Adventures in Casting: Don't Kill Yourself Yet. Hope is Around the Corner

I spend a lot of time in pre-production and for that I am sorry. The reason being is I really want this project to turn out well. Another thing I must apologize for is casting. Casting is one subject I spend A LOT of posts blabbing about. It probably is not the funnest thing to read about. Again, I'm sorry.

Any who, this post is again, about casting.

Stop smiling. Ass.

One of the major characters in OotGG is a man named Two-Bit. This is a character that our protagonist spends a large amount of the film with. Two-Bit is the man who tempts Caleum into the world of underground fighting and into a life of crime. Their relationship is tumultuous. Two-Bit is poison. Caleum trusts him in the beginning, but as the story progresses. Two-Bit is a complicated man. He lures these vulnerable people into this life and uses their weaknesses against them. Although he is not a mustache twirling bad guy. He whole heartily believes in what he does. Two-Bit does not view himself as a bad person. He is helping these people. Two-Bit is akin to Lucifer. He tempts these people, gets them to commit the acts, but never himself gets his hands dirty.

To sum up, Two-Bit is really important. I have no idea who could pull off this performance.

I looked around. Trying to find an actor who could play this role and as the time rolled by and I didn't find my Two-Bit, I was getting really worried. None of the actors I have found could really capture the character that I had envisioned in my mind. In my opinion, Two-Bit is JUST as important as Caleum. This was one moment when I actually thought about giving up. Then, I was recommended an actor who might work. He was a good friend of my buddy Guy's and when I asked Guy about him, I got glowing praise. His name is Frank Bryant.

Hello ladies.

I sent him the script and he told me he really dug it. We then decided to get together for a read. It took a while to get our schedules lined up for us to meet. He worked and had school the times when Ben and I didn't. After about a month of playing tag we finally got together in Studio C to do a read through of the scene.

In the scene, Two-Bit takes Caleum on a Training Day-esque ride along in which Two-Bit explains King James' operation and what he does. Two-Bit has Caleum collect some money from a junkie. Caleum has never done this and is thrown into the deep end. They find the junkie and Caleum confronts him. The junkie runs and Caleum chases him down an alley. Caleum than puts the boots to him and asks about the money. The junkie does not have it. Two-Bit shows up and tells Caleum to break the junkie's finger. This is an important scene because it puts Caleum on the point of no return. Caleum makes a decision and than breaks his finger. The scene ends there.

It is a pretty intense scene and I was nervous and excited about doing the read. Frank and Ben were ready and we ran through the scene.

Frank was brilliant.

Here is Frank acting the SHIT outta Hamlet.

He portrayed Two-Bit EXACTLY how I pictured him. It was amazing. This was one of the instances where it felt like the page was coming to life. I am so happy with Frank and cannot wait to get this scene in the can. More and more I feel this movie will be something special. 

Adventures in Casting: When Taking an Acting Class Pays Off

In the last episode, I talked about the new scene I wrote and ended with searching for the lucky lady who would play the Ice Queen, Aunt Pam. Well, after a relatively short search and a lot of luck, I found her. The actress who will play Aunt Pam and she is perfect!

 I know Ami from an acting class I took (which I recommend all aspiring directors take). She was always really great in all the scenes she was in and is heavily involved in the theater productions. Needless to say, she knows a thing or two about acting. I loved working with her and even have a bit of experience directing her. She was great. Always brought a lot of energy and class to every scene she was in.

Pictured: My acting class. I'm the one with no shirt.

I got a hold of her from the acting teacher Varlo Davenport and told her about the project. She was in and we quickly got together for a read. Ben Banks and I were blown away. Ami was AMAZING! She channeled a over privileged rich bitch so well it was scary. I joked with her because I felt bad about thinking of her for this part because she does play a horrible person. She told me not to worry because she lives for these kind of roles.

A directing choice I made was to only have Ben work with her once because I want to keep that vibe of the two of them not knowing each other very well. I am so happy about her role in the movie because she will knock it out of the park.

Ami Porter. Girl be sizzling.

