Everyone needs a break.

You know sometimes you just got to have a break. Too much of anything is bad news, be it weight lifting, martial arts, booze, medicine, acting, TV, gaming or even being President. That's why Obama has Camp David. Even the president, arguably one of the most stressful jobs in the world goes on vacation.

The same can be said for acting. OK so what the hell am I talking about..?

Well i know a lot of actors that are constantly being told "You must always be in training", "Always working on your skills/accents/movement etc", "if you not in training your not professional". Well that's a load of crap. Seriously. I've done a lot of training over the years, a lot of short films, more TVC's than i can remember and quite a few features. I've done the odd modeling job; sometimes for big international companies and I've done voice over work for animated films and games too.

But i haven't sat in a class in years and yet my skills as an actor continue to improve. Why? Because I'm doing other things besides acting that enriches my life in various ways. It seems to me, that over the years those who tell you that you must constantly train really don't have your best interest at heart. They do however have your money in their sights.

Audition time

Probably the best acing coach i ever had was Andrew Buchanan. An actor himself, Andrew built up an incredibly impressive resume over the years and even went on to have an amazingly successful career as a director in theater. At the end of my time with Andrew i asked if it was possible to re-enroll in his class.

His response...

"Kaz, i don't really want you back, you've learned pretty much all i can teach you and I'm afraid you'd really only be wasting your money and time. i suggest you find another acting coach if you feel the need and learn different skills from them"

At first i was taken aback... Did i do something wrong? Was i a terrible actor? Maybe he thought i was just a failure... but after the last student left that night i approached him again, feeling very uncertain.

"Andrew... i want you to be honest with me man... you don't want me back, I mean do i suck that badly?'... I said.

his response was something I'll never forget....

At the premier of Vigilante

"No Kaz, far from it! In fact i see something in you that few have, you've got an intensity like Russell Crowe, now I'm not saying you're as good as him, far from it but you've got the same kind of presence that he has. Naturally it'll take A LOT of work to bring it out, a lot of hard work, but it's there".

But he also told me something else. He said don't focus on it [acting] all the time, or you'll go insane. To make sure you have a life outside of acting, have friends not in the industry, do things that have NO relation to acting at all. Live a life.

Chris & I training... honestly we did at one point.

At first i didn't really get it. One minute he's telling me to go hard, the next not to focus on it. It took me a few months to fully appreciate what he had said to me that cold Wednesday night, at 10:40pm after class. If you're life is all about the craft then you'll become one of those people at parties everyone avoids. You'll be so obsessed with "making it" that you'll burn out, become the opposite of what you want.

Hungry hungry T-Rex @ The American Museum of Natural History, NY city

Andrew used to say that as an actor when you start you only have a few "keys on the piano" to start with (meaning your emotional range) and that the end goal was to have all the "key's available" to you when ever you needed them.

Now he could have easily said to book back into his class next semester, pay the thousand or so dollars but he didn't... he taught me that acting is more than working in a class room analyzing a script, or being a tree or how you stand during an audition. But that by going out and living a life you'll bring so much more to your skill set with experience, relationships, living life & feeling true emotions.

The Baders & me @ Famous Dave's Rib House in LongBeach, LA

So the next time someone asks for your money, think twice. Do they really have you best intentions at heart... or their own.

Movie making Limbo.

A while ago (can you say a few years back) I was fortunate enough to be cast as the lead in a zombie film called AXED. You may have heard of it... or if not well then it's not surprising as it's still in editing. CGI can be a long and costly business, just ask George Lucas.

Well just to pass the time I thought I'd include some exerts from an interview the Director of AXED (Josh Long) did for Revenant Magazine. Enjoy the read....

REV: Can you tell us a little more about Axed and how the idea came about?

Josh: Axed is a balls to the wall horror epic. Its one guy versus the living, the infected and the dead.

I am a lifelong horror/zombie film fanatic and the idea of Axed came from wanting to make an ‘Evil Dead’ film with zombies. Lets get one thing straight… Here in Australia horror films don’t get made at least that’s what I thought but after seeing films like ‘undead’ and ‘wolf creek’ come out, I got very excited and wanted to make my ‘Dawn of the dead’, ‘Evil Dead’ film. I also wanted to top them and the one place I thought I could was gore.



















