★ News from May 2003:
Today I worked on the set of Spider-Man 2 (formerly called The Amazing Spider-Man). I was the lone bicyclist for today's shoot.
We shot in the NoHo part of NYC, on Lafayette at Bleecker. The shoot lasted from 7:00am until 6:30pm, and we were working practically the whole time.
I was on my blue Dahon folding bike (it is now retired, as I found at the shoot that the frame was broken!), wearing navy blue capri pants, a dark green jacket, and a white bike helmet. I also had a large black fannypack strapped to my back.
In the morning I did a lot of simple turns and rides down the street I don't think were very discernible. I think the shots were for a part when not much is happening in the film, maybe towards the beginning, after which the camera discerns Tobey Maguire. (He or his lookalike stuntman was on a moped in the takes.) Later in the day was much more exciting, as I got to dodge Tobey on my bike--he was running full speed against traffic and carrying pizza boxes. He ran into an alley after passing me.
In another take and sporting my current shorter haircut, I was chatting in the background on a cell phone when the pizza guy sees Spidey. There is a father with two Little Leaguers also in the take. My new friend James Ecklund with whom I did work on Large's Ark about a week ago--and with whose wife Jessica I'm doing the Columbia grad film Hard Boiled right now(!)--was there, and in that take he approached me to talk and then we see Spidey all of the sudden. The director, Sam Raimi, approached us and told me how he wanted our reactions bigger than just shock and awe. I got the sense we were pretty visible.
It was a great day, full of laughs, sun, and biking. The crowds that gathered to watch were something else. In one take, a crazy homeless man ran after Tobey just after I dodged him on my bike. I had to slam on my brakes. Boy, that guy got chewed out by the production assistants! Another excitement was picking my neighbors out in the crowd. Also, in a scary moment, a camerman fell off his moving camera when trying to follow the moped. He bloodied up his head and was woozy for a bit, I think eventually leaving the set. Excitement!
May 7, 2003
(Wednesday)
I've been trying to lie low of late.
After setting my career up as my priority pursuit in NYC, some personal things have slid by. First off, when doing Equity Principal Auditions (EPAs), I get up around 4:30 in the morning to get in line, to audition, to go to work, then to possibly do something by night. That left me with no time to exercise, or feeling too exhausted to exercise. Sans gym membership, reliant on warm-enough climate to work out, my training for this year's NYC Marathon has been pushed to the back-burner. The lack of exercise was a contributing factor to the build-up of stress in my system and life, until I nearly snapped because of all the things I also wanted to be doing--running, biking, enjoying life, etc. This year alone, I think I've done close to 30 EPAs.
Acting and the pursuit thereof has been my life for the last two solid years. I've acted and pursued my acting career since my middle-school years, but never did I pursue it as hardcore as these last two years. I would drop everything for an audition, a role, a chance at a break. When it comes down to it, working on an acting career is extremely difficult, as it requires a lot of maintenance, drive, perseverance, frustration, depression, rejection, emotion, availability, flexibility, vulnerability--among many other demands on a person. Oh yeah, when there's happiness with it, that happiness is indescribably exhilarating.
Movie stars take breaks between projects. Why can't I?
So that is where I am for an indefinite period of time. I assume I will be in this groove until my body tells me I'm rejuvenated to restart. That will probably be a month or two from now. Oh, I have not quit. I'm just doing some R&R.
Which is not to say I'm not acting or not pursuing acting completely. Currently, my projects are low-pressure and enjoyable, and that's how I want it. I am working on a Columbia grad film with a fantastic script that shoots this month and in June, and I'm also working on a stage-combat scene in all likelihood from my favorite play, David Mamet's Oleanna. (I produced a small production of it in college, casting myself as the lead.) I also have been rebuilding my website.
I'll audition as the project comes along and interests me, or if there's a SAG or Equity contract presented to me. For now, I need to get in touch with what it is to feel like a person again--not a drive, a survivor, a heatseeker, or something-other-than-a-person. I want to bike, I want to run, I want to enjoy the sun!
[I tend to make it a personal policy to see friends' shows whenever possible. For the time being, I'm foregoing that personal policy so that I may recuperate and not feel over-obligated. I want to go to friends' shows because I want to go to friends' shows, not because I feel a personal obligation to attend. I will go to your show over this time, but please do not hold it against me if I decide I can't.]
If you're reading this, words of encouragement are appreciated, as well as your stories of how taking a break rejuvenated you. You can email them to me via my contact page. Thank you if you have the time.
Cheers!
May 12, 2003
(Monday)
I have some projects cooking with Yahoo! that could give me a little publicity in the NYC area, as well as in different large markets around the country.
The first project is something coming up next week for the Yahoo! Search bar. I still am learning the details of it, but I will play a character that will be similar to one in an ad campaign coming out 5/19/2003.
The other project is something that has been pending all spring, pushed back because of the war in Iraq. It was originally supposed to debut with the release of the current Yahoo! Personals Believe Ad Campaign in early-April; now I'm hearing it may take shape in mid-June/July under a revamped concept. I'm excited about this event because potentially it will take me to the U.S.'s greatest cities, and I'll be able to meet a lot of different people and share the excitement I bring to my work in these performance events.
