Brooklyn Decker on Auditioning for ‘Battleship’: “The whole time they’re like, ‘You’re not tough enough. We don’t think you’re tough enough to do this role’”

While former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue model, Brooklyn Decker was a natural for the role of a drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend in Just Go With It and in lighter fare like the upcoming What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Decker took on a much tougher role in the action movie Battleship. 

In a conversation with Access Hollywood at the American premiere for the movie, Decker admits that during the audition process it seemed unlikely that she would land the role.

She reveals, “[I auditioned] five times.  On the fifth time, I actually met [director] Peter Berg and the whole time they’re like, ‘You’re not tough enough. We don’t think you’re tough enough to do this role.’”  She continues, “So they kept bringing me back, and I’m like, ‘This is torture to keep coming back.’  Then finally the fifth time, Pete made sure that I was tough enough, and he did and I got the role.” Read more

Q&A: Leonard Nimoy Talks ‘Fringe’, Voice Acting and ‘Big Bang Theory’

After announcing that he was retiring from acting, the great Leonard Nimoy was thankfully lured back to work. Tonight, you can catch him once again as William Bell on the season finale of Fringe.

How was he convinced? “I’m a sucker for a good role and J.J. Abrams, the Executive Producer of the show, is a friend of mine,” he said in a conference call earlier this week.

I’ve loved Nimoy for years and any chance I can see him on-screen is a treat. In this Q&A, he talks about Fringe, his character William Bell, if he’s coming back for the show’s final season and voice acting.

The season finale of Fringe airs tonight at 9/8c on FOX

Follow Leonard Nimoy on Twitter! Read more

Samuel L. Jackson on Playing Nick Fury and His Role in Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’

Are you ready for The Avengers?  It seems like everyone who has caught it early has given it nothing but rave reviews. As thrilled as audiences might be for the long-awaited superhero team-up movie, for Samuel L. Jackson, who has previously appeared as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury four times in small roles in other Marvel films, The Avengers is his chance to have a more prominent role in a Marvel film for the first time.  

While Jackson has worked with most of the other Avengers actors separately before, now that they’re in one film he realizes that it’s finally happening and that it’s possible to live up to the ultra-high expectations.  Read more

Acting Workshops with Casting Directors

Written by Sean Pratt

Every weekend around the country, there are acting workshops held by casting directors offering actors the chance to work on monologues, cold readings and audition sides. And while a first glance it may seem like a no-brainer to sign up, there are several things you should consider before plunking down your money. Then, if you do decide to attend, you’ve got some homework and preparation ahead of you, because the last thing you want to do is just show up.

Promises, Promises

First off, let’s be honest about what’s being sold here. Unlike a workshop with an acting teacher, what you’re ultimately buying is access to that casting director; in business and politics it’s called “pay to play.” If you’ve been trying for months to get called in for an audition by that person, then this may be the perfect opportunity to showcase your talent in the context of an acting class. So ultimately, what you might learn about technique is secondary to the chance of meeting and working with them.

Next, let’s review a basic concept of advertising. In the ad for any product or service there are two kinds of promises being made - explicit promises and implicit promises. In this case, the explicit promises are that you will be working with this casting director on specific acting material at this location and time, etc. But more important are the implicit promises. Like it or not, the casting director is holding out the possibility of perhaps calling you in at a later time for an audition. Honestly, why else would you go? Read more

Q&A: Stephen Lang Talks Acting, ‘In Plain Sight’ and How He’d Love To Do A Comedy

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:36 — 12.8MB)

I think Stephen Lang is one of the best character actors around and l will watch him in anything. As I told him in the Q & A below, anytime he’s on screen, he is just immensely watchable.

I was in a film, Gods and Generals with Stephen a while back and I was lucky enough to have a scene with him – we even spent some time together in the makeup trailer. He was in character as ‘Stonewall’ Jackson the whole time and let me tell you, he was intimidating. But as Jackson, he had to be. Acting with him was as good as it gets and just that short time we were filming, I learned a ton. 

He’s currently guest-starring on the USA Network’s In Plain Sight as James Wiley Shannon, Mary Shannon’s (star Mary McCormack) father and he was happy not to have a green screen behind him. He even joked that the first thing he did when he showed up on set was tell the crew, “Excuse me, where’s the green screen? I can’t work without a grain screen.”

In this Q & A, Stephen talks about his work on In Plain Sight, how theater helps with green screen work and his advice to actors.

