Today I died, again.

So yesterday I was leaping from tall buildings, today I was knocked down by a speeding car...
All this on top of failing to blow my brains out earliernkn the week and mowing down a child myself... All in the name of Film!

There were a lot of good things that happened today, my favourite being that of all the random streets in Hartlepool, and of all the houses I could've parked outside, I ended up outside that of James Kent, personal trainer and actor/musician, who i'd only just met two weeks ago on the set of Harrigan's Nick!

James was kind enough to allow mento use his house as a green room, wherein I made two costume changes - and a cup of tea!

I do love working on films of any size, but it's when you go from £3million to £30, you van really see where corners are cut, initiative takes over and where the extra money goes!!!
If we'd had another few crew, and the permission to actually block off the road, I'd have gelt a whole lot better about lying face-down in a pool of blood in the middle of the road!!! Also, we might not have upset a local resident with the car noise as much if we'd given him theoney to put his kids through college!

All-in-all, things went well today, we've got to go back to the Grabd Hotel to finish off my little nudie-suicide scene and then it's off to the edit suite to perform te magic!

Good luck to everyone involves, check out the links below for more details:

My Little Nudie Shoot...

Was postponed due to a technical fault!!!

We shot a few scenes this lunchtime but when the 16mm camera started to rattle, we decided to call off the shoot...

It was shaping up well; we got a few shots inside the hotel room in the can and I was just prepping for my first suicide when the fault occured.Have you ever killed yourself on screen? Have you ever looked for the truth in the character at that point? Liam Neeson has; and thanks to having seen 'The Grey' twice, I was ready for my take on such a scene.

Well I was pumped, but it didn't happen today... such is death!

And my little nudie-shower scene? That can wait till tomorrow too!

"okay, let's see how loud to can mime..."

That was Nick's greatest piece if direction tonight on the shoot for Harrigan's Nick.

Turns out we 'background artists' were a little too passionate to see Craig [spoiler alert] 'interact' with his 'co-star', played by the ever-present Bill Fellows..!

Tonight was great; the first half was being stuck at base, not having been selected for the earlier scenes. It all kicked off after 'dinner'?!? When we hit the set proper.

All indications were that temperatures would be super sub-zero, so we were all dressed in multiple layers... Well it was only around four am that I became grateful for my three pairs of socks, two pairs of longjohns and a thermal rashvest, usually used for surfing!

We rioted in the street and watched cars explode... Could've been a lot worse all told!

Work in three hours then back to the unit HQ for 4.30pm to do it all again.


My secret weapon is fake redbull and my big plan is to sleep all weekend...

More updates tomorrow.

Harrigan'zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

Okay, so I just found out that the 'night shoot' really is an all-night shoot!

5pm till 4.30am, same tomorrow. Well that's fine, at least it doesn't clash with my 9-5 day job... AND I get four hours kip!


As I told the casting agent - "I can sleep when I'm dead", it's just that death seems so much closer today!

Here's a link to Tall Trees Pictures, the production company:

http://talltreepictures.co.uk/production_harrigansNick.php

Back on the Horse...

Well, January was a relatively quiet month, nothing solid manifested, nothing ecept my obligatary 'Winter Beard'...

I had two casting calls mid-month - one's I had to turn down because both required a bearded actor - hence the re-grown beard. And no sooner has the beard returned, the phone has started ringing again.

I'm set to appear in a riot scene for 'Harrigan's Nick' on Thursday and Friday this week, here's a link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2115325/

Further to this I'll be playing a 'tired and listless' man responsible for the death of a child in a short 16mm film by Creative Film student Richard Eaborn and my old friend A.J. Garrett (The Cement Factory) has resurfaced with an ongoing project that could kick off sooner rather than later.

Added to this some pre-production test shots with Billy Cessford at Tynemouth Castle AND Barnard Castle next Saturday and I am stuffed - hence the perfect casting as 'tired and listless'!!!


Here's a link to a trailer for AJ's last film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurrM1VIcEs

and the Facebook information page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cement-Factory/151722481539843?sk=info

Here's a sneak-peek at some of Billy Cessford's upcoming projects:
http://www.billycessford.com/

2011 Review of the Year

Here we are in 2012, a year I've been looking forward to since 1997 - and not because of any 'End of the World' disaster movie coolness either...

2012 is set to be the Golden Age of Mankind. We can all play a part; many of us have been involved for some time now. But that's the future. Let's have a quick look at the past:

Over the past twelve months, I've acted in fewer productions than before but worked on much bigger things; I've completed two mire short films, acted as production designer on a couple more, entered three competitions, the results of two of which still hang in the balance, I've worked on my first feature film and visited the Cannes Film festival, Leeds Film Festival and The Cutting Edge Horror Film Festival in Newcastle;I've attended seminars on the future of Transmedia production, won a pub quiz and costume competition and built up a professional and reliable crew of my own.

This year I'm looking forward to winning a couple of prestigious competitions, making another short slapstick film about an innocent abroad and digging right into the Jonny Fox/Grand Scheme of Things trailer, set to hit Cannes in 2013.

2011 brought a lot of surprises, plenty I didn't see coming, nor could prepare for. Well I made it through the other side and in ready for whatever 2012 has to bring - just so long as it's not a mile high tidal wave!!!

Happy New Year to one and all.

Peace, love and light.

Die Hard With an Audience...

It's time for me to pick my six numbers I think - this week I've 'won' two separate 'contests' and the undeniable fact is that 'you must be IN it to win it'.

