Post by Sunflower on Aug 31, 2009 19:41:37 GMT 1
Read Eric's comments.. Will also give link to site..Hope It was okay to post this in this thread.. Enjoy.. Very inforamative..Check at the bottom (Eric's TV schedule) for the link. Hope that helps..
Playing Good Guys and Bad Guys
by Eric Roberts (Seth Blanchard)
I see Seth Blanchard as a good guy. But then one rule of acting is that you always think your character is right. And I’ve played some pretty wrong guys. I think Seth has enough edge and fearlessness to have gotten ahead in a big way. I think he’s honest with himself, which is why he asks all the right questions when something questionable happens to him.
He’s a much more intelligent and favorable character than most of the characters I’ve played. I’ve never had to research the personalities of billionaires before this role! I often play criminals. This guy isn’t one. Usually when I’m a leader, I’m leading people into trouble. Seth is a leader. But out of trouble.
To memorize my lines, I highlight my material—just like a first-time acting student. Yellow for dialogue and pink for action. Then I read the scene aloud, all parts, over and over, just slowly for words. Then I read the material with my wife, Eliza Roberts, who’s also an actress. We use repetitions, which are part of the Sanford Meisner technique. Repetitions boil down to a listening exercise.
Up until I shoot a scene, I can be found running the lines at any given time... At the gym, in the car, at the supermarket.
Of all my “Crash” scenes, I love working with Ross McCall, who plays Kenny. Day one on set, I met Ross. I’d only known him in character as New York cop Kenny. Ross led us into a discussion about how so many actors working in America are British or Australian, playing American roles. Nothing against the job-stealing Brits, right? We really got into it. After we’d wrung the subject dry, Ross said, in his natural Scottish accent, “Well, we’d bettah be off to set now, hadn’t we, blokes… or do you think it’s just bollocks that they’re saying they’re ready for us?” I felt my face go pale. Ross is from Scotland! We’d been punk’d!
I actually don’t like scenes that are too hyper, which sounds funny from the guy who played Paulie in The Pope of Greenwich Village, or Pale in Burn This on Broadway. And I certainly don’t like scenes that are boring, but you don’t see many of those on “Crash.”
I’ll tell you about my typical week. Early in the week we start early in the day. Eliza & I will leave our Albuquerque house around 5:30am. Later in the week, the call times tend to be closer to 9am, and sometimes we work from afternoon into the night. We drive to set. My wardrobe costume is hanging in my trailer room for me. I check my dialogue and get dressed. I get an egg white and tomato omelet from our fantastic caterer. We rehearse with the director (who changes every episode). I go to get my hair and makeup done.
Then we start shooting. We set up several angles of each scene, so five minutes of film can take around five hours.
Six hours after crew call, we have a great lunch. Lots of us are vegetarians. We change costumes, get makeup touched up, and make sure things like hairstyles match previous scenes where virtually no time is supposed to have passed.
We go back to shooting, and often put in between 17 and 22 hours.
I don’t do much improvising on “Crash.” We have a strong team of writers. And all improvs would have to be passed by them. We need to take the time rehearsing and shooting the scenes. The writers are already putting in a superhuman amount of time on the scripts. We film until we get it right. Usually, four to six takes will suffice and get some pretty good stuff.
Funny story: I was shooting an interview on set one day and my phone rang. The ring tone is music by my stepson Keaton Simons. The people from Starz shooting the interview loved the song, and now another song of Keaton’s is the promo and trailer song for “Crash”!
If I have time off between scenes, I go back to my trailer. I love to read. If I have the kind of scenes I don’t have to concentrate on every second, I bring a book. Some people answer phone calls and work on their computers in their trailers. I listen to my Keaton Simons music. Or I play with Ross’s dog. And I work on my scenes with my wife. She’s my coach.
When we’re in Albuquerque—where we shoot “Crash”--and I’ve got time off, I work out every day. We do errands. I work on future “Crash” scripts. I read other scripts. We ride bikes, take walks with Ross’s dog. And sometimes even with Ross. We go to the movies and get pizza at Il Vicino. Our favorite thing to do is to go to a Keaton Simons show, when he plays here. We also like to bring friends to sample the cooking of Albuquerque chef Danny Smith, who cooks for us sometimes. He’s fantastic.
##
Message Edited by starz_mktg on 08-29-2009 01:24 .
