Film Festival Report

(Click on photos for full size.)

Until this year I have been at work when my little town’s film festival occurred. I’ve been to film festivals in big, medium and small cities. I don’t think population correlates to quality. A small town festival can sometimes risk showing edgier films, and the special guests are more unusual choices. The 16^th Annual Port Townsend Film Festival just ended. In three days I saw a dozen features, an equal number of shorts and hosted screenings with Beau Bridges, Chris Cooper and Marianne Leone Cooper.

Homage Fromage

Two mutts at breakfast.

The Artist, this year’s most-nominated film, is simultaneously reverent and cheesy.

Old Guys Who Made Good

My son wrote me an email in which he suggested I not call myself old, so I thought about some of the many men who produced significant work in my areas of interest when they were at least a decade older than me.

The Curse of Catwoman

I became an actor to help pay the rent.  I didn’t have a full-time job at the time, and temping as an actor pays better than temping as a file clerk.  People outside the biz don’t realize that nearly all actors are part-timers.

Yet Another Reason

…to remain invisible.

I ran into this by accident when looking for something else.  I had completely forgotten it.  Well, it was 25 years ago.  This was my first “union” job in Hollywood, after I had earned the SAG card.  I got paid a few hundred dollars to shout “YAY!” in the background

Why I Know

There’s an underbelly to show business that’s every bit as ugly as all those stories you might have thought were urban legends.

I Hated It, and I’m Right

What do you mean you don’t think this is great acting? I’m not moving, not blinking and I’m speaking brilliant sarcasm as fast as humanly possible.

Bon Voyage

I wrote a few words about Peter Graves just four days before he died, as part of my articles on the film Number One with a Bullet.  Here are a few more, to celebrate him.

Fly on the Wall (Part Four)

Watching the Actors

As I wrote before, I hadn’t ever worked for the duration of an entire feature film, so I was fascinated watching the actors in Number One With a Bullet.

I’m Ready For My Closeup!

In our lives, are we giving a performance or is it something more real?  I act differently around different people to some degree.  It’s not that who I’m with determines my behavior entirely.  It’s more like creating a rhythm with the other actor, so the show can go on.  When I’m with someone funny, I’m funnier too.