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10:24 am - Thurs 3/8/7
Tired Of Just Being \"Eye-Candy\"

Tired Of Just Being "Eye-Candy"...

Saw the Propel "Power Walk" commercial on Tuesday (Tuesday night, I worked Guest Services at the theater, and while we're not supposed to mess around on the Internet while we're working, I checked it out online).

Honestly? I wasn't very impressed.

I couldn't play the sound when I watched it, and I guess the song's pretty catchy--something by Mary K. Blige--so I probably didn't get the full impact of the spot. But still, I thought it was pretty blah. To me, they threw a lot of male "eye candy" onscreen--John Stamos, Taye Diggs, Derek Jeter, and of course, Yours Truly--to very little effect.

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Had an audition for a Verizon spot yesterday.

I was supposed to be an "unlikely-looking" rock-climber, who uses the other phone service.

Here is the description of what they were looking for on the "breakdown":

THESE ARE THE "OTHER" NETWORK PEOPLE NOT VERIZON WIRELESS PEOPLE. THEY ARE CLINGING TO THE SIDE OF A CLIFF. REAL, AVERAGE LOOKING PEOPLE. INCLUDE STUNT PEOPLE AND PEOPLE WITH ROCK CLIMBING EXPERIENCE (MARK PHOTO). BUT THEY SHOULD NOT LOOK LIKE SERIOUS ROCK CLIMBERS

When I checked in at the casting agency (Kathy Knowles, in Santa Monica) I was the only "over 40" person on the sign-in sheet. And while the place wasn't exactly wall-to-wall with "supermodels", to my eye, it seemed heavily weighted toward "Young & Attractive", as opposed to "Real & Average-Looking" (I didn't see anyone as "real looking" as me, let's put it that way).

And when I got called into the room, with three attractive young ladies (One of whom was a stunt-woman), I was the only one who didn't have any rock-climbing experience.

(We were shot, individually and as a group, as we pretended to be hanging off the side of a cliff, with no more available hand-holds ahead of us. But instead of being scared, we were supposed to feel kind of stupid, like "What the hell am I doing, hanging off the side of a cliff?".)

Anyway, as you might be able to tell from my tone, I felt a bit out-of-place at the audition. It seemed like what JS told me was a little different from the "breakdown", which was a little different again from what I saw at the casting place.

But who knows? Maybe that "fish out of water" feeling I had is what'll make me "pop" when they're looking over the tape.

And under the circumstances, I think I did a pretty good "What the hell am I doing here?" face.

In any case, the callbacks are tomorrow (If/when I get the call).

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Yesterday around 4:00, I was woken from a nap by someone from Central Casting (Only the second time I've been called by Central in the years I've been signed up with them; typically, you have to call them for extra work).

"Mary Ann" wanted to know if I wanted to be a photo double for Semi-Pro (A movie starring Will Farrell, Andre Benjamin, and Andy Richter), for the character of "Coach Phil".

She asked if I still had my mustache, sideburns, and if my hair was still the same as my 2005 picture (And my answers were "yes", "yes", and "I'm not sure, but probably"), and after unsuccessful efforts to email/fax her a current picture for comparison, she decided to just sign me up for it.

Truthfully, I kind of didn't want to do it. When I answered the phone, I was dopey from having been woken up, and disoriented from getting an unexpected call from Central, and felt off-balance from the get-go. And it seemed like a kind-of-stressful pain-in-the-ass (My car was parked in the ramp at ArcLight, I'd likely have to cancel both of this week's workshops--and with so little notice, have to pay for them--and maybe even miss a day of work, without any time to get someone to cover for me), and all for what basically amounts to chump-change (Not being a "special skills" photo double, I assume I'd be getting what an extra makes per day, which is $126; I just checked the chart on the SAG website).

But I said "Okay". Cause it's money, after all, and me on a movie set, and all that stuff. And I would have felt guilty saying "no" to it without some really solid reason (Like a better-paying gig).

So to get to a fitting on the set at 6:00 p.m., I had to hop back on the Metro, go to the theater and get my car, then drive to Dodger Stadium in the middle of evening rush hour (It's too bad I'm not a "sports guy"--turns out I'm pretty close to both Staples Center and Dodger Stadium).

When I got there, after some missed turns and wrong directions (it seems like no directions are too simple for me to screw up), I had to find someone who wanted to deal with me.

From there, it was go here, and have some people debate whether I looked enough like "Coach Phil" for it to work, then go there, and have the wardrobe person take my measurements, then go somewhere else, and have the director give me the once-over.

(For the record, I was never actually fitted with anything.)

The big "issue" was that the actor playing "Coach Phil" is substantially balder than I am (While I'm in the later stage of "balding", "Coach" is out-and-out "bald", with no hair at all on top. Just some "fringe" on the sides).

(An aside: It's hard for me to believe Central doesn't have any middle-aged bald guys on their roster. But anyway...)

They half-heartedly floated the idea of shaving my head, knowing in advance I wouldn't want to do that for so little money (They also floated the idea of paying me something extra for shaving my head, but didn't say how much "extra" would be. But it's hard to imagine it would be "extra" enough to make up for the damage done by my being out-of-commission commercially for months, while waiting for my hair to grow back).

Anyway, the way things shook down was that by the time I was released, it looked like they were going to be able to shoot the bit they wanted me for with the actual actor, but that they'd call me if they needed me today (And "maybe" on Friday).

I drove back to ArcLight, left my car in the ramp there, then took the Metro home. And when I got off the Metro and was walking home, I got a call from the Director, saying they wouldn't need me today, but they might be calling me at some later date.

So there you are.

Afterwards, I was kind of impressed with how quickly things can happen--From an afternoon nap to being on a movie set with Andy Richter and Andre Benjamin in just two hours--and also with how much I really appreciate the niceties when they're extended (The crew person who was ushering me around was carrying a folding chair; I assumed it was for someone else, but it was actually for me, so I could sit down on set while waiting for the wardrobe person to see me. It just goes to show--little things can make a big difference).

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Tonite I have a casting workshop for the casting place that does Two-And-A- Half Men.

The show's "not my cup of tea", to be honest, but 1) A lot of people watch it, and 2)I'm running out of people to see who do shows I do like.

 

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