Alex Adams's Canary had me back for a second day of shooting.  Working with Alex is a dream.  Light, fast improvisation work around very specific circumstances with long takes and multiple cameras.  It's the most fun I've had on a set.  There are no obstacles to instant immersion. 

I am so glad he needed me for a second day.  Got to work opposite the delightful Dave Menashe and Yvonne (didn't get her last name).  This director is on to something.  Mark my words.  His last film Around the Bay has received favorable press and festival attention, including a piece in Variety.  Working with him again is at the top of my to-do list.

Seriously, people, when the notion of some modicum of career success stateside ever starts to seem surreal, get yourself in a Pacific Rim mindset.  Sure, our economy may collapse, but the rest of the world will want to see the plight of America depicted over and over again.  It's been a long-standing dream to have some kind of a Japanese audience and now, millions.

Monday night, I played a doctor in two different documentary reenactment pieces for Nippon TV's "World's Astonishing News."  The show has had something like six big seasons and shows in a primetime slot back in Japan.  I hear that it sometimes contains gameshow elements.  I showed up at a medical center in Daly City, and soon the lobby was filled with maybe 25 actors and crew.  We made our way up to a women's clinic and turned the extremely large waiting room into a sort of green room.  The crew repeatedly referred to this as “the base,” as in, “Okay, we are done with this shot.  You can go back to the base.”

Most of my scenes shot right away.  The crew was fast.  We sat down in position and our lines were related to us verbally.  Then one quick rehearsal and boom, takes.  It is to be dubbed in to Japanese.  Energizing and fun to work on these little pop-quiz bite-size pieces of action.  Sometimes, for something that would take a very little time to say in English, we were instructed to draw it out because they knew that the Japanese translation would take longer to say in overdub.

The director (Tommy baseball jersey, jeans, stubble) spoke only Japanese and relied on his 1st (track jacket, jeans, adidas, blue-tinted, black-rimmed glasses) to relay his instructions.  The 1st AD spoke beautiful English, very mellow, exacting guy.  The cameraman, wiry, wry, backwards cap, did some crazy swish pans between doctor and patient using a stool as a human tripod head between us.  The grip’s (jeans, baseball cap, cardigan, Chucks) white-stripe-on-black-leather belt was too loose so I loaned her my Swiss Army knife with the leather punch.  The remaining crew guy’s role was uncertain, but he was similarly styley.  Mostly 30’s, maybe director in 40’s.  They just worked together beautifully.  Kathy, the production manager, producer, representative of Duo (the local production company), something, very good communicator, kind, direct, effective.  She brought it all together.  Never did get the names of the crew.  [Raised Kathy on her cell today and she gave me the director's name:  Yuji Matsuno.  Thanks, Kathy!]

At one point, the director and AD had become separated while shooting a scene in a big file room set up like library stacks.  Unable to instruct me verbally about where he wanted me to go during the scene, the director just grabbed me and moved me around like a game piece.  Several times between takes, the director would come in (small clinic, he’s usually watching on a monitor from an adjacent room or hall), and talk to the actor directly for, say, 20 seconds.  Then the 1st would say one or two sentences in concise English.  We wrapped the location in five hours.

I hope I get to work with these people again.  I had a great time and really fed off the fast-paced verité shooting style.  No sound also makes shooting a completely different experience.  Gone are anxieties about airplanes.  No more screaming “Quiet!”  No room tone.  No slates.  No endless lavalier wrangling.  The only yelling to be had on the set was when the director called out “Arigato” (“thank you”) instead of “cut” to end each shot.  Very pleasant atmosphere. 

 

 

Shot a small part in an indie feature called "Canary" on Sunday.  Very cool way of working, documentary feel, three cameras.

When an actor goes up on their lines, the worst thing they can do is apologize.  Giving the editor some tails, saying, "Pickup," pausing, then continuing without dropping focus, holding one's breath, or upbraiding oneself, this is the mark of a pro.  Working with well-cast ensemble, a story, and relationships, but no scripted dialogue, is the ultimate arena for abandoning apology and for continued discovery of one's unique self-possession.  I felt like a marionette who'd sprung to life after the strings were cut.

It's a very creepy website. I feel an arresting sense of altered reality by entering this zone. Very akin to the feeling on set for my day on Canary. Alex gave us some very cogent written information about our relationships, desires, and the situation and then cut us loose.

So much of what one does on camera tends to be abbreviated, chopped-up pieces of a script. Don't get me wrong; I love that way of working and its inherent challenges. But here in improv land (with very compelling and well-crafted givens), we got to stretch out. So fluid.

To get a full breath.  To do what you  want to do.  To be in relationship.  To scratch the itch.  To get out from behind a desk.  To play.  To go to the moment.  To show how it is.  To make friends.  To kick ass.  To get paid.  To make people laugh.  To learn.  To be seen and heard.  To explore us.  To tell stories.  To collaborate.  To progress. 

I've never really been a boss.  I guess I was an assistant manager at a movie theatre, but that was more about praying the film didn't break than supervising anyone.

Today I played an AT&T manager who trains customer service representatives how to navigate difficult calls while he deals with employee misconduct scenarios.

Barbara Murray and her crew at Left Coast Productions were awesome.  Refreshingly professional.  Every single person there was great to be with.  I like.

The Brava Theatre is a class venue.  Big tasteful lobby to accommodate a capacity crowd without packing them in like sardines.  Great rake to the seats, spacious, well-appointed.  SFSDF's one-year program graduates put their final projects up on the big screen. 

I was really impressed by George Manatos' roadside tough cop confessional comedy, but I somehow didn't grab a program, so I don't yet have a name for the film or the female lead.  Tony Williams kicked butt as the conflicted cop.  Beautifully shot, great sound, tight editing, and some really funny and touching moments.

I played Marlowe opposite Quinne Brown's Doris in Greg Lynn's "Shadows of Evil," a tongue-in-cheek neo noir in which I, once again, get killed.  Black and white, of course, and full of bars, smoke, dames, guns, and whiskey.   Laughs from the crowd = yay!  Greg, who also pulled as cameo as the bartender, was, as usual, among the most dapper men in the house.  Also in attendance, his beaming parents.  Greg is chip off the old block!  Frederic Dominioni and the voice of Tony Williams also featured.

Kent Epperson's spec commercial for Stella Artois featured my goofy, French (due to the music), and romantic soft-focus side. Are you afraid?  Pretty amusing stuff.  Great concept and execution, K!  Kudos to cameraman George Manatos and the rest of the crew.  The lake is real.

In one of my favorite roles so far, I played a drug dealer on his way out of business in John Entenmann's "Drug of Choice" opposite the extremely gracious, funny, and accomplished Frank Payne. I hook him up with the ride of his life.  Our last deal.  Thanks to John, Frank, and the rest of the awesome crew.  Quinne Brown puts in another irresistible turn as the ultimate dream girl who knows what she wants. 

To cap off the evening, I was approached by a production company to do some industrial work coming up.  Time to start getting paid!

Swap out adjectives for verbs. 

Playing to adjectives or other kinds of results doesn't pan out.  It won't sound real or true.  If one already know exactly what it's going to be, how can one be in the moment? 

Classic stuff, right?  We need verbs, what ifs, stuff like that.  Not what it should look or sound like.  Not a line reading.  Must be true.

Build something between director and actor.  Establish trust and rapport even while challenging basic methods and assumptions.  Before shooting.  Take the time.  Know what languages you're speaking.  Assess the need for translation to terms you really understand so it lives for both of you.