Premiering in September
Crash Cast
BEN CENDARS
played by Dennis Hopper
SETH BLANCHARD
played by Eric Robers
INEZ
played by Moran Atias
BO OLINVILLE
played by Jake McLaughlin
KENNY BATTAGLIA
played by Ross McCall
ANTHONY ADAMS
played by Jocko Sims
MAGGIE
played by Linda Park
Playing Good Guys and Bad Guys
by Eric Roberts (Seth Blanchard)
I see Seth Blanchard as a good guy. But then one rule of acting is that you always think your character is right. And I’ve played some pretty wrong guys. I think Seth has enough edge and fearlessness to have gotten ahead in a big way. I think he’s honest with himself, which is why he asks all the right questions when something questionable happens to him.
He’s a much more intelligent and favorable character than most of the characters I’ve played. I’ve never had to research the personalities of billionaires before this role! I often play criminals. This guy isn’t one. Usually when I’m a leader, I’m leading people into trouble. Seth is a leader. But out of trouble.
To memorize my lines, I highlight my material—just like a first-time acting student. Yellow for dialogue and pink for action. Then I read the scene aloud, all parts, over and over, just slowly for words. Then I read the material with my wife, Eliza Roberts, who’s also an actress. We use repetitions, which are part of the Sanford Meisner technique. Repetitions boil down to a listening exercise.
Up until I shoot a scene, I can be found running the lines at any given time... At the gym, in the car, at the supermarket.
Of all my “Crash” scenes, I love working with Ross McCall, who plays Kenny. Day one on set, I met Ross. I’d only known him in character as New York cop Kenny. Ross led us into a discussion about how so many actors working in America are British or Australian, playing American roles. Nothing against the job-stealing Brits, right? We really got into it. After we’d wrung the subject dry, Ross said, in his natural Scottish accent, “Well, we’d bettah be off to set now, hadn’t we, blokes… or do you think it’s just bollocks that they’re saying they’re ready for us?” I felt my face go pale. Ross is from Scotland! We’d been punk’d!
I actually don’t like scenes that are too hyper, which sounds funny from the guy who played Paulie in The Pope of Greenwich Village, or Pale in Burn This on Broadway. And I certainly don’t like scenes that are boring, but you don’t see many of those on “Crash.”
I’ll tell you about my typical week. Early in the week we start early in the day. Eliza & I will leave our Albuquerque house around 5:30am. Later in the week, the call times tend to be closer to 9am, and sometimes we work from afternoon into the night. We drive to set. My wardrobe costume is hanging in my trailer room for me. I check my dialogue and get dressed. I get an egg white and tomato omelet from our fantastic caterer. We rehearse with the director (who changes every episode). I go to get my hair and makeup done.
Then we start shooting. We set up several angles of each scene, so five minutes of film can take around five hours.
Six hours after crew call, we have a great lunch. Lots of us are vegetarians. We change costumes, get makeup touched up, and make sure things like hairstyles match previous scenes where virtually no time is supposed to have passed.
We go back to shooting, and often put in between 17 and 22 hours.
I don’t do much improvising on “Crash.” We have a strong team of writers. And all improvs would have to be passed by them. We need to take the time rehearsing and shooting the scenes. The writers are already putting in a superhuman amount of time on the scripts. We film until we get it right. Usually, four to six takes will suffice and get some pretty good stuff.
Funny story: I was shooting an interview on set one day and my phone rang. The ring tone is music by my stepson Keaton Simons. The people from Starz shooting the interview loved the song, and now another song of Keaton’s is the promo and trailer song for “Crash”!
If I have time off between scenes, I go back to my trailer. I love to read. If I have the kind of scenes I don’t have to concentrate on every second, I bring a book. Some people answer phone calls and work on their computers in their trailers. I listen to my Keaton Simons music. Or I play with Ross’s dog. And I work on my scenes with my wife. She’s my coach.
When we’re in Albuquerque—where we shoot “Crash”--and I’ve got time off, I work out every day. We do errands. I work on future “Crash” scripts. I read other scripts. We ride bikes, take walks with Ross’s dog. And sometimes even with Ross. We go to the movies and get pizza at Il Vicino. Our favorite thing to do is to go to a Keaton Simons show, when he plays here. We also like to bring friends to sample the cooking of Albuquerque chef Danny Smith, who cooks for us sometimes. He’s fantastic.
##
Message Edited by starz_mktg on 08-29-2009 01:24 .
Premiering in September
Crash Cast
BEN CENDARS
played by Dennis Hopper
SETH BLANCHARD
played by Eric Robers
INEZ
played by Moran Atias
BO OLINVILLE
played by Jake McLaughlin
KENNY BATTAGLIA
played by Ross McCall
ANTHONY ADAMS
played by Jocko Sims
MAGGIE
played by Linda Park