In Plain Sight airs on Fridays at 10/9c on the USA Network Read more

SXSW Interview: Matt Lucas on ‘Small Apartments’ and Creating Characters

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:00 — 15.1MB)

Matt Lucas is one of the most versatile character actors working today. If you’ve seen his work on the brilliant Little Britain, Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland (Tweedledee/Tweedledum) and as Gil in Bridesmaids, you know exactly what I’m talking about. 

With all of his amazing work, it’s surprising (at least to me) that Small Apartments, the Jonas Ackerlund film that premiered at SXSW this year, was his first starring role. The film, about a guy named Franklin Franklin (Lucas) who may or may not have killed his landlord, is loaded with quirky characters, one of them being Franklin. The film sports a great cast including James Caan, Billy Crystal and Johnny Knoxville.

As Franklin, Lucas spends most of his time in his underwear and he’s not disguised in makeup or prosthetics, like we’re used to seeing him. “That’s quite an experience,” he told me. In his own skin, he gives a great performance. He’s funny and in some scenes, really moving. If you’re a fan of Matt’s, you’ll definitely have to catch this.

I talked to Matt at SXSW the morning after the film screened for the first time where we talked about auditioning, how he creates his characters and watching himself on-screen.  And don’t miss out on his great advice to actors! Read more

SXSW Interview: Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas Talk ‘Gayby’, Theater and Watching Themselves On-Screen

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:11 — 13.2MB)

When Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas made the short film, Gayby, they had no idea their friend and Director Jonathan Lisecki had thoughts of turning the short into a feature film.

The original short got such a great response on the festival circuit, Lisecki decided the time was right. He had a winning cast and a great idea and that’s how the film, Gayby was born.

Gayby is about two single 30-year old best friends from college, Jenn and Matt. Jenn is a yoga instructor, Matt illustrates comic books and both are having trouble finding the right man to settle down with.

One day, they decide to fulfill that college promise they both made to each other: have a baby together. With Jenn’s biological clock a-tickin, the time is ripe. So, they go about the deed… the old fashioned way.

The film premiered at this years SXSW festival and it was by far one of the best films I saw that weekend. Jenn and Matthew have great chemistry together and their scenes sparkle. They’ve been friends for years in real life and it absolutely translates on-screen in reel life. Read more

Benjamin Walker on Preparing for ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’

Preparing to play legendary president Abraham Lincoln would be difficult enough for an actor—but portraying him as a vampire hunter seems like it would be considerably harder. But Benjamin Walker (Flags of Our Fathers, Kinsey, Broadway’s Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) decided to take on the challenge in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which opens in June. 

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Walker said, “We did a lot of research and a lot of training.  But the most interesting part was reading up on Lincoln.  Doris Kearns has a great book, though it mostly covered his politics.  Lincoln’s Melancholy fit right into what we’re doing.  It’s about his depressive nature, his poetry, his relationship with death.” Read more

First Look at ‘The Lone Ranger’ Starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer

Curious to see what Johnny Depp will look like as Tonto, The Lone Ranger’s faithful sidekick?

Well, here you go!

From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski comes Disney/Bruckheimer Films’ The Lone Ranger.

Tonto (Depp), a spirit warrior on a personal quest, joins forces in a fight for justice with John Reid (Armie Hammer), a lawman who has become a masked avenger.

Read more

Q&A: BD Wong and Cherry Jones Talk ‘Awake,’ Auditioning and Winning a Tony Award

In NBC’s new drama, Awake, Jason Isaacs plays Michael Britten, a Detective who is trapped in two separate realities. In one reality, his wife survived, but his son has died; in the other, his son is alive, but his wife is gone. In each world, Britten is ordered into therapy by his department to help him come to grips with his personal tragedy.

Britten’s two therapists, Drs. Lee and Evans, are played by BD Wong (Law & Oder: Special Victims Unit) and Cherry Jones (24). After 11 years on SVU, Wong wasn’t looking to play another therapist but he liked the script for Awake so much, that he didn’t even care he was about to play another Psychiatrist.

While both Wong and Jones are primarily known for their television work, at least for me, their theater work is impresses me most. Jones is a two-time Tony Award winner for The Heiress and Doubt and Wong won his statue for M. Butterfly.

They are two of the nicest people you’ll ever talk with and you can totally tell this in the Q&A. Here, they talk about Awake, how Cherry is the “worst auditioner in the world” and what it’s like to win a Tony.

Read this! Read more

Next Page »