The storyline for the feature film is two friends ‘Bruce and George’ come home to find everyone dead. Maybe I will split the response into two different sections here.

Axed is a mixture of more traditional zombie films like ‘Dawn of the dead’ and ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters’ and combines that with the modern day ‘Dawn of the dead(2004)’ and ’28 days later’ style fast moving infected. Axed also draws inspiration from films such as ‘Versus,’ ‘The Crazies’ and of course, ‘The Evil Dead’ as you can tell by the first trailer.

Our hero ‘Bruce’ must hide amongst an immense pile of dead bodies in order to go unnoticed by the military who are trying to capture him. The problem is that an airborne virus has infected everyone and turned them into maniacs. The maniacs turn up in droves and start feeding on the hundreds of dead bodies where Bruce is hiding, that’s where the fun begins.

REV: Can you tell us about the casting for Axed? Has it been mostly friends and associates?

Josh: I guess we got lucky with our casting. The script doesn’t call for many main characters. It’s pretty much just ‘Bruce’ and the undead. So we cast Kazuya Wright who is a local Australian actor who was just perfect. He can act and do all his own stunts. The best thing about him is that he wants to do it. Bruce Campbell is as much a hero to him as he is to me. So it was just a pleasure. He also looked the best with blood all over him.
REV: How has the budget been for Axed and do you feel you have been able to do what you’ve wanted with the budget you have?

Josh: The budget was hard. How we did it was myself, my parents, and my fellow producers Karli McNamara and Kieran Nailon all saved up.

We ended up with a film made around $10,000 Australian which I think ends up being about $50 USA… ha ha ha. So as you can tell the budget was micro. I have never struggled under those conditions, I love films made like that.
I think it’s a testament if you are a good filmmaker to make a good film with no money. Having said that, I would like ten times that amount for the feature film, which is still a micro budget really.

We decided to bring everything back to basics and shoot on HDV which was great as we wanted that ‘Versus/28 Days Later’ look. We even brought back classics used in the original ‘Evil Dead’ like the shakey cam. We bolted the camera to the middle of a plank and sprinted through the bushes with a person on either side. It was a lot of fun making the film. Most of the budget went to makeup fx and fake blood.

To read the rest of the article click on the link below

http://www.revenantmagazine.com/Axedinterview.htm

Or... to visit the website for AXED click here

Green Lantern?

By now you've heard about the Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds. Well a casting notice went out a couple weeks ago about four of the films other characters

[CAROL FERRIS]
26-32, a smart and attractive woman with an MBA. She started as a pilot and now runs Ferris Aircraft. She is a work-a-holic…FEMALE LEAD

[DR. HECTOR HAMMOND]
27-35, Character actor who is austere and impersonal, he is real “scummy.” He is a pathologist and also the son of a Senator.

[SINESTRO]
Mid-30s to Mid-40s, he is smart, tough, intimidating and in great physical shape.

[ABIN SUR]
Mid-30s to mid-40s, he is a great warrior.

It was the fourth character; that of Abin Sur that my agent at Casper Hope & Associates had send me details to submit for. Now the chance of me actually winning the role are slim to none but even so, just being offered a chance at the role is a dream and a very big vote of confidence from those around me.

But with news of the increasing Australian dollar blowing budgetary concerns out to an additional $20 million, it now looks as if The Green Lantern will move from Australia and begin shooting in Mexico to help reduce costs. Not only a blow to me personally but also another blow to the Australian film industry which is struggling itself after the closure of Hugh Jackman's own Seed Productions base in Sydney.

Pam Dixon the casting agent responsible for the GL film now has my acting pack with all details necessary. Time will tell if i get a call or not, but in these situations, like all auditions it's best to "do it" then move on and forget.

