role of Brandon in 1991 on Northwood

Acting...acting is an out of body experience...you're free to do whatever. Modeling is a good lifestyle but acting is what I love to do.
At your age, would you still be considered a marketable model, it's my belief that sometimes the older men get, the better looking?
I don’t know…I’m not really into that stuff, I’d rather act.
You were voted One Life to Live’s sexiest actor and one of America‘s 50 most Beautiful People in 1999?
Yeah.
How do stay so humble?
It doesn’t mean anything to me…sometimes I feel like I should appreciate it. I don’t see what other people see.
You did an amazing TV movie series, Mutant X (2001-2004) a sci-fi, that looked like fun…
It was wicked !
What was your super power?
I could become hard as a rock and was able to stop bullets and I was able to stop cars. We had amazing stunt men to work with…we worked with this one guy who beats people with sticks…we had a martial arts studio right there on the set. At one point, we were short seven minutes and had to shoot it with a fight…we decided to hire every stunt guy in Toronto…we did things with that show that most movies cannot do. The other guy I was working with was really cool. I think it was very extraordinary…considering our budget. It wasn’t an A, it was a B,,,but it was wicked fun.
How would you compare making a soap opera to a series?

Publicity Photo (undated)

Soaps are very much an actor's medium...they're very neutral scenes to begin with so it's up to you to create the character. Once I was messing around and I based Nash on an animated fox. There’s a scene where Robin Hood dresses like a stork…I would just spin around. In soaps if they don't like you, they won't keep you.
Getting back to the modeling…you just act now?
For the most part. There was one point I was in a different country every week…when tax season came it was a mess!
I could imagine.
There was so many pages, all on spreadsheets, from so many countries in different currencies. I hit a wall after several years of just living in one place after another and another. I started to forget…I woke up once and didn’t know where I was. I couldn’t find any clues. I opened the shutters in a panic and finally realized I was in Germany. I was in China for my birthday shortly after that and everyone was singing Happy Birthday in another language. I had to check a calendar to figure out if it really was my birthday because I didn’t know what day it was.
Reminds me of Lost in Translation.
I had to stop…I think it’s called travel panic when you travel so much you just snap.
You modeled for Crew, Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani, Nautica…you also lived in Europe, Asia, South America…and now you live in Upstate New York.
I’m doing my third principle role in a soap in New York right now (One Life to Life “Nash“ 2005-2008), (All My Children “Scott“) I just recently started as a principle role on As The World Turns.
What do you dislike about acting?
Nothing, I love it. I guess the only thing I don’t like is the wait time. For example today I worked less then fifteen minutes and the rest was waiting time…sometimes actors wait in those trailers for several days. Ever see those trailers parked outside movie sets in Manhattan?

"Nash Brennan" on One Life to Live

Yeah.
Now you know, there’s probably an actor waiting to work.

You learn something new every day. I saw there was a big petition to keep your character on One Life to Live.
Yeah, something about Nash really connected with the audience. When they killed Nash they were very upset and there was a big campaign to keep me on the show. It's strange to have thousands of people you've never met writing in your support. It's nice...it's kind of mystifying. Soap fans are wonderful people!

Chatting with Christine Meyers

2009-05-25T22:34:00.001-07:00

Christine Meyers, one of the stars of Beautiful Kid (pictured above) written by Mike Carty spoke with me about her number one passion, acting. Her and her new husband live in sunny LA and are soaking up their creative juices together(they are both working actors). It was fun to learn about the acting world out there and where it’s taking her. Her journey seems to have only just begun.

When did you move to LA?

My husband and I came out here almost two years ago. We were back and forth for a while but now we’re settled here.

How would you compare NY to LA?

I was just thinking about this…it’s taken me awhile to adjust to LA. I was in New York for ten years…everybody knows it’s a survival city and I was getting tired of the lifestyle and ready for a change.… so I really thought I would come to LA and immediately love it but it took me some time to adjust. They’re hard to compare because the lifestyle is very different.

Terror has said you were the favorite actress.

That’s so sweet to hear.

Didn’t you win an award?

No, but Dan won for best actor which was very deserved, he gave his everything to the film, he really did. And John won for best supporting actor which was awesome.

In college you studied acting?

Yeah, I studied acting (BFA) at NYU and graduated in 2000. I studied at Playwrights horizons for the first couple of years, then I got a minor in social/issue based theater, and then I studied at Stone Street Studios which is when I signed with an agency and started working professionally.

I read somewhere that you were in Vanilla Sky?

That was soon after I graduated….I had never been in a big budget movie production before so I answered an open call for extras. I was so excited to be there! I was talking to everyone, finding out what they all did. I ended up being moved to a spot right in front of the camera. I got to be directed by Cameron Crowe and while we were shooting Tom Cruise began an improv scene with me. Cameron Crowe liked it, so we improved a few more times. The improved scene didn't make the cut by I am still in there for a little scene near the beginning.

What’s he like?

He’s really nice, I had a good time.

Can you compare being part of a big production film like Vanilla Sky to a smaller one like Beautiful Kid?

I like that indie vibe…I like the scale. On an independent film, I feel very involved in the project and the whole process as opposed to a big film where you have less involvement unless you’re a big talent. I have had leads in a few more indie films that are in post production now. Making an indie film is special because you end up spending so much concentrated time with a small group of people and they become your family in a way. And when you go onto another film you meet new friends and become close to them and you start the process all over again.

How are indie actors paid?

Well it depends. For the ones that I worked on I was paid a day rate…and then the rest depends on percentages that you agree on in your contract for if the film gets bought and released…so we hope it gets released and everyone loves it.

On the set of Beautiful Kid, did you have a favorite person you liked working with?

Well the people I worked with the most were Dan and Javier and I worked a lot with John and they were unbelievable. Being the only girl on the set a lot of the time could have been tough, but I felt really safe and protected. A lot of that had to do with Colum and Patrick as well - they made the sure the environment was very supportive which was amazing for my first time on a feature set. And I realize now what a gift it is to feel that supported creatively because then you can be free to explore and play with your character. And John made me laugh all the time, he was so spontaneous, he would just pull out these phrases! And he really helped me to understand the characters and the vibe that we were going for in the film.

And Malachy! What was it like working with Malacy McCourt?

I had limited scenes with Malachy but he was great. He’s come to a couple of plays that I did in New York over the years and he is really wonderful actor and artist. And Frank…I thought was very present and free. I really enjoyed working with him. Especially after reading his books and being a fan… I worked him up and then to have met him! So, I guess I am saying I didn't have a favorite person!

What about the young girl?

Halley? Halley was great…she was unbelievable, I was really impressed with her work in the film. We didn’t have a lot of dialogue together. I did see she was really able to take risks. Her character is kind of the voice of reason and to she had to be the "mother" in a young child's body and that takes a lot of groundedness. And you can see with the way that her career has gone how talented she is. I was very impressed by her.

