Sunday, October 9, 2011
'Breaking Bad' Q&A: Star Giancarlo Esposito Talks Gus' Demise in Season Finale
GettyGiancarlo Esposito Versatile actor Giancarlo Esposito carried out restaurant chain owner/Chilean drug kingpin Gustavo Fring on Breaking Bad getting a minimal-key awesome rarely show up on this kind of high-profile TV criminal. And also the exit is amongst the memorable in television history.our editor recommends'Breaking Bad' Star Bryan Cranston on Walter White-colored: 'He's Well on His Approach to Badass' (Q&A) STORY: AMC Renews 'Breaking Bad' for 16 Final Episodes However, if Esposito grew to become an associate from the acclaimed AMC series in season two, he was hired just for a few possible guest spots. How did he vary from affable chicken chain owner for the cold blooded killer who removes an entire wing in the Mexican drug cartel in one fell swoop? The Hollywood Reporter can get the scoop. STORY: Summer season's Individuals who win and Nonwinners: What TV Audiences Were Watching [Warning: Spoilers ahead.] The Hollywood Reporter: What came you to definitely certainly Breaking Bad to start with? Giancarlo Esposito: I have a look at Breaking Bad just like a show in regards to the American family. It's an amazing analysis of where we're what just like a people. Middle-class people have become desperate. You can get a moral guy to destroy bad. It will make you request yourself the question: How does one react just in case your chips were lower? THR: It seems Vince Gilligan didn't have a very apparent path or arc for Gus when he initially hired your self on season two. Esposito: No, I don't think anybody focusing on the program did. It found me just like a guest place, two or three episodes. Gus was the manager of chicken restaurant, and possibly some factor. A Few Things I loved is always that he's affable, showing up just like a manager but has the whole chain. I decided to produce him suprisingly low key, to become great listener. They asked for me would I return for your third season. However only decided to hesitate to accomplish guest place after guest place -- I seriously considered part of the Breaking Bad family. Essentially was gonna return, I desired to come back as full-fledged character. They offered me seven episodes, which i mentioned no. They offered me nine, which i wound up doing eleven. I desired to make a character who increased being intrinsic for the show. In addition to their writing inspired me to think about, to create someone threatening, poignant, polite. Gus talks along with his eyes. I didn't take advantage from the word "villain" to describe Gus. THR: When perhaps you have get the feeling Gus would meet a glorious flamboyant demise? Esposito: I understood in the start of season four "Box Cutter," when Gus cuts a man's throat before Wally and Jesse. I understood he wouldn't be around for just about any very very long time next. Once we shot a few more shows, Vince referred to as me in and mentioned, "We're gonna kill Gus, I desired to inform you. It won't happen till 413." He offered us a full handles. I mentioned, "Well, okay, as extended since it's fantastic!" He mentioned, "It'll be! You need to to blow the face area off!" The two of us thought it may be like Gus to live an outburst for just about any handful of seconds -- he'd button his jacket, straighten his tie -- then just keel over and die. Vince emerged using this brilliant way will be able to leave -- Provided him full credit. THR: How perhaps you have all save this secret, since you shot the ending within this summer time. Esposito: My friend Samuel L. Jackson came lower for the set to visit me, despite the fact that he was there, his script for your Avengers got online. Apparently, it got stuck in the copier in Toronto. That's when Vince stopped printing anything about Gus on paper. The script never left his office. You possessed to get involved with his office to determine it. From what Let me tell, lots of people believe Gus did poison Brock while using ricin. They were clearly all wrong! THR: After Wally kills Gus, does Gus end up being the new Gus, the completely new drug kingpin in the Southwest? Esposito: I like what these authors triggered by heighten the suspense. The story is actually to think about this common guy with a meth kingpin, that was the story. Mr. Chipps becomes Scarface. It'll appear like Wally's getting closer. THR: How did they have produced the design of the face area getting blown off? Esposito: I desired to sit down and possess a cast of my thoughts made. Installed goop in my