Tuesday 1st January 2008
Happy New Year. Did you have a good night? Ours was interesting. We had prepared a party at our digs in Southsea and just as it was beginning to fill up our landlord managed to insult one of the crew's wife and by ten thirty the whole place had cleared out. We then went to a couple of Pubs on the way to another house party, seeing in the New Year at a pub called The Festing. The second house party was good, we spent the rest of the night eating, drinking, singing and chatting.
The show has been getting better and better. We've had big houses every day, we'd broken box office records before we even opened and the theatre gets three or four calls a day to say how it's the best show they've had. Now we have just five shows left.
2007 was a good year; I had some amazing new experiences like the Pinewood workshops and the summer Shakespeare tour. I found some great new jobs like the Medieval Banquets, the Globe fight displays, the dance partners and the body conditioning at Urdang Academy (which sadly I couldn't do anymore). I've made some great new friends and some valuable contacts.
What does 2008 hold for me? At this stage I really don't know. I have a few irons in a few fires but there's still a lot of work to be done. When I get home I will re-start the ball rolling on my little production project and hopefully shoot something in February. I'm also booking a holiday to Prague in a couple of weeks. My last real holiday was to New York for three days back in 2002 so this is a long overdue gift to myself. I also have a friend over there who works for a production company so I'm hoping I may be able to get a look around if something is going on and I've been invited to an acting class too. Other than that I honestly don't have an immediate plan. I just have to see how things pan out over the next month or so and take it from there. So I'll let you know as soon as I do.
Tuesday 8th January
Here's a quick entry, just as I have some free time. The panto finished on Sunday and I'm back in London briefly before going north to Liverpool to see my family and friends and another panto! Everything wound up nicely last week. It was a bit of a hectic few days for me as I was traveling back and forth to London for auditions, so it didn't feel quite so strange being back these last few days. Plus yesterday I was straight into work in an episode of the upcoming ‘The Last Van Helsing', playing a vampire. If you get to see it, look out for one of the main characters going into a vampire bar. I'm standing at the bar when she walks past and I give her a dirty look. Ha ha, I've finally hit the big time mum! I go up north tomorrow until Monday, to see my Mum on her birthday, Happy Birthday Mum, and then next week I'm taking a long overdue holiday to Prague . It's my first holiday in about six years so I'm very excited and I'm going with my Liverpool drinking partner and fellow creative (a song writer and music producer) so I know we're going to have a good time. You can expect another update soon after that.
Tuesday 22nd January
Phew, what a week. I’m back in London for good now, at least as far as I know. Last night I slept in my own bed for the first time since 1st December and now I’m just trying to catch up with everything and unpack at the same time.
Prague was fantastic! We flew out on Wednesday and got back yesterday. As soon as I got home it felt as though I’d hit a wall, I was exhausted, but all for a good cause – Having a good time! It’s a beautiful city, with some amazing buildings and architecture; however, I won’t pretend I went for the sight seeing. It’s got a great nightlife and with most bars having late licences until 4/5/6am there’s just no stopping. It took a while to warm up; I guess it’s more of a weekend city and it was pretty quiet on our first two nights, we were out of season though. But we still managed to find things to do and by the end we had found a few favourite night spots where we hung out regularly. I have a friend who lives over there too – who coincidentally played the Prince in Snow White, with Aiden, Phil and I, 5 years ago. We had a couple of days with him, a few nights with a random group of Norwegians, and I must also give a special mention and big thank you to our local Czechxpert guides Alena and Ranata. Dekuji. To je kost!
So now I’m finally home I have to get back to normality. Fortunately I’m going straight into rehearsals for another play. It’s called ‘Wild Oats’ and it’s a hilarious comedy of mistaken identities and hidden intrigues. I play Farmer Gammon a ruthless and unsentimental man. I’m not going to give anything away so if you want to know more have a look at www.losttheatre.co.uk or www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com (where you can also book tickets). We had the first read through yesterday and I can tell it’s going to be very good. Also in the cast is Katherine Bower who played Rosalind and Helena in the summer tour I did last year. There are lots of references to ‘As You Like It’ in this play, so we were giggling together like kids at an in joke. I’m very much looking forward to it, so I hope lots of you can come and see it – Wild Oats, Upstairs at the Gatehouse (Junction of Hampstead Lane & North Road, Highgate Village, London, N6 4BD). Performances from 13th Feb to 1st Mar, 7:30pm Tuesday-Saturday and 4pm on Sundays. It’ll be my first proper run in London (longer than a few days) so I finally have a good chance to invite agents and casting directors. So fingers crossed.
