{"id":11365,"date":"2014-06-09T08:06:37","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T14:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=11365"},"modified":"2014-06-09T08:06:37","modified_gmt":"2014-06-09T14:06:37","slug":"confessions-of-a-rising-b-movie-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=11365","title":{"rendered":"Confessions Of A Rising B Movie Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty-four hours after performing in what promises to be first appearance in a real motion picture \u2013 unlike the Super 8 movies that Dad made of us during Christmas and birthdays in my youth \u2013 the headache has finally subsided, the mild nausea is gone and I\u2019m applying heat to a stiff neck.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

I guess you could say that my acting debut (at least as far as the big screen is concerned) was a pain in the neck \u2026 and then some. But that would give perhaps the wrong impression of the entire experience. But for the aftereffects of pretending to slam my head against the wall of a downtown Franklin, Indiana, building on June 2, 2014, I thoroughly enjoyed the few hours I spent with cast and crew of Resurrection<\/a>, a B horror movie that has been in the works for four years.<\/p>\n

This was not exactly my first acting experience. I played the month of August in a play in fourth grade. I got to wear a softball glove and a baseball cap, which I thought was awesome. A year later, I was a man with big ears waiting at a bus stop in another school play. I also starred in two fantastically written, directed and acted Hoffman Christmas Movie series. I\u2019m thinking HBO is going to pick that series up any year now. I also played Dr. Offenwrong in a church play once.<\/p>\n

My experience in Resurrection was also not my first with a movie. I spent four days as a production assistant on \u201cRoad to Calgary,\u201d which previewed the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, back in 1988. I think it was something that ended up being run as a series on TV. During a speed skating event in Milwaukee, I corralled some of the top female speed skaters in the world for interviews that the director conducted, among other minor duties. So, I got to see up close, the way a director worked with the talent, sound engineer, camera folks and the like.<\/p>\n

But that was far behind the scenes. My head banging experience yesterday was right in front of the camera.<\/p>\n

I got involved in Resurrection because I know the man directing things now, Bill Dever<\/a> of Franklin. I\u2019ve seen a couple of Bill\u2019s recent movies: Gila!<\/a> and Monster Cruise<\/a>, which were shot in and near Franklin. Bill asked for people to help him out and I told him that if my schedule would cooperate, so would I. A couple of days later, I was emailed the script, along with a shooting schedule, listing which scenes would be shot on which days.<\/p>\n

I also got a list of actors and their roles. Next to my name, it said \u201cCrazy Man.\u201d Oh, man, typecast in my very first film!<\/p>\n

I looked through the script for the scenes that would be shot on the day I was there. Near the end of the schedule for June 2, I saw a part for a crazy man. He was to run up to Farm Girl all crazy and stuff. She was supposed to fire some shots toward him to scare him off. Then, he was to run off, crazily I assumed.<\/p>\n

Seemed straightforward enough. And it seemed like something I could handle.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, my mind raced with all sorts of questions. What should Crazy Man wear? Should Crazy Man have some sort of weird tic? Should Crazy Man be a hyper, just had five cups of coffee, crazy \u2026 or should he be more of a sullen, psychotic killer zombie-like crazy.<\/p>\n

I asked Bill. He said \u201chyper, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, that settled that.<\/p>\n

Then it was time to really dig deeply into this character. I really needed to know Crazy Man inside and out, his hopes, his dreams, his background. What was my motivation? How big of a trailer would I get and how much makeup would I have to wear. Oh, and would they make sure I only got the green M&Ms in my dressing room?<\/p>\n

After reading a few bits of the script, I realized that Crazy Man would have about 10 seconds of screen time tops. So, I just decided to wing it \u2026 and\/or do what Bill told me to do when I got there. Which worked out great, since by the time we got around to shooting my part, Bill had changed his mind regarding what he wanted me to do.<\/p>\n

I got to Bill\u2019s office about noon, since I didn\u2019t have to be there in the morning. Later on, Mark Burchett, Bill\u2019s assistant director, met me and took me to where the crew had been shooting. By the time we got there, it was time for lunch.<\/p>\n

I got to meet four of the actors and two crew members during lunch, and everyone was very nice. I also got to ask Bill more about the movie since all I knew was the fact that I saw it on Internet Movie Data Base