Corey Haim, As A Child Actor, Had A Huge Acting Career

…Then Haim encountered serious problems with drugs, with which he seemed to struggle with during much of his short adult life. Haim attributed the on-and-off drugs, and some related psychological issues, to a molestation in the 90’s; and although he never named who his molester was, he did say it was someone more powerful in some way, in the industry.

Photo ©NBC

When I saw him on the reality show, The Two Coreys, I was startled by the look in his eyes. I saw such a radical change in that look that he had as an adult. It was the same face, yet that the tragedy that radiated from his eyes was so strong, and so different, that it changed his appearance…Altered it, almost completely.

All actors are related somehow, by the unique calling that we all individually feel, that makes us actors. It separates us into our own group, those who live this acting life, and others. ["Acch", I just exhaled...] When something like this happens to one of our own, I feel it deeply. Do you?

I couldn’t bear to watch much of his reality show when it was on. I watched it at first, out of curiosity; then, I found it just too painful.

I guess that most of the world never sees the actors who aren’t working anymore. They seem to disappear off the face of the planet. We see them here, in Hollywood. They are a part of the general population, in super markets, just around.

Moments of suffering are never included in the promotional PR that you see about actors. Deep darkness is human, but such a private thing, even the papparazzi don’t usually get that type of photo.

Haim’s visage bore such clear long-term pain, I didn’t need to know the particulars, it was remarkably profound. Unusually.

Actors that no longer can get work, or have ruined lives, those who fall so far from grace, are very tough to see. For me. Especially, someone like Corey Haim…he set the paradigm of what a cute kid was in his ‘heyday’…As a child and teen, he seemed to not only have it all, but to have a bright future. He was extremely successful, and he had talent.

This is from a Roger Ebert review of Corey Haim’s acting performance, in the film Lucas:

He creates one of the most three-dimensional, complicated, interesting characters of any age in any recent movie. If he can continue to act this well, he will never become a half-forgotten child star, but will continue to grow into an important actor. He is that good.’

May you rest peacefully now, Corey Haim.

Printable Oscar winners from the 82nd Academy Awards with  nominees…Actor Categories, first.

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Matt Damon in “Invictus”
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role

• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

• “Coraline” Henry Selick
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
• “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
• “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
• “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction

• “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
• “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
• “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

• “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
• “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
• “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
• “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

• “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
• “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
• “Nine” Colleen Atwood
• “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing

• “Avatar” James Cameron
• “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
• “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
• “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

• “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
• “The Cove” Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens
• “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
• “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
• “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
• “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

• “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
• “District 9” Julian Clarke
• “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
• “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Depp is an actor, sure, and an exceptionally good one at that. Rare and unique, he creates his own paradigm.

In an earlier post in Hollywood Actor Prep, art (painting and drawing) was revealed to be a part of his acting prep.

Apparently, Johnny Depp also is a musician. Recently, as part of a Blues Band with Shane McGowan and others, he played electric guitar.  They made a music video to raise money for Haiti…

Here’s the video, of “I Put A Spell On You”.

Best,

Dana

Marlon Brando, While Acting, And In Real Life Apparently Was:

“

Brando–Incorrigibly Candid

Even 30 years ago, long before tabloid TV and TMZ were a gleam in anyone’s eyes, Brando had a shrewd grasp of how celebrity journalism operated. As he tells Grobel: “I was very slow in realizing that money was the principle motivation in any interview. Not necessarily directly, but indirectly. We’re money-bound people and everything we do has to do with money, more or less. I am a commodity sitting here. You’re making money, your publisher’s making money, and I suppose, in some way, I’m making money. If money were not involved, you wouldn’t be sitting here asking me questions, because you wouldn’t be getting paid for it…. I’m paying a debt, so to speak. People look for the money questions, the money answers, and they wait for a little flex of gelt in the conversation.”

When Grobel argues that the public has a genuine interest in movie stars, Brando retorts: “You know perfectly well that you don’t interview out-of-work movie stars and people who can’t get a job. I just happen to be lucky and have had a couple of hits and some controversial pictures, but I was down the tubes not long ago.”

Grobel: “And no one’s wanted to interview you then?”

Brando: “You can see it on the faces of the air hostesses’ expressions, you can see it when you rent a car, you can see it when you walk into a restaurant. If you’ve made a hit movie, then you get the full thirty-two-teeth display in some places, and

…if you’ve faded, they say, ‘Are you still making movies?’

”

-From LA Times Blog: The Big Picture

Please share. Thank you.

Best,

Dana

SAG AWARDS 2010  :: These awards honor actors, acting ensembles, only.

Only  SAG actors vote.

The winners are listed first, under each category heading. The nominees are listed below the winner.

::

::

Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

An Education (2009)

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Nine (2009)

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)

George Clooney for Up in the Air (2009/I)

Colin Firth for A Single Man (2009)

Morgan Freeman for Invictus (2009)

Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker (2008)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (2009)

Helen Mirren for The Last Station (2009)

Carey Mulligan for An Education (2009)

Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Matt Damon for Invictus (2009)

Woody Harrelson for The Messenger (2009/I)

Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (2009)

Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (2009)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Mo’Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Penélope Cruz for Nine (2009)

Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air (2009/I)

Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air (2009/I)

Diane Kruger for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

“Glee” (2009)

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2000)

“Modern Family” (2009)

“The Office” (2005)

“30 Rock” (2006)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

“Mad Men” (2007)

“The Closer” (2005)

“Dexter” (2006)

“The Good Wife” (2009)

“True Blood” (2008)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin for “30 Rock” (2006)

Steve Carell for “The Office” (2005)

Larry David for “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2000)

Tony Shalhoub for “Monk” (2002)

Charlie Sheen for “Two and a Half Men” (2003)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Tina Fey for “30 Rock” (2006)

Christina Applegate for “Samantha Who?” (2007)

Toni Collette for “United States of Tara” (2009)

Edie Falco for “Nurse Jackie” (2009)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus for “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (2006)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Michael C. Hall for “Dexter” (2006)

Simon Baker for “The Mentalist” (2008)

Bryan Cranston for “Breaking Bad” (2008)

Jon Hamm for “Mad Men” (2007)

Hugh Laurie for “House M.D.” (2004)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Julianna Margulies for “The Good Wife” (2009)

Patricia Arquette for “Medium” (2005)

Glenn Close for “Damages” (2007)

Mariska Hargitay for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (1999)

Holly Hunter for “Saving Grace” (2007)

Kyra Sedgwick for “The Closer” (2005)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance (2009) (TV)

Cuba Gooding Jr. for Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) (TV)

Jeremy Irons for Georgia O’Keeffe (2009) (TV)

Kevin Kline for “Great Performances: Cyrano de Bergerac (#37.8)” (2008)

Tom Wilkinson for A Number (2008) (TV)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Drew Barrymore for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)

Joan Allen for Georgia O’Keeffe (2009) (TV)

Ruby Dee for America (2009) (TV)

Jessica Lange for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)

Sigourney Weaver for Prayers for Bobby (2009) (TV)

Big Misconception Acting Preparation, Altogether?