mind, throughout. I'd tubes drained of my nose to breathe. Many stars can't deal with the process, it's quite claustrophobic.They provided a mold of my whole mind. They created the cratered breathing apparatus silently I made use of makeup within the scene, and so they digitally matched up in the mind to my face on film. They marked it getting a sharpie and digital dots. It needed five several hours to create that mind -- it absolutely was a due process! THR: You don't finish up finding somebody who's had their face blown served by a great time awaken and walk. Esposito: That helps guide you tough Gus is. It's a reveal if you see him. You're shocked -- which he looks excellent -- until he turns his mind. It almost seems to go in the whole world of the supernatural. THR: Gus is really a frightening dude. Are people frightened of you after they assist you in normal places now? Esposito: Yeah! I used to be making an plane yesterday together with a young lady was walking toward me and out of the blue gasped, and mentioned, "Gus!" I mentioned, "I'm unlikely to bite you." Lots of people who love the show are deferential. Others appear and shake my hands. People are extremely very influenced with this show. In my opinion I might need to let my hair grow out now -- to be able to have a very kinder look for myself. I am in a position to feel Gus starting to depart me. I used to be walking lower the street yesterday with excellent posture -- which i'd this whiff of Gus. I mentioned, "Escape here, Gus, you're on hiatus!" THR: Well, he's additionally to that particular. He's quite dead. Esposito: With Breaking Bad, you never know! I have got a sense I'd maintain Gus' shoes. There are plenty of flashbacks relating to this show. Who knows what's readily available for next season? The plot keeps thickening. In BB, people return within the dead. I really do desire to direct an instalment of Breaking Bad next season. Vince which i've spoken about this. THR: What's inside the immediate future for Giancarlo Esposito? Esposito: I'm creating and pointing a film about reality TV, I've rewritten it having a couple of writing partners. Jeremy Piven might be charge he'll play in the No. 1 reality show host in the united states, who involves be sorry. There is a job I'd take part in the film, however need a stellar cast. I'll only wager additional amounts it essentially can't get anybody more famous! AMC Breaking Bad Vince Gilligan
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Fable in the Sea food (Isda)
A Phoenix Features, Cinemalaya Foundation production. (Worldwide sales: Visit Films, NY.) Produced by Jonas Antonio Gaffud, Elizabeth Juan. Executive producer, Adolfo Borinaga Alix Junior. Directed by Adolfo Borinaga Alix Junior. Script, Jerry B. Gracio.With: Cherry Cake Picache, Bembol Roco, Anita Linda, Rosanna Roces, Angel Aquino, Alan Paule, Evelyn Vargas, Arnold Reyes. (Tagalog dialogue)Ongoing to give consideration towards the margins of Filipino society, prolific indie helmer Adolfo Borinaga Alix Junior. satirizes the rewards and burdens of belief to puzzling effect in absurdist drama "Fable in the Sea food." Carried out naturalistically having a couple of comic moments, the pic concentrates on a deeply religious slum occupant who gives birth with a sea food and finds her luck changing concurrently her once-happy marriage goes south. Despite the fact that this mind-scratcher feels as if it's missing one last punchline, further fest exposure is guaranteed. Immediately after devoted, middle-aged marrieds Lina (Cherry Cake Picache) and Miguel (Bembol Roco) transfer towards the giant landfill of Catmon, Malabon City, Lina becomes pregnant. Despite the fact that both of them say they'll be thankful for whatever God adds, Miguel ultimately won't express paternal feelings for your sea food, whilst Lina risks as being a laughingstock by setting it up baptized and turning up on national television. Picache as well as the other female thesps participate in it admirably straight, cooing within the sea food as if were a person newborn. Meanwhile, precisely presented, color-desaturated lensing captures the hellish landscape in the garbage dump since it swarms with activity.Camera (color, widescreen, DV), Albert Banzon editor, Benjamin Tolentino music, Eigen Ignacio production designer, Alix Junior. art company company directors, Roland Rubenecia, Jerome Zamora. Examined at Toronto Film Festival (Visions), Sept. 9, 2011. (Also in Busan Film Festival.) Running time: 85 MIN. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com
