Showing posts with label Tom DeCillo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom DeCillo. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

My fifteen minutes of fame can't be up yet, can they?

The movie I was in, Box of Moonlight, is running again this month on Cinemax. For those of you who do not have Cinemax or who have not see this fine film, I have taken the liberty of taking some photos from the movie and posting them here so I could do yet another post about the movie.

In the opening scene we construction workers are fucking off when we're supposed to be setting up a turbine. Our boss, John Turturro, catches us playing a game of stickball in the plant and he's not happy about it.
That's me batting. If you ever see the film, and you'll see the scene I'm in later because I'm going to record my bit on my camera later today and I'll post it here for all to see, you'll notice I miss the pitch when the duct tape ball gets tossed to me. I hit it dead solid perfect four or five times in rehearsal but when the camera rolled I choked. After Turturro catches us playing we all come up to see what he's going to say. That's me on the far left standing there with my belly sticking out and my hands on my hips. The guy who's head I circled is named Ray Aranha. He was super nice to all us extras and he was a total pro. The day we shot these scenes we worked about 14 hours and it was hot and humid as hell out but Ray never complained a bit. He had been on a sitcom on ABC called Married People and I recognized him from that show, when I said I liked him on it he grinned from ear to ear and he seemed genuinely pleased that someone remembered he had been on it. The camera stayed on us while Turturro bitched at us for stopping working. Notice how I cocked my head a little, damn that's some fine acting! The guy who's face I put an x on was and still is a total douche. He's one of those guys who to make himself look good and to appear funny constantly runs down everyone else. He bored anyone who would listen with tales about his Harley Davidson motorcycle. He used to hang out in one of the bars we did improv in in Knoxville and I could always hear him trying to talk over us while we did our shows. If I never run into him again it will be too soon.
Ah more fine movie acting by me in this shot. The guy who's head I circled in this shot's name is Robert Wightman. His claims to fame before this film were that he had played John Boy Walton Jr in a few episodes of The Waltons, he played the stepfather in Stepfather 3 (which I rented after he told me he was in it and it wasn't that bad), and he had a large supporting role in another Tom DeCillo film called Living in Oblivion. He was a nice guy as I recall, he was easy to talk to and not a bit standoffish. I checked his IMDB page and unfortunately he hasn't done much since this movie.
Ohhhh ladies, look at that ass as I walk away from the camera. Which one of you wants a slice of that white boy booty? And that's our lamp reflecting on my butt, I do not poop out rectangular yellow objects...anymore.And finally as the scene wound up we all went back to work and we had to walk toward Mr. Turturro. We were told to walk fast so that it looked like we were eager to get back to work and I nearly walked into Robert. I put my hand on his back to let him know I was coming up fast behind him and when you watch the scene you can see him flinch when I touch him. I guess he wasn't used to being pawed by a damn dirty monkey like me.

I worked for a day and a half on the movie and I would have worked another day but I came down with a wicked summer cold and my Mercury Cougar died on me the next day so I didn't get to spend another day on the set. I was bummed but that's life.

All in all though I had a great time and I learned why they say that shooting a flim is one of the most boring things one can ever do. You rehearse the scene, they set up the lights and cameras and then you shoot it. Then they have to change the camera set ups and the lights to do the same scene from a different angle. Then you repeat that process all day long. Even though I was bored to tears at times I'd do it again in a heartbeat because I'm part of film and film is forever.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Tag, I'm it.

My main man, the swingin' Matty Boy of Lotsa 'Splainin To Do blog fame, tagged me with a meme. Here are the rules of this one:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. (You’re not the boss of me!)
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

I'm doing this because I like him and because I love any opportunity to tell you more about adorable little old me. So button up your jackets, tie your shoes, and let's set fire to this rocket baby!

1. I was in a movie that was directed by Tom DeCillo. It's called Box of Moonlight. I was only an extra but you can plainly see me in the first 30 seconds of the film. I'm the blond haired guy who is wearing his hard hat backwards and is batting in the scene where the workers are fucking off. They filmed it in Knoxville, TN when I was living there and I worked two days on the movie. Tom was a great guy, very nice and very down to earth, I recommend you go see all his movies. John Turturo was kind of strange and standoffish, but in retrospect he had to be since his character in the film was closed off from everyone else around him. Sadly, I did not get to meet Katherine Keener. The nicest "Hollywood" type was the old black guy who played Soapy. He was fun to be around and would talk, laugh, and joke around with anyone and everyone, but when it was "magic time" he was all business. One more thing about this random fact about me, making movies is awfully boring. And when it's not awfully boring, it's unbelievably boring. But if I got cast in another one, I'd do it in a heart beat.

2. I was the class clown in high school and in college.

3. I did not have a drivers license until I was in my late 20's.

4. I wrote a novel that got published by a teeny tiny itty bitty wee little publishing company. You can see the cover here, but you can only get a copy from me. If you want a copy, I've got a few left, email me if you want one. Hey, no one ever said I couldn't use meme this to sell a few books.

5. In addition to being the humble guy I am, I am an award winning writer (I won an essay contest in high school and got to go to the UN in NYC for a week.), an award winning actor (I won the Dogwood Playhouse Acting Award at my alma mater King College), and award winning former sales representative (I won an award for opening the most new accounts in my last job.).

6. I love going to the beach. And I especially love Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

7. I met Robert Wagner and Jill St. John in my local airport terminal one night when I was picking up a guy who flew in to work with me on my old job. Wanger was nice, though he looked like he needed a shave and some sleep. Jill St. John is tiny in person, almost freakishly tiny.


8. Evil Spock may hate her, but I love her. Well, not love exactly, but I do have a crush on Ina Garten, the "Barefoot Contessa." I think she's a cute little sinfully rich food makin' sex pot. "Are those flowers for me? Aww, Ina, I swear I told you not to make any fuss over me. I'll put them in some water and you go make us something to eat my little bon bon."

I know some people hate this type of thing but I'm gonna tag Miss Becca at No Smoking in the Skull Cave, Samurai Frog, Johnny Yen, and because he cracks me up, Romius T.