Are actors “born that way”?

With either, or all: charisma, looks, talent, emotional accessibility, comic timing, brilliant script assessment skills, and stage confidence, up the wazoo-la?

Some. Maybe. They may be born, even with a CAA agent, attached at the hip.

Still, actors work deeply, and  a lot, before ever arriving near the set or stage.

Preparing…

Before ever getting into hair-and-makeup, before any camera-lighting-test, before uttering any dialogue. They work their tails off, long before getting to what-most-people understand, as the acting work.

(Even those born with the best-looking tails.)

Johnny Depp, Interesting Actor, And Interesting Man

He has an intensive,artistic, and individual way of doing his Actor Prep.

He paints his characters.

That’s the first time I ever heard of an actor working that way.

Seems mighty effective, for him.

Every Actor Develops Their Own Way Of Working…And Prepping For A Job.

But don’t be fooled by the common belief, about acting. Or the ease that the really great actors make it appear, in the end result.

That ease is a derived mastery. It is a magical, yes.

All magicians take a long time to develop each illusion.

As do actors.

There isn’t an ‘acting talent’, who is born able to handle all the depth that great acting requires.

No amount of innate je-nais-c’est-quoi, serves anyone, reliably; under lights with a camera in your face, someone tweaking your clothes, all those lines, and all that pressure. Certainly, not for repeat takes, numerous different acting jobs, nor on a live stage in front of large audience of eyes upon you.

Truly being great in a role demands much research, study, work, artistry, assessment, creative process.

Overall, being a great actor, takes some real study and artistic development to get to a place where the ‘actor’s instrument’ is malleable. Played with ease. I don’t mean at the ideal, the mastery level. I mean really great, consistent, from role-to-role…acting ability.

Takes years.

Mastery Level Ability, + Skill, For Actors Takes Working And Reworking.

It’s a process to attain and a lifelong process, at that;  that continually evolves. It’s one of the things that makes the artistic part of being an actor so exciting.

That is, for those actors that are artistic in their work.  All good acting work involves artistry.

Its those type of actors that win the awards, almost always, in this Oscars-Golden Globes-et-al Awards Season.  (Here’s my li’l plug, in case you didn’t know–I have a site pre-Academy Awards, called OscarPrep.com.)

It’s also those actors that become household names, and whose work you may admire. You see the acting performance, you don’t see the acting prep work. They do it.

Most people aren’t aware of the underlying artistry. For each part. The depth, the breadth, the intensity, the time, the commitment.

Edward Scissorhands--One Of My Favorite Characters, Ever

Research Methods Of Actors, For Acting Roles

Each script, each role, does quite a bit of preparation process; to have a completed acting-product that not only hits the required ‘notes’, but does it well. Shiningly, like Depp.

There’s very specific emotional notes to hit, always. What about the script? A script is only and always about the story, and the actor must be adept at acting in order to be able to tell, specifically, the story.  This point is a bit more abstract, yet the most essential.

Primarily, that is the actor’s job, why they were hired, and why they are visible to the audience.

The character work; even emotional specificity, accuracy, depth and complexity, are actually secondary to the actor’s main responsibility which is to tell the story. Actor’s do their ‘part’. They ‘play a role’ in the story.

Script interpretation is a very necessary and high-level skill for an actor.

Research, to attain the most knowledge about the story and the elements involved, is almost always necessary. I don’t mean only for period pieces, or deeper more literate projects, either.

Johnny Depp is awesomely handsome, and a personification of cool. Admittedly, I am swooning now. All the world’s swooning doesn’t make it cheap, easy, and without artistry, nor individuality, for Johnny Depp. As an actor.

He’s deep, as an actor. He also does a lot of actor prep. That’s why he is so great. (Seriously. Trust me, here.)

Great acting just looks easy, especially when it’s so good.

The more intensive the actor prep, the more visibly wonderful is the performance. And real.

©Disney

How Actor Johnny Depp Prepared, For The Mad Hatter, Prior To Acting

When he takes on a role, Johnny Depp often paints a watercolor portrait of the still-forming character to help find his face and personality. After putting the finishing touches on his painting for “Alice in Wonderland,” Depp looked down at the Mad Hatter staring back at him from the canvas and giggled.

“I was thinking,” the actor said, “‘Oh my God, this one will get me fired!’”

Depp’s extreme vision for the character — who arrives in theaters on March 5 — creates yet another vivid screen persona for the Hollywood chameleon who has played Sweeney Todd, Willie Wonka, Edward Scissorhands and a certain scoundrel named Jack Sparrow. The 46-year-old actor said his Hatter’s springy mass of tangerine hair became a particularly important detail because of one of the suspected origins of the term “Mad as a hatter.”

In the 18th and 19th centuries, mercury was used in the manufacture of felt, and when used in hats it could be absorbed through the skin and affect the mind through maladies such as Korsakoff’s syndrome. Hatters and mill workers often fell victim to mercury poisoning which, in Carroll’s time, had an orange tint — hence Depp’s interest in adding brushstrokes of that particular watercolor to his portrait.

“I think [the Mad Hatter] was poisoned  — very, very poisoned,” Depp said. “And I think it just took affect in all his nerves. It was coming out through his hair and through his fingernails, through his eyes”

Depp’s research also took him down some unexpected literary rabbit holes with the writings of Carroll.

“There’s a great line in the book where the Hatter says, ‘I’m investigating things that begin with the letter ‘M,’” Depp said. “So I started kind of doing a little researching, reading a bunch. And you start thinking about the letter ‘M’ and Hatters and the term ‘Mad as a hatter’ and ‘mercury.’”

Depp was also intrigued by one of the Mad Hatter’s nonsense questions during a dizzying tea party: “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” “I think he is referencing Edgar Allan Poe,” Depp said, referring to the haunted author of “The Raven,” which was published in 1845, two decades before Carroll’s surreal tale reached the public. Depp let the two ideas germinate in his head and it informed his own Hatter concoction.

Burton, whose background in art and animation is well known, also draws his characters, and when he and his star compared their handiwork they grinned like the Cheshire Cat. “They were,” Depp says, “very close.”

The Hero Complex, Rachel Abramovitz

My very best,

:~Dana

Please share this Hollywood Actor Prep post, if you valued it. The more you share, the more I will write.

When you do, you are supporting me back, and helping create a strong actor community too. That’s very important. Thank you for your support.

Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland Poster

Released in theaters March 5, 2010.

To view on your computer, in full size, without Hollywood Actor Prep’s sidebar…

Just click on the poster with your cursor, and you will get to a page with only the poster,  in a smaller size. Click again, and the poster will increase to a grand size.