Is there more jobs for acting in LA?

Yes, because entertainment is the main industry here but the flip side is there are many more people in the field….it was a huge eye opener for me. I had no idea it was so big. At first it’s a bit daunting and you can get stuck thinking about all the actors here who look like you and do what you do and how hard it is and then you kind of realize that it’s pointless to think this way. Once you kind of determine what you want for yourself and what you have to offer, all you can do is go into the room and do what you do to the best of your ability. I’ve also found that the creativity here is incredible. Everyone has an idea and is working on something. Production in the industry is weird right now with the recession, but with Youtube and other outlets…it’s still a pretty creative time. So there is negative and positive aspects to it.

Your husband’s an actor?

Yeah, we met almost eight years ago on the set of Guiding Light.

Doing what?

I was working for a week shooting the part of a college girl who was friends with one of the main characters and he was a recurring character and we happened to be shooting on the same day….we just got married last June.

Where did you go for your wedding?

Cape Cod…

You did a few plays?

I did many off, and off-off broadway shows. I also worked with a theater company that was run out of one of the hospitals and dealt with education on HIV/AIDS and STDs. We would be trained and then develop shows that would be taken into the NYC schools, teen programs, and colleges in the Northeast. It was a great job and it was great to work with an issue I feel very strongly about. Since I’ve been out here I did a play that was a grant from the LA History project for Edgefest Theater festival exploring the history of the LA public school system and it's ability (or lack of ability) to meet the needs of the students and community schools…so there is theater in LA.

I just saw this incredible play, The Fifth of July and I remember thinking, how do these actors remember all these lines, it seems so impossible! When you’re doing plays whether it be in an education setting or as a huge production play, how do remember all those lines?

The memorization of the lines is part of your job as an actor. So if you don’t have a system you‘re in trouble. Memorizing is actually pretty easy for me. It’s playing a snapshot and it’s really about connecting with what the story is and once you get that, then the lines kind of come anyway and they just make sense. I actually love the type of acting a play entails because you get to play the whole arc of the character at once. Whereas in films you just do little bits. Sometimes it’s hard to walk off set and feel good about what you did.

Would you ever teach acting?

I have. I ran a theater program in New Jersey and I enjoyed it but teaching acting is not my calling. I actually do a lot of counseling of actors…I’m a nutritional counselor.

Oh, that’s your other job?

Yeah, I counsel actors who are losing or gaining weight for roles or who are trying to clean up their diets or stay at a healthy weight without starving themselves. Being in the business…your body is your instrument. When I started working professionally, I saw a lot of eating disorders and fad diets and I was thinking how can one be in this business and not have issues around food? I knew that if I was going to make a career out of acting, I wanted to get a clear handle on how to care for my body, keep it healthy, and lose or gain weight safely. So I went to a school in NYC, and while I was there I had an actress approach me about counseling her. And found out I really love it. It is very important to address this aspect of being an actor because if you get a part where you have to lose weight and you starve yourself to do it then by the time you get on set, you are in no shape to be creative - all you can think about is the fact that you are starving! And your work suffers. Versus, knowing how to lose the weight in a healthy way so that you are still creative and able to work and you’re not running off the set to grab slice of pizza. There are so many actors that have to leave the acting because of the damage they’ve done to their bodies.

Look at Jared Leto gaining like a hundred pounds for his lead in a role or Christian Bale becoming a skeleton for one of his…I think it’s great you are there to provide actors the right tools to do this and not damage themselves permanently! Can you compare yourself to Fiona or Bridget (the female characters of Beautiful Kid)?

My character, Bridget was quite a product of her environment. She was a character that really had a lot of pride toward the community and the people she grew up with. I think she’s very smart in her own way. Whereas the other character, Fiona really applied herself and was interested in getting out of the community. Having a future elsewhere. Bridget didn’t have that drive. I think they were pretty opposite, but I think both are smartly developed; one is engrossed in the world she grew up in and the other wasn't…and then there’s Dan's character who’s caught between the two. Bridget gave him a lot of slack for his desire to leave…she wanted her family of friends to remain there, those two guys were her family.

Are you more of a Bridget or a Fiona?

I left my home at 17, so in that way I’m similar to Fiona. But I go back to visit my family a lot and I have a lot of loyalty towards them, so in that way I am similar to Bridget. I guess a combination of the two. It would have been really hard to play this character without an understanding of why she does the things she does. She was very protective of them. Her actions were sometimes ones I wouldn’t chose, you know? When she has little understanding of Dan's character's desire to move, I wouldn’t do that. But I think Mike did a great job writing characters that are not black and white. You feel bad about what happens in the end, you'd love to see him move on, but yet there’s love there…he did a great job with creating "gray" characters. They are great to watch and to play.

I agree with you Christine! Beautiful Kid was beautiful! Everyone loved how you played your character. I think in no time you will be awarded best actress for it. I’m looking so forward to seeing you in Madness and Genius, please let me know of its release!

The Absolutely Amazing Anne Judson Yager!

2009-05-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Anne Judson Yager is no stranger to the big screen. She has played the lead role in several films including Whittier in the movie, Bring It On. She is currently playing Maggie in the on-going internet series, Catch. She spoke with me about acting among other things. I found her to be very down to earth for someone who has walked the Red Carpet more than a dozen times...

Anne, I've noticed when you are playing the "good girl" on screen, you're a blond and when you're the "bad girl" you are a brunette? Is this deliberate or just my imagination? I heard when Sara Jessica Parker plays her "darker" roles she tends to do this too. Are you blond?

There is something that is down right priceless about the ability to change your hair as a woman. Many woman get dramatic cuts and colors after breakups and during big changes in life. It definitely brings out different sides of ones personality. As an actress it's no different. Maggie, the character that I play in the Internet Series Catch is just like many women. Although she goes through a few more dramatic changes than most. You'll see her (and her hair color) change quite a bit. Yes, I'm a blond.

James Huffman (the writer, director and producer of the Internet series, Catch.Com) has often said he loves working with you, do you feel the same way about working with him?

James Huffman is a multitalented visionary. He's one to keep your eye on for sure. When I heard about the projects that he had slated and the vision he has for Indie City, there was no doubt that I wanted to be a part of it.

How did you meet up with such a dynamite group that is known as IndieCity Productions?

I met James through a lucky frequent flyer mile incident. My parents came out to visit for Christmas but because of the restrictions on their air fair, they had to leave early Christmas morning. A girl friend of mine invited me over and James Huffman happened to be there as well. We started chatting, he invited me to an Indie City meeting and the rest is history in the making.

What was your childhood like, were you encouraged/discouraged to act?

I spent most of my summers making up games and shooting my own films and shorts. Fortunately I was supported 100% My parents have always done they're best to see my vision for my life and not just their own. Everyone should be so lucky!

Would you want your own son or daughter to get into acting?

