My essay on how fear dominates the NFL Draft is here

ACTING NEWS FOLLOWUP:

No news to report on success or failure in getting attached to the Coen Brothers’ NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN project. I’ve been given a very ‘hopeful’ signal with regard to this project, but nothing is set and it may evaporate.

Friday saw me leaving Austin at 6:30am, arriving in Dallas at 9:30am. Audition for Toni Cobb Brock at 10:15am. Back on the road to Austin at 10:30am. Arrived back in Austin at 1:30pm. Whew…I’m getting too old to do this. LOL. Plus it cost me over $40.00 for gasoline alone. Yikes! HOWEVER…the project, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, is a really good script and the project has Daniel Day-Lewis attached, so it was definitely worth the effort. Now…if I can score a callback…I can go through the same routine next week. What? And give up show business?

As much as I’ve ragged on the sorry state of film production in Texas, I guess I should say some positive things whenever possible. After quite a dry spell, it looks like production activity and particularly production of good quality material is at something of a high point in our state. Several productions which feature outstanding scripts are shooting or are close to start dates.

ELVIS AND ANABELLEwritten and directed by Will Geiger is already shooting in Austin. The script is terrific and it will be interesting to see how this Burnt Orange production turns out. Yours truly has a small roll opposite female lead Blake Lively. Thanks to the terrific Beth Sepko, Austin based casting director who always runs a relaxed audition!

One of the best scripts I’ve read in a long time is the Coen brothers’ script of Cormac McCarthy’s NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. This script is the proverbial ‘page turner’ and reportedly has Tommy Lee Jones signed on to one of the leads. I was fortunate to get to read for this project as well and had a callback for the brothers Coen for three different roles. Obviously I’d love to do any of the three as it would be a real kick to work with these guys. Although auditioning isn’t usually the ‘fun’ part of the job, this time it actually was. Thanks to Jo Edna Boldin, casting director extraordinare for thinking of me for this project. Waiting to hear…..

No sooner had I gotten out of the callbacks for the NCFOM when I got a call from super agent Heather Collier with yet another audition. I had been hearing about the project THERE WILL BE BLOOD from friends in L.A. for some time. The project, written and to be directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and based on the Upton Sinclair novel, features another ‘can’t put it down’ script. The story is centered around the infancy of the oil business in the early 1900s. The lead character, Daniel is to be played by one Daniel Day-Lewis. I’m off to Dallas tomorrow morning to read for a small role in this…a nice scene opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.

So…it’s been in invigorating little run of auditions with some success. The most exciting aspect of all this is that the quality of the projects I’ve mentioned. These three projects, all very different, each has the potential to be a real gem. This is the kind of material all actors want to work on…no matter the size of the role.

By the way…both THERE WILL BE BLOOD and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN will reportedly shoot in the Marfa area. That is great country for these two films. The terrific Texas film DANCER, TX POP 81 shot in nearby Ft. Davis a few years back and I gained great respect both for the land and the local residents during our stay in this starkly beautiful part of the state.