The picture above is kind of a joke, I am friends with a few members of the production team on this spot that I shot yesterday and I walked to my trailer door to see "Mr. Romo" taped on it. I laughed out loud, I think many an actor has thought about that transition--when do you go from "Mike" to "Mr. Romo"? Box office pull, no doubt.

Good news! I filmed another commercial yesterday--though I should mention that I am basically a featured extra for a skin care commercial that will not be aired in the US or Canada, but if I can get a clip, I will make sure to post it. For the second time in a row, I worked with a "big super star actor"---the person I worked with yesterday is an international super star, been around for many years, and it was really a pleasure to get a chance to meet someone like that, and it was fun just to work, even for a really short time, with a true professional. As with any professional in any kind of job, you just end up learning a tremendous about just by being in the same room with someone like that. Totally relaxed in between takes, then absolutely, incredibly focused during. He (he's a he) also made a point of introducing himself right away and basically put everyone at ease. I feel silly that I am not saying the name, but I gotta wait till the spot comes out, so I will just shut up about it.

Nick, Drue and I just got back from seeing Beowulf in 3-d IMAX, which is apparently the way to see the movie...it's funny to try and compare it to the last movie I saw, No Country for Old Men. It kind of shows you just how different movies are becoming, in a way. Country is jaw dropping amazing because of the direction, editing and, most of all (I would argue), the acting. Beowulf is amazing because there's all this crap flying around and it looks like it's gonna hit you right in the $%(*%@ face, dude! It was cool, but my eyes are killing me. It was well edited and had some sequences that could only happen in a truly virtual world (when the camera can go anywhere you like, there's a certain flexibility). The 3D effect was quite good, I mean, it's the best 3D you are going to find in existence, methinks, and there were a few shots where it really was gorgeously effective---sprawling landscapes and wide, expansive establishing shots were much more interested and engaging than the sword point right at you or the blood dropping down at you (though that stuff worked, too). It was more than just the longest cut-scene in history, it was a well-done fable (if way too violent for the kids, which was refreshing, in a way). What was trippy is that there were several very long takes on the character's faces and the audience endowed these pixels with human emotion, giving them life, even though it wasn't real at all. The experience was there, but it was like listening to music ripped from a CD at a low bitrate (I know, it's nerdy but it's relevant in many ways)--you can hear it, you can hear all the elements, there's just not enough behind the elements. The cynical part of me wants me to ask whether modern audiences even care, really, just as long as they get "most" of it, the feeling...but I don't honestly think that anyone would really accept, fully, that a virtual "actor" is going to deliver the same kind of experience a "real" actor would provide. (The fact that I can even write this sentence shows, once again, that we are living in the future.)

Beowulf is worth seeing (in 3D, in IMAX), if only to see what the studios are trying to do bring people into the theatres. Is this "the future"? Nah. It's neat, and it works for some movies (the stereotypical "Hollywood" movies, I guess) but these kinds of stories are the minority. Still, these stories sell more than others. Witness Transformers, featuring, again, non human characters moving the story along.

20 years ago, we had Roger Rabbit doing this with drawings. What will the technology-straining "movies" of 2027?

It's amazing, really, and I will admit I hate being just a witness to all of this. I want to be part of these changes, I want to make sure these changes are good.

One of things that I kept thinking about during Beowulf was how I really need to get out of my element, like, seriously out of my element. I've had this very cushy existence and I would love to get out of here for awhile and find some way to test myself, my physical and mental strength. Funny that one would have to "research" a way to live in a more challenging way. I have to use a computer to figure out how to live a more simple yet more engaging life? And I come to thinking about this after watching a movie told entirely by computer created actors in a computer generated world dealing with computer generated crises?

Tags: acting