Hmmmmm. That’s a tough one. I would say that if there is anything else in the world that would make you happy, do it. If not, and acting is something that you HAVE to do, then go for it! There are challenges and rewards in acting that nothing else can bring.

How do you manage to keep it together with all the pressure...is it easy for young starlets to break down like we've seen (Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton) do? What advice do you have for young actresses out there?

The advice I would give young actresses is to take the time to figure out what it is that you really want to be putting out into the world. Start creating the career that you want through your thoughts and then go speak it into existence.

You played the lead role of a high school character in the extremely successful, Bring it On Again. At the time, were you also in high school yourself, how did you manage to graduate with the making of the film? (Home school?)

I was already out of High School when I played Whittier. And actually the movie was set in College. It was the sequel to Bring it On which was set in High School.

You are an amazing actress who can easily shift from one emotion to the next and you are very believable. What was your training? Is there a consistent technique that you use?

I've studied with Arthur Mendoza who studied under Stella Adler for 11 years and with Shari Shaw who is the personal coach to many stars. I stay in class and try not to take myself too seriously. That'll kill ya. ;-)

I really like the concept of Maggie (except for some of her actions,,,obviously) and sympathize with her character for the way she gets fed up. Although, the outcome is extreme, her disappointments are universal. Do you feel the dating scene is as bad as Maggie thinks it is? She really is a trooper though, she doesn't stop looking...that's for sure (laughing).

True love seems to be a pretty universal desire. The x-factor that is in serial killers is something that most people don't take into consideration during the dating process, maybe that will change for people when they start to watch the series.... don don don doooooonnnnn.

(Laughing) How long does an episode of Catch.com usually take to make? When can viewers expect to see Catch.com 4 and 5? Have you finished filming it yet? The concept (of the short Internet movies) is really light years away, you guys are really advanced, when do you see it really taking off?

James does weeks of prep before we get to production. We usually shoot en episode in a day or two. Filming is on going and James is working on a screening party that's going to have a great host and some fun surprises. I'll keep you updated on that.

What is your sign? Do you believe in horoscopes? I am an Aquarian and I do tend to be creative and free-spirited, what about you?

I'm a Pisces. I do believe in horoscopes as a tool. The symbol for Pisces is two fish swimming in opposite directions. That’s me. I go with the flow but I’m pulled in different directions.

Of the following top paid actresses, who do you aspire to if any at all: Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie or Kate Winslet?

(Publicity Shot for Bring it On Again starring Anne Judson Yager)

Those are great choices. Drew Barrymore and Kate Winslet truly inspire me. Both of them have had to overcome the "Hollywood body" image issues which is not easy to do. They've also chosen some pretty awesome projects to be a part of. I mean ET! Really? How lucky was she? And Titanic? The other actress that I love dearly is Reese Witherspoon. Man in the Moon was one of my favorite movies growing up. And Pleasantville is one of my all time favorites. I'd love to play her sister in a Ya-Ya Sisterhood kind of film.

Have you traveled to other countries in the making of any of your movies? If so, what was that like?

I shot a commercial in Spain. Now, here's the trippy part... it was an AM/PM convenient store commercial. AND they brought in palm trees to make it look like California. Hey... I wasn't asking questions.

Compare NY to LA.

NY and LA are totally different worlds. I think they speak pretty loud and clear for themselves. Really, what justice could I do to them? They are both rockin' States with so much to offer!!!

I thought about this the other day...Catch.com is really intelligent for its use of foreshadow, use of music, its quickness. What other components in your opinion make this so unique?

A female serial killer looking for love is not a concept you see every day. As time goes on you'll get the chance to see what internal struggles, wants, desires and secret talents Maggie has. She's a pretty incredible character.

You got rave reviews for your lead role in Believe In Me as well as Bring It On Again, what movie did you prefer to make? It seems like they were made around the same time, am I right? How do you balance work and family?

I made Bring it On Again in 2002 and Believe in Me in 2004. As far as family, I'm not married with kids so at the moment I have the luxury of focusing on my career.

You are very recognizable, is it difficult to go to the store without being bombarded with paparazzi? Do you have a good relationship with them? I've seen Paris treat them like her friends, are you that trusting with them?

I get along just fine with the paparazzi.

What is the "Red Carpet" like? What celebrities that you've met made your heart pitter-pat? Or, are you un-phased by all of that?

Red Carpets are fun. I shared an elevator with Sidney Poitier once. How could your heart not pitter pat for that man?

I am so lucky to have been able to interview my two favorite male actors, James Huffman and Forbes March, if you could interview your favorite male actors, who would they be?

Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp and Denzel Washington

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Married with at least one kid and on a TV show or doing a few great movies.

What are your current projects?

I have a couple of pending projects and of course, Catch.

What is your favorite clothes designer that you usually wear? Are you a T-shirt and jeans type or do you always like to dress up?

I'm a sweats and t-shirt kind of girl for the most part but sometimes I love dressing up for events or just because. When I'm feeling a little down I like to put on something fabulous and do errands. It helps my spirit immensely. It’s fun doing errands as a diva. I usually end up having a fabulous day!

What is your favorite make up splurge?

SmashBox for sure! They have a great High Definition foundation that is meant for television. They have great products.

Thank You Anne!

Thanks for making me a part of your blogging world.