Friday, September 23, 2011
Greg Malins-Greg Berlanti Comedy Lands At CBS With Put Pilot Commitment
EXCLUSIVE: With the network buying season winding down, heavyweights Greg Malins and Greg Berlanti scored a put pilot commitment at CBS for a half-hour project the two will be co-writing and executive producing together. The project hails from Warner Bros. TV where both Malins and Berlanti are based. It centers on notorious womanizer Nick who, after surviving a health scare, realizes that “The One” he had never found is actually his best friend of 15 years, Wendy. Problem is Wendy is engaged to a guy Nick likes, she and Nick own a business together and their attempt at dating back in college was a disaster. For both Malins and Berlanti this marks their second sale at CBS this season. Former Friends and How I Met Your Mother executive producer Malins is co-writing/executive producing with Bill Lawrence a multi-camera workplace comedy, which recently landed a pilot production commitment from the eye network. And Everwood creator Berlanti is executive producing a Nick Wootton-penned cop drama, which has a put pilot commitment at CBS. Malins has strong ties to CBS. In addition to his stint as an executive producer on the CBS/20th TV How I Met Your Mother, he also serves as a consulting producer on the networks hot new comedy series Two Broke Girls, from WBTV. This marks the first half-hour comedy effort for Berlanti who has made his mark on the hourlong side as showrunner on Brothers & Sisters and Dawson’s Creek and co-creator of such series as Eli Stone and No ordinary Family. The sale takes Berlanti’s 2011 batting average to 4-for-4. This is his fourth put pilot commitment this development season, his first at WBTV, out of 4 pitches taken out. The other 3 are on the drama side, all penned by close Berlanti collaborators: a high-concept crime drama project at NBC with writer Maggie Friedman, a legal drama at Fox penned by Marc Guggenheim and Wootton’s cop drama at CBS. Malins and Berlanti are with WME.Watch Transformers 3 Dark Of The Moon Full Movie
Monday, September 19, 2011
Country singer Wilma Lee Cooper dies
Country singer Wilma Lee Cooper, whose tradition-based lower-home style created a mark on bluegrass music, died Sept. 13 of natural causes in Sweetwater, Tenn. She was 90. Born Wilma Leigh Leary in Valley Mind, West Virginia, Cooper sang together with her family's gospel group the Leary Family within the '30s and '40s. She married the unit's fiddler Dale T. "Stoney" Cooper in 1941. The Coopers broke through in 1947 once they made an appearance on radio's popular WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia. They cut their first records exactly the same year for that small Tennessee label Wealthy-R-Tone, that also launched the very first singles by bluegrass pioneers the Stanley Siblings. These were signed to Columbia from 1949-53, with no success. The duo recorded using their band the Clinch Mountain Clan for that Hickory label within the '50s and '60s. Their greatest hits incorporated "Large Night time Special," a rustic arrangement of Lead Belly's "Night time Special" (No. 4, 1959), a protective cover of countrypolitan singer-songwriter Don Gibson's "There is a Large Wheel" (No. 3, 1959) along with a reading through from the standard "Wreck On the roadInch (No. 8, 1961). The Coopers later briefly recorded for Decca and Starday. They became a member of Nashville's Grand Ole Opry in 1957, and carried out around the popular WSM broadcast until Stoney Cooper's dying in 1977. Wilma Lee later recorded like a soloist for that independent roots labels Rounder and Digital rebel. She upon the market after having suffered a stroke in 2001. She's made it by her daughter Carol Lee, an Opry artist. (Christopher Morris) Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Frances Bay, Adam Sandler's Grandmother in Happy Gilmore, Dies at 92
Frances Bay Frances Bay, who performed Adam Sandler's grandmother in Happy Gilmore, has died, the La Occasions reviews. She was 92. In Memoriam: See cure has died this season Bay, born in Canada, started acting within the seventies in dinner theater as well as on radio stations. She continued to look in Foul Play (1978) with Goldie Hawn and Chevrolet Chase after which on numerous tv shows like Dukes of Hazzard and Happy Days. More lately, additionally to her appearance in Sandler's 1996 film, she notoriously performed the lady who fought against with Jerry Seinfeld during the last loaf of marble rye bread on Seinfeld. Bay's husband, childhood sweetheart Charles Bay, died in 2002.
