Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

What's Your New Year's Resolution?

Back Stage asked you to share with us some of your 2008 goals. Here's a sampling of what you said:

"Get better commercial representation, get a new manager, get my hosting and voiceover reels together, and take some cold reading, scene study, and improv classes." --Vida Ghaffari, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

"I spent the last year working on getting back to the business of my acting career. Now I realize that if I don't respect my body, I won't be around to enjoy the career I have envisioned. This is the year I learn to embrace exercise, reduce stress, and discover healthier foods. Cheer me on if you see me sweating at the gym."--John McCormick, Hollywood, Calif.

"To self-submit my ass off. Live at Starbucks with my laptop in order to be on time for auditions. And start really thinking and acting seriously in terms of working in L.A.—move that idea out of fantasyland and into real life."--Naomi Vondell, New York

"My New Year's resolution is to do one thing each day that will further my acting career. That one thing may be an audition, sending submissions, reading breakdowns, attending classes, updating my website, and learning new skills. I treat my acting like a business, and in the short two years I've been acting, I've reaped some handsome rewards."--Angela Oberer, Charlotte, N.C.

"Not to take shabby jobs just because I need more experience."--Jerry Esten, Northridge, Calif.

"I've secured leads in two features and supporting roles in two others. Now I am hoping to work closely with production in order to earn some producer credits. I'd also like to switch some of my focus to TV work."--Kristina Hughes, Los Angeles

Secret Agent Man Controversy

Back Stage received many emails about our new column, Secret Agent Man. Here is a sampling of the feedback. To read this column, visit www.backstage.com/bizacting.

"I like this new column. I like his honesty; I'd much rather someone be honest than lie about it all, no matter how much the truth hurts. He just confirmed what I have been trying so hard to do as well as believe: to be grateful for every little thing that comes my way in this very tough field. I never want to end up being a 'bitter' actor. Also, cool name for this new column."-- Monica Belardi, Pearl River, N.Y.

"When I started reading the column, I thought, 'What a good idea!' But as I read on, I didn't like it at all and completely changed my mind. I read the supposed insights, and they weren't insightful or helpful at all. It was pretty much just plain bitching and pretty nasty. Unless he/she meant the 'be grateful' to be so helpful to us! Wow, that's deep. I think the column has potential to be helpful to us actors. Otherwise, no way is it up to the level that Back Stage has been achieving these days."-- KM, New York

"I am so excited about this new Secret Agent column. And no, I don't think SAM sounds bitter and cynical. As an actor, I loved this first column. It burns me up so much when I hear other actors bitching about how their co-star role was only five lines, not 10, or how they just couldn't get top-of-the-show billing on that guest-star spot. I just have no patience for it. Thanks for being candid and honest. Can't wait to read more of these."-- Meagan Flynn,   Los Angeles; Kansas City, Mo.

"I don't like your new column, Secret Agent Man. I found it entirely without merit, insulting to my intelligence, and not worthy of your publication."-- R. Williams,  Burbank, Calif.

"More of this stuff would be terrific: candid, straightforward info from industry insiders like agents and CDs."-- Chris Forsyth, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

"I loved the new Secret Agent Man column. Its brutal honesty was so refreshing. Can't wait to read what he writes next."-- Teal, Los Angeles

"I would just like to thank you for introducing this column to your website. I am an actor in New   York, and I recently finished my undergraduate degree and have been feeling really down on myself about my career so far. 'Every accomplishment, no matter how small, is a step forward' is a great line that truly makes us appreciate every chance we are given to perform. It also makes me feel much better about what I have done so far and have some hope for what lies ahead."-- Sean-Michael Wilkinson, New York

Back Stage welcomes all reader feedback and comments. To write us, email [email protected].

Roger Ebert Speaks!

Well, sort of. Pulitzer Prize-winning author, three-time screenwriter, and America's most recognizable (and beloved) film critic Roger Ebert was silenced by cancer last year, but as Rotten Tomatoes notes:

Ebert "recently returned to the movies with a vengeance, publishing to his website an output of new reviews and 'Answer Man' columns that puts entire fully-staffed newsrooms to shame. The qualities that made Ebert a critical celebrity for decades -- his wonderfully dry wit, deft writing, and a yearning to be moved by cinema -- of course remain intact, but while he's currently aided by a speaking computer, he shares his hope that he'll soon recover his own voice."

In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Ebert (now cancer-free) catches up with readers and offers insight about his long career as a film critic. Here are some highlights from the Q&A:

How are you these days? (We all miss seeing you on the show and at festivals!)
Roger Ebert: I am cancer-free, and looking forward to what I hope will be a final surgery in late January, in which I may regain the ability to speak. I attended the Toronto Film Festival and plan to be back at my own Ebertfest in April and Cannes in May.

Are either of the famous Thumbs™ insured? (And incidentally, when will we see those Thumbs™ again?)
RE: Not insured, only trademarked. If it were up to me, they would have never gone away, but we've become mired in endless negotiations with Disney. Maybe they'll be back soon.

