“I’d like to thank the Academy”

While sudsing myself in the shower this morning, I was preparing my acceptance speech. Last night I walked (beside) the red carpet at the premiere of the first movie I have been in since I started this acting journey. Stardom is soon to follow. I most specifically would like to thank Brooks Douglass who gave me my start. He is the one who placed me in the position to get great face time. The movie “Heaven’s Rain” will open this weekend at the Harkin’s Theatre in Bricktown in Oklahoma City.

I don’t think a cigar has been better smoked or a water martini, with one olive, better drunk than what I did on camera. They may well have to come up with a new category for my talented performance.

The premiere last night showed the audience what very talented film makers Brooks Douglass and his partner, Paul Brown, are. The cast is amazing with such a high level of skill, and the movie holds everything you want to see on the screen. The talented actors they assembled made for a marvelous movie. The film is the true story of Brooks, his sister Leslie and their parents. Their parents were killed by two scum buckets in their family home outside Okarche, OK in 1979. Brooks and his sister, even though they were shot, survived and this is their story. It is told exceptionally well. The last 30 minutes the audience sat riveted in their seats as Taryn Manning (who played Leslie) and Mike Vogel (who was Brooks) played their hearts out in the most sensitive of scenes. It is a must see.

I saw several of my actor friends in the movie, although some for just a glimpse. Others had more screen time. Megan Richardson (no kin, but pretty like the Richardson girls) played a Brazilian mother who received glasses and saw her baby clearly for the first time. Jody Moore played a McAlester prison guard along with Rebecca McCauley (my improv instructor). Ashlee Webster was a reporter in several scenes. Joe Gilliliand was a senator in several scenes including my scene with Mike Vogel at Junior’s bar. (Sad to say, but as good as Joe is, the audience’s collective eyes will just be fixed on me, in all my splendor as an “extra”.)

I wrote in an earlier blog about Mike Vogel when I originally filmed the scene. Once the movie was over last night, at the reception I talked with this very talented up-and-coming actor. A Cheshire cat grin spread across my face when he told me he remembered me. Mike starred in the television drama “Miami Medical” and he told me he had to go to doctor school to learn medical dialogue. He is currently filming the movie, “The Help” in Mississippi. I have read this book and it should make a great film. You’ll be seeing a lot of Mike, and I look forward to watching him as he progresses in his career.

Now I need to start making my list of those to thank. My wife (notice I put her first), my mother, my father, my agent, my sommelier, the editor who did not cut my scene, my hair dresser, my agent, my cleaners, my acting coach, the barista, my first grade teacher, the casting director, the sound man, my orthodontist, the cameraman, the best boy, the foley artist, the gaffer, the martini maker, my high school drama teacher, the writers, snack people, our plumber, the grip, my children, my grandchildren, my two cats, my old girlfriend, my new girlfriend, my marriage counselor, my attorney, my accountant, my .......

Touching the Sun

Out of sight – Out of mind. How fickle are women? I wrote about Milla Jovovich in my last blog. ---- Thought we had a sensual connection when she put her hand on my shoulder during our scene together in the movie “Bringing Up Bobby”. Alas, she was just toying with me. I tweeted her (my new cool skill), but no reply. In the last few weeks since leaving Oklahoma City, she has traveled to Los Angeles, Munich, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and back to Los Angels. I feel sure she will get back to me though.

In past blogs, you loyal readers (both of you) read that I am involved with a young man, Bryan Cook, who is filming a movie for his master’s thesis from Oklahoma City University’s School of Film. This is a moving and well written film calculated to be 35 minutes long. In one of my acting classes, Chris Friehofer, told us that a page of script takes about a minute to be seen on the screen. So a 90 page script would be 90 minutes on the screen. This particular script is 35 pages.

Bryan, as a film major, has to both write and direct a film as part of his thesis. This is his second film. Bryan has a degree in engineering from Oklahoma State University but decided he would rather be in the movie industry. Balance the fun – Engineering? or Film?

The story centers around two airline pilots who have been released from their jobs because of the economy. One of the retired pilots (Steve) is very happy to have his freedom, but the other (Dale) is a curmudgeon who is very upset about leaving the company where he has worked for a long time. His future looks dim until he happens to meet a bright and energetic seven year old boy (Ryan) who lives down the street. As the story moves along, Ryan and Dale decide to make an airplane starting Dale on his journey of discovery about himself.

I play the part of Steve, the happy-go-lucky pilot. This character is having a lot of fun in retirement. I get into rock climbing and barnstorming and try to convince Dale to come along with me on some of these adventures. Dale’s a drag but because of his involvement with Ryan starts coming out of his apathy. At one point, Steve encounters Dale with a rock climbing harness on at the gym. So we see he is starting to come around. Steve is headed to play tennis and tells Dale that his new found fun is barnstorming.

A few days before we started filming, we all met each other at OCU and read through the script. I met my co-stars Randall Hunter who plays Dale, and Landon Simms our seven year old Ryan. I had earlier met Bryan when I auditioned for the part and he had his assistant director Kyle Keegan with him. Randall is a fixture in the Oklahoma City theatre scene. His is currently directing The Diary of Anne Frank for the Poteet Theatre. Ryan’s mother Kasee Simms and his sister Madeline were also there. We all read our individual parts and Kyle read all the various actions that were happening in the script. Filming was to start the next Saturday morning.

We filmed at Bryan’s girl friend’s house in Edmond. His girlfriend and her parents are on an extended trip to Norway and gave him use of their home. The first Saturday we started shooting Bryan had his crew with him. The crew consisted of Kyle Keegan, Larry Elisalde, Tommy Bond, Jeff Dowing, and Ilea Shutler. All of them are students at OCU in the film studies school. The students do a marvelous job of helping each other with the arrangements.

Can you say sweat? Oklahoma had a number of 100º days during the filming, much of which is filmed outside. My first scene involved driving Dale home from a retirement party. While I was in the front seat driving telling Dale he has the wrong attitude about this, Bryan and Kyle were in the back seat filming the exchange. I started driving about two blocks from the house and Bryan told me when to begin speaking. The guy has great timing. The scene says that I pull up to the front of the house and park and sure enough, when I finished our conversation I was in front of the house. He knew exactly when to have me start. We shot that scene a few more times and I always arrived on time and in my spot.

We then shot several scenes as Dale was getting out of the car. Some scenes were shot through my car window towards Dale, others from in front, and others from Dale’s point of view to me. I say we shot several scenes, it was actually one scene shot from many different angles. I now realize how long it takes to film a movie. Even though one page may be a minute on the screen, it can take several hours to film that one minute. Consider the crew had to move the camera, lighting, and sound equipment. During one outside scene that Dale and Ryan were shooting, the noon siren went off and lasted for what seemed 10 minutes and of course, that had to be redone.

In another scene, I came to Dale’s house and attempted to get him to go rock climbing with me. I looked like a major dork as I went to the door dressed in my rock climbing harness and helmet. Again that scene was shot from many different angles. Bryan pulled each of us aside and told us to change the dialogue a little and not necessarily go by the script word for word. I enjoyed doing it this way. It seemed to me that it made our conversations go more naturally.


There were other shooting days where I was not involved. Dale and Ryan actually built, in the movie, a push car with wings resembling an airplane. I watched Dale do a lot of sawing and measuring in one scene. Bryan’s dad actually built the plane. He is a talented man.

Stay tuned for my next encounter with Dale…. at the rock climbing wall.