Other things to look forward to this year: Training continues for ‘Born of Hope’ and I’ve also been asked to play one of the lead Orcs in a similar film ‘The Hunt For Gollum’. I will be having a fitting to get my prosthetics made soon, which is quite exciting. My personal filming project is moving forward, are currently doing the pre-production for our first shoot, a short scene for a showreel piece which we are aiming to film mid-late Feb. Fighting at the Medieval Banquets and The Globe Theatre Exhibition continues and there are more things, I’m waiting for confirmation on, in the pipeline.
Monday 11th February
‘Wild Oats' opens on Wednesday and the show is nicely coming together. We have our first rehearsal at the venue this evening, so I expect it'll all fall apart again once we get onto the set, (that's how it always happens as the actors have so many new things to think about). It's a big company (15 of us) and everyone is very well cast, I've really enjoyed it so far and I'm looking forward to having an audience.
I'm also doing a course this week with an acting coach from America called Tom Todoroff. He has coach with many major names in Hollywood and has also worked as an actor, director, producer and casting director. I actually got to attend his workshop last July, when I had a day off in London from the tour. It was very good and he really knows how to improve a scene by making simple and subtle adjustments. Needless to say I'm looking forward to it. I have to perform a scene and a monologue, so I'm about to go and meet my scene partner and rehearse a scene from Arthur Miller's ‘All My Sons'. I will be also be doing one of my main audition speeches from Mary O'Malley's ‘Once a Catholic'.
Yesterday I was working on some fight choreography for Alton Towers. A friend of mine works there and came to me when they were looking for a fight director. Unfortunately I'm not insured for this kind of work, so I passed it on to my old training partner, who now has her own fight school and I will work with her as her assistant.
I saw a couple of good plays over the last few weeks. The first ‘Madonna and Me', I auditioned for this time last year, and was offered the part, but sadly couldn't do it due to a clash with the Pinewood course showcase. I was very disappointed that I couldn't do it, as it was set where I grew up in Whiston, Merseyside, and was even more gutted when I saw it and it was excellent. Well, you win some, you lose some, and you can never tell which is which.
The second play was David Mamet's ‘Speed the Plough' at the Old Vic with Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum. Another excellent production, so fast and pacey, and Spacey and Goldblum play it so well together.
Well I'd better go, I've got two rehearsals to prepare for…
Monday 18th February
The past week has been full of excitement, nerves, fun, learning, inspiration, reunions, and pain (amongst other things). The excitement, nerves and fun came from the opening of ‘Wild Oats', which has been going very well so far, and getting excellent feedback from friends, family and the general public alike. I suppose it actually gets a better response that I'd expected, with lots of laughs throughout. The learning was from the Tom Todoroff workshop which was very interesting. I learned a lot about preparing a scene and for an audition, but also discovered that I do a lot already – it's always nice to know you're doing something right. My feedback was all very constructive and helpful and I left feeling extremely inspired.
On Friday night, two of the cast from last year's Shakespeare tours came to see the show. I haven't seen them since we finished (6 months ago on 1st March) so we had lots of catching up to do. So much so that we didn't leave each other's company until 3 o'clock the following day.
Yesterday, after the matinee show, I went straight to work at Medieval Banquets. Towards the end of the fight the other knight made an attack so off-target I had to move to avoid it and he still managed to stabbed me in the leg. Fortunately for me the swords are not sharp so it did not break the skin and I'd moved just enough to avoid it hitting bone. We finished the fight, but as the adrenaline started to wear off it became very stiff and painful and I was told not to do any more. Today it's feeling a little better than yesterday, just very stiff – like a permanent cramp. However; I have a very busy week this week and I'm a little concerned that I'm not going to have much time to rest it. You can't really predict how injuries are going to turn out, do you? I just hope it continues to get better and it shouldn't affect the show tomorrow night.
