Casting for 'Shades of Pride' and my thoughts on the Oscars

I've felt very run-down as of late. Maybe I'm always run-down and I'm just not wise enough to notice that... it does seem rather plausible. Even though I often feel lazy, I do have little birdies shouting in my ear that I work too hard/too much. Yet, nights when I'm slouched on the couch watching 'Justified' or staring at a blank screen or a sheet on untouched white paper, I feel lazy. I'm often doing something, but very little do I feel like I'm accomplishing something. I know I'll get shit for this later and be told many complimentary things from people who disagree. Either way, I feel tired, lazy and strangely unproductive.

A few weeks ago I've written my latest piece entitled 'Shades of Pride'. I feel it's one of the few good things I've done since the whole 'Two' fiasco, other than re-writes on my first feature. I've been describing it like this:

"The film is entitled "Shades of Pride" and it's a piece about an older Southern man named Charlie whose determined to chase a man off his father's land even though he no longer owns it. His stubbornness leads him to fight this battle even though he's long but lost the war."

It's based on an event that transpired with my grandfather where he chased a Government surveyor off his land with a loaded shotgun. The man who inhabited the story was not a nice man. He was a way different man than the person I knew growing up. It's funny how that happens. I knew him one way, my dad knew him another way. Something was lost in translation. I'm now learning what the man was really like. When I originally wrote the piece, I wrote it as I was told the story and he came off as a complete asshole. I changed a few details and added my own swing to the story and created, in my eyes, a two act structure and I somehow humanized this train wreck of a man.

For the last two weeks or so I've been in contact with actors. When I began the casting, I was mainly focused on the parts of Charlie Moss and Warren Bloom. Charlie is the clincher part. If he's cast wrong, the entire piece will fall the shambles. He has to be threatening, but not over the top. He also has to have a convincing accent. Bloom was hard too, because he had to be nervous and fearful, but not in a cartoony way. I was in talks with actors from all different spectrums. SAG actors to non-professional new-comers. All talented and brought different things to the role. I still have one or two more people I want to audition for Charlie, though. Bloom I may have found, but I need to review the footage a bit more and play it with the rest of the Charlie footage. The part of Charlie's wife I'm getting closer to finding, but I'm completely lost as far as his grandson. I'm kinda screwed at the moment. Hopefully good things will come and hopefully I'll find a farm too.

Now, onto the Oscars. I don't have much to say, but I'll say my peace and move on. First, I enjoyed the Independent Spirit Awards better, but I usually do. Next, I didn't mind James Franco as the host. I don't know what people are bitching about. Maybe it's because I think a stoned Franco is entertaining, but do people realize how hard it is to successfully host the Oscars? I'm shocked Hugh Jackman was as good as he was the year he did it. Next, ten Best Picture nominations is dumb. It is. Five more films that have no chance of winning. Also, I don't feel Toy Story 3 should be allowed to be in boy Best Animated Feature and Best Picture. If that's the case, why can't foreign films and documentaries be nominated for best picture? Why can't voice actors be nominated for Acting? Unfair guys.

I guess that's about it. I'm not really too upset with the results, except for Randy Nueman somehow winning. Although, Wolfman winning for Best Make-up was funny because every clip I've seen of that movie looks like CGI.

Reflections of a Blizzard

Lately I've been seeing the world in a weird narrative context. This past week we here in Wisconsin had a blizzard that rocked the foundation of what we thought was possible with the weather. Many joked, but you could see many were afraid. Cars were overturned and people were trapped. After all of this, we had to dig. Dig through mounds and mounds of snow to create remnants of the world we once knew. The funny thing, though, with snow is, no matter how much you clear away, we're trapped. It became that much more clear after all this blizzard.

I walked to the bus stop in the morning, following the sidewalks. These are paths made by man to guide us in a direction. This is true. But at one point we can choose to be masters of our own destinies and diverge from the path and cut through grass and streets. After this blizzard, you were lucky to find a small trace of a trail through the snow. Cavernous walls surround you and guide you forward. You could attempt to climb over, but very few, if any, seldom do. We're being led along these snow walls. Snow is like that, it's just taken me this long to notice. It's taken the extreme case of being trapped on both sides by snow to see it. Then, I'd come to a dead end and would have to make a decision. Try and climb over and see what the state is over yonder, or make a left or right. I felt like Sarah from Labyrinth. Even though I wasn't lost, I felt lost. Isn't it funny how sometimes the most complex things are the most simple? See what I mean? Narrative sense.