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Basics of Getting Seen for Theater, Film, and TV Projects
Unless you're a top-tier actor, auditioning is going to be a regular part of your life until you call it quits. Newcomers may have taken courses on auditioning in college. Or they may have learned by trial and errorpicking up scraps of information from calls for semiprofessional or community theater. But professional auditions in New York, Los Angeles, and across the country are a whole different game.Stage, film, and television each have slightly different audition procedures and protocols, and it's sometimes befuddling to try to sort everything out. To provide you with a few pointers, Back Stage enlisted casting directors and working actors to talk about the components of the three major casting-call categories. Theater For professional theater calls, a casting director may choose to bring you in for a "pre-read" or "pre-screen" audition. Veteran casting director Bernard Telsey (Broadway's "Spider-Man," "Catch Me If You Can") does this regularly, especially if the actor is someone whose work he may not be completely familiar with. If the actor seems like a good match for a role, he or she will then be brought in for a first audition with the show's creative team.Up to 15 people may sit behind the table during the audition. For obvious reasons, auditions for musicals tend to involve more participants such as the composer and lyricist, choreographer, and music director. As you read from sides and present your prepared songor 16 bars thereofthe director may or may not ask you to adjust your performance. You need to be able to adapt accordingly.Generally, you will have two to four days to prepare songs and sides before your audition, says Telsey, adding: "Obviously, if it's a revival, you have access to the full script. If it's a new musical, you have access to the songs that you're being asked to singthat's an Equity rule, that you have to be given the demo to the songs." Occasionally, he says, for especially secretive projects, you will only be given sides, not the whole script.Sometimes at an audition you may be handed sides from a scene you have not preparedsomething that happens in film and TV as well. The casting team may find that you seem to fit a different role better than the one you were called in for. In such cases, you should expect a few minutes to look over the material. Such a turn of events is a "beautiful exercise in making a choice," according to actor Khary Payton. "At the end of the day, that's the jobto make a clear and decisive choice."The callback process for a big play or musical may be extensive. Bryan Fenkart, understudy for the leading role of Huey Calhoun in Broadway's "Memphis," says there may be as many as five callbacks for certain shows.Being audible is of extreme importance in theater auditions, which often happen in relatively large rooms. Los Angeles casting director Amy Lieberman, who for many years was casting director for Center Theatre Group, finds that some inexperienced actors fail to project adequately during auditions for stage projects. "They're doing a TV audition, and I'm casting for a 700-seat theater. If I've never met you before, how do I know what you're capable of if all you're going to give me is a little TV audition?"Lieberman says preparation for theater auditions tends to entail more work than for film and TV calls. You may have as much as five pages of sides to work on, she says. "If you're going to audition for a play that will keep you busy for three months, read it. Don't just prepare the sides."No one wants to hear excuses if you're not adequately prepared, but actor Dan Domenech advises frankness if for some reason you fall short. Domenechnow playing the role of Drew on Broadway in "Rock of Ages"recalls going to a New York audition for an early incarnation of "Sister Act." He was in Manhattan to do a show at the Fringe Festival, and all his audition materials were back in L.A. He thought about blowing off the call, but his agent strongly urged him to attend. Domenech had to borrow sheet music from another actorand wound up singing a Lerner and Loewe ballad, even though he should have been singing a disco number. But, perhaps in part because of a "nothing to lose" fearlessness, Domenech got the role.Actors who do not have representation can attend Equity Principal Auditions (EPAs), which are open to union members. Casting personnel may see nonunion performers if there is time, but they are not required to do so. In any case, union members take precedence at these calls. Once you get an agent, your chances may improve dramatically. Domenech, who landed representation after appearing in a touring version of "Rent," says his agent helped find him work in regional companies, so that there were career-building credits on his resum. "The resum does matter," he adds.Film Often, during a film audition, you will work solely with the casting director and camera operator. Your performance will be recorded and sent to the project's director and/or other members of the creative team. But the process varies considerably, depending on the scope and content of a