LOYALTY TRAILER 2

LOYALTY

Four low level criminals are given a last chance to redeem themselves and settle old debts to the mob by taking an seemingly simple assignment: keep watch on a captive rival mob boss for 24 hours. As tensions amid the four rise it becomes apparent their captive is not all he appears, and redemption takes a back seat to survival.

Shot in a highly stylized mix of film noir and live action anime, Loyalty pushes the visual envelope and is full of great characters, black humor, bone crunching violence and a captivating story. With outstanding performances and a cutting edge soundtrack featuring bands such as Angelspit and Ego Likeness, Loyalty is set to re-define independent Australian cinema.





CAST

Blaine - Kazuya Wright

Miller - Tana Smith

The Driver - Xanthe Coward

Alex - Whitney Duff

Creed - Ozzie Devrish

Lazzaro - Christian Radford

Kersey - Aash Aarron

Faye - Sarah Blair

Arkardy - Ray Sinclair


CREW:

CREW:

Written By: Jake Reedy and Rachael McMeeking

Directed By: Jake Reedy

Produced By: Maryanne Paterson

Executive Producers: Linda Radford and Chris Jones

Co Produced By: Jake Reedy, Rachael McMeeking and Kazuya Wright

Associate Producers: Chris Jones and Aash Aarron

Director of Photography: Hugh Scarlett

Camera Assist: Daniel Topou

Assistant Directors: Daniel Topou, Danielle McMeeking, Rachael McMeeking

Fight Choreography: Kazuya Wright

Special FX: Matt Haskins

MOBIUS

A while back i announced a new feature I've been cast in called LOYALTY, but before that I've another film that I've been cast in called MOBIUS. A black comedy by Indie-Abstract productions, directed by Abby Sheather. This independent film touches on family issues, trust, revenge, lost love and a little bit of the supernatural.

Staring Rachel Fentiman and myself as a couple of parents that have lost touch with each other in a world that that moves too fast. With children, opening a new night club, renovations and moving to a whole new city the couple becomes involved with some unsavory characters trying to extort their new business. Little do these stand over men realize they are messing with a couple literally centuries old.

Supported by other great actors including Sarah Blair, Sam and Xanthe Coward, Lyle Peaker & Leigh Parker MOBIUS promises to shake up the very idea of how to shoot an independent film. As well as writing the screen play and directing Mobius, Abby Sheather (the director of Blackout & the Mexican Spaghetti Western - Don Jaun Retardo ) is also simultaneously shooting a documentary on how to shoot a feature film with no budget.

Keep your eyes out for this twisting comedy by the end of the year.

New film Announced!!

LOYALTY the next film from the production company "WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING" is set to start filming in the next few months. The director behind TIN GOD; Jake Reedy is again at the helm and has began finishing touches on the final script with the help of script writer and supervisor Rachael McMeeking.






Tin God - Reedy's first feature film.












Loyalty promises to turn the action genre on it head with unique visuals and extreme characters brought to life by Reedy's love for anime.

"(I) wrote the most vicious, violent fight scene ever written. And it's between a guy and a girl. Nasty, Nasty shit. Can't wait to shoot it. " ~ Reedy.


Loyalty is still in preproduction at the moment so info is scarce but the film is cast and drafts are being sent as i type. "(I) Was asked to write a 'note' on Scriptwriting and making a no $ film. I think it's a task best left to those far more successful than i"~ Reedy

"One of the characters in the film is called "Blaine" a professional hit man. He's had to deal with the his wife leaving him for another bloke, plus he finds out during the course of the film some rather disturbing information that could jeopardize his life and those around him. It's great role and an interesting challenge to pull it off" ~ Kazuya.











Blaine - LOYALTY








"See i like the kind of depth that a character like Blaine has, at times he's cold and tough, others, he's desperately trying to hide his own fears, insecurities and suppressing his emotions to maintain that "Hard" facade' , something we all struggle with time to time" ~ Kazuya.

Kazuya met with Reedy to discuss the character and how he will develop throughout the film last week.

"Kazuya Wright is just as cool in real life as he is on TV." ~ Reedy Loyalty begins shooting in the next few months, stay tuned.