John Michael Bolger takes a break to discuss Michael Mann's Public Enemies

2009-05-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

John Michael Bolger has been an actor in NYC for over 20 years. He played FDNY Lieutenant Johnson for four years in the hit NBC series, Third Watch, has had a reoccurring role in Law and Order, NYPD and ER. He did an amazing job in the family movie, Rounding First, made us laugh in Delirious (with the late John Candy) had a small but significant role in Carlito's Way and gave an outstanding performance in Closer to Home. Today he meets with me to discuss his latest and greatest role in Michael Mann's masterpiece, Public Enemies which will be out in a few short months. This movie stars: John Michael Bolger, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, and Tatum Channing, among others. Clip from Third Watch:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQtFGh8STiU
When did you do that funny commercial? If there was an academy award for commercials, you’d win it!
When did I do that commercial? Let me see, it must have been six years ago…it’s one of those Vegas spots…
Did you get paid well?
No, it just got me a lot of exposure…it’s the karmic invoice.
What do you mean?
I don’t sweat shit like that…it’s all part of “the plan” truly. Until my karmic bill is paid up, I still have outstanding accounts.
That was great exposure…so; it just became a public service announcement then?
Yes…and that big guy was Grace Jones’ brother.
How did long did Third Watch run?
About um…seven years, NBC had me on there for about four years.
That show was great, I like this clip too, it really gives the audience a good view of your character. Tell me more about the character you play in your new movie?
He’s a East Chicago Indiana detective, he’s corrupt, dangerous, basically a monster and he has one Achilles heel and that is his lover, Anna Sage, “the lady in red.” But I can’t get too much into that because people have to go and see it.
Are you like your character in that…
Am I a monster? No!
That’s not what I’m asking; I’m asking would you risk everything for a loved one?
Yes, it’s my code of ethnics and honor, it was eerie to play this character because a lot of him was me…and I had to look at myself more than I ever looked at myself before but in the end it was cathartic and revelatory.
Really, what was cathartic about it?
Martin Zarkovich was known as the peacock or the sheik. The money he would make with all these gangsters…he would go out and buy all these flashy clothes. After I researched more about him, I realized that he had an incredible need for attention. It also made me realize that I, John have an incredible need for attention thus being an actor, thus being combative, and thus being flamboyant. I had met my match and had to come clean on a lot of issues and have…thank you Michael Mann!
Ah, that's sweet. That's a great tribute, he seems like a fantastic director. How long did it take to shoot the film and where did you guys do most of the shooting?
We shot for four months and we shot all through Indiana, Wisconsin, and primarily Chicago…these were the actual places that they robbed and hide out.
How would you categorize your character…is it one of the bigger roles?
Yes, it’s the character who changes the whole tide of the film…they give you the location, they give you the clothes but it’s up to you to do the soul searching, it’s was quite a hard character to play but it paid off in the end…I did it all for the love of a dame. One reviewer already wrote, “You don’t know if it’s Zarkovich or Bolger’s anguish.”
So, you were believable then, that's a great thing for an actor to be able to do that. Let’s talk about your Michael Man connection…
Okay, that’s easy. Twenty years ago, I had no credits, I looked like one of the Village People…I was studying acting at HP studios…where I’d recommend you to go like once a week…
Maybe.
Anyway, I was studying with William Hickey and Shelley Winters, no credits, with lots of balls, I was driving a cab, but I liked my headshot, I looked like Wayne Newton, that was me man.
That’s funny.
I wasn’t getting anywhere with auditions so every night I would drive the cab (laughing) I would stick one of my thousands of head shots up on the back window and I would have black eyes drawn on the pictures…this is going to be a long answer…(pause) and I would write a little sign that said, “I’d rather be acting.” One day I picked up a man in a very dark street in the New Tribeca area and he was bombed, he said, “Mayflower Hotel” and proceeded to harangue me about my headshot…he then told me he was a film director, he had a very heavy Spanish accent, he said his name was Hector Babenco and did I ever hear of him and told him, “No and sit back.” By the time we got to the May Flower Hotel, he told me he had a movie coming out the following week called, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” with William Hurt and the late Raul Julia and to keep an eye out for it and I said, “okay.” He tipped me very well and asked me could he have my picture. About a year and a half later, I was at The Actor’s Studio and overheard an actress moaning and groaning about how she was so nervous about having to audition for Hector for a film called, “Iron Weed.” Upon hearing this, I had to find Hector Babenco…with through cunning and larceny, I did.
You were determined.
He gave me an audition. I got to meet Bonnie Timmerman, the best casting director in the business. I didn’t get the job but she liked me and said she would remember me. Not long after that, I auditioned for a show called “Crime Story” and got the part. Michael Mann…he gave me my first professional job and now twenty years later, he’s gives me my biggest acting professional job, that’s the answer, I could have said more but…
He remembered you twenty years later?
Yep.
You just walked in and said hey.
No, no I had to do a whole audition process...
Do you have an agent?
Yes and she got me the audition. I’m very blessed and I’m very grateful.
So, you decided to start acting when you were twenty seven?
Yeah, but at five years old, I remember sitting on my stoop in the South Bronx knowing that things were going to get a little funky so I told my spirited inner child to run as fast as you can and I’ll find you some day…and I did at twenty seven years old, sobriety opened the door, and I started to live my life fully for the first time, I could breathe.
When did the hard drinking life begin?
From twelve to twenty seven and was proud of the fact that I never missed a day of partying…I had a perfect partying record until I ended up flat on my face, my bottom…then the hard work started…who am I? What am I? Why am I? I’m scared…I’m really scared.
When did you complete your memoir?
It’s not a memoir, it’s a fiction novel, “Stoop to Conquer” …I started it 2001 and I completed it in 2008, it’s a coming of age story, set in 1980, set in Hell’s Kitchen with drugs, sex and rock-n-roll, mayhem, peer pressure, redemption, renewal and New York City is the backdrop.
Do you have a publisher yet?
No, I’m going to try to bring it out with the movie. Writing this book made me realize what writers go through, it sends you around the bend, it becomes your lover, your child, your ruler, the pillow you sleep on and then somebody asks you to hand it over…it’s like giving your child away.
What made you write this?
David Miltch, the creator of NYPD Blue and Dead Wood was listening to me talk one day and said, “Bolger, you’re a writer, you should write something someday," so I did.
That’s a good idea to promote it at the same time as the movie…where is the premier going to be?
The world wide premiere will be June 23 at the Westwood Mann Theater in Los Angela's…
Did you have any scenes with Johnny Depp?
Yes and Christian Bale, they’re cool, alive, human, life in their eyes, fire in their soul, present, breathing, nice.
Private?
Somewhat.
I read your dedication for your mom in Kelly Ripa’s book…that was nice.
She was responsible to get all the writers for that book, they put a compilation of short stories together called, “I love you mom.” Writing that piece about my mother was a way of giving back to someone who gave me everything and continues to…she lives out in Long Beach, Long Island.
Where in Ireland is she from again?
Cloone, Letrim.
That's right, we talked about that earlier, how both our parents are from Letrim, sorry about that...(laughing) what was your favorite Indie flick that you did?
Seed.
I read some good reviews about that, it had such a tragic ending. What do you think about that film?
Seed was the story of an everyman who wanted to get the answers to all the questions that we’ve asked all our lives that most people avoid, he was willing to die trying…you really have to see that movie. It was an interesting ending, it could have gone either way, and you could have thought it ended in a good or bad way.
What about “Closer to Home?”
It’s a love story set in New York…about two people who are literally ships in the night and miss one another.
And “Rounding First…”
It was compared to Stand By Me, my performance depicted a man who was searching for his own father and through the realization that he couldn’t father his own son, they all got to win.
What’s your favorite role?
Martin Zarchovich…no, it’s a tie between him and Francis Seed, folks we have a tie!
What about your favorite play?
Long Days Journey into Night written by Eugene O’Neal, the Irish. It’s dysfunction at its highest form.
Michael Mann is your favorite director?
Absolutely. If he called me right now and said, “I have a part for you,” I would walk barefoot…to Canada.
Whoa, you like him a lot. I'm really dying to see this movie now...this is going to be very exciting.
He’s a real director! He’s an actor’s director.
What are his movies again?
Thief, Collateral, Heat, Miami vice, Last of Mohicans, there are so many...he’s big time.
He really is the man. Michael Mann's the man...

Up Next...Kate is coming up!

