With this being my first budgeted feature, it was vital to me to form direct connections with all my lead actors from the very first day the were brought on board. I wanted each of them to know that I would shepherd them through this process just as surely as I would the movie as a whole. During the casting process, I met and talked with a lot of actors who will not BE IN THIS MOVIE, but still seemed like very strong contenders for future collaborations.
The OFFICIAL VIDEO is very cool, BUT because the lyrics were a little too racy for those oh-so-conservative--really?--1990's ("I don't care if you screw him..."), they were compelled to release a "clean" version, too. That video, while amazingly cool, is from the lamer cut of the song. Directly beneath this you will find the longer better version, and under that is the edited version but with a much cooler video...
So...the BETTER VERSION of the song is found above, but the really, really neat video is right...HERE!
MOST IMPORTANTLY, I met, spoke with, and saw the auditions of Julia Rosette and Tara Tosten, who play "Jade Silver" and "Kari K" respectively in "The END of FUN". While these two actresses could not be more different in so very many ways, there are several in which they are absolutely identical. BOTH ARE TALENTED and WISE so far beyond their years, that without sitting in the same room you would never successfully guess the age of either.
Like the Sun and The Moon, both these actresses are equally beautiful to behold. Yet like both those objects of CELESTIAL MAGNIFICENCE, these two INSANELY TALENTED INDIVIDUALS have so much more going on BELOW THE SURFACE that only after you leave appearances behind, do you literally scratch the metaphysical surface of WHO THEY ARE!
Tara Tosten and Julia Rosette will draw audiences into seats with their incredible beauty throughout their long and successful careers, but it is their SKILL, COLLABORATIVE EASE, PERSONALITIES, and SCREEN PRESENCE that will drive the conversations as those same viewers leave their seats and never ever forget them!
Being pleasing to the eye on screen is only one thing Tara and Julia share in common. Both are incredibly professional, well-prepared, curious, and love to contribute and collaborate throughout the whole process. As we sat and read through the screenplay for the first time, both offered suggestions that very seriously make the script tighter and the story better. Having them around seems to somehow make me smarter and even more creative.
Their differences are nearly as important as their similarities, though. Tara is shorter, while Julia is taller. Julia has long dark hair while Tara's is shoulder-length and strawberry blonde. Tara plays her "Kari K" as bubbly, energetic, and bold while Julia approaches "Jade Silver" as more sultry, mysterious, and calculating. It is only through the unique combination of BOTH the differences and the similarities that such a VERY POTENT SYNERGY has developed, and nearly immediately, between these two.
In fact, there was a welcome synergy between the THREE OF US as we read over the screenplay, discussed it, along with our roles and the story overall. I would not realize how lost I was becoming in the part, and in the story, until occasionally we were interrupted by others from the cast who were invited to stop by. During those instances, the "spell", the mental connection, the creative cabling that was joining us would temporarily sever.
While startling, this was never annoying to me on this particular day, because the temporary breaking of our bond actually did serve to keep reminding me of exactly how linked we were already becoming during just this first read, and with the focus only us three lead actors.
As Steven Ciceron and Stephanie Jackson joined us for a while, Julia and Tara had the opportunity to become more familiar with featured actors local to San Diego. It will be a few weeks before we gather the cast physically, as many rehearsals will take place online.
During our meeting, we not only read over the script and discussed the story and characters, but also began handling a lot of the less creative and more logistical aspects of our production. We were very easily able to establish an initial schedule for both our shoot and our rehearsals. After we took care of all the hard work, we ordered pizza and shot some very quick video clips that will be used later this week to launch our KICKSTARTER! Be on the lookout, PLEASE!
By the end of our first in-person meeting, which officially took place on Sunday July 31, 2016 from 11 to 4:30ish, we all felt like we knew and understood each other a lot better. Getting to know both of these fellow creators was a true pleasure and I look forward to our rehearsals together as well as our time on the sets! By the end of that day we also felt very productive. And probably more than anything as we said goodbye to each other, the only thing we felt more than EXCITEMENT was EXHAUSTION! My heart went out to both Julia and Tara as they pulled away from our house in San Diego and headed back for L.A., and I headed to my bedroom for a brief nap.
I dearly LOVE the expression on Tara's face as KARI K, practicing her look of disgusted disbelief at her co-star Julia Rosette's JADE SILVER. There were MANY MAGIC MOMENTS already just on this very first basic "get-to-know-each-other" first meeting and read!
I dearly LOVE the expression on Tara's face as KARI K, practicing her look of disgusted disbelief at her co-star Julia Rosette's JADE SILVER. There were MANY MAGIC MOMENTS already just on this very first basic "get-to-know-each-other" first meeting and read!
HEY! I didn't exactly get off easy... The only reason I took the nap was so that I could go and meet a fellow San Diegan movie creator (experienced actor, director, writer, producer, and more) about the possibility of helping on our crew (POSSIBLY as OUR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR) and possibly showing up onscreen as well. The effort was well worth it, as he passed several other contacts to me, further expanding my network and thereby deepening the bench of talent from which I may draw now and the future. MORE ON THAT IN THE NEXT POST!
FOCUS IS NOW ON CREW! Assistant Director, Director of Photography, Sound, MORE!
Stay tuned! AND for now drop a quick HELLO in the comments and welcome both TARA and JULIA to this production, and WATCH as their STARS begin to RISE QUICKLY.
I can't wait to see physicality, set and sound come into play here. When people can sit around a table and read off a script and still nail the chemistry, humor, sadism and subtleties throughout, the end (of fun) result is inevitably promising.
ReplyDeleteRita! I actually got goosebumps a few times during our reading the other day. I cannot WAIT to get to WORK on this movie and then actually get to WATCH IT!!!
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