© Disney

Please do share with friends and actors, alike. It’s what fuels this blog, and me.

Best

Dana

Jason Reitman Did Write The Part For Actress Vera Farmiga, In ‘Up In The Air’

He also wrote the part for actress Anna Kendrick, that she played in the film; and Reitman wrote George Clooney’s role, specifically, with Clooney in mind, as well.

I heard this from the director’s mouth myself.  (I have a abundant notes from other things he said, and will put them in this blog or into Oscar Prep soon.)

As An Actor, There Can Be Indignities And Disrespect

It’s up to the actor to allow or disallow. It’s up to the actor to create, maintain, their own dignity.

Eleanor Roosevelt said: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Actress Vera Farmiga, Talking About Acting-Respect…

Best,

;~ Dana

Please share, as it is the fee here at Hollywood Actor Prep.  Thank you. Karma back…

Hollywood Shuddered Yesterday, Like An Earthquake, About Actor Brittany Murphy

Surviving, by professional acting in Hollywood, is hell.
Professional actress-ing is much harder.

It appears that Brittany Murphy died of natural causes yesterday. No matter what the maggots say as they feast on her flesh, with one eye on their Google page rank.

Hollywood eats actresses alive, as if they are absolutely entitled to.

Actresses eat themselves alive too. Never quite matching up. Get pecked from the outside, get pecked from the inside.

An actress’s shelf-life often ends before age 32. Or around that age. Anything older, and they fall into cougar status, if they have any apparent sexuality.
There also aren’t many auditions.

Auditions, at any age, are different for actresses than for actors.

In an eerie coincidence of timing, Saturday Night Live, recently, did a particularly mean skit on Brittany. (Which SNL pulled from Hulu, but I posted below.) Not because they portrayed her as a bimb, but because the inspiration for that sketch was that she had recently gotten fired from a film. I love comedy, and no, not much is sacred. But, even without her dying, the skit seems more woman-hating, actress-hating, than comedy. Cringeworthy personal attack, on Brittany Murphy.

Our industry is kookier than the early characters Murphy played well. We don’t want real actors in our female talent. We want goddesses. Goddess is a synonym for actress, isn’t it? We don’t even care if they are talented. Doesn’t matter, if they can act. Hollywood and, we as a culture, only demand that they are perfect.

Then, we shred ‘em.

Brittany Murphy was a child actress for whom natural talent didn’t seem to be enough.

To herself. Why should it seem to be? To a young girl? Or any woman in the industry? She wanted to be a goddess, and rightfully so. Her employers, the industry that she had already made great inroads in, (out of New Joizey!) doesn’t have a whole lot of reverence for actresses with talent. What else would a little girl want to be?

Beauty supersedes talent, when it comes to women, in front of the camera. Beauty trumps talent, beauty abolishes the need for talent, and frankly, there really aren’t too many roles for women with talent. In this era, gender may be considered equal, sex has never been.

In Hollywood, little girls are accepted, even welcomed, if they are funny. Or can do character work, with a charisma that Murphy showed in her earlier roles. As grown women, that’s a bit too much talent. A bit too much power. As is, talent altogether, in a female form. No, no, in our culture, we want our goddesses perfect looking; when they get to be of sexual age, and we actually prefer them to lose any thing else. It kind of spoils the high.

In Hollywood, in females, who needs talent?

An actress’s main role is to make sure the men in the audience get a lot zinged. We are all used to it. The women in the audience, are too, and so afterward, may talk about things, like, the outfits. And if the male they are with talks about how great so-and-so was, because she was nude, or sexy, or poledancing, or her ass, or just G-d-given beautiful…The woman conversing with him may join in the convo as if she is a male, in a certain way. Never do women say, yeah, she had a great body naked, but I wish someone up there was trying to zing me, while I was sitting in the audience too. Or yeah, she was gorgeous, but the man was far from anything to look at. (Which can be the case.)

It’s an impossible paradox, for an actress. We, the audience; we our culture; want them to be gorgeous and kind of a bimbo. She has the looks, while the male onscreen has the talent. Inwardly, we as women in our culture hate them for being beautiful. As do maybe the men, because the one that he truly has in his bed, could never be. (Not without the same stylists, anyway.)

We require our actresses to be bimbos, but we hate them for that too.

One reason might be that it’s the times. No one hated Marilyn Monroe for being out-to-lunch in the brain department. They didn’t even hate her for her other weaknesses, such as drugs; which is what everyone’s trying very hard to make sure that Brittany was doing. Or is it anorexia, and if so, why is that something to ridicule? Marilyn had eating disorders.

Why is everyone digging, anyway? And why do those in the press act like this information is a feather in their professional cap?

Why do we care?

This woman had a heart that died. Yet everyone wants to undress her, rip her open because they are sure that wasn’t the cause. Even after death. Especially after death.

I’ll be frank, I actually don’t know Brittany Murphy’s work well enough to know the extent of her acting talent. I do remember her in Clueless, and she did a outstanding job, turning from a dork-ish duckling into a real swan. In such an enjoyable, but light-level movie; she created a charismatic memorable role, remembered long after the acting of some of her charming co-starring Bratz-era teens, wasn’t.

She also survived longer. Acting.

There’s a few more ironies about that film, Clueless. The leading teenage “lady” was Alicia Silverstone. No one questioned, or attacked, Alicia Silverstone’s slender physique, during Clueless. Her weight changed at different times in her short, youthful career, didn’t it? And even though if you really look carefully, and forget the assigned type of roles; Brittany and Alicia are pretty equal in the pretty department.
But then, Brittany moved herself from not so pretty, secondary character role, to very done up, leading role. And managed to continue to succeed as a movie actress, flourished! Well, she had the absolute brass ring for awhile…Starring leading (beauty) role… Majorly successful musician boyfriend (Eminem), followed by handsome co-star actor (Ashton Kutcher). She had it all didn’t she, by achieving Hollywood romance, too!

Look, I am not sure about too much here. I didn’t follow her career carefully, so I only know the bits about it that I have read today. I don’t have any inside information about her specific suffering through the actor-hardship that is innate in the profession, nor her individually, specific, suffering that comes along when being of the gender she is. Or was, rather.

I don’t know if there is some secret other reason that she died, nor do I care. I am not as interested in getting “inside” Brittany Murphy’s life; I am much more interested as to why nearly everybody else is…Why her own husband, who very well could be interpreted as very lovely male version of “I’m Mrs Norman Maine”, and I say that because I think their relationship looks beautiful, from the photos I’ve seen. He,who romantically may have protected her; and given her the love and attention she must have so desperately needed when her career took a downswing…and the public seemed to follow along, swinging some big dukes.