Wednesday 20th February
It's about 12:30am on Wednesday morning and I'm sitting in A&E at St Thomas' Hospital. I still have about another 2 hours waiting time so I thought I'd use the time productively and let you know why I'm here. Well if you read my previous entry you'll know I was injured in the leg at Medieval Banquets on Sunday. I had a long day yesterday, on my feet all day and after the show, on my way home it was really rather painful. By the time I got to the tube station near where I live I couldn't walk on it at all. It took me ages just to get out of the station. So, in fear of having done some serious damage, which may stop me working, I went straight to the hospital. So, here I am. I arrived at about 11:30 and was told it's about a three hour wait. It's still very painful, and even my foot feels swollen and numb. I hope it's just a temporary, because of being on it all day today. Anyway I have everything crossed, I'll update as soon as I can.
Monday 25th February
This has been my first day off where I've had chance to actually sit down and catch up with myself. My leg is getting better; it is just badly bruised, though it's still painful. The hospital gave me crutches as I had a busy week of work, auditions and performances. I thought I'd be off them by now, but I guess I've not exactly been resting it. It's actually felt worse today, again, perhaps that's because it's the first chance it's had to relax. I want to wean myself off the crutches over the next few days and hopefully I'll be fit to work again next week as I'm having to turn down a lot of work at the moment, it's tough that just about everything I do requires me to be active or at least mobile.
Other than that it's been a pretty good week. The show has been going really well. I'm pleased to have had lots of friends and family come to see me. We've had some excellent feedback from our guests and the general public alike and a couple of great reviews in the Camden New Journal and Ham & High newspapers:
"there's enough wit and vim in the cast to carry this production."
"It is a long time since I have seen and heard such a joyful reaction to an 18th century play".
Yesterday I went to another rehearsal for the Lord of the Rings film – The Hunt For Gollum. I obviously didn't do any fighting, but we still discussed roles and costumes and things. I'm playing one of the main Orcs (with dialogue) and very soon I have to get a cast made of my head for the designers to work on my mask. All very exciting! We're going to be shooting over the May bank holiday weekend so I'll be doing lots of fight rehearsals up until then – providing I can.
This weekend I'll be going to a big fitness convention at Excel, where I'll be doing workshops and seminars, and finding out all that's new in the industry. Then next weekend I'm going to a dance expo at Olympia for much of the same. Also next week I'm doing a first aid course to update my qualification.
That's about it right now. Still a few things to look forward to.
Wednesday 5th March
‘Wild Oats' has finished now, and we ended on a great week, selling out our very last performance (which got us into the top 20 selling shows of the venue in 10 years). It's been a rather busy weekend too with our last night party going on until 5 in the morning, the fitness convention, which was all very interesting and inspiring, more fight rehearsals and auditions, my 1 st Aid refresher, which I passed with no problems. My leg is feeling much better now, I came off the crutches a week ago and went back to dance this Monday. I went to the theatre last night to see a friend in a series of short plays called ‘Wordplay'. Some of them were really good (fortunately the one my friend was in was one of them).
This afternoon I had a rehearsal for another small production I'm organising. I'm planning to shoot a scene for a showreel, with a view to using the team to go on and make more ambitious projects in the future. The rehearsal went really well and I'm really looking forward to the actual shoot on the 20th. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.
Wednesday 26th March
Wow! I think I've just had one of the hardest, but most enjoyable weeks of the year. Last week I was shooting a Music Video for a group called The Supernovas. I was playing the lead character, a popular jack-the-lad type drug dealer, called Ace Face (also the name of the song) who's life is eventually destroyed by his own drugs. Filming started last Monday with some of the opening sequences, which was mostly just walking around. It was really cold so I always had someone nearby with my coat ready to throw it on as soon as the director said ‘cut'. Tuesday was a lot of fun, it was all at my character's girlfriend's house and I spent the first part of the afternoon snogging a very cute girl in her underwear. After that (and later on in the video) I go a bit mental and start trashing the room, smashing mugs against the wall and getting blood everywhere – loads of fun! Wednesday was at my own house getting thrown out by my father and lots of throwing myself into the road and the final day Friday was all in a bar, including 30 extras, a fight scene, in which I get hit over the back with a snooker cue, chatting up various girls, and watching the band play live. I had a really good time and I'm looking forward to the screening in June. On the Thursday of that same week I had a shoot of my own. A short scene taken from my script ‘Consequences' to be used for a showreel. It was a huge success. The level of talent and experience within the team was very high and everyone performed above and beyond my expectations so I could not have asked for more.
