Monday 30 April 2007

[untitled]

Well, filming has begun on the feature I was hoping to get extra work on... so, well... better luck next time hey?

Anyway, random little updates.... I'm auditioning on Sunday for a local profit-share production of After Dinner by Andrew Bovell. And I'm quite excited about it; I'm rather itching to do some "proper acting".
I'm also submitting an audition (as soon as I figure out how to make a voice recording on my computer) for a voice role in an animated short film. That just sounds like fun.
I submitted my headshot and CV to another casting place in Sydney. Hopefully a casting person will open the email and think "Wow! Check out this chick! Where has she been all my life?", and jump on the phone to cast me in some fabulous gig.

*snort*

Well, I can dream...

Saturday 28 April 2007

The Number 23

It's been simply ages since I last saw a thriller at the cinema... can't even remember the last time I did. So, yesterday, Noel and I had one of those "hey, let's ditch the kids and go to the movies" moments, and I was rather excited at the prospect of sitting in the dark, all comfy and enjoying the suspense of a great story.

Everything bar the "comfy" lived up to my expectations (Hoyts have fancy new seats that look big and comfy but are just big. When are cinema designers going to learn that people like to lean back slightly when sitting for 2 hours, not be held up straight as a broom?).

The Number 23 has a great story, great acting, and just the right amount of "thrill" for me. Jim Carrey is an excellent actor when he's not just pulling faces; I wish he'd do serious roles more often. All the supporting actors play well too and the story is told very naturally, despite the thematic weirdness.

The film did all the right things - drew me in, fascinated me, scared me, and tricked me. I really liked it. Visually it's intriguing, thanks to quite natural, unobtrusive lighting combined with so much of the set design incorporating the scrawls of a number-obsessed madman.

Thankfully, the ending is great. I thought for one disappointing moment that it was going to have a typical Hollywood "ignore the bad stuff and get on with our perfect life" ending, but it doesn't. It's still wuite Hollywoodish, but at least honest and realistic.

Plus, Noel and I very quickly became adept at rapid-fire mathematics and were picking out all the "23"s in car number plates, birthdates etc. On the way home it was hard to stop pointing out 23s and calculating all the numbers we passed.

I just tried adding all the corresponding numbers to the letters in my name. I tried a few different ways of adding and dividing, but couldn't come up with 23 at all. Oh well. I guess I won't go crazy.

Thursday 26 April 2007

A book meme and an itty bitty ego boost...

I've been tagged by Nic...

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next three sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favourite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
6. Tag five other people to do the same.

Okey dokey... the book is Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman.

"Now, she is powerful and he could have been discarded. But she gave in. Because (1) she wanted him to do the picture and (2) he was young and hot and he didn't care if he did the picture or not. "

(from the chapter on movie stars and how much shit they bring with them to film projects.)

Now I shall blatantly break the rules of the meme by not tagging anyone - because of the four people I know who read my blog; one is Nic, one is extremely busy at the moment, one has already done this meme elsewhere, and the other one doesn't have her own blog anyway.

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And, the little ego boost (when I say little I mean it!), I received an email today from a producer of a short film who found my profile on Showcast and wants me for a role in her short film. It's a fairly small part in a very small film but hey, it feels nice to be offered a role without even trying. Now, where are the paid roles...

Monday 23 April 2007

Believe it or not...

I'm actually a bit sick of watching movies. Been watching far too many lately and my brain is a bit fried.

Macbeth
We finally hired this one. I did like it, mainly for the visual splendour and atmosphere (the same reasons I love Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet), but some parts felt a bit forced and complicated. The leading performances were really wonderful but there were a few smaller players that looked a bit out of place amongst the leading talent.
The witches - I know this was a bold artistic choice and all that (they were made into teen witches who pretty much seduce Macbeth with their bodies as well as words), but I just didn't think it worked. The nudity felt gratuitous to me. I think it would have worked better if it had've been an implied or almost-seduction rather than some full-on naked orgy-esque revelations. (Oh ok, and I was just jealous of the three actress's perfect beautiful boobs!)
Anyway, definitely worth seeing. It is a little bit hard to follow if you don't know the story all that well, but my Noel (who doesn't like to read anything, let alone Shakespeare) still understood and really liked it, so it works well enough.