I know nothing about them as a couple, but he looks to me like a big loving bodyguard. I think she needed that, and he seems to be doing that same thing, now. Loving and protecting her. Poor guy.

Vultures are circling him now, too.

It’s just obvious, and a bit appalling, that she was excoriated before she died, and it ain’t lightening up any. The need to ridicule her and “expose” her is fiercer than ever

What I mean, really, is that maybe we should let Brittany Murphy rest in peace.

And that the frenzy to discover, or create something sordid, or to violate her dead body, instead, we the public, we the media…we can just let go of.

I mean, her family asked for some privacy for awhile.

So why is the media going at her, like carnage? What did ever happen to respect for the deceased?

And while we’re on it…Whatever happened to respect for women?

I am not trying to claim that acting, or Hollywood, or misogyny, or a heavy dosage of all three…killed Brittany Murphy.

Nor that she died of a broken heart, as if that and a heart attack are one and the same thing.

But I do say that her death at such a seemingly young age, of natural causes, or any causes…was G-d awful.

In this distorted view, of which I apologize for in advance–I muse that perhaps, if Brittany Murphy was having such a difficult emotional time of it over the last few years, as I have been reading about so much, today….well…then just a bit of it might have been some “saving grace”.

To much of the world, 32 is very young. In Hollywood-Actress…

Shelf-Life, it is undeniably,”over the hill”. If her career was rough on her, and hard to take, before age 32, it was surely would only getting worse. The rest of her life would be ever increasingly disappoinitng. Maybe with increasing public ridicule, as it was on Saturday Night Live.

If it’s this ugly in death, the best we can hope for is that she isn’t conscious enough to be aware of the gleeful or self-serving blows.

Peace, Brittany Murphy, from a community of fellow actors…

.

To my blog follows…

During this holiday season, and all along your acting path, may light and love illuminate your way.

Dana

Please share this. Thank you.

Some Twitter comments:

I met Bernardo Villela on Twitter. Many of you who follow me on Twitter (3128 of you’s!) know that on Twitter, fluently, I tweet links to news items that I feel may be interesting to my actor reader base, and the other creatives who tweet with me.  Out of all those many people, some I connect with more personally. Bernardo is one of them.

::

When I originally tweeted out the link, to the The Guardian interview with actor Rupert Everett , where Mr. Everett admonishes gay actors not to come out…I heard from Bernardo right away.  There’s all kinds of ways that people respond on Twitter, some retweet my links, and some write to me directly, on Twitter.

::

Coincidentally, I had recently done the opposite: I had followed 2 Twitter links of Bernardo’s, just prior. One was to a YouTube video of his about a Delaware theatre ensemble. The second was a writing piece, of Bernardo’s, in the Wilmington Movie Examiner.

::

So I asked him if he’d like to write something about his reaction to the Rupert  Everett piece. Here is what he sent.

::

Thank you very much for your contribution to Hollywood Actor Prep, Bernardo!

::

By Bernardo Villela

Much is being made about Rupert Everett’s recent interview in which he advises young gay actors to stay in the closet. The first thing that comes to mind when hearing that is always consider the source of such advice, which I will expound upon later.

First,  I think it is important to note one thing. It does matter to an extent, in my opinion, what you seek to do in entertainment as to howoutspoken you are. Everett was quoted in many publications as saying he wanted to be a gay Bond. It was a miscalculation on his part: one, because he was putting out in the media as a desired project and two, due to the fact that he was dealing with an iconic figure and changing the nature of the James Bond series in that way is no more realistic now than it was then- regardless of whether or not it’s a good idea. The reason it’s a miscalculation mostly was because he was just saying it and there was little to no evidence that he got past writing it (http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0080199/). What this does highlight is that you can be out and outspoken when you are behind the scenes.

Gus Van Sant, John Waters and Joel Schumacher amongst others have been out and making films for a long time and there’s a reason for that because they make them. They express themselves through films and don’t, in most cases sell, them. Actors do and the sad reality is that it becomes harder to sell a romantic comedy with an openly gay actor as the lead, again not to say an openly gay actor can’t succeed.

Rupert Everett came out in 1989 and also consider that he has been quoted as early as 2005 as saying it’s the biggest mistake he made in his career. Ellen DeGeneres came out in 1997 and it was necessary at the time that her show become about her character’s and her revelation, however, that ultimately is what lead to it’s cancellation. As big a milestone as it was for many it was when the show jumped the shark. Yet Ellen laid low for a while and eventually came back and bigger than ever. She never made her sexuality an issue again until she had a foothold on daytime, which is just an extension of her doing standup so I refuse to not see that as performance.

A perfect example of it’s not about coming out but about what you do once you’re out there is the whole Adam Lambert kerfuffle.  I will readily admit that I almost never watch American Idol except for audition specials until my ears bleed and then I change the channel, however, you inevitably hear people talking about it and I once heard four women of varied ages all acknowledge that they knew he’s gay even before he was out but it didn’t change their opinion of him. Going over the top and too risque on national television in your first huge performance, however, can alienate people. What you do in your act is up to you as performer but don’t act surprised if people are turned off, even Madonna wasn’t always shocking on TV check her SNL performance she sang “Bad Girl” on a sitting on a stool, sometimes talent is enough.

Just scanning articles related to Rupert Everett on the IMDb you can see that he had falling outs with Julia Roberts, Madonna and Colin Firth, the last being on the set of a film. This kind of history doesn’t help. Producers and directors don’t want someone likely to cause tension on set. It should also be noted that Sir Ian McKellen came out a year before Rupert Everett did but he was 49 when he did so, at least publicly. So having a track record doesn’t hurt but other people have done so at the height of their career (Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O’Donnell).

It also didn’t seem to be a hinderance to Anne Heche, Ellen’s first romantic link, it even propelled her to her one big silver screen appearance in Six Days and Seven Nights with Harrison Ford. I think anyone who remembers that time knows that it was the box office and her interviews that made her no longer a desirable starlet not her sexuality.

So where does all this seemingly contradictory information lead to? As with anything, especially a topic such as this, there are no easy answers:

First, take any and all advice on a subject so important with a grain of salt. Rupert Everett is speaking from his own personal experience and I do not begrudge him those feelings. However, I feel that part of what he perceived to be homophobia might’ve just been a reluctance to give him work based on his history or for performance reasons, the old casting axiom is still very true “You just never know and several factors could lead to a casting decision.” Though I think he means well, he is basing it on his experience and if no other actors come out there’s less chance for progress in LGBT rights. I hate to put that high a value on it but it’s true. The easiest ways to change attitudes are having people say “Well, so-and-so’s gay so maybe I’ll think that over.” People are fickle. In some cases it does seem to work in favor of a performer, Neil Patrick Harris seems to have gotten exponentially more popular since he came out.