Do you have a favorite seat in a movie theater?
RE: Toward the back, side of the theater farther from the main entrance.

Do you have a favorite review of your own that you've written in your career?
RE: I'm pleased that I reviewed  2001 on the night of its first public screening, and got it right, when the initial reaction was largely negative.

What words or phrases do you over-use?
RE: "Labyrinthine," "cheerful," "alarmingly," "indeed," "a real charmer."

What is your most common concession stand purchase?
RE: Raisinettes.

Even though Ebert speaks with aid of a computer voice program for now, he continues to review movies. For the full interview, click here.

-- Daniel Lehman

Sex Sex Sex & the City City City

I guess I don't really know how it works in Hollywood. Or New York City, or film, or television. So Sex & the City is going to be a movie. This I can wrap my head around, although the jury's still out up there as to whether that's a legitimately artistic, creative, solid idea. But who cares? It's a foregone conclusion really. Those who love it will love it; those who are indifferent will, well, whatever; and those who thought it was ridiculously fake and patronizing to begin with (a weekly cultural affairs columnist for a tabloid rag can afford Gucci and Manolo and Prada and...please) won't be seeing it.

Some of us thought the show was the worst kind of perversity: the producers and actors alike couldn't stop praising themselves that the show was about real women -- that they had finally made a show that dared to portray real women -- while making the characters absolutely nothing like real women. The show rewarded not the realness but the image, the persona, the fake, and we gobbled up the fantasy, quite understandably because self-indulgence -- even delusional -- just feels great. The stereotypes, though, could make you choke, so we kept our mouths shut, for the most part, swallowed, and ignored them. The costumes and locations sure were pretty. And the dialogue, I'll bite, was pretty snappy.

But a trilogy? Sweeping aside the obvious doubts that the quality of the material and not pumping the box office is really the priority here, once you get into that much film time, I wonder: why bother to put the story into movie form at all? One episode of the series was about 20 to 25 minutes, so a standard romantic comedy movie version would be about three episodes of screen time. That seems reasonable. But if you're talking three movies, you're talking about the cumulative effect of another whole , albeit shortened, season. Why not just put the show on the air again? HBO has the space now!

Or, at the very least, make sure the story's worth telling. And telling, and telling.

--Anna Bengel

Writers Roundtable

In the midst of the unending WGA strike, The Hollywood Reporter pulled a few top writers off the picket lines and sat them down for a roundtable discussion. Ben Affleck (Gone Baby Gone, Good Will Hunting), Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Love in the Time of Cholera), Diablo Cody (Juno), Paul Haggis (Crash, In the Valley of Elah), and David Benioff (The Kite Runner, Troy) talk about the strike, their careers, and the differences between writing a screenplay versus a novel or play.

Here are some highlights from their discussion.

On keeping busy during the strike:

David Benioff: I have a novel coming out in May that I am in the middle of editing.
Ron Harwood: It's fun, that, isn't it? After the pressures of screenplays?
Benioff: Well, it's fun, but it was excruciating the first two months of writing because I got so used to writing "Int. Restaurant" (in screenplays). (Laughter)
Harwood: "There were tables around the wall."
Benioff: Exactly. I got so lazy about writing description -- and writing a novel again for the first time in seven years, I hadn't exercised those muscles. But then, once I got into it, it was like when your mom would say "Take a bath" when you were a kid and you don't want to, and she finally throws you in and you then love it. It's nice not having studio notes for a change.

On writing believable dialogue:

Diablo Cody: That's the problem. I envy actors because I cannot deliver a line convincingly to save my ass! My husband and I would read the dialogue together and it sounded like a fourth grade production of "The Three Little Pigs." It was the worst thing ever.
Ben Affleck: It's so weird, because your movie is so readable and actor-oriented. Were there scenes that you constructed around smart interchanges?
Cody: No, actually. Honestly, I am very self-conscious about that now. "Juno" was my first screenplay. I wrote the script a couple of years ago, and I feel I might have dialed things down a little bit, stylistically. I know people love that about the movie and are responding to it. But sometimes it seems kind of masturbatory to me. I thought I needed to fill the page as much as I possibly could.
Harwood: As a form, it's disgusting. I mean, David, you've just done your novel, which is a beautiful thing. But a screenplay is a technical document. It's vulgar. It's awful.

On being a writer and director:

THR: Has the experience of directing changed your approach to writing?
Paul Haggis: Yes. You trust the actors more, and you try to explain a lot less.
Affleck: The lesson it taught me was, it made me want to write less. The actors do so much of it, you don't need to do all that writing.

Read the full roundtable interview here.

-- Daniel Lehman

NYC Gets "Simpsonized"

In celebration of today's DVD release of The Simpsons Movie, midtown Manhattan is getting "Simpsonized."