A little effort, that's all it took to be selected as 'best letter to santa' - a polite request and a kind thought for others... And there only being ONE other entry, well that helps!
But that's the point, if you don't even throw your hat into the ring, you have absolutely ZERO chance of a favourable result.

That brings us round to the Die Hard themed Christmas Party; a beautifully conceived audience participation event held in a 'high rise office block in LA'.

The terrorists just took over - but who will save us!??

What we knew for sure was that the film would be shown, there would be an 80's disco afterwards and the audience were invited to come in dance dress - and that there would be a prize for best costume...

A prize you say?

Related to something I do for a living?

...and one of my all time favourite films..?

I'M IN!

Obviously I chose to go as the lead character, John McClane; bruce willis in a dirty vest... Too easy?

It's the attention to detail that I relish; me and Hans Gruber...

It's relatively easy to pick up a White vest and it's not a prize winning activity to splash a little fake blood and dirt over it... So how does one go that extra mile?

Barefoot? Yes, although there was a stipulation that the audience must wear shoes (we later found this was partly because they'd dressed the set with fake broken glass - lovely eye for detail these guys!)

Writing on his arm? Of course...

Wrist watch, right arm, watch face on inside of wrist; check

A 9mm Beretta. I don't usually 'do' guns but times, they are a-changing...

Not bad for a hunk of MDF

The skull-in-top-hat tattoo - goes unnoticed by most people...

But I told you already - I'm a fan. I've studied this before on many an occasion, for pleasure and for work.

I used to sculpt a range of collectable figurines called 'The Turds' - here's 'DRIES HARD'

And that hair is pretty iconic. For the past decade, Bruce Willis has pretty much played Bruce Willis: bald-headed tough guy. But 25 years ago he had a fantastically receding hairline with a swept-back spike.

My hairline is the exact opposite of what it needs to be. Moreover, I wasn't going to chop it back for one party as it was the 'floppy hair' that landed me the extras work on Song For Marion.

I decided to make a rubber hairpiece - that worked really well and wasn't as sweaty as you may think.

Good work starts with great reference

Needs a littlemore work!

If you look really close, you might be able to see the join

This look was complimented by my health-and-safety-compliant RUBBER FEET SHOE COVERS!

What a hit! Just a few details left - the tattoo for one... But hang on; the party starts in six hours, I'm on my own till then, I need a tattoo on my left arm... And I'm LEFT HANDED!?!

Time for a little lateral thinking...

 My first thought was to cast my arm and make a rubber copy. Too long. I decided to paint layers of flesh coloured latex onto my arm, build up a thickness which I could then peel off, draw on the tattoo and reapply.

This REALLY hurt when I pulled it off!

That worked, although it took every spare minute up until the last one!

I attended the event with prop and costume maker Sean collins and had arranged to meet film maker Andrew Coates, of Duffel Films, at the event.

The setup was excellent: huge prints of the LA skyline adorned the Walls, along with fake stone and water features, all in keeping with the look in the film. The music playing was 'Ode to Joy', heard throughout the film itself and waitresses handed out champagne and party food. Nakatomi Corporation stickers and signage adorned every wall but subtly, really selling the atmosphere.

We met up with one of the organisers pretty soon after we arrived and I showed him my pics from the real 'Nakatomi Tower' in LA, the Fox Plaza building on the Avenue of the Stars. He quizzed my knowledge of the film and wished us well for the party. Lovely bloke Hal.

And then nothing happened. We stood around mingling, waiting for the film to start but there being little sign that it would... It was all a ruse to wrong-foot us, for sure enough, a bunch of 'international terrorists' burst into the room and ushered us at gunpoint into the cinema room!

We were treated to a welcome speech in the style of Alan Rickman as 'terrorists' waved plastic guns at us! (On a side note: a John McClane lookalike ducked into a side room as it all kicked off, although that 'story thread' seemed to go nowhere)

REALLY scary terrorists!

The film started and it was clear the majority of people felt comfortable enough to treat it like a screening with friends in their living room, rather that at a cinema. Silence was out. As too was sitting still.

Beer, toilet, cheers as Hans shoots the slimeball charater, beer, toilet, cheer as the baddie has his knees shot out...BEER... TOILET... AAAAAAAARGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Ok, maybe I was a little naive thinking I'd just watch the film but I didn't expect to sit on the busiest row in the house!

At the end of the film, we all sang along to 'Let it Snow' and the winner of the 'best costume' was announced...

And the winner was...



Drumroll please...





Oh it was only flipping ME!!!

Another t-shirt for my Die Hard collection

Yes! The prize was a Nakatomi Plaza tshirt but for me it wasn't about the prize - it was about the WIN!

The after-film disco was packed with 80's classics and Die Hard samples!

These guys thought of everything - they even threw out Twinkies to the crowd!

I've had a few knocks this year and I need to relish every good thing that comes my way; I'm happy to start small, every strong building relies in good foundations. I'm rebuilding my confidence; I'm getting there. Next month well find out if Distraction Jackson can beat the world, then in March my Regent Cinema film will compete against who knows what else at the RTS Awards - it's a big year ahead and I'm going into it guns blazing!

Yippee Ki-yay Mother F*ckers!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Here's a link to Press Play Festival website:
http://www.pressplayfestival.org/

Here's a link to the BA Entertainment Design Crafts course at Cleveland College of Art and Design - come on board and I can teach you everything I know:
http://www.ccad.ac.uk/EntertainmentDesignCrafts.aspx

Here's a couple of links to 'Dries Hard' - I wasn't kidding about this!?!:
http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm/421515610-The-Turds-DRIES-HARD-figurine-TF1063-free-shipping-wholesalers.html

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TURDS-DRIES-HARD-/250885158500