The bottom line is, it should and must remain a personal choice and the best consul one can offer is to treat the public coming out similar to “private one” (i.e. friends and family) if you just can’t live in the closet any longer absolutely come out, it’s doing more harm than good. If you are a guarded person and can avoid the question like many actors have over the years it’s your prerogative to do so.

I think part of why we have discovered many actors are gay later in their life or career is not just a societal change in the acceptance of such information but also because many people have those that matter most know and those that don’t matter needn’t know. It’s a personal decision and not a business decision in my estimation. You must be absolutely certain. If you are fine leaving your private life private and want to make a go at it, kudos and similarly if you feel you can’t have that burden I say unburden it so long as you’re prepared to deal with the consequences because for every success I am sure there are many more who are not. If you are content with whatever you are able to achieve and are not prone to ask “What if?” go for it.

I think the one thing that can be most definitely noted is that if you reach a certain point and then come out from cases that I am aware of it has not been a hinderance. If you’re just starting out I can’t be sure it might be best as a business decision, if you must look at it that way, again it’s personal, leave it on a need to know basis, if you can deal with that.

Rupert Everett’s statement is that of a defeated man who is no longer willing to fight. He is seeking to guide others saying essentially “When you pick your battles, don’t pick this one.” I think it’s a rather backward statement for LGBT rights. You can come out if you so choose you just need to be more careful of what you say and do because like it or not that stigma exists. Perhaps Adam Lambert was being more calculated than I give him credit for and wanted to create a ruckus but it’s food for thought, if it was Britney Spears doing the same thing with her male dancers it’s not as big a deal on the news the next day. That’s the society we live in, sad but true. If you feel you must come out but at the same time you must realize what that means.

Ellen is probably your prime example. Few will likely face the examination she faced being a trailblazer but note how her comeback came. She was still the same person and without saying so reminded people of that fact and that she was beloved and only because she has a talk show do issues even get mentioned. Being political is dangerous and polarizing look at Sean Penn- endlessly talented and fiercely political such that his roles are few and far between not just because he’s selective I’m sure.

Examples can go on forever and there are never any guarantees about perception, or work, or attitudes. Come out if you have to but just know the rules. Hollywood, like high school, like life has different rules for different people when it so chooses . Some rules are always the same: make friends not enemies, do unto others as you would have others do unto you, etc.  Hollywood’s a game, know that you’re always playing learn the rules and play by the rules- your life, however, is your own and you make the rules there. The decision is in your hands and needs to come from within and not from others. Choose wisely but choose for yourself; listen to nothing but your heart.

Bernardo Villela is a writer, director and editor. His first short film “Suffer The Little Children”, won 4 awards, and was selected to 14 festivals worldwide.

::

Feel free to express an opinion on this by leaving a comment. You may do so, anonymously, if you prefer…and…

Please share this post with one other person, or many…Either copy from the address bar of your browser, and paste into an email to someone (that will send them a direct link.) Or put this post on your Facebook page by using the icon above.

Thank you, karmically, for paying this site’s ‘fee’!

In The Richard Linklater movie Me And Orson Welles…

Orson Welles is played by an unknown actor.  His name is Christian McKay, and before Me And Orson Welles, he didn’t have one film listed on his acting resume.

Yet, there is Oscar buzz about his performance. Movie critics suggest that he may get an acting nomination.

How did a completely unknown actor, with not one film credit, get cast by a director like Richard Linklater?  Get cast as a lead role in a movie, to act alongside Zac Efron and Claire Danes?

How did this actor, who is actually British, get to play an American filmmaking icon, one of the most prominent names in our media history?  Orson Welles is not only known for Citizen Kane, and War Of The Worlds. He had a notorious personality, as well.

Film Stills From Me And Orson Welles

Christian McKay, the actor who plays Welles, tells how he got the acting job my video…

Best,

;~Dana

Do share this, please, it is the fee here at Hollywood Actor Prep.  Thank you.

Internet Acting Work Is Work. Voiceover Is Work.

Actors, get paid for your work!

The Interactive AFTRA Contract voting deadline is November 12th, 2009.

There are 3 emails here, to give you information on what this contract means. One is from a working actor with over 200 credits on IMDB, the second is from a prominent voiceover agent, and the third is from a consistently working voiceover actor.

Please vote, and vote no.

LETTER ONE  FROM ACTOR———————- DAVE CLENNON

Friends,

I have not yet worked in the interactive video game field.  But I am auditioning every week for voice roles in new games, and I hope I can break into the field soon.  I need the income to supplement my earnings as an on-camera, live-action performer.

At some point in our careers, I believe that almost all of us will want to work as voice actors in the gaming world.  I heard that the “Grand Theft Auto IV” video game earned more money in a month than any theatrical film in history!  So Interactive is an important earning area and will only get bigger.

A fateful vote is being taken right now among AFTRA performers in the video game field.  They are being urged to ratify the recently negotiated contract which S.A.G. actors rejected, in caucuses last month, by a very large majority.  AFTRA leaders conducted caucus votes as well, but they did not like the negative results, so now they are conducting a ratification vote by mail.

Most of us will NOT receive AFTRA ballots.  This is a case of “qualified” voting — you may NOT vote unless you have worked the Interactive contract in the last three years.

So, even though many of us are hoping to work in this field someday soon, we have no voice in ratifying or rejecting a contract that will soon impact every one of us who succeeds in breaking into the area of video games.

(See below for the opinions of actors who have worked the contract and who know what the new agreement will mean for them.  See also the urgent message from voice-over agent Sandie Schnarr.)

AFTRA’s elected and salaried leadership is pushing hard to persuade qualified members to ratify this contract, which was negotiated by salaried staff, apparently WITHOUT input from the performers they were supposed to be representing.

If you know ANY AFTRA actors (or singers!) who are qualified to vote on this contract, PLEASE . . . (ONE) Make sure they have received their ballots in the mail, and  (TWO) Ask them, persuade them, beg them to think carefully before they vote for this contract!!!

(The proposed contract contains a radical new legal definition of “Atmosphere” which could have serious consequences for us in live-action and non-interactive animation.  If my understanding is correct, you can have dialogue, and yet be hired as Atmosphere.)

The income base we actors depend on is already crumbling.  We cannot afford to allow newer sources of income to shrivel before we even get a chance to work in the field.

In solidarity,

Dave Clennon

The ballots have arrived!

WHAT EXACTLY IS AN “ATMOSPHERIC” ACTOR?

In all of show business, “Atmosphere” has ALWAYS referred to
Background Actors (aka ‘EXTRAS’)It has NEVER been used to refer to an actor who speaks.

Every actor who speaks in an animated program is considered a
principal.

Every voice actor who performs in an ADR session, even when they speak in groups, earns a principal scale payment for their work.

Every actor who performs in an Interactive game, even if they’re
playing “Soldier 1″, is considered a principal.