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Little Miss Sunshine.
This film deserved all the attention it got, and more. (well, ok, I'm not sure Abigail Breslin really earned the Oscar nom, but still...) A beautiful little portrait of a really fascinating family dealing with a bunch of pretty odd (and yet pretty standard) issues. I particularly loved Paul Dano's performance as the teen who has taken a vow of silence until he achieves his goal of joining the Air Force. He played the role so naturally and beautifully, and the moment where he finally snaps, in his own way, just left me agape with shock and awe.
The portrayal of all of the characters' weak points or difficulties was so gently and kindly done that I really felt like they were real people, not just movie-people, and it was really eays and comfortable to join each of them on their own journey.
As for Breslin's character, Olive, I thought she was wonderful. She was an awkward, slightly chubby young beauty-pageant wannabe. She's had the idea of being a "winner" drilled into her head by her motivational-speaker dad, and is just dealing with all the usual kid stuff. I was so pleased with the way she was written and the fact that, in the end, she didn't suddenly become the super-mature kid that teaches all the adults a lesson. So many films do that and it's nice, but eh, sometimes kids just stay kids. Olive never had that big "beauty pageants are so stupid and I am above that" moment, which would have been an easy trap for the writer/s to fall in to. She stayed the hopeful, young girl with slight delusions about her own talent, while the adults around her were the ones learning the lessons. It was just very nice to see a more realistic treatment of a kid being a kid.

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The Namesake.
I escaped all by myself last night and saw a movie I knew Noel wouldn't be very interested in. I'd heard lots of good reports of The Namesake, and they were right. It's wonderful. Very long, but very watchable all the way through, and a story that's quite heart-wrenching and beautiful. All of the actors play beautifully. The story moves from one section to the next very cleanly and draws the audience into the very intersting lives of these characters.
It's about a young Indian girl, wrenched from her home and family when she is married to an Indian man who now lives in the US. They have children and grow as a family and the story unfolds as the children grow up etc, dealing with the cultural differences and all the issues that immigrants deal with. It really is a very compelling picture.

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I really wish I had some interesting news to tell.

I'll be getting my hew headshots done in a couple of weeks (if I ever remember to call and make an appointment!).
Still crossing my fingers to hear back about the film extra work in May.
If I can figure a way to manage rehearsal times etc, I'm planning to audition for a local profit-share acting group's play. I'm really hankering for a good bit of acting, and getting back on stage would be a wonderful feeling.
There are also, hopefully, a few more short film auditions coming up.

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My Pop gave me a Lotto ticket for my birthday. Let's hope I win!

Friday 20 April 2007

John Travolta as a woman

Check out the website for the new Hairspray movie!

John Travolta as a woman (Edna Turnblad), married to Christopher Walken (Wilbur) - and they look fabulous together! The story is about their daughter, Tracy Turnblad, who dreams of being a dancer despite her "plus-size" figure.

I'm really not sure if it's my kind of comedy, but I'll be going to see it anyway (not out till at least July though) because it looks like fun - and who'd have thought John Travolta would make such a great woman?

Monday 16 April 2007

Donnie Brasco

First of all. I couldn't look at Johnny Depp with that moustache without thinking of Freddie Mercury. Nice mo', Johnny. No wonder people were spreading rumours that Johnny would play Freddie in a Queen movie.

Anyway, Donnie Brasco. I really like it. Al Pacino and Depp work so beautifully together, and the characters were actually quite fascinating. I am always especially intrigued by films that are based on a real person's life, and this one was no exception. What a life. I am amazed at the fact that the actors and director got to meet with Joe Pistone himself, and meet with quite a few real mafia men, despite the fact that Pistone still has an open contract on his head. That blows me away. Imagine meeting with a guy, and then later meeting with the very people who want to kill him, and would do anything to find out where he is now. I assume they wouldn't have told the actors the family's new name or where they lived etc, so they wouldn't be in danger, but still. What an experience.