Over the weekend I've been doing lots of sword fighting displays at the Globe exhibition for the bank holiday weekend (as well as doing Medieval Banquets in the evenings). Yesterday I had a fitting for a film I'm doing in a couple of weeks called ‘Green Zone') . It's about US soldiers in Iraq , directed by Paul Greengrass and starting Matt Damon, so I'm looking forward to that. Then straight after that I was assisting at RC–Annie stage fighting classes and then again on to Banquets.
I've just been to help out at a casting for a Hammer Horror style film called ‘Attack of the Zombie Vampires'. I'll also be playing a policeman that gets bitten and doing the fight choreography. Other than that today has effectively been my first day off in two long and very active weeks. I'm absolutely shattered, and have various bumps and bruises to show for it. I've just been for a nice casual lunch with a friend and now I think I'm just going to chill out at home for the rest of the day.
Monday 7th April
I had a very exciting day yesterday as an extra on the feature film ‘Green Zone' (directed by Paul Greengrass of the ‘Bourne' films and starring Matt Damon). It's a little frowned upon for actors to do extra work, however, I don't do very much of it at all and this is my first big feature so it's just great experience being on set.
The day started at about 8am when I arrived at the Location – Sandown Racecourse in Esher, Surrey – in a blizzard, we're supposed to be in Iraq and everything's covered with snow. As soon as I go in I get put in a queue for costume (desert military gear), then as soon as I'm kitted up, I get in another queue to have my hair cut (fortunately not the traditional military buzz cut), and then another queue for make-up to make me look tanned from the middle eastern sun. After all that we're given ID cards and send to the armoury to collect our weapons, mine was a standard M-16 Rifle. Eventually I got on set by about 10am.
The set was made to look like Bagdad airport, with rubble and military supplies and makeshift aid posts, very atmospheric with smoke and dust everywhere, broken up with beams of light shining in from (lights) outside. There was a lot of standing around, as is expected on any shoot, and I was set talking to an American couple who'd just flown in to Iraq, both very nice people. The main action was going on right past us, so I'll probably be caught on camera at some point (next to an officer being interviewed on camera by two press guys if you're looking).
Later in the day, after a break, I notice a couple of the extras talking to Matt Damon so I thought ‘what the hell' and went over. I don't really get star struck, but I have a great respect for successful actors, so it was a real privilege to meet him and shake his hand, and I even got a photo to prove it!
Dan with Matt Damon on the set of Green Zone, Sandown Park, Surrey. 7th April 2008
Thursday 1st May
There’s been many times in the last few weeks that I’ve made a start at writing something here, and then got side tracked. So this time I’m going to try to get it all down:
Going back to my last entry - shooting ‘Green Zone’ has been a great experience; the biggest production I’ve ever worked on, so it was amazing seeing the amount of people involved, the organisation, the time it took just to reset the camera, and even the camera itself was pretty impressive. On the Thursday we shot a briefing scene where Matt Damon’s character is complaining about the quality of the intelligence telling us were the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were supposed to be. I arrive a bit late and sit on the left of the back row so keep a look out. I don’t have any more dates booked on that (I’ve actually missed out on a few as I’ve had other commitments), but it’s still going on, so I may do some more.
The film work seems to be a trend this year, at least so far. This weekend I start shooting ‘The Hunt For Gollum’ – a lot of preparation has gone into this (as you will see if you read my previous entries, or just visit the website www.thehuntforgollum.com so I’m really looking forward to it. The following weekend I shoot a short of my own (producing, writing and acting) through the collaborative film making group I have set up. It will be our second shoot, but our first proper production - as the other shoot was of a scene excerpt and more of a practice for everyone to get to know each other. We are going to be submitting it to festivals and competitions too, so I’m really quite excited about this one. We have other shorts in pre-production, though no dates have been set, so there’s plenty more where that came from. Plus I just found out that I’m doing another short film the following weekend – a slightly tongue in cheek, Elizabethan, James Bond style, film – I play the baddy Lord Rothesay and also get to do a rapier fight, which I’ve been asked to choreograph.
I had some even better news today I have just been cast in a play going to the Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Festival. It’s called ‘Foreskin’s Lament’ (which is the nickname of the main character) and it’s about a New Zealand rugby team. I play one of the players called Mean (another nickname) and I’ll have to do the Kiwi accent, which I’m pretty confident about anyway. We do three preview shows at the Hackney Empire Studio on 26th, 27th & 28th June and then play at the Babygrand in the Pleasance Courtyard for the entire festival – 3rd-25th August. I’ll add more details nearer the time, but you can find out more here: www.trailertrashtheatre.co.uk.