2009-05-04T08:55:00.001-07:00

Several years ago, I went to see Mike Carty's movie, Beautiful Kid and I was impressed by the actors who portrayed his characters. Kate played the unattainable girl in the movie. The girl of every man's dreams. She frowned upon his drinking and way of life. She was college bound and had the power to help him aspire to be something more. However, fate had different plans and the two did not end up together adding to the already unfortunate events of the script. I met Kate briefly at the premiere and remembered her as bubbly. When I met her again almost eight years later I noticed she still had a dynamite personality and looked younger...I wonder what her secret is.

What do you do?

I’m an actress…as an actor you always come up with other interesting side jobs…but I’m an actress. I handed out coupons for a brand name mop…when swifter just came out. And people were like, ‘Fourteen dollars for a mop? No thanks!”

From my research I read you were in many soap operas-what was that like?

I like soap operas (All My Children, Guiding Light, As the World Turns) because they are very intimate and you learn a lot from the cast. The amount you learn in such a short time is immense.

What was it like switching?

It wasn’t a contract role.

Who were you most ga ga over?

I mean it’s always very nice to be around such attractive people…it’s part of the business. I see people for who they really are as opposed to, ‘Wow, he’s really hot but he’s not that nice.’

Biggest role in a movie so far?

I was in an independent film, Unreal that did really well in the independent film circuit. I made such great friends on that movie…when I have production questions, I can reach out to them, it was just a wonderful experience.

I loved you in A Beautiful Kid!

That was about eight years ago, we began to film right after 9/11. I look back and I think, ‘Did I really know what I was doing?’ It was so much fun though, I got to fly by the seat of my pants….don’t tell Mike though.

You were the good girl.

I was the good girl (insert evil laugh).

Do you prefer to play these kinds of roles?

Um,,,you always want to play fun roles. It’s fun to do things differently then what you would normally do.

What was it like working with Column McCann, Frank McCourt, Malachy McCourt and of course, Mike Carty?

It was such a great experience…working with people that are so down to earth, so genuine. I will always have a special place in my heart for the boys. I look back and think about how young I really was and the patience they had with me.

You missed out in the fight scenes.

Yes, I missed all of that…the smashing of the car, the bar scenes, I wasn’t there for any of that…(being the good girl character, the contrast to the have-nots)

Are you from Sydney?

No, I went over to work for a famous family as a Tutor and lived there for a bit.

For whom…(to be left omitted) OMG, how did you get that job?

I was student teaching and a friend who knew I was looking to teach in NYC got me hooked up with them.

You took risks! To just move to Sydney like that, I always thought that’s where you were from!

I did, when the opportunity arrived, they were like, ‘Did you want to think about it?’ I was like, no.

Were you able to get acting gigs over there?

Kate on her Beautiful Wedding Day!

While working…work experience adds to it…when I realized I was going to be there for longer than five months, I began to look for acting work and I was cast in a play, Hell Hath No Fury. It was great to be in a different country and working with many actors. You have this amazing thing in common and you’re half the world away.

Do you still communicate with the family?

Yes…

You’ve been back in NYC for awhile?

About a year and a half…I work with a few agents who submit me.

Is it hard to get an agent? I’m looking for one now for this book and I find it’s really tough.

It’s really hard…because if you’re too new, they want you to get more experience…you have to take all of your creativity and you just have to be persistent. Persistence really is the key. You just have to pick yourself up and look for the person who’s right for you.

Are they nice?

Any business is full of bad people and good people…the beautiful thing about the acting community in the business, everyone has heard of everything so if someone worked with a bad agent, it would be well-known…so there is hope.

Any actresses you aspire to?

There are many. I steal stuff from actors, people on the subway….’oh I could use that….’ I think Kate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, I have so many and right now, I’m drawing a blank. There are also all those people I’ve seen watching plays. There was this one actress in Sydney I saw on stage and I thought she was really good…I forget her name. So, I can get inspired by the famous or the unknown, both can be equally good.

Do you have a set schedule?

Um…it can be a little crazy. It depends upon the day. I make sure everyday I try to get to the gym. I try to work at least an hour a day on work and aside from that it’s up in the air.

How does one survive financially?

Oh, I have a day job…it’s kind of encouraging to me to know that I can work really hard at acting and have a day job and one day I’ll be able to just act.

Can I ask you what you do?

I teach second grade in a private school. I have a brilliant co-teacher who is so supportive of me.

Do you get paid for indie films?

It depends. Being in the business, you do a lot of free work. It’s hard to battle through when there are so many people out there that would do this for free. For some, just to get on TV…just to get the exposure…It’s a really grey area, you know?

Do you expect to be cast in an unexpected success indie, like Little Miss Sunshine or Slumdog?

While you’re waiting, it’s important to enjoy your work, it’s very easy to lose sight of why you’re doing it, you have to love doing it.

Do the actors/actresses get residuals on successful movies?

It depends,,,you can get points…it really depends on the contract.

Currently?

Teaching and auditioning.

Anything?

Everything…I think that would be fun which is good to think like this. I like all different roles, I work hard…

What is your philosophy of life?

Philosophy of life? Oh my goodness, That’s such a big question. I think, happiness. Find happiness in whatever you’re doing.

Favorite make up on stage?

I have to say, Mac…except I also love Maybelline black mascara.

I was going to say, your eyes look really good.

Thank you, you know you have to change (makeup) it so often and it’s really affordable.

While in Sydney, you did movies?

In Sydney I did plays and sort of like a commercial spot, it wound up being a commercial but it was more a campaign for climate change awareness.

No movies?

They’re really strict over there but we are quite welcoming of foreign talent whereas over there they’re more strict to make sure their actors get work.

Two movies all together?

Two features, just did a short film. I’ve done student films and industrial films also.

What is a short film?

Just in a different category…like 20 minutes. I think! But don’t quote me!

Do you have a specific genre?

It depends, as long as the writing is good and being surrounded by good actors…as long as the work is good, I don’t mind.

Music?

I think that’s the hardest question to ask, it depends on my mood really. I like all genres, I guess. I love classical, rock-in-roll…

What’s the longest time you‘ve dedicated to a role?

The acting is such a small piece of the project…it’s inevitable you’re waiting around a lot,,, there are so many other people involved in the process.

Compare the making of a movie to a play?

It’s about the behavior…it’s such a different journey for each. Theater is a different experience that you live out every night whereas films are moments from a day of your character’s life. The same skills are involved, you know, but in different ways.

The toughest project?

I was in a play that for some reason the character did not sit with me, I worked on it, I worked on it…maybe I wasn’t ready for that character…my soul just would not understand that character…it was a great learning experience though.

Ever see Sean since?

(character from A Beautiful Kid) Oh, Dan Brennan! This is what’s great about NY….I was walking down the street and I heard, “Kate?” and it was such an arbitrary experience and it just made me smile. We just shared in the coolness of the moment. He was a lot of fun….it was a good time.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

I want to be happy doing what I love and to just be happy. A part of me thinks I’d love to do successful movies but at the same time, setting goals like that is good and bad…it’s good because it’s imperative, but it’s bad because you can’t…you can’t define yourself by whether or not you’ve accomplished these goals.