The acting from all players is natural and very watchable. The mafia guys are portrayed in such a way as to make the audience feel they are just ordinary men, in a particular line of work, oding the best they can - but all with supreme egos and a level of everyday worry that most ordinary folk don't deal with. I was surprised by how much sympathy I found myself feeling for Pacino's character, Leftie, and especially all the other, somewhat lower-down mafia men. By the end of the film I was really conflicted; wanting Pistone to get back to his normal life, but also wanting Brasco to succeed and impress his new colleagues.

That is why real stories fascinate me so much - these people are/were real people, and their lives were so complicated and conflicted and just *real*. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own little life and it's easy to forget that other people out there have such different experiences. I guess that's why I love acting; I love exploring another person's existence, experiencing snippets of new and very different experiences.

Anyway, blah blah. Not going to get philosophical about it.

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Just a quick note - if anyone's reading here, please drop in a quick comment once or twice to let me know. I like to know what people think, and I also just like to know whether anyone's even reading. Thanks to the people that do comment - I appreciate it. :-)

Thursday 12 April 2007

Depp-a-thon

First of all, I was given another bunch of roses yesterday. I have two vases of fragrant roses within smelling distance of my computer chair. Ah, this is the life.

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Secondly, turning 26 is kinda boring and sucky in terms of people doing anything special. BUT! In terms of gifts - I received 10 DVDs!
~ Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi trilogy (El Mariachi, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico)
~ From Hell
~ Dead Man
~ Benny and Joon
~ Japanese Story
~ Blow
~ Donnie Brasco
~ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Yes, you read correctly - that's 7 Johnny Depp films. Methinks my darling husband and mum have noticed my Johnny fangirl tendencies. (Speaking of which - Sondheim himself has said that Johnny's work in the currently-filming Sweeney Todd is "the performance of a lifetime" ! I am so squeeingly fangirlingly excited!)

And the others are - well, Robert Rodriguez, who is the coolest director. If only I could get El Mariachi to play without the commentary! (as much as I LOVE Rodriguez's commentaries, I would like to watch the actual film properly first! Bothersome DVD!)
And Japanese Story is a beautiful Australian film with Toni Collette and a Japanese gentleman whose name escapes me... hold on, Gotaro Tsunashima... beautiful Australian-outback story.

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Oh and aforementioned darling husband also gave me "Adventures in the Screen Trade", a book by William Goldman about Hollywood/moviemaking/film industry. I'm told it's a great read, although I'm not sure how out of date it may be now.
And "Dirt Music" by Tim Winton; I have no idea what it's about but everyone raves about it, so it must be at least a bit good.

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So, in the last few days I've watched....

Dead Man - a beautiful film about life and death and goodness knows what else. This was only the 2nd time I've watched it and I haven't yet decided what I think it's about, but I have decided that it's a compelling piece of art. Johnny's performance is what he does best - all eyes and hands and gestures and just *being there*.

From Hell - I just can't get out of my head that this film has Bilbo Baggins in it. During the character's first few scenes I was thinking "Ah, who is that?", then it clicked that it was Ian Holm, who played Bilbo, which made the rest of his scenes rather amusing in my funny little head. Anyway, it's a good film. Not amazingly brilliant, but quite a few nice moments. Directing felt a bit shoddy, but I don't know very much about directing so I can't really comment. This was based on a graphic novel which I thought was really interesting - a lot of the characters are certainly quite comic-book-ish.

Benny & Joon - Oh my lord! Wonderful film! Johnny is totally brilliant in this, I can just tell it's going to become one of my watch-a-million-times films. His Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin-esque moments are beautifully, heartbreakingly hilarious. Depp and Mary Stuart Masterton work together in such a gorgeous, natural way that the falling-in-love of their two characters is effortless and amazing to watch. LOVE it - can you tell? (And why has nobody ever made me watch it before???)

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Ok, enough raving for tonight. :-)

Tuesday 10 April 2007

Photos and flowers...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I sure did. My girls and I are suffering from the various behavioural after-affects of too much chocolate!

Powered Productions have some photos up from the filming of Masked Man. You can see them here. There's a cool one of me looking directly upwards into the camera. And lots of the wonderful Powered Productions team - Kylie, Brad, Rebecca, Darren and Ange. (Thanks for having me, guys, it was great fun!)

In other news... erm... well, there isn't any.