particular project. Says Payton, who has appeared in such features as "Latter Days" and the upcoming "Strange Frame: Love & Sax": "There are film auditions I've gone into where there is someone reading with you and someone working the camera. And there are other auditions where there are 10 people in the room."Telsey, whose film casting credits include "Dan in Real Life" and "Rachel Getting Married," explains that when there's only a casting director on hand, he or she can spend time helping you adjust your performance, so that it can be edited to best advantage and sent along to the creative team. That's not always possible when other parties are present in the room.Things normally move faster in film casting than they do in theater. After his stint in "Sister Act," Domenech worked on the "other side" of the casting table with choreographer Marguerite Derricks on film and TV projects. He was struck by the rapid pace involved. "They don't have weeks and weeks of rehearsal," he says. "They have a few days. So you go in and if you're not right, you go home and move on to the next one."Despite the rush, L.A. casting director Kelli Lerner ("Strange Frame," "Slingshot") strives to give actors as much time as possible to prepare sides, which tend to be briefer than those for theater auditions. "I have never given people only a day's notice, unless it was a very tiny role," she says. "For larger roles, at least from my office, actors usually have the sides anywhere from three days to a week in advance. [But] we do have last-minute casting. For example, if somebody drops out, all of a sudden the schedule changes, in which case you [might] only have a day's notice. All the more reason for actors to be prepared, ready to goto have their phones on, to be constantly checking their email. Because that's when those golden opportunities are around."Actors who have attended college acting programs in which they trained primarily as stage performers may benefit from taking an auditions-for-the-camera workshop. Rutgers-trained Fenkart (who has appeared in the features "You Tell Me" and "Red Hook") attended such a class at One on One in NYC. "It's important to know where you're being framed and how close the camera is getting on you, because so much is internal," he says.Lerner has witnessed inexperienced actors moving about aimlessly during film auditions. She advises themunless they have been instructed by a director to make a specific movementeither to sit or to stand, and to concentrate on connecting with the person with whom they are reading. It may be more difficult for an unrepresented actor to be seen for a film role than for a theatrical production. There is nothing in film that is the equivalent of theater's EPAs. Closest, perhaps, are the sorts of open calls for musical-film projects like the ones Domenech worked on with Derricks. There are also occasional nationwide searches to fill certain key rolesparticularly juvenile roles. Telsey assisted on such a search for Peter Hedges' upcoming "The Odd Life of Timothy Green." But these are exceptions to the rule. You can, however, submit yourself directly for film roles via Back Stage or Actors Access, a component of Breakdown Services by which casting directors choose to make an audition notice available to performers as well as to agents. Typically, these notices are for nonunion projects or if a studio film is having difficulty finding someone for a very specific, tricky-to-cast role.Television Not all TV auditions are created equal. Casting calls for dramas and single-camera comedies like "The Office" require skills considerably different from those for traditional multicamera sitcoms like "The Big Bang Theory." And the stakes for a major role on a pilot are not the same as the stakes for a small guest spot on an established show.Carol Goldwasser has been a casting director for theater, film, and various sorts of television properties on both coasts, but in recent seasons she has been entrenched in multicamera comedies for Disney and Nickelodeonseries featuring largely juvenile casts, including "I'm With the Band" and the megahit "Hannah Montana."Such shows are "really about as similar to theater as one can get, in terms of the audition process," Goldwasser says. "The performances are kind of big and sharp and tend a little bit more toward the theatrical. With film or even with single-camera comedy, a lot depends on the visual, whereas in theater and sitcoms, so much is in the language."Actors who have watched "Hannah Montana" should have a keen sense of the kind of playing style involved. But if you're auditioning for a pilot, the style of the series may be hard to grasp. The tone of the show may even be evolving while the pilot is being prepared.Goldwasser points out thatin a marked difference from feature filmsdirectors tend not to be involved in the casting process for episodic television. They are largely "hired hands," contracted to direct certain episodes. In television, the writers more than the directors are involved intimately with the shape and sensibility of a series.If you get into the audition room, don't expect rapt attention. Fenkart remembers his callback for an