Thank you so much for sharing your acting experiences with me today.

You’re welcome. It’s like this book I read, The War of Art, about being creative and getting out of your own way…when you’re an artist it’s about treating it like it’s the real deal.

So, I should just get out of my own way?

Yeah, I really like the idea of this book, it’s good.

I appreciate all your encouragement…please let me know about your next play or film, I’m going to rent Unreal tonight!

(laughing) No problem!

Check Him Out Ladies...James Huffman!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

{I approached this guy in a cafe recently when I was downtown. I point blank told him he should be a model. When he informed me he had done some work, I begged him for an interview. At first he was a little scared but then he opened up. I learned so much about the modeling world and the importance of having other interests. I also learned (from this former New Yorker-a long time resident of Hell's Kitchen) the importance of forming creative groups. He is quite an artist and I found this so refreshing. It was amazing to meet a former model who was more than that}

:What is your occupation?

That’s a tough one. I do a lot: writer, actor, producer, “beverage guy…"

:Beverage Guy?

Day job. I’m a sales rep. for HINT in California, I distribute and market in shops to sell it to them or check it (if it’s already in stock).

:As a writer?

Right now I’m working on an Internet series about these two killers who are (both) looking for love on the Internet (think MATCH.com, or EHarmony), it’s a mix between Dexter and Serendipity, very dark comedy…

:You created it (the new series)?

Yes. Currently shooting episodes…third episode is being edited…

:Is there a following?

About 3,000 hits (viewers) so far for Episode One on UTube! For the second, which are very new, already 1,200!

:That’s SIC, any “professional actors” in this internet series?

There is this amazing actress whom I love working with, she’s awesome…her name is Anne Judson Yager from the movie, “Bring It On” she plays Maggie.

:I remember her in that movie, she is so talented! What's the process (in making these short films and such)?

It’s designed for the internet, each episode is five to six minutes in length, it’s tailored to a different appetite, people surfing on the web want something that’s fast, quick-n-easy, and to the point. Each one (episode) takes about a month to finalize. I multitask, write, produce, direct all at once and even make changes as its being produced.

:I wanted to ask you about the modeling…

I’m more of an actor, I did stuff in NY but now I’m doing exposure stuff here, it’s very competitive here, 10xs more than it is in NY, in LA it’s not about talent per se, the “town” oozes film/tv/marketing…personal drive and perseverance are key. I had an agent in NY but since coming here I detached a bit from an agency because the agencies here are not available to provide what it is I’m looking for. However, two weeks ago, I was booked for an independent film.

:Really?

Afterlyfes, I’m very excited. I will play one of the leads, it will be pitched to major networks and will be shooting in the next few weeks.

:What else have you done for major networks?

Sometimes I do background stuff which I don’t really like as an actor but sometimes it’s good…you get to meet, mingle, work at Universal studies…recently I did some background work for Desperate Housewives and the next background work I'll do will be on the set of "Dirty Sexy Money." It’s a good way to get on a set...

:I love that guy in DSM from "Six Feet Under" he's slamming...So, you would say acting has taken over modeling? (Despair and disappointment in interviewer’s voice)

Acting was always first.

:(Sounding disappointed) :Ever do commercial print? (Attempts to talk about his modeling again, can’t get off subject really)

[ever so patient]: Catalog, commercial print, the money is good, not steady, I want to be more that just a face…

:But WHY?

(laughing) I feel I have more to offer as an actor. I did twelve years of modeling work in NY.

:I always ask, any celebrities?

I have a friend who dated a supermodel, forgot her name, she was the first African American Cover Girl. I recently attended Benny Medina's birthday party.

:Who?

Mariah Carey’s manager. He is now dating my ex’s friend. It was a Casablanca themed party, everyone had to wear a tux. It was very surreal, so many famous people… Penny Marshall, Gooding Jr., John Mayer…it was really strange.

:That's so cool!!What was Mariah Carey like?

She was walking around with her 6 foot 6 body guard at a place where there was already security and other celebrities so it (the body guard’s presence) looked weird.

:What is your most significant accomplishment at the moment?

Collectively, IndieCityEntertainment.com (Production Co.) Our group is dynamic. I think it's hard to find a good creative group. I had one in NY. When I moved here, I spoke with some friends here and we started meeting weekly and we eventually formed a group. The group is made up of actors, writers, filmakers and through them I gained much inspiration. It was that same group who worked diligently with me on the 48 hour film competition. We were nominated as one of the best of LA.

:Wow!

It's titled The Playing Field. There were certain guidelines you had to follow for the competition. Every team receives a different genre. We got "Detective/Cop." That Friday night, about 10 of us brainstormed and kicked around ideas at my place til about 1AM. Then I kicked everyone out and wrote the script. I finished it around 4AM. I went with a "Film Nor" style story... like the old school black & white detective movies with Humphrey Bogart or Robert Mitchum.... but this story takes place in a contemporary setting.

:So tell me the story.

Well...to summarize, this beautiful girl in a red dress comes in to my office one day, I melt in her hands and then she wreaks havoc on my life.

:And?

You're just gonna have to watch it yourself. Also, I am producing an improv semi scripted skit, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" type of series called THE NOBODIES. Its based on the real life adventures of all the IndieCity players. It's like Spinal Tap...

:What's Spinal Tap?

You've never heard of Spinal Tap? THIS IS SPINAL TAP, actually. Spinal Tap is the name of the semi fictional 80's rock band the movie focuses on. Its one of the original mockumentary's. Its hilarious. Anyway, THE NOBODIES is based on real life experiences but exaggerated for comedic and dramatic effect. In one of our first episodes... not yet released... we based the story on a situation in one of our actor's lives. Recently, when working with him, I (as a director) had to keep yelling at him for sighing so much; it was distracting and not part of the script. He couldn't no matter how hard he tried...stop and it became very funny, even for me. He (the same guy) also has this thing with his agent... not THAT kind of thing...she just coddles him...does stuff that's not really normal for an agent. She bakes him cookies and gives him rides (takes him places in her car) wherever he wants. She's basically like his...

:MOMMY?

Exactly. And so the last improv. our production company created for this show involved him sighing several times during a shot, to reinact an experience from his own life and we added his agent, an actress of course to be there supporting him...

:And she's going to get upset with you for getting upset with him?

Right. He starts sighing (again) and everyone is getting pissed and he's saying he's sorry and is trying to stop. ALL the while, his supportive-mommy-manager is there telling me, "That's his signature, we're (her company)trying to market his sigh and I'm saying "No, no, no sighing...no, no!" It's very funny.

:I can't believe that really happened, minus the manager bit, I would be so embarrassed if I were him, I'm a sigher (is that a word?).

(laughing) Check it out on my site, gonna run...