I've been writing a lot lately, some short stories and children's book ideas. I'd like to write a script and I have a character in mind but I think I need to write it in story form first or I'll lose track too easily.
I've joined an online book club too so have been discussing and analysing books - at the moment it's What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges. A really great book; I was surprised at how different it is from the movie considering Hedges also wrote the screenplay.

I've been given two bunches of flowers recently; a colourful mixed bunch from my dad and his wife, and some gorgeous, fragrant, old-fashioned, dusky pink and white roses from my parents-in-law. It's so lovely to have fresh flowers in the house!

Anyway I'd best go finish off the last of the Easter chocolate, and what better film to eat it with than Chocolat?

Tuesday 3 April 2007

Okay, 10 things...

... I hate about you!

Ha ha! Of course not!

10 things "you" don't know about me (though probably one or two of you know a couple of them) ... tagged by Connor...

1. I have a livejournal on which I talk about completely different stuff, under a completely different name which you will never find! Mwa ha ha ha!

2. My first acting role was as the "Sailor's Wife" in a play in Year 3. I dressed in a fat suit and a really ugly red tent dress and sang the "Skipping Rope Hornpipe" while skipping and eating a Mars Bar.

3. I have a nephew and his middle name is Rain.

4. Since having kids, I have developed heaps of new freckles on my hands from all the time pushing a pram in the sun.

5. I grew up a good Catholic girl and my confirmation name was Monica.

6. I am an awesome cook. Last night I made sausages with gravy and my husband was in raptures. Honestly! (I do cook really good, more interesting, stuff too.)

7. You know how at the Oscars n stuff you see fairly new actresses saying "I never imagined I'd be at the Oscars/Golden Globes/whatever"? Well, I reckon they're having themselves on, because I imagine it all the time. I don't know any aspiring actor who doesn't. I have my speech, autograph and dressmaker all figured out.

8. It's my birthday soon! The 11th April. I'll be 26. Oh my goodness, that sounds older than I should be...

9. I've never had a dream that I was flying or falling, or naked in public. Lots of weirder dreams though.

10. I really struggle to not care what other people think of me. I try really hard to just be my own comfortable self, but then I also try really hard to impress other people with my looks/intelligence/opinions. I even try to impress people with how much I can not care if they're impressed. A dilemma, to be sure.

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There you go! 10 points for each one you already knew. The winner gets... the joy of being the winner!

Monday 2 April 2007

Nearly Easter!

Not that I have anything much to say about Easter; I just couldn't think of a post title.

Today, though, I did attend my first "Easter Hat Parade" (first as the mum, anyway) - at my daughter's preschool. What a bizarre little cultural tradition that is. Very cute, though. Even if my daughter is the one always talkign and telling everyone what to do. *sigh* I'm such a socially-backward person (in real life, it's true!), and yet I get the extroverted chatterbox daughter! Perhaps she's here to teach me how to socialise.

Anyway, enough about noisy daughters and Easter hats.

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Masked Man is all finished. Well, unless they need to reshoot something. Or they decide I was crap. Or something.

No really, I'm sure it's all done and now will be edited and soundtracked and all that good stuff and I'll get a copy.... sometime. We did the stabbing/dying scene and it was great fun. I felt good about my "death" in terms of the acting. It felt good to me anyway. My hands and tummy were stained red for quite a while from the fake blood (gravox with water, red food colouring and a little bit of blue!), which was pretty icky but looked good.

Plus, they mustn't think I'm crap because they asked me to be in their next film, which will be filming in June or July. It looks good actually, a more challenging and grown up role than this one was, so I shall look forward to that.

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I haven't heard anything about the film extra work, so I'm kinda thinking I missed out on that one. Damnit. (Still got my fingers crossed though! Film doesn't shoot until May.)

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Oh, and we watched Godzilla yesterday. The 98 Roland Emmerich one (is there an earlier one or am I imgining that?). Oh, my goodness. So bad. Bad writing, bad acting, dodgy sequencing. Awful in so many ways. And yet, some parts made me laugh, so there you go. Not all bad.

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Connor tagged me to do a "10 things you don't know about me" meme. I'm still thinking. I keep thinking of completely inappropriate things. I'll try to do that list tonight or tomorrow.