I've fronted various large-scale events with Yahoo! in my time in NYC, starting with the "World's La-Z-iest Shopper" event in Rockefeller Center that lasted five weeks. In fact, that job got me my Equity card through a business theater contrat. To read more information about that event, click here. Yahoo! Buzz Marketing events are fun, unique projects that usually make a memorable mark on all who come in contact with them.
May 14, 2003
(Wednesday)
Today I got a call from Director Linda Burson, who directed me in a staged-reading of Bob Ost's play Breeders back in the winter of 2002.
She was gathering actors for the paid reading of a new play by John Wolfson, for John to hear his script for the first time.
The small gig is without rehearsal on 5/28/2003. I'm excited about this opportunity, which will not be done for an audience.
May 17, 2003
(Saturday)
Today I worked on a camera sketch of Brett Levner's Columbia grad film, Hard Boiled.
The shoot date was rescheduled from sometime in June, to a date in late-August. Basically, the added time will allow her to make a better film.
Brett has done a perfect job of casting for this 3-person screenplay--everyone is awesome and each person's role suits him or her just right! (The cast is Justin Swain, Jessica Ecklund, and me.)
May 23, 2003
(Friday)
In the 6/2/2003 issue of BusinessWeek, my image appears with Charlie the Beagle in the cover story article, "Yahoo! Act Two."
The photo was taken on Monday, 5/19/2003, in Times Square on a publicity shoot for Yahoo!, a promotion job I worked over the course of the week in several of NYC's high foot-traffic spots.
The promotion paralleled the current commercial and ad campaign for the new Yahoo! Search, which has people carrying search bars in everyday environments that say what the people have been searching for. The group of us played characters who needed something--I was a dog walker and my search bar read "dog groomer." (Charlie the Beagle was such a difficult dog, it should have read "dog trainer.")
More publications may be picking up this story; I got a call from a co-worker saying he just got the new BusinessWeek issue in the mail.
If you pick up the copy, make sure this is the cover photo!
A press release for Yahoo!'s campaign is located here.
May 25, 2003
(Sunday)
Overnight I worked on the film A Home at the End of the World with Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, and (I think) Dallas Roberts.
The shoot was pretty crazy in the beginning. Along with some background actors who dressed the part well, Kee Casting apparently hired some real-life punk rockers for the East Village scene, and they were drunken, not very well behaved, foul, and they made for a somewhat anxious environment. They spat a lot. I was an NYU student, wearing faded jeans, navy boat shoes, a white baseball t-shirt and a black leather jacket--the year was 1982. In a night scene with the three principal actors walking down an East Village street, I crossed just behind them and sat on some steps; the shot opens with a tall drag queen walking three tiny dogs.
In another scene I walked behind the three principals as they looked at the Tower Records sign on Lafayette. I doubt I'm visible in this shot--I'm wearing the same outfit, only this time sporting a brown leather backpack.
What was kinda cool was that this was the last day of filming. After the Tower Records scene, the film was wrapped and the crew applauded. What I didn't understand, though, was that the director, Michael Mayer, didn't know how to say "check the gate"; instead, he kept saying "check the frame."
May 28, 2003
(Wednesday)
Tonight I did an informal reading of John Wolfson's new play, The Martyr's Brigade at his home. Director Linda Burson had contacted me to participate.
May 29, 2003
(Thursday)
This afternoon I had a go-see for Pearson Education at Michael Heron Casting. In attendance was Casting Director Catherine Demaria.
May 30, 2003
(Friday)
I'm traveling to different major U.S. cities with Yahoo! in June to drum up excitement about online dating with Yahoo! Personals. Coming up very soon, I'm in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City!
I can't tell you too, too much about the event, but the ladies will certainly be excited--if not for the dozens of male models who will be participating in the event, then for the famed runner-up who captured America's hearts in CBS's reality show, The Bachelorette, Bob Guiney! (Bob will be the star of the next round of the CBS show, The Bachelor, and will start taping just after this Yahoo! Personals event. Meet him while he's single!)
I will be appearing as an emcee of sorts with Bob and the male models in San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC, then moving to Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., in the second phase of the event (sans Bob). Below are the dates and locations where you can meet and play with us, and we'll show you all about the ease and fun of online dating with Yahoo! Personals:
Tuesday, June 3rd - San Francisco
We'll be in the Union Square area, at or near the corner of Geary St. and Stockton St. We'll probably be there much of the morning.
Thursday, June 5th - Chicago
We'll be at Thompson Center (probably in front of the sculpture) at 100 W. Randolph St. We'll probably be there much of the morning.
Tuesday, June 10th - New York City
We'll be at or near the Times Square Visitors Center, at 1560 Broadway. We'll probably be there much of the morning.
I'll follow up with the other locations in a future email.
Given the nature of the event, things may change at the last minute, so our locations may not be exactly where I've said. Let me just say it will be hard to miss us--just look out for a sea of white "chick magnets."
My relationship with Yahoo! has been a long and exciting one. It was Yahoo! who got me into the Actors' Equity Association (the stage actors' union) with a business theater event I did for them in the spring of 2000 called The World's La-Z-iest Shopper. It's always fun to work with Yahoo!
Let me know if you think you can visit one of the events, alright?