2008-05-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

John "The Terror" Carty: Award-winning actor of Beatiful Kid the movie

2008-03-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

John Carty aka The Terror played the character Danny in Mike Carty's master piece, Beautiful Kid. It was a pleasure to talk with him and discuss his bad boy days, his best actor award and how things have changed...

Hey John, thanks for letting me ask you questions about Beautiful Kid.

So you’re writing a book? You should have Frank McCourt look at it.

You gotta ask him for me John.

I don’t,,,I haven’t seen him in over five years…

He’d still remember you John, you’re not easily forgotten. Alright, let’s talk about the movie. Okay, this movie was loosely based on growing up Irish in Woodlawn back-in-the-day. What was it really like growing up in Woodlawn…back then?

Growing up in Woodlawn…I was thinking about this the other day actually…if I could design the perfect place to grow up, it would be Woodlawn…do you like it, is that okay?

Umm…yeah, you can say anything. What about now, what are your feelings about it now?

I still like it, it has changed though, it’s more diverse now.

What did you like most about it?

There was always fun things to do. I guess the drinking. You know like the keg party in the movie? That’s what we used to do. There was all different crowds but everyone usually got along. There were some fights but no serious black eyes or nothing…well not all the time anyway (laughing).

Sounds like you got a dog, I can hear a dog.

Yeah, her name is Cupcake, she’s a short-legged pit bull, same head as a pit bull, really smart dog.

Ahhh, how cute. How long was a typical day for you (in filming Beautiful Kid)?

Well, the days were really, really long. Do you know James O-?

No.

Well, once we were driving the car…that we were using in the movie and I crashed the car!

On purpose?

No, it was an accident. It was crazy and I still had the blood on my shirt from the movie. (fight scene)

Oh my god..

I was working at Ground Zero at the time and doing the movie at night and that night I was so exhausted I crashed the car and they had to film the movie from the passenger’s side (laughing). I smacked my head on the roof! I had to change the two front tires, it was a nightmare. Are you gonna ask me why I think the movie wasn’t bigger than it was?

Okay, why wasn’t it bigger than it was?

Because we're not Jews...we are not JEWISH!

Are you resentful about being Irish?

No! Irish is the best nationality that there is…and something that really pisses me off is people think it’s (the Irish flag) green, white and orange…it’s gold, but they changed it!

What was it like dismantling the car with a bat in one take?

Oh that was so much fun, you were there for that one, right?

Yeah, I was an extra and we were cheering you on…and I remember Mike saying that they had to do it in one take only cuz they only had the one car to bash and he bought it at a junk yard for $50!

Oh, it was so much fun...I did that for real once but this time it was for fun. I think everyone should try this,,,just go to a junk yard…

Wait…did you say you’ve done that for real?

Yes, a guy was messing with my girlfriend once. And once when a guy messed with my brother Cliff. Actually the guy lived in the apartment you live in now!

Seriously?
Yep, it happened right there at that building…the Hagens. I was outside the building crushing his car.

With a bat?

It was like a bat and I saw him in Rory Dolan’s recently and I apologized. He’s a cop now in York Town Heights. I wouldn’t want to piss him off now. It was New Years Eve. And some boys came down to my house and said, ‘Cliff just got beat up by the Hagens' and I started chasing them with the bar. Later, the cops came down and I said I wasn’t going out there and Cliff went down and had to get locked up for the night…Cliff was a dummy, he turned himself right in,,,I make them cops earn it, they’re gonna have to look for me.

What was the outcome?

Oh, I had a friend who had a friend…and the whole thing got squashed.

Thank god! Cliff’s a cop now?

No, he’s a fireman but he was a cop first. But this happened when we were kids. He was a cop for ten years.

Why did he retire? When you’re a cop or fireman the time carries over, he’ll be able to retire soon.

Wow. In the movie credits…they write your name, John “The Terror” Carty, that’s also been your nickname for a long time, how did you get it?

I was 16 years old and I got a motorcycle jacket and back then everyone had shaved heads and I went into a store and someone said, “Hey, that’s Terror from the Wonderers" and when I saw the movie I was like, ‘I don’t look like that’ and I wanted to change it back! But now, I do actually look like him and it’s crazy…and the stunt guy we had in Beautiful Kid was also in that movie!

That’s such a coincidence.

Yeah, the movie (Wonderers) was about gangs that hung out and fought…and we used to fight like that…it was really great growing up…it was really fun fighting.

Ever go to jail for fighting?

A lot.

Really?

Well, for beating people up, not really for fighting.

What was your longest stint?

Umm…I think six months,,,the most I ever did was two years.

What was that for?

A stolen car…going into that I had a lot of fights and that judge was mad. That was in 1992…in Valhalla I did six months a few times.

Oh gosh.

Once my mom had a fortune teller at her house and the cops knocked the door down!

No way…I’m sorry I’m laughing, it’s not funny. But your poor mom. I don’t know why I’m laughing right now, I’m sorry.

She (fortune teller) did my cards and she said, “there’s blood all over you and you’re gonna see people you know and people you don’t know” and while this is going on my brother Kevin calls and says, ‘the cops are looking for you‘ and I said I better call a cop (John Barnett) to take me in there and he told them where I was.

What a jerk for ratting you out!

I know. So now this fortune teller is screaming, ‘don‘t come in, you’ll let the spirits out’ and I‘m trying to escape down the fire escape and I see this cop and they‘re saying ‘we‘re gonna break the door down!”…and she’s saying, ‘don‘t let the sprits out‘

(laughing)

I had just done my time in a jail. Once I went to jail for popping a guy’s eye out. And I went to jail for 6 months and I got out and had to go back for not paying a fine!

What did your father say?

When I got out that time I wanted to beat up the guy who got with my girlfriend when I was away but my dad was with me…Rest in peace…and was saying “no more fighting John, no more.” This car drove up next to us with a bumper sticker that said, ‘let go, let god’ and I just took it as a sign.

What was jail like?

It was horrible, it was nothing like Woodlawn (laughing), actually Valhalla… it was like a little vacation. No one really messed with me though, at Rikers. I was 290 pounds and had a bald head. I’d see people carrying stuff over their heads and I’d just carry it under my arm. There was this guy, Poft and he always asked people to get him stuff (food) and no one ever refused but I did…

Wow!

Yeah, I screamed at him, ‘I don’t get anything for anyone!‘ I’m really lucky he got out the next day. I wouldn’t be alive today. Once I was in a rec room and these guys were wrecking the pexi-glass and then they saw me and thought I’d say something cuz I was white. After that, I was fine.

Is it scary?

I was always aware. Once I was running…and I was praying and I heard this noise and I thought I was crazy because I heard someone running up behind and no one was there.

Hope it doesn’t make you blue…to talk about those days…

All this reminiscing…once I was gone and I had just missed Chinese food and one guy said, don’t worry, “We’re gonna have filet migon and he took out these two bologna sandwiches…it wasn’t funny at the time but you look back at it...you can laugh at it…you ever think about getting a tape recorder?