episode of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (he subsequently booked the job). The director of the episode was in attendance at that call, and so were a number of producers who, he says, had apparently grown weary of the casting routine on the long-running franchise: They were on their cell phones texting while Fenkart read for the part.At the pilot level, Goldwasser explains, some networks conduct taped tests for drama but do live tests for comedyparticularly children's comedy. There may be consensus in the room among producers and directors that a certain actor is right for a role. But then network executives will need to sign off on the choice, complicating the decision.Perhaps even more than with feature films, speed is of the essence during TV casting. Goldwasser says that sides are often not posted until the day before an audition. Filming follows fast on the heels of the casting decision. Theater actors who depend on weeks of preparation to perfect a role may be frustrated by such a hurried pace. Then again, the agony of waiting to hear about callbacks and final casting is blessedly short-lived. "If you go a few days without hearing," says Fenkart, "it's probably not going to go any further."As with film, getting into the TV audition room is a difficult prospect for an actor without an agent or manager. But if you feel you are right for a specific role, there's always the tack of writing directly to the casting director and making your case. Of course, this is a long-shot approach. Not all casting directors pore over every piece of mail they receive. But Telsey, who is casting the new network shows "A Gifted Man" and "Smash," is one who is open to the approachthat is, if the letter makes a good case that you're right for a specific project and/or role."It makes you stop and think and look at the rsum and the headshot and see if there's anything specific that might be right," he says. "It's like anything: The person that writes a good letter, it makes you take notice." By Mark Dundas Wood August 19, 2011 Bryan Fenkart in "Memphis" Unless you're a top-tier actor, auditioning is going to be a regular part of your life until you call it quits. Newcomers may have taken courses on auditioning in college. Or they may have learned by trial and errorpicking up scraps of information from calls for semiprofessional or community theater. But professional auditions in New York, Los Angeles, and across the country are a whole different game.Stage, film, and television each have slightly different audition procedures and protocols, and it's sometimes befuddling to try to sort everything out. To provide you with a few pointers, Back Stage enlisted casting directors and working actors to talk about the components of the three major casting-call categories. Theater For professional theater calls, a casting director may choose to bring you in for a "pre-read" or "pre-screen" audition. Veteran casting director Bernard Telsey (Broadway's "Spider-Man," "Catch Me If You Can") does this regularly, especially if the actor is someone whose work he may not be completely familiar with. If the actor seems like a good match for a role, he or she will then be brought in for a first audition with the show's creative team.Up to 15 people may sit behind the table during the audition. For obvious reasons, auditions for musicals tend to involve more participants such as the composer and lyricist, choreographer, and music director. As you read from sides and present your prepared songor 16 bars thereofthe director may or may not ask you to adjust your performance. You need to be able to adapt accordingly.Generally, you will have two to four days to prepare songs and sides before your audition, says Telsey, adding: "Obviously, if it's a revival, you have access to the full script. If it's a new musical, you have access to the songs that you're being asked to singthat's an Equity rule, that you have to be given the demo to the songs." Occasionally, he says, for especially secretive projects, you will only be given sides, not the whole script.Sometimes at an audition you may be handed sides from a scene you have not preparedsomething that happens in film and TV as well. The casting team may find that you seem to fit a different role better than the one you were called in for. In such cases, you should expect a few minutes to look over the material. Such a turn of events is a "beautiful exercise in making a choice," according to actor Khary Payton. "At the end of the day, that's the jobto make a clear and decisive choice."The callback process for a big play or musical may be extensive. Bryan Fenkart, understudy for the leading role of Huey Calhoun in Broadway's "Memphis," says there may be as many as five callbacks for certain shows.Being audible is of extreme importance in theater auditions, which often happen in relatively large rooms. Los Angeles casting director Amy Lieberman, who for many years was casting director for Center Theatre Group, finds that some inexperienced actors fail to project adequately during auditions for stage projects. "They're doing a TV audition, and I'm casting for a 700-seat theater. If I've never met you