The concept of “atmospheric voices” has been introduced by producers in contract negotiations over the years and it has always been “dead on arrival” as far as actors are concerned.

Just last week, in fact, the SAG Interactive Contract proposal was
shot down by actors at SAG because it introduced the concept that some actors who play smaller parts are only “atmospheric” and therefore should not receive the same pay as “principal” voice actors.

This is now up for a vote at AFTRA and if you’ve performed in an AFTRA Interactive game during the last three years you should soon be getting a ballot in the mail.

You must vote NO.

You will lose your status as a “principal” actor if the role you are playing “does not advance the story.”

Ever hear of the “under 5″ rate for some on-camera sit-coms?  Now that same concept is going to be applied to Interactive.  The only
difference is you have to record WAY OVER “5 lines”.  You will be
required to perform 300 words for every “atmospheric” character (and that does not include battle cries, screams, groans and multiple takes.)

For voice-performers in every field (animation, ADR, interactive) IT WILL SET A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT IF THIS CONTRACT PASSES.

It’s standard operating procedure for Producers to look for precedents that are set in other contracts.  You can bet that they will be using this against YOU in all future negotiations.

If this contract passes, “atmosphere” will have a new definition:  it will now refer to both EXTRAS and INTERACTIVE ACTORS.  WHO WILL BE NEXT?

Don’t let this industry devalue your talent and skills.  Don’t let
yourself be sold to the lowest bidder.

Please vote NO and send the negotiators for BOTH unions back to the negotiating table.

P.S.   If you’ve worked on an AFTRA game in the last 3 years and you don’t get a ballot, call Britt at AFTRA at 323-634-8133.  THE DEADLINE TO VOTE IS NOVEMBER 12.

Please forward this to your Agent/Manager Friends as well as all the
actors you know who work under the Interactive contract,  Urge them
to forward the attached flyer to their clients that work the
Interactive Contract!  San Francisco outreach is very important, as well as LA , Seattle, New York and all other affected markets.

::::::::::::::::::::

LETTER TWO FROM VOICE-OVER AGENT ———SANDIE SCHNARR

My final words on the Interactive Contract…..  I swear!!!!

My reason for being so vocal about this agreement is I believe in

the actors who do this work.  I know how good you are and how hard  you work on these games. I know how much your performances add to  the value of these games.  I’m proud of you.

That said….

The main point of contention is the Atmospheric Voice provision.

We all agree that the technology for video games has changed

dramatically since the inception of this contract.  Games now have

the ability to include hundreds of characters.  The formula for the

current contract is based loosely on the animation agreement.  It

doesn’t work anymore for video games.  There are no animated shows  with hundreds of voice, but there are and will be more games that

have exactly that.  We do need to address this

issue. The structure of the contract does need to be changed.  But,

not in the dramatic way the unions are agreeing to.

The unions and some actors are saying this contract is a good

thing. Let me point out a few things that I feel are not so good.

The Atmospheric Voice provision allows for one actor to do 20

CHARACTERS for SCALE.  Yes I said SCALE.. The same rate you’re

getting right now for three voices.  It also allows for UNLIMITED

VOICES for Double Scale.  The same rate you are getting for 6-10

voices.  How in the world is this a good deal?

EACH CHARACTER can have up to 300 words of dialogue.  They would have to hire 10 actors for Principal roles, before they could hire

additional actors for Atmospheric Voices.  They are trying to make

that sound like it will create more work for more actors.  It will

not.  It will only add a provision that has not been thoroughly

thought out and we will all regret it.

As you know, the video game industry uses the same actors on their games for a reason.  They want to hire actors who make their games

the best they can possibly be. These actors can do many characters,

do a great acting performance, work for four solid hours , scream

their lungs out  and come back and do it the next day.  It is a

specialized field and it is not something that every actor can do..

They have also added a provision that would cause the actors to

become Tattle Tales on the very people who hire them.

If you do a job that is vocally stressful and your agent wasn’t

told, you could tell your agent and we could call the company that

hired you and make them pay $100.   Is that $100 worth the actor and  the agent risking their working relationship with a company.  I think not.  Most of the time they do tell us it’s vocally stressful

when they book you, but they won’t pay any more money for the work.  So, it doesn’t matter if they tell us or not.  It doesn’t change

the fee you get.

What your unions need to do is get you a higher session fee for

vocally stressful work and forget turning their actors in to tattle

tales.

Below is the increase they got on scale.

You would be getting a 3% wage increase with SAG, which would bring you into parity with AFTRA.  and than an additional 2.5 % increase

on April 1, 2010 for both unions.

Well, 3% increase is standard in any contract, but the big

difference is, most other contracts have a residual base as well.

As you know this contract has never had a bonus structure or

residuals or any profit sharing.. This is a BILLION DOLLAR industry,

if they do not want to do a bonus structure, you should be getting a

bigger bump up front.

In my opinion, your unions need to go back to the negotiating table

with some respect for the actors they represent.  Many of your

negotiators don’t know how these sessions work and they probably

don’t play the games. They have no idea what we agents have to do

to get you work on these games.  They are now using the fear doctrine

to try and get actors to ratify this very bad agreement. As you see,

I said many, not all.

I was told EIGHT years ago by very big director for a huge video

game company these words “Sandie, when games start depending more on the story line and need good actors or when they are based on

movies, your actors will be able to get what they want”.  That

wasn’t the case 8 years ago, but it is now and will continue to be.

Video game management and their lawyers know this, but it appears

your union representatives do not.

How can the very people who negotiate on your behalf in all good

conscience agree to a deal that so undercuts their actors.  What

kind of a union is that?

They should be ashamed of themselves.

Let me make it clear, that I am a full supporter of our unions, but

I do not support them negotiating a contract that is harmful to

their members.  I also consider many of the producers and directors

I work with in the video game industry to be friends.  They are

honorable people and I thoroughly enjoy working with them.

It is management and lawyers from the video game industry who are

negotiating these contracts.  They are trying to get the best deal

they can for their companies.  Who wouldn’t.  My only wish is that

your unions would do the same..They are not at this moment.

Alright, I’ve had my say.  Do with it what you wish.

Sandie Schnarr

LETTER THREE: VOICEOVER ACTOR —————–STEVEN BARR

To All — Even if you do not do Interactive Games (now) I urge you to send this to your AFTRA friends who will be getting a ballot on this Interactive vote.

Also — a big warning to ‘Loopers’….

If Employers in Interactive Games  get a ‘word count’ added to it’s contracts, how do we know Employers in other job areas won’t find out about this  and there won’t be an attempt to pay Actors based on a ‘per utterance’ or ‘per word’ count?

A very slippery slope if you ask me.

I’m voting NO on the AFTRA Interactive contract, and I urge you to tell your friends who do Interactive Games to vote No.

VOTE NO.

SB

[There is more to this letter, which you can find  along with other information about this in Hollywood Actor Prep's Actor Union News.]