I’m also pleased to have been getting out to the theatre a lot recently. It hadn’t been a conscious thought to see more shows, it was just coincidence that I had reasons to go to a lot of things in a short space of time. On the 14th April I saw four shows in one day, all new writing and three of them were only 30mins long. That Wednesday I saw The RSC Henry IV parts 1 and 2 consecutively at the roundhouse. That was pretty hard core and I’m a little ashamed to admit I kept falling asleep throughout – but the 10:30am start didn’t help! I did enjoy a lot of it though and I only seemed to miss the boring bits when not much happened, Ha ha ha. That night (feeling a little more awake) I went to see a friend in an Improv show, which was very good and funny. If you’re on Facebook you can join their group. That Saturday I saw another friend in ‘Teachers’ which was excellent. Then the next week (last week) I went to see a friend of a friend in ‘The Maidens Prayer’ on Tuesday and my good friend Richard in ‘The Early Days of Disco’ on the Friday. Altogether ten shows in two weeks!
Saturday 3rd May
(The Hunt For Gollum Shoot Day #1)
The Hunt For Gollum has probably been my most anticipated project of the year so far, so, like with the Shakespeare tour last year, I felt it deserved a little production diary of it’s own. So here it is:
I arrived at Theydon Bois (Epping) late last night because I had such a hectic day, which I won’t go into now. We are actually camping at the location… well next to it, in Epping Forest, so this morning I saved myself a few hours sleep by being able to get straight out of my tent have breakfast and get into costume. Having said that I didn’t actually get to bed until 1am – after putting my tent up, having a production meeting, discussing the script and finally unpacking my sleeping bag, etc. I’m not quite sure how long I slept, if at all; I don’t usually have difficulty getting to sleep. I guess I had a lot on my mind and 1am is actually an early night for me but it probably doesn’t help that I have flu and it was really cold. So at 6am I’m up again, and after some difficulty starting the generator I eventually get a hot Lemsip down me before beginning the long transformation into an Orc. Unfortunately as I didn’t have my watch on, I don’t know how long exactly it took. However, vaguely I started getting into costume at about 7am, I got my prosthetic mask on at about 8:30am and didn’t get on to set until at least 9:30am. Without being able to take anything off all day, I stayed in costume until 5:30pm. The day went as most first days on a film go, slowly. Most of the footage shot today was a conversation between me and another Orc as we are looking for the hero, Aragorn, in the forest. We get into an argument and just as we are about to get into a fight between ourselves, he comes out of nowhere and kills us both. I even get the proud title of being the first Orc to be killed in the film. That was pretty much it in a nutshell. Everyone was taking photos so I’ll be sure to upload some as soon as I can. I’m not on the tube back to London to do Medieval Banquets, which I booked a little too hastily and am slightly regretting it now. After the banquets I’ll be heading back to Epping for a big, booze up, BBQ before doing day two, which you will find right here, tomorrow.
Sunday 4th May
(The Hunt For Gollum Shoot Day #2)
Today was a much bigger day in comparison to yesterday. By the end of the day there were 14 Orcs on set, each one requiring constant make-up, prosthetics and costume attention. They day started pretty much the same as yesterday: breakfast, costume, make-up. I was fortunate today that I didn’t need any prosthetics, as I was wearing a helmet that covered most of my head. Meaning later in the day, when it got hot and stuffy I could just take it off. I felt sorry for the guys who did have to wear the masks all day, but I have that to look forward to tomorrow.
We started shooting close-ups from the 1st half of the fight. I die pretty early so I spent a lot of time lying on the floor. However, not before shooting the moments before and after my death about 10 times from various angles, meaning I was constantly falling down, getting up again, falling down again… and so on. After that we did lots (and lots and lots) of orcs running through the forest. By this time it was quite hot and we were already tired from the morning’s shooting. Lots of water and sugary sweets got us through that bit. On one take I tripped on a tree root and fell flat on my face in front of the stills photographer, who captured the whole thing in slow motion, so you can expect to see that in the out-takes. Later on we went back and shot the fight with wider angles, meaning more dying for me.