before, how do I know what you're capable of if all you're going to give me is a little TV audition?"Lieberman says preparation for theater auditions tends to entail more work than for film and TV calls. You may have as much as five pages of sides to work on, she says. "If you're going to audition for a play that will keep you busy for three months, read it. Don't just prepare the sides."No one wants to hear excuses if you're not adequately prepared, but actor Dan Domenech advises frankness if for some reason you fall short. Domenechnow playing the role of Drew on Broadway in "Rock of Ages"recalls going to a New York audition for an early incarnation of "Sister Act." He was in Manhattan to do a show at the Fringe Festival, and all his audition materials were back in L.A. He thought about blowing off the call, but his agent strongly urged him to attend. Domenech had to borrow sheet music from another actorand wound up singing a Lerner and Loewe ballad, even though he should have been singing a disco number. But, perhaps in part because of a "nothing to lose" fearlessness, Domenech got the role.Actors who do not have representation can attend Equity Principal Auditions (EPAs), which are open to union members. Casting personnel may see nonunion performers if there is time, but they are not required to do so. In any case, union members take precedence at these calls. Once you get an agent, your chances may improve dramatically. Domenech, who landed representation after appearing in a touring version of "Rent," says his agent helped find him work in regional companies, so that there were career-building credits on his resum. "The resum does matter," he adds.Film Often, during a film audition, you will work solely with the casting director and camera operator. Your performance will be recorded and sent to the project's director and/or other members of the creative team. But the process varies considerably, depending on the scope and content of a particular project. Says Payton, who has appeared in such features as "Latter Days" and the upcoming "Strange Frame: Love & Sax": "There are film auditions I've gone into where there is someone reading with you and someone working the camera. And there are other auditions where there are 10 people in the room."Telsey, whose film casting credits include "Dan in Real Life" and "Rachel Getting Married," explains that when there's only a casting director on hand, he or she can spend time helping you adjust your performance, so that it can be edited to best advantage and sent along to the creative team. That's not always possible when other parties are present in the room.Things normally move faster in film casting than they do in theater. After his stint in "Sister Act," Domenech worked on the "other side" of the casting table with choreographer Marguerite Derricks on film and TV projects. He was struck by the rapid pace involved. "They don't have weeks and weeks of rehearsal," he says. "They have a few days. So you go in and if you're not right, you go home and move on to the next one."Despite the rush, L.A. casting director Kelli Lerner ("Strange Frame," "Slingshot") strives to give actors as much time as possible to prepare sides, which tend to be briefer than those for theater auditions. "I have never given people only a day's notice, unless it was a very tiny role," she says. "For larger roles, at least from my office, actors usually have the sides anywhere from three days to a week in advance. [But] we do have last-minute casting. For example, if somebody drops out, all of a sudden the schedule changes, in which case you [might] only have a day's notice. All the more reason for actors to be prepared, ready to goto have their phones on, to be constantly checking their email. Because that's when those golden opportunities are around."Actors who have attended college acting programs in which they trained primarily as stage performers may benefit from taking an auditions-for-the-camera workshop. Rutgers-trained Fenkart (who has appeared in the features "You Tell Me" and "Red Hook") attended such a class at One on One in NYC. "It's important to know where you're being framed and how close the camera is getting on you, because so much is internal," he says.Lerner has witnessed inexperienced actors moving about aimlessly during film auditions. She advises themunless they have been instructed by a director to make a specific movementeither to sit or to stand, and to concentrate on connecting with the person with whom they are reading. It may be more difficult for an unrepresented actor to be seen for a film role than for a theatrical production. There is nothing in film that is the equivalent of theater's EPAs. Closest, perhaps, are the sorts of open calls for musical-film projects like the ones Domenech worked on with Derricks. There are also occasional nationwide searches to fill certain key rolesparticularly juvenile roles. Telsey assisted on such a search for Peter Hedges' upcoming "The Odd Life of Timothy Green." But these are exceptions to the rule. You can, however, submit yourself directly for film roles via Back Stage or Actors Access, a component of Breakdown Services by which casting