Today, the Pond at Bryant Park features a yellow ice rink (don't worry, it's not that kind of yellow snow), plus Simpsons characters, music from a live choir, and a solo between Homer and his pet pig. The Pond also hosts give-aways including Ned Flanders’ hot chocolate, yummy donuts, and Ben & Jerry’s one-day-only ice cream "Duff & D’oh!Nuts." And check out the "donutization" of the Bryant Park 50-foot holiday tree, as well as 2,500 "mega-donut balloons" surrounding the rink.

Perhaps even more impressive, the Empire State Building will shine a bright yellow for its first-ever movie tie-in. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie join The Simpsons Movie director David Silverman and voice talent Yeardley Smith (Lisa) and Pamela Hayden (Milhouse) to flip the ceremonial switch to light the famous landmark "Simpsons" yellow. And Simpson street teams are at Times Square to distribute yellow Santa hats and line 42nd Street with balloons, marking a path to the action on the ice.

Even if you cringe at the thought of venturing out into the cold and windy NY streets or braving the holiday crowds, Simpsons fans might find that today will be worth the effort.

And if you don't live in NYC, don't worry. Reuters reports:

In Los Angeles, holiday elves wearing yellow Santa hats will hand out pink-frosted D'oh!Nut sprinkles, Homer's favorite treat, to commuters downtown, while in Hollywood a Simpsons holiday spectacular will boast inflatable Homer Santas, pink-flocked Christmas trees and donut balloons.

In 20 cities, including Salt Lake City, Honolulu and El Paso, pink donut Mylar balloons will be tied to parking meters at high-traffic shopping areas, signifying free parking.

And in 51 cities -- from Mobile, Ala., to Concord, N.H., yellow Simpsons Santa hats are being distributed at random locations.

-- Daniel Lehman

Renee Zellweger: Bridget Jones 3 Might Kill Me. What About Us?

Renee Zellweger shocks exactly no one  by announcing that the weight gain for Bridget Jones' Diary (both of 'em) was hard on her body and possibly her health...and yet that isn't stopping her from considering a third installment. She's worried about the yo-yo diet "killing" her. I'd be more worried about the movie killing us, with its pointlessness and crass. Take your pick for COD: it's gonna be either boredom or horror. There's only so far you can push the fat jokes on a woman who really isn't all that big, and looks a lot thinner than a lot of healthy women I see everyday walking down the street.

But who thought it was a good idea, in the sequel, The Edge of Reason, to make fun of a gulag?! That's an underground prison where people go in and never come out; the conditions can be described as nothing less than hellish. It's impossible to exaggerate the tortures that occur there. But jolly old fat Bridget gets the girls to take off their bras and sing Madonna. Oh thank goodness those women had a moment of song before being dragged off and raped again! I'd say someone jumped off the cliff of reason.

Yuck. It's not the weight gain that disgusts me.

--Anna Bengel

Best Celebrity Blogs?

Entertainment Weekly has an online list of the "20 Best and Worst Celebrity Blogs."

It's funny to picture so many big time actors, singers, musicians, and celebutantes typing journal entries in their bathrobes, but it's also interesting to get a glimpse into the private thoughts and lives of these larger-than-life A-listers (or B-, C-, and D-listers, depending on your point of view).

Read baseball analysis from actress and Dodgers fan Alyssa Milano! See doodles and stream-of-consciousness from Jeff Bridges!

Or, just see Roseanne rant:

WHY CAN'T I SHUT UP? NOT ROCK THE BOAT? WHY AM I ON A CRUSADE TO TALK ABOUT JESUS AS A JEW, WHEN NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR IT? I AM SHE WHO IS AND IS NOT YET...WHO HAS BECOME SHE WHO IS, AND EVER WILL BE.

And:

I love roasted garlic with wine and crackers so much it's insane!!!

Or watch video on Rosie O'Donnell's blog:

Alright, maybe it's not all sooo interesting. Click here for a more complete A to Z list of various celebrity blogs.

-- Daniel Lehman

Trained in the UK?

Are you an American actor who studied acting in Britain?

If you are willing to serve as a source for our upcoming Spotlight on British Training, please contact Back Stage West Executive Editor Dany Margolies at [email protected].

Please write "British Training" in your subject line.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Actors: Share Your Experiences

Are you an actor working to get your career going? Or maybe you've been in the industry for a while already? Either way, if you're interested in sharing your experiences, we want to hear from you!

For Back Stage's regular feature Take Five, we're seeking actors to follow during 2008, charting the ups and downs and ins and outs of a career in acting. Selected actors commit to writing updates and sharing their experiences throughout the year.

If you are interested in participating, send an email of no more than 250 words about yourself and your work, and please include a headshot.

Actors in Los Angeles, please contact Back Stage Editor-in-Chief Jamie Painter Young at [email protected]; actors in New York, contact BSE executive editor David Sheward at [email protected]. No phone calls will be accepted. Please respond by Jan. 1.

Chosen participants will receive annual complimentary subscriptions to Back Stage and BackStage.com.