Yes, all the time.

And when I got out of jail that time when I met my future wife and she was in Ireland for a month and that fortune teller lady’s words came true and I got stabbed in the back with a knife...and I couldn’t go to the hospital because I was on parole and I woke up and my back was stuck to the bed…from all the blood.

What was your childhood like?

I had a crush on your mother (laughing)and I was mad when your dad married her…

I never heard that one.

Yeah back then your uncle and my dad used to come home with black eyes and no one really got locked up,,,fighting and drinking and all that...and no one got locked up and I remember Joe once said to me, “You gotta make a name for yourself….” And I seen him recently and I said, “I know you didn’t mean that kind of name"…and he was just laughing.

When you got the best actor award…

Oh, I wasn’t there but Mike (Carty) called me and said, ‘you got nominated but you’re not gonna win cuz you’re up against Eric Roberts…’

Julia Roberts brother?

Yeah. So I said, ‘did I get money or anything?' And then later he called me back and he was almost crying and he said, ‘Holy s###! You won the best actor award!' And that Method Fest award is a big deal, it’s what Robert Dinero won before he shot to stardom. And you wannna hear something f##### up?

Yeah.

Someone from my union stole it cuz I brought it to work to show it to the guys at work.

Oh man, I would have been pissed!

I went to another film festival and this black lady came over to me and said, ‘You got some balls!” And I thought she meant she really saw them (in the naked scene).

Was Frank (McCourt) there?

No but I went to another one at Lake Placed and I saw Frank across the street and he yelled over, “that’s my son.“ He was a really nice guy,,,I like his brother too.

What was the greatest memory of the movie?

There was the movie premiere night, remember that when we all went from Woodlawn?

Yeah, that was a lot of fun!

That was like…honestly… I don’t think of myself as an actor and so many people were like, ‘you were awesome’ but I don’t feel like it actually happened. I really like that girl,,,,Bridget, she was the nicest of all the actors.

Who were you closest to growing up?

My brother Cliff, we were Irish twins, 16 months apart.

And he never went to jail?

No, never got in trouble,,,,except for that time he turned himself in. Since 1993, I haven’t been locked up.

Got any other crazy stories?

Once we were going across the border to Canada and two guys couldn’t get over there because of what happened (their petty crimes) and we had to stay in Maine. We got into another bar fight. At that time I wasn’t drinking. I’m just standing there and next thing you know I look over and my friend Colum says, ‘that girl over there just stole my pack of smokes.' And I told him to forget about it and let it go. And next thing you know…he’s got one leg… and he’s got her in a head lock and everyone in the bar comes running over to us.

(laughing)

Luckily the owner liked us and was like, ‘that girl stole his cigs’ and we just got outta there…shortly after that he was outside the hotel room with his pants around his ankles and he’s playing the bag pipes…and later he bought crisps and beans and I had to open it with a knife and he poured the beans right over the chips and he’s eating them and there’s beans all over his face.
That’s disgusting. What was your last horah?

Two Wednesdays ago. ..I went to the Rambling House until 4 in the morning and I got in trouble for that…I don’t think that’s gonna be my last one.

Describe the fight scene in the movie?

It was kind of fake to me because in a real fight I’d be a lot faster even though I’m a fat bastard. In the movie we had to move slowly. When I was younger I never thought I could have killed someone and one time I got whacked with a bat and saw stars. I seen this girl and I asked her ‘how does it look?’ The blood was warm flowing down my face and she just looks at me and screams. Another time I got bashed with a hurling stick…another crazy night on Katona Ave!

Jesus! What’d you do?

I saw this lady with her kid and I said, “Is that your kid?“ And she just scowled at me and next thing you know her husband comes over and hits me. I went home and got my crow bar and knife and went back over to him. When the cops got there they asked who the knife belonged to and we both said, ‘We don’t know.' And then the cops asked me if he hit me and I said no…cuz I didn’t want to press charges and he turned himself in!

What? He admitted to it?

When the cops said, “Did you do this to his face?” He said, “I certainly did!" and they just took him away in hand cuffs, he was an idiot.

I loved Beautiful Kid,,,it was so well done.

I love the movie,,,and I still watch it and that movie was really true…those things really happened…

Like what?

You know that scene where the guy goes to get drugs and gets killed? That really happened but not exactly, want me to tell you the real story?

Yeah.

Mike Murphy and Johnny Stack and I were doing this thing called the three-man-sling shot-and you shoot it out at people walking by and we hit some lady…we ran out of water balloons so we started shooting other things: apples, etc then the cops came and everyone scattered and I ripped my pants and I remember I was changing my pants and I was thinking I was just gonna stay home and decided to stay home. So, Johnny and Murph go and give the guy the money (to buy drugs) and wait and the two guys start fighting and they turn and grab a bat and start chasing this black guy and they get through three projects and the Dominicans turned their bullets lose. Johnny got shot three times and Murph 20 times…Johnny survived.

Is he still alive?

Yeah. He got stabbed on Katona Avenue after that and another time he got a knife stabbed right through him out the other side,,,,and another time he flipped a car in a black out and killed the other guy in the car. I swear to god he has nine lives…and he’s fine, he’s still crazy,,, he’d still fight and he wouldn’t even think twice about it.

You been to Ireland?

Yeah, four times, the last time I went like six years ago…the seats are not big enough for me. Last time I was there I was in a bar and I was buying beers and ice and this guy gave me a little baggy of ice. Another time we were getting a ham sandwich and we asked for it ‘thinly sliced’ and the guy gave us one slice and another time I thought this guy buying beer with change was a bum because he was buying beers with coins and I thought he was hurting but he was just a regular guy (the Euro is coins).

Would you want your kids to grow up in Woodlawn?

No.

Why?

I don’t know,,,it’s not like it used to be…the schools have changed and I’d rather my kids go somewhere else. I was raised as a racist but I’m not a racist anymore,,,things were different back then.

Getting back to your friend who was shot 20 times, did that make big news?

Just a little newspaper article…and his brother was a cop.

At the time?

Yes and his other brother was a fireman and the other brother later became a cop.

What happened to the guy who pulled the trigger?

He got twenty years…and when he got out he got killed. And the guy who ran away from them,,,he got killed.

How?

He got shoved in the back of the car and ran over.

That’s a tragic story, I‘m sorry you lost your friend…

In the movie, that part seemed so real. In reality, it was the hardest part,,, I was getting screamed at and it so crazy I couldn't even remember my lines.

You guys did such an amazing job when I watched that part when you and your friends’ lives were being threatened I got so scared, the acting was so good, I thought is was real for a second. John, you’re amazing. I want you guys to get together and do another movie like that.

Thanks, the movie was based on real life events but was really watered down…and some people complained it was too violent….but it’s real life, you know?

I do…I loved it, it was amazing.