Keeping It Reel: An Actor's Blog

Whatever it is you want to accomplish... you have to work for it.  No one is going to just hand it to you.  There are no bottles with genies in them. And besides...what fun would that be? You have to earn it. You have to.  Because when you've sweated and bled and pounded your fist and cried  and  beaten yourself up and doubted yourself  the moment the door finally opens for you will be that much sweeter.  #Always4ward Always.  Never give up. Ever.  just keeping it reel copyright 2019 all rights reserved

This post isn't so much about acting as it is about watching actors.  Or rather, not watching actors.  I went to the movies last. If you know me, I don't often go to the movies on a weekday night.  Nonetheless, we went.  Somewhere along the way we as a society have lost the ability to sit in a dark movie theater and watch a movie. I don't know when it happened, but I'm sure it has something to do with the invention of the cellphone.  This wasn't an issue when I worked as a theater manager. The challenges we dealt with were things like people with their feet on the seat in front of them, people talking, babies crying and, in one extreme case, a guy who had set up a tripod and camera so he could record the movie and later sell as a bootleg.  Hand. To. God. We have cellphones now and apparently we can't simply turn them off and disconnect from the world for more than five minutes...much less two hours.  There is nothing more annoying th...

“We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.” ― Voltaire "Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans." - John Lennon "Anticipation, Anticipation. Is making me late. Is keeping me waiting." - Carly Simon We are trained from an early age to wait. As infants we wait for someone to pick us up, to feed us and to change us.  As children we wait for the ice cream man and for Santa Claus.  As teens we wait for the final school bell so we can run out into the sunshine and play. As an actor you spend a good amount of your time waiting.  We wait for our agent to call us to tell us we have an audition. Then we wait for the sides and any taping instructions there may be. Then we wait for the phone to ring. Then we hopefully work and the second we wrap we wait for our agent to call us to tell us we have an audition.  It's a vicious cycle.  How are we supposed to stay sane while we deal with all that? Medita...

I had some goals for myself entering 2019. Work is always at the top of list of any list of goals I set for myself. I think most actors would nod their heads in agreement.  As I've stated before, work is good.  Fire bad. Work good.  The other major goal I set for myself was to get healthy. Get healthy is not-so-subtle code for lose weight . Not that I was overweight but I had indulged in a Christmas cookie or two over the holidays.  So I set a weight for myself. A very attainable weight. I have to be realistic. I'm not going to wear the same size jeans I wore in high school. I'm a big guy. I just don't need to be such a big guy.  So I designed a workout plan and stuck to a sensible diet. It's just common sense, really.  No fast food. None.  No cakes or cookies, which, if you know me, know my sweet tooth is my Achilles heel.  I don't smoke (never have!) and I'm not a big drinker. I don't gamble.  I co...

What an incredible way to approach this business.  Willem Dafoe, actor/philosopher  just keeping it reel copyright 2019 all rights reserved

Jeff Bridges & Loyd Catlett Stars & Stand-Ins From The Hollywood Reporter Lloyd Catlett has been Jeff Bridges' stand-in for 48 years.  48 years . 48. I mean...what?? Unbelievable.  Catlett said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: "When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I sell bar napkins and swizzle sticks. Being Jeff Bridges' stand-in and stunt double, I just get too many questions. It's too difficult to sum up." Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSae3RrGvAc

Actress Olivia Colman accepted her OSCAR last night in truly wonderful fashion.  There were no political statements and there was no drama. There was only utter surprise and genuine gratitude. In other words, she was a class act and gave an acceptance speech that should set the bar for future acceptance speeches extremely high.  Colman's performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite has garnered her critical praise and several prestigious awards which include a BAFTA  for Best Actress and last night's OSCAR for Best Actress (beating out heavily favorited-no pun intended-and my pick-Glenn Close) By the way, in her speech, Colman addressed Glenn Close who was sitting right in front of her and said "You've been my idol for so long and this is not how I wanted it to be." I don't Colman expected to win and was obviously floored by the announcement. What happened next, as she stood there holding her little golden man was true magic. Sh...