As we were filming in a public area (on a bank holiday weekend) we attracted many passers by to come and watch. It must have been quite a sight for some unsuspecting member of the public to be walking through the woods on holiday to be confronted by a band of marauding Orcs. There were lots of kids about who were obviously very excited by it all, and sometime we’d amuse ourselves by chasing them, making them scream and run away. The braver ones would come over and talk to us and when they discovered it was a Lord of the Rings film they were all very impressed.
Monday 5th May
(The Hunt For Gollum Shoot Day #3)
The third and last day (for the Orcs anyway); I forgot to set my alarm last night and had to be woken up. Still suffering from a sore throat, cough, blocked nose and a headache I got up, bleary eyed, and had my morning Lemsip and jam sandwich. Today was going to be much more active for me than yesterday and I admit there was a brief sense of foreboding as I prepared myself for the day. Fortunately I wasn’t needed straight away and when I was I spent my first hour on lying on the floor as a dead body from the day before. I was then sent to get into my third Orc of the weekend. It was much the same schedule as the day before starting with the close-ups and then doing the wider shots later in the afternoon. When we finished the last shots of the fight, everyone was just about ready to drop, and we are all expecting the director to say ‘that’s a wrap’, but instead he tells us he wants to do some more running through the forest. We resisted the urge to run him through and went to another part of the forest it was actually a quite fun as we had to improvise a little bit where the leader Orc is telling us what to do. Me and another Orc got into a fight and ended up rolling on the floor biting each other until I was dragged off and punched by the leader Orc. After a bit more running around we were finished. But there was still one last thing to do. We had been planning amongst the Orcs to attack Adrian (who plays Aragorn) at the end of the shoot. Everyone was in on it except him, so the cameras were set up and the director gave the nod and we all charged at him. I think he knew what was coming because he simply dropped his sword and waited for the inevitable as about ten of us pilled on top of him in a huge Orc pile-on even a few of the crew jumped in too. Being at the front I ended up at the bottom of the pile. After everyone had got up, still in a mischievous mood, we turned on the director. I picked him up and we carried over to the stream nearby, held him upside down with his head inches from the water, while another Orc splashed his face with it. We didn’t get him wet though and after that we all had a big cheer for the end of the shoot (for the Orcs as I said earlier).
We got out of our costumes – which had seen some pretty intense action – prosthetics and make-up, took down ours tents and said our goodbyes.
In desperate need of a wash, some food and a decent bed I wasn’t too sad to be leaving. However it will be an experience I will never forget and I’m so glad I can look forward to an even bigger one on ‘Born of Hope’ when that begins shooting in the Autumn.
Monday 19th May
Friday saw the last of my film shoots, at least for the time being I hope. This one was a short film called ‘Marlowe’ where Christopher Marlowe is a James Bond type character attempting to foil an assassination plot on the Queen. I play a baddy – Lord Rothesay - who, after a swashbuckling sword fight, convinces Marlowe to join forces with him in order to defeat a greater danger threatening the country – and its only 3 minutes long! It was great fun, and I got to choreograph the fight scene, which everyone was very impressed by. Even I was impressed as the guy playing Marlowe had never so much as touched a sword before and after only two, one hour, rehearsals he managed to pick it all up. The weekend before that we shot my own production, via my filmmaking group, called ‘Detention’. It is another short film about a school girl in detention who tries to seduce her teacher, but there is a dark twist at the end. That’s all I can tell you I’m afraid, but we are going to be submitting it to film festivals so I will let you know when and where you can see it. It was a really good shoot and again I’m very impressed with the team. About half had worked on our previous shoot, some I’d worked with on other productions and some I’d never met before. Next we have a couple of small projects in mind for the near future and another in preparation for the summer.
I’m actually getting to enjoy a few days off this week (due to a cancellation) so I get to catch up with everything. It’s been such a busy few weeks and next week it gets busy again when I start rehearsals for ‘Foreskin’s Lament’. Looking back in just the last three weeks I’ve done as many short films and a bit role in a commercial. In the last two months I’ve done all that plus a music video, a feature film, another short film and an internet promo. It’s all in aid of my showreel so I’m really looking forward to getting all back and finally making a start on it.
Sunday 22nd June
It’s 2am and I’m sitting in my hotel room in Brighton after just finishing working on a nightclub tour looking after a hen and stag party. It was an enjoyable night and I don’t have to rush back in the morning so I can afford to stay up a bit longer, watch the end of ‘Good Will Hunting’ on TV and catch up on the last month.