Please share with any and all your actor friends. AFTRA members, especially.  Thank you for supporting actors.

“I Wanted This Role So Bad! …I Loved The Story And The Character, And I Trusted The Director.”

Actor  Michelle Monaghan’s star is rising fast, and she’s been getting some great parts. Here’s how she works, her acting process. Here’s also what she thinks about the business, and women’s parts in movies.

(In Contention)

The film tells the gritty story of Diane, a long-haul trucker, driving 18-wheelers across the country, hellbent on getting that all-important on-time bonus. She doesn’t shy away from one-night stands, leaving many a guy wondering what him him, nor does she feel the least bit guilty about hanging out with a married man, though there is nothing betwen them. Her life is sent into a tailspin when she is suddenly faced with a son from a marriage in another life, the boy’s father having been hospitalized with cancer.

Forced to think about someone other than herself, Diane is not sure she is up to it, but in the days that she has with the boy, she discovers a humanity within herself she didn’t know existed. It is a spiky relationship, but one that will considerably impact the two of them.

In many ways the film is a return to the sort of picture made in the 1970s, such as “Five Easy Pieces” and “The King of Marvin Gardens,” though in this case, the lead is a female.  “I wanted this role so bad,”Monaghan says.  “I mean, I loved the story and the character, and I trusted the director to go in the right direction.  I like that Diane is not a victim.  She is a carefree, independent woman who lives by her own rules in her own world, and though she may be immature in many ways, there’s a lot to like about her.

“And I admired her honesty,” Monaghan adds.  “She never lies.  She always tells the truth and is not a victim at all. And I really liked that she lived in what was mainly a male-dominated world.”

When she took on the role, Monaghan says it was imperative for her to learn to drive a big rig in order do the character some authentic  justice.  “I couldn’t even drive a five speed when I started,” she exclaims.  “So for two or three hours a day for three weeks I trained to get my CDL, so yeah, I went to truck driving school. It really mattered to me that I did this, it really mattered that I got this right. These are real people with real struggles.  I knew I had to honor that with the best I could possibly give.”

“I saw Diane as mustang, a wild horse,” she continues.  “And my director told me of a film he had made about wild mustangs, and no matter how hard they tried to rope this one mare, they could not do it, she was going to stay wild. So I saw Diane like that. I don’t know if you noticed but I had a fake tatoo on my shoulder, Wild Mustang, and I think that represents Diane. I tried to achieve that in small ways in my physicality, in the way I moved, the way I moved my head, things like that, and I don’t know if it comes across, but it helped me get there.”

The explanation is perfect because the character is indeed carefree, with a wild streak in her, certainly not wanting to settle down and play family. For me, I tell her, the mustand metaphor is perfect. But as she left her child, is she a bad person?

“She is brutally honest,” she explains.  “She never lies, and personally, I have a lot of respect for someone like that. She’s not where a lot of people her age are at in their lives, but it’s not my job, the job of the actor I mean, to judge her, and certainly James [Mottern, the director] never judged her. She is who she is, no surprises.”

In the last few years there have been several films offering strong roles for women, which have given us an array of great performances such as Maggie Gyllenhall in “Sherrybaby,” Kate Winslet in “Revolutionary Road,” Ellen Page in “Juno,” Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in “Doubt” and Helen Mirren in “The Queen,” to name a few.  Monaghan says she believes there has been a small turnaround in cinema with stronger roles coming to the fair sex, which she finds quite exciting.“That is so refreshing,” she says.  “I would like to see more…The roles are there; sometimes the challenge is getting the film seen.”

“We worked so hard on it,” she says.  “I would be happy if more people saw the film, and if being nominated for an Academy Award brings 10 or 20 more people to the theater to buy a ticket, that makes me very happy. This is something we are all very proud of, something we made in less than a month if you can believe that, so I just want to get people out there to see the movie.”

When asked about working with the caliber of actors she has had the chance to work with, there is immediate admiration in her voice.”…I come away better than I was before, because each actor is different in their approach to the work, and the ones I have worked with have been so willing to share with me. I studied journalism, and I have used my five W’s (who, where, what, when and why) in creating my characters, because I write about them a lot, creating a history for each. So merging the writing knowledge and the fact I can watch and listen together, I have learned so much.”

There is a refreshing reality in everything Monaghan does that comes from some honest place deep inside of her. She wants to succeed, she wants to be good, she wants the work to be truthful, and the one thing she learned about herself on “Trucker,” she says, is that she is stubborn.

“It helped me in the role,” she says.  “It helped me find Diane and define Diane. We share that I suppose. And you know she’s still with me, I’m still digesting the whole experience, and I found her hard to let go.”

The film tells the gritty story of Diane, a long-haul trucker, driving 18-wheelers across the country, hellbent on getting that all-important on-time bonus. She doesn’t shy away from one-night stands, leaving many a guy wondering what him him, nor does she feel the least bit guilty about hanging out with a married man, though there is nothing betwen them. Her life is sent into a tailspin when she is suddenly faced with a son from a marriage in another life, the boy’s father having been hospitalized with cancer.

Forced to think about someone other than herself, Diane is not sure she is up to it, but in the days that she has with the boy, she discovers a humanity within herself she didn’t know existed. It is a spiky relationship, but one that will considerably impact the two of them.

In many ways the film is a return to the sort of picture made in the 1970s, such as “Five Easy Pieces” and “The King of Marvin Gardens,” though in this case, the lead is a female.  “I wanted this role so bad,”Monaghan says.  “I mean, I loved the story and the character, and I trusted the director to go in the right direction.  I like that Diane is not a victim.  She is a carefree, independent woman who lives by her own rules in her own world, and though she may be immature in many ways, there’s a lot to like about her.

“And I admired her honesty,” Monaghan adds.  “She never lies.  She always tells the truth and is not a victim at all. And I really liked that she lived in what was mainly a male-dominated world.”

When she took on the role, Monaghan says it was imperative for her to learn to drive a big rig in order do the character some authentic  justice.  “I couldn’t even drive a five speed when I started,” she exclaims.  “So for two or three hours a day for three weeks I trained to get my CDL, so yeah, I went to truck driving school. It really mattered to me that I did this, it really mattered that I got this right. These are real people with real struggles.  I knew I had to honor that with the best I could possibly give.”

“I saw Diane as mustang, a wild horse,” she continues.  “And my director told me of a film he had made about wild mustangs, and no matter how hard they tried to rope this one mare, they could not do it, she was going to stay wild. So I saw Diane like that. I don’t know if you noticed but I had a fake tattoo on my shoulder, Wild Mustang, and I think that represents Diane. I tried to achieve that in small ways in my physicality, in the way I moved, the way I moved my head, things like that, and I don’t know if it comes across, but it helped me get there.”

But as she left her child, is she a bad person?

