There are many of us that yearn to be on stage, or on screen. Many would rather watch...I would rather be watched. Acting has always been great therapy for me.
A few years ago, Hollywood came to Iowa. The tax incentives were good, so movies were being made around the state of Iowa. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to be a background "extra" in five of those movies. That got me into acting circles that got me involved in Omaha, Kansas City, Chicago and Minneapolis. At one point this past year, during the same month, I was a small part of two movies on the big screen. Pretty cool for an older full-figured guy!
If you look me up on the International Movie Date Base (IMDB), you can see some of the action I've been in. My real name is James Stordahl. I am hoping that my grandkids think that is "cool" someday.
Most recently, I responded to a call from Hollywood. The Sande Allesi Casting agency has seen me photo and profile on Actors Access. A member of the staff called me to ask a few questions and then to invite me to the nearest casting call for the movie "The Lone Ranger", starring Johhny Depp and Armie Hammer. I chose Denver as the site nearest to me. I packed a bag and made the 10-hour drive.
What a waste of time. The casting call was an open call for Chinese people from the Denver area. There were two dwarfs, one really tall guy, me, and about 120 Chinese folks. It was like the proverbial Chinese Fire Drill. No one was in charge. Everyone was running around doing something. All photos were thrown into a large cardboard box to be shipped back to Hollywood for selection.
So far, this lack of organization has cost time and money. All candidates were kept in the dark. No information about selections was shared. The time for shooting arrived and emergency casting calls for anyone and everyone went out. I believe that is called a 'Cattle Call'.
Hollywood Reporter has just run with a story that this movie is way over budget (What's new?) at $250 million and rising. In the meantime, it would appear that very little of that money is being invested in casting. Too bad...Disney could probably make better movies if they ran there movie productions like they run their theme parks.