Adventures in Casting: Unexpected Gems

Contrary to popular belief, once a movie is written, the project is about 20% finished. As stated before, casting is a very important aspect of making a movie that can make or break it. While I lucked out with the lead for OotGG, all the other parts were up in the air.

In OotGG, Caleum's sister, Abby, passes away which leaves Caleum without family. This void is then filled by the criminal organization that becomes Caleum's surrogate family. Abby is only in the movie for a short time. Never the less, she is the catalyst that sets Caleum on his journey into the underworld. Basically what I'm trying to say is that Abby is a very important character and I had no idea who would play her. Most of the movies I work on, I already have someone in mind for a part. This time, I was drawing a complete blank.

I met with Varlo Davenport, who runs our local theater department. They were casting for two plays at the time and I was able to sit in on the casting sessions to see if any of the actresses would work for OotGG. Sad to say that none of the women were right for the part of Abby. I was a bit bummed out.

My problem was I at the wrong casting sessions.

 When I returned home that evening, my wife asked how the casting went. I told her that no one stood out. We then talked about the qualities of Abby and what I was looking for. After discussing for about an hour, my brilliant wife brought up a great idea:

"Does Abby have to be white?"

I didn't have an answer. I thought about her statement. Abby didn't necessarily have to be white. My wife went on to explain that it is very common to have interracial families. The face of the modern family is no longer a mom, dad, brother and sister all of the same race. This opened doors I never thought about.

The next day, I was sitting in my Make Up class applying my old man make up. I noticed out of the corner of my eye a girl who was in my Acting for the screen class. Her name is Darcee Warner. She was a great actress and now that I had my mind opened, I ran down the hall to ask her if she would participate in OotGG. When I caught up to her, half my face in old person make up, I pitched her the idea. She was excited. I later emailed her the script. We then set up a time for Darcee and Ben to get together and do a read.

A real angel this one.

I was stoked. I found my Abby.

Extreme Bromance: Finding the Star for the Movie

When I finished the script back in the day, I never knew if I would even make it. There is a huge difference from just writing a flick to actually making it and casting was something I didn't really think about. Except for the lead. From day one I knew who I would have star in it. In fact, I wrote it with him in mind. That man is named Ben Banks.

Ain't that a sweet slab-o-man?

We always wanted to work together on a project that was bigger than us just dicking around on a camera. Such as this classic that truly showcases our talents and the whole department:

When I finished writing the script all that time ago, I felt a little embaressed about showing him a movie that I wrote with him in mind as the lead. I mean, he starred in a movie named after him for God's sake! With a nervous pit in my stomach, I gave him in the script to read. He came back to me within a few days and not only liked the story, but was pumped to work on it. This helped me feel at ease. In some ways, it made me feel better about the project. If I could get a guy like Ben on my side, then it was a great step in the right direction. Ben Banks and I talked about the project on and off for the last two years. It was something we always wanted to do, but always felt like a pipe dream.

Enter Senior Capstone.

Over the course of my college career, I went back and forth on capstone ideas. I think One of the Good Guys (OotGG) was always the project I wanted to do, but I never thought it would happen. When the second to my last semester rolled around and I still didn't have an idea of what to do, it was my teacher Ben Braten who suggested that I work on OotGG. I thought it about it for a while and after having a talk with Mr. Banks, who agreed to commit to the project, it was on. Figured what do I have to lose? I am in college and this the best time to try to make a movie like this.

Once it was decided, Ben Banks and I started working on it. We met multiple times to talk about his character, Caleum Crow, and the motivations behind his actions. Ben gave me many great suggestions on what he wanted to bring to the character and I re-wrote aspects of the script to accommodate. Caleum was becoming Ben and Ben was becoming Caleum. To help Ben, I even wrote a detailed back story of his character's life and family. I felt that was the least I could do to help Ben get into character and for the fact that he was donating his time to a project that will probably never make any of us any cash.

Having Ben Banks on board has boosted my confidence in not only OotGG, but in my abilities as a director and writer. This has truly become a collaborative process. I look forward to working on this project more and more even though it fills me with dread. Good thing Benny is my leading man. I honestly don't think this project would work without him.

Such a class act this guy.