“She is brutally honest,” she explains.  “She never lies, and personally, I have a lot of respect for someone like that. She’s not where a lot of people her age are at in their lives, but it’s not my job, the job of the actor I mean, to judge her, and certainly James [Mottern, the director] never judged her. She is who she is, no surprises.”

In the last few years there have been several films offering strong roles for women, which have given us an array of great performances such as Maggie Gyllenhall in “Sherrybaby”, Kate Winslet in “Revolutionary Road,” Ellen Page in “Juno,” Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in “Doubt” , and Helen Mirren in “The Queen”, to name a few.  Monaghan says she believes there has been a small turnaround in cinema with stronger roles coming to the fair sex, which she finds quite exciting.“That is so refreshing,” she says.  “I would like to see more…The roles are there; sometimes the challenge is getting the film seen.”

“We worked so hard on it,” she says.  “I would be happy if more people saw the film, and if being nominated for an Academy Award brings 10 or 20 more people to the theater to buy a ticket, that makes me very happy. This is something we are all very proud of, something we made in less than a month if you can believe that, so I just want to get people out there to see the movie.”

When asked about working with the caliber of actors she has had the chance to work with, there is immediate admiration in her voice.”…I come away better than I was before, because each actor is different in their approach to the work, and the ones I have worked with have been so willing to share with me. I studied journalism, and I have used my five W’s (who, where, what, when and why) in creating my characters, because I write about them a lot, creating a history for each. So merging the writing knowledge and the fact I can watch and listen together, I have learned so much.”

There is a refreshing reality in everything Monaghan does that comes from some honest place deep inside of her. She wants to succeed, she wants to be good, she wants the work to be truthful, and the one thing she learned about herself on “Trucker,” she says, is that she is stubborn.

“It helped me in the role,” she says.  “It helped me find Diane and define Diane. We share that I suppose. And you know she’s still with me, I’m still digesting the whole experience, and I found her hard to let go.”

For a list of Michelle Monaghan’s credits, click on this link to IMDB.

Please share this, and retweet it. Thanks for paying it forward to actors, or anyone who may enjoy it.

“I’m Not Leaving Until You Cast Me As Queen Victoria”

That is what Producer Graham King told me, that Emily Blunt said to him that day. That’s how she got the lead role in the movie. It’s that simple. It was well-before any work got started on the film, altogether.

The Departed, the Oscar winning film that Mr. King also produced, was still in post-production.  King was busy at work, on that. He said he wasn’t even “thinking about it yet.”  [The Young Victoria]

Emily Blunt came into his office, at the location where the The Departed production offices were, at the time. “I’m here to play Queen Victoria and I’m not leaving until you give me the job.”

“I Love To Work With People With A Passion Like That.”

Says Graham King. “It’s not about the money. It’s about feeling it.”

They never auditioned anyone else for the part. It was Emily Blunt’s, at her insistence,  in his office  that day. “She really knows what she wants to do, and she goes and gets it.”

Early Backstory Of This Particular Film Is…

King had met with Sarah Ferguson in her office. She was serious about becoming a film producer, and she had approximately 50 scripts on her desk which she attempted to pitch to Mr. King, hoping that they would do business together.  When she brought up The Young Victoria, it  wasn’t yet a script; it was just a two-page treatment. King liked it, bypassing all the completed scripts; for this idea of the early days of Queen Victoria’s reign, and the love between this Queen, and her husband.

Sarah Ferguson offered to use her British royal relationships to assist the production, as it would be a smaller film, without a large budget.  At first, King thought they would probably shoot the picture in Poland or Czechoslavakia. But because of the Royal Fergie (not the musical Fergie who sings about her-hump-her-hump, BTW) …they were, eventually, able to shoot inside seventeen castles and palaces all over England. She was also able to get access to all the Monarchy’s historical files.

Julian Fellowes Wrote The Script. He’s An Englishman, Too.

The not-yet-hired-screenwriter contacted Graham King; with an insistence, as well. He told King that he was “Born to write this movie. I know all about Queen Victoria.” Queen Victoria’s reign had been a strong personal interest, a longtime hobby, of the already successful English screenwriter. He came to the project with a head full of factual knowledge.

Hiring the director,  Jean-Marc Vallée, for The Young Victoria was similar. It would only be the director’s second  movie. Additionally, he was French-Canadian. King remembers thinking: “The monarchy will really love that.”

The  Young Victoria Is A Love Story

Casting an actor to play the role of Prince Albert, was somewhat more difficult. The producers defined specific traits that they regarded as necessary, in the actor who was auditioning for the part of the Prince. Imperative, was for the two lead actors have a very special chemistry together. Emily Blunt read with those who were auditioning. They tested “twenty to thirty actors“, before giving the role to Rupert Friend.

The casting director was Susie Figgis. Besides Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend,  some supporting actors in The Young Victoria are Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Thomas Kretschmann, Mark Strong…A full cast-and-crew list can be found at IMDB, with links to each actors’ resume.

Actor Emily Blunt As 'The Young Victoria'

::::::::::::::::::::::::Would  you kindly share on your Facebook, or on Twitter?

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::Thanks for paying this forward in support of actors.

The actor, Ben Whishaw first became known at age 21, when acting in a Shakespeare play. Time Magazine says about Whishaw’s acting, in Hamlet:

Whishaw has been anointed the next great British actor from his Hamlet, at 21, in 2004. “Go and see Trevor Nunn’s Hamlet,” one London critic wrote. “In 40 years’ time you will be able to tell the grandchildren that you saw Ben Whishaw’s first great role.

Ben Whishaw is still in his early-ish 20’s, and some of his other acting credits include: ‘Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer’ and ‘I’m Not There’.

The currently showing film, where Whishaw’s got the lead acting role, is Jane Campion’s ‘Bright Star’. He plays the poet, John Keats. The entire film covers only two years in Keats’ life: when he was in love; and when he also wrote his best poetry.

YAMATO: Keats’ style of poetry emphasized nature and the poet giving himself over as a vessel to channel the universe. Is there a similar sense for you about the craft of acting?

WHISHAW: Yes, definitely. I think that’s one of the things I said to Jane when I auditioned. At the audition, we worked a little bit on the scene where I say that line, that a poet doesn’t have an identity because he’s always filling another body; whatever he’s looking at, he becomes that thing. I said, I think that’s a bit what it’s like to be an actor — sometimes you can lose a sense of yourself because you’re always trying to understand this other person. So I think you’re absolutely right, both are trying to become a vessel, a channel or something.

The entire interview, by Jen Yamato can be found, by clicking on the interviewer’s name. I do plan on running more excerpts, pertinent to actors and the craft of acting, throughout the rest of this this week.

Thank you to Jen Yamato, for the excerpts; and for doing the types of interviews that have the type of depth that can be appreciated by those in the acting arts.