directors choose to make an audition notice available to performers as well as to agents. Typically, these notices are for nonunion projects or if a studio film is having difficulty finding someone for a very specific, tricky-to-cast role.Television Not all TV auditions are created equal. Casting calls for dramas and single-camera comedies like "The Office" require skills considerably different from those for traditional multicamera sitcoms like "The Big Bang Theory." And the stakes for a major role on a pilot are not the same as the stakes for a small guest spot on an established show.Carol Goldwasser has been a casting director for theater, film, and various sorts of television properties on both coasts, but in recent seasons she has been entrenched in multicamera comedies for Disney and Nickelodeonseries featuring largely juvenile casts, including "I'm With the Band" and the megahit "Hannah Montana."Such shows are "really about as similar to theater as one can get, in terms of the audition process," Goldwasser says. "The performances are kind of big and sharp and tend a little bit more toward the theatrical. With film or even with single-camera comedy, a lot depends on the visual, whereas in theater and sitcoms, so much is in the language."Actors who have watched "Hannah Montana" should have a keen sense of the kind of playing style involved. But if you're auditioning for a pilot, the style of the series may be hard to grasp. The tone of the show may even be evolving while the pilot is being prepared.Goldwasser points out thatin a marked difference from feature filmsdirectors tend not to be involved in the casting process for episodic television. They are largely "hired hands," contracted to direct certain episodes. In television, the writers more than the directors are involved intimately with the shape and sensibility of a series.If you get into the audition room, don't expect rapt attention. Fenkart remembers his callback for an episode of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (he subsequently booked the job). The director of the episode was in attendance at that call, and so were a number of producers who, he says, had apparently grown weary of the casting routine on the long-running franchise: They were on their cell phones texting while Fenkart read for the part.At the pilot level, Goldwasser explains, some networks conduct taped tests for drama but do live tests for comedyparticularly children's comedy. There may be consensus in the room among producers and directors that a certain actor is right for a role. But then network executives will need to sign off on the choice, complicating the decision.Perhaps even more than with feature films, speed is of the essence during TV casting. Goldwasser says that sides are often not posted until the day before an audition. Filming follows fast on the heels of the casting decision. Theater actors who depend on weeks of preparation to perfect a role may be frustrated by such a hurried pace. Then again, the agony of waiting to hear about callbacks and final casting is blessedly short-lived. "If you go a few days without hearing," says Fenkart, "it's probably not going to go any further."As with film, getting into the TV audition room is a difficult prospect for an actor without an agent or manager. But if you feel you are right for a specific role, there's always the tack of writing directly to the casting director and making your case. Of course, this is a long-shot approach. Not all casting directors pore over every piece of mail they receive. But Telsey, who is casting the new network shows "A Gifted Man" and "Smash," is one who is open to the approachthat is, if the letter makes a good case that you're right for a specific project and/or role."It makes you stop and think and look at the rsum and the headshot and see if there's anything specific that might be right," he says. "It's like anything: The person that writes a good letter, it makes you take notice."
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Gavin DeGraw Cancels More Tour Dates After New york city Attack
Gavin DeGraw has canceled eight more performances after being assaulted striking with a cab in New You are able to City the 2009 week. "Because of the current attack and resulting injuries, Gavin DeGraw continues to be advised by his physician to consider more hours to recuperate from his concussion, damaged nose along with other injuries," his repetition informs The Hollywood Reporter inside a statement. He'd been carrying out with Maroon 5 and Train. Canceled dates include: Bethlehem, PA-August 14 Hersey, PA-August 15 Nashville, TN- August 17 Indiana, IN-August 18 Des Moines, IA-August 19 Chicago, IL-August 20 Clarkston, MI-August 21 Toronto, ON- August 22 He'll rejoin on August. 24 in Columbia, Md. The final dates are August. 25 in Syracuse, NY and August. 26 on Holmdel, NJ. DeGraw was launched in the hospital the 2009 week after going through surgery. He was assaulted by three males in New You are able to City's East Village around 4 a.m. on Monday, after which hit with a cab several blocks away. Related Subjects Gavin DeGraw
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