If Acting Hadn't Panned Out . . .

Ted Danson – “[I'd] be a butler. I love cleaning up, taking care of family and making little meals.”

Zachary Levi - “I would probably be a high school teacher. U.S. history. . . . It’s something I’m very passionate about, and I think it’s something that people need to know more about, especially in today’s climate.”

Drew Carey – “Probably managing a restaurant. . . . I could have waited tables for a while; they would have made me an assistant manager and I’d work my way up. TGI Fridays. I’d be at a Chili’s near you. I’d be the boss that everybody liked.”

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Sir Ben Kingsley talks about his career and his roles

Here’s a great podcast that Scott Feinberg did with Sir Ben.

He talks about his early career, changing his name and getting into character.

It’s a good listen.

[audio=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/files/files/ben_kingsley_interview_lat_podcast.mp3,,download]

(This was having problems after I uploaded it… keep trying!)

Philip Seymour Hoffman never Doubt's the Words

“Doubt” is a really great script, which is kind of an obvious thing to say,” he said. “It can look deceptively easy when something is written so well; the words can do a lot of the work for you.

“So the challenge is to not give in to that, because the words alone won’t do all the work.

“If something is written well, it usually means the stakes are quite high, things are very specific, and there’s a lot of detail and a lot of behavior you have to fill in.”

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The Recession has a happy ending in Hollywood

Hollywood has found its new hot subject matter: the global economic meltdown.

One of the first will be an adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby to be directed by Baz Luhrmann. He says the story, set in 1920s Long Island with the Depression looming, will be made in double-quick time because it can tell today’s audience how we got into the current financial mess.

“People will need an explanation of where we are and where we’ve been, and The Great Gatsby can provide that,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, ‘You’ve been drunk on money’, they’re not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time, they’d be willing to.”

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One thing NBC doesn't suck at – Webisodes!

NBC has given us 15 episodes a week of “Deal or No Deal” and is about to kill 5 hours of scripted programming with the Jay Leno show… but one thing it does give us is Webisodes. They’re the only network who consistently deliver true online stories.

With mini-episodes of “The Office“, “Chuck” and the “Heroes” webisode “The Recruit“, NBC has gone farther than any other network in trying to keep viewers with an out-reach to the internet.

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If you talk during the movie, you will be shot. At least in Philadelphia.

This is soooo not right – but I somehow sympathize with the guy. Haven’t you ever wanted to do this to some jackass who is talking constantly during the movie?

A South Philadelphia man became enraged because a father and son were talking during a Christmas showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He decided to take care of the situation when he pulled a .380-caliber gun and shot the father, police said.

James Joseph Cialella Jr., 29, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons violations.

I also have one question… does this guy look like the target audience for Benjamin Button? Just curious.

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Scene from 'Revolutionary Road'

Dustin Hoffman talks about his career

“What a collaborative adventure it is,” Dustin Hoffman says. Then tears appear unexpectedly in his eyes. “I don’t mean to be emotional,” he says, his voice husky. Yet this is his art form, when artists improvise with their psyches, with their truths, effortlessly sparking one another. He sighs: “It’s as close to the jazz experience as you can get.”

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Kevin from The Office: A nothing role to something

Brian Baumgartner on how he got the part: “So I took a risk, and when I went in to the audition, I read those [lines] as though I were Kevin. At the end of the discussion someone said, ‘Why don’t we give him this other character?’ … And that’s how the part was won.”

When he finished, someone —- he thinks it was executive producer Greg Daniels —- asked him, “How did you do that?”

“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, it was like there was nothing happening but something was happening.’

How he did it was by performing all kinds of variable roles (including Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman”) in the theater for eight years after graduating from Southern Methodist University, where he majored in theater.

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David Mamet likes to yell. Duh.

David Mamet is great, isn’t he? I’ve read his book True and False several times and it’s just great. You should give it a read if you haven’t had the opportunity.

Anyway, in her upcoming memoir, “Take Your Shirt Off and Cry,” actress-playwright Nancy Balbirer writes how the playwright went nuts when his students spoke too quietly.

” ‘Get the [bleep] off my stage! Now,’ he’d bellow . . . ‘And,’ he’d continue, his short, burly body bouncing around like a school-yard bully in need of his daily Ritalin, ‘Don’t [bleep]ing come back until we can hear you. How dare you? You’re whispering. On the stage. It’s [bleep]ing passive-aggressive. You know, only people who are full of [bleep] whisper,’ ” Balbirer writes.

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