Score - Famke 0, DHS 1, Bryan ?

I assume you gather from the above title that I did not get the car salesman part in the new movie, “Bringing up Bobby”. I mentioned this in my previous blog. It was a long shot in the first place, but what a great chance it was to have the opportunity to audition in front of this marvelous and beautiful actress, Famke Janssen, in the film she is going to shoot in Oklahoma City . I don’t know how many auditioned for the car salesman role, but Oklahoma has plenty of talented actors who could play the character. Alas, that part went to a Texan (let’s BBQ Bevo). D.K. (since I did not ask him if I could use his name I can’t include it) is very friendly and personable. I met him last Friday at a training film shoot for the Department of Human Services for Oklahoma . It is exciting for Oklahoma to have this caliber film being made here and I wish the film great success. However, I explained to Joy the real reason that I did not get chosen. In my last blog article, I alluded to the fact the Famke Janssen wanted me. I believe my handsome and sexy presence on the set would have distracted her so much she’d lose her concentration. And, you’ve got to admit, that could be a problem. The film is the most important thing. Joy then called me a dummy and walked away. Do spouses of other actors have to put up with this?

The Department of Human Services uses training films to teach employees how to handle various situations. I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate in one last week. They asked me to play the father of a young mother who had gone off her bipolar medicine. Because of this, she had threatened to harm herself and her eight month old baby if someone tried to put the child into a foster home. All the people involved were to meet to discuss what should be done with the child. This included the baby’s mother, her husband, her friend, the husband’s sister, my ex-wife and her husband, the foster parents, and the counselors. Those gathered were there to help the mother understand that all we wanted was what was best for the child. A very interesting scenario. However, it was not until I sat down at the table to film the scene that I found out that I was an abusive father. Whoa! Who, me? I’m a pussycat. It would have been nice if I had known that a little earlier. My demeanor would have been very different. Apparently, I wasn’t guilty of sexual abuse, but guilty of not protecting my daughter from her devious and hateful mother. Glad I’m not married to that shrew any longer. This was unscripted and since I had taken improv from Rebecca McCauley at the Actor Factory in Norman, I felt prepared to handle this type of acting.

The above named D.K. played my ex-wife’s current husband. He is a very talented actor from Dallas who had come to the DHS center for the filming. I enjoyed talking to him and found out he too was a Vietnam veteran. He a Marine and I a Navy man. Before we started filming, we talked about the “Bobby” movie to be filmed in OKC and he told me he had auditioned for the car salesman part - the same one for which I had auditioned! I really liked D and enjoyed being around him. That is - until later that day - when I found out he had won the part that I wanted. Grrrr - again let’s BBQ Bevo. He gets to play the scene with the beautiful Milla Jovovich. Of course, jealousy has nothing to do with this. It is fun to think that I might even have known he got the part before he did. But, grrrrrr, he will do a great job with the salesman. See what a big person I am?

This was a busy weekend. I was also asked to audition for a student film to be shot by an Oklahoma City University student who was getting his master’s degree in film from OCU. That casting call was Saturday morning. Bryan Cook, started his university studies in the engineering department, and actually got an engineering degree. He changed to Film, and now is required to write, direct, and film a movie for his master’s thesis. Bryan is a natural storyteller and delights bringing a story to film. For this movie he needed two older men and one young boy about 10 years old for this 30-40 minute production. The movie, “Touching the Sun”, about two retired airline pilots will be shot on weekends late in July and early August. “Dale”, one of the two older men, is a pilot who has been forced into retirement. He is resentful of this, but with the aid of young Ryan has something reignited and a bit of his youthfulness slowly comes back over the course of the story. I auditioned for the part of “Steve”, a pilot and friend of Dale’s, who has also been forced into retirement. He takes retirement differently than his coworker and now that he has free time, he indulges in activities that he dreamed of doing years before. He is daring and adventurous. Many would say that I chose this part because I am that way.

Stay turned and see if I get to turn the “?” in the title to a 1.