The two or three weeks after my last entry were rather un-eventful, well I mean there were no great developments, mostly just promo, crew and banquets work along with rehearsals for ‘Foreskin’s Lament’. It’s only really the last couple of weeks that things kicked off again.
Rehearsals are going well, it’s all come together nicely and we’re just working on cleaning and tightening. Last week was quite exciting because on Tuesday I was invited to lunch with Brian Green, and ex-professional Kiwi rugby player. I got to ask him a lot about the game, team camaraderie and attitudes and he was full of interesting anecdotes. The next day we were taken to New Zealand house on Haymarket where the New Zealand Maoris get together each week to go through their national traditions and songs. It was really quite evocative watching and listening to them, particularly the Haka which made all my hairs stand up on end. It made me think it’s a shame there’s nothing quite like it in England – where we get together to perform old customs, sing songs and basically celebrate being English. I suppose these days that’s considered un-PC. We we’re then taken to another room and taught the Haka, which we will be performing at the end of the play. After about 15-20 minutes going through the words and actions the guy teaching us said “Right we’re going to go downstairs now and you are going to perform what you’ve learnt in front of the whole group.” What an amazing experience! I was honoured to have even seen it up close, never mind learnt it, and I couldn’t have dreamt of performing it in front of 50 or so genuine Maoris! They were very supportive, and rather impressed with how much we’d learnt in such a small time. A lot of them said they’d come and see the show in Hackney. We’ve worked lots on the Haka and it’s looking really impressive, so I hope they like it. It’s definitely one of my favourite parts of the show.
On the same day that we went to New Zealand House I’d been spending most of the day filming a police bravery reconstruction for an internal awards ceremony within the police force. It was about a couple of police officers who saved a man from hanging himself. I was playing a fireman; I had to get underneath the guy hanging by his neck (he did have a harness on) off the side of a building and try to hold him up by his feet. It was hard work and really surreal as you couldn’t see the harness and there’s just this guy above me hanging with a rope around his neck. His face was red (make-up) and it was all quite scary.
Friday last week I went to see a screening of the short film - ‘Marlowe’ - I did recently. I also choreographed the sword fight in it and I was excited to see how it came across – particularly as the other actor had never even touched a sword before this. It looked really good. The editing was quite quick so you didn’t get to see much of the fight as a whole, but other than that I was pleasantly surprised.
On Sunday I went to rehearse my next short film – one that I’m also producing and directing. It has a big chase sequence culminating in a fight so it’s one of our more ambitious projects and will be a great showcase for my fighting and choreography skills. It’s going to be a little tongue in cheek so we had a lot of fun choreographing some slick, kung-fu style, Jackie Chan inspired moves.
On Monday I did a photo shoot for a Nokia ad. Though don’t expect to see me as I’m at the back amongst a group of people, all with their hands in the air.
Tuesday I had another shoot from my production company. This was specifically a showreel piece for an actor friend of mine – John Gilligan. John came to me with a monologue from a play and wanted to shoot it. After arranging a really nice location – Waxy O’Connors on Rupert Street – and a modest crew of three, we did just that. I haven’t seen the footage yet, but what I saw in the viewfinder was beautiful, it was lit really well by my DoP, Steve Giles and John was complementary about my directing too. Of course his acting was excellent as well and made my job much easier. We’ll being editing that next week. I hope to set up a separate website for all our production stuff by the end of the year. We are currently offering the showreel service at a heavily discounted rate to build up our portfolio.
Sunday 29th June
This week has been all about the show pretty much and it all paid off. Yesterday was the last of our three previews at the Hackney Empire Studio and we had some excellent feedback. One of my favourite quotes was from a lady after the Friday performance. She said “The fight made me cry”. ‘Yesss!!!’ I thought (it was my choreography). The three performances actually sold out before we even opened and based on that the Hackney Empire Studio have asked us to go back for a three week run in November. If Edinburgh sees the same success as here that would be amazing, as I believe the average audience at the festival is 3. Anyway I’m going to get back to enjoying my day off.
Thursday 17th July
I must admit it’s been odd the last couple of weeks. Knowing I’ve just finished a production, but it’s not quite finished and then knowing I have a production coming up, but not doing any rehearsals. We do actually have some rehearsals next week, and we have a few days in Edinburgh too before we open. We need to cut about an hour from the show. So that’s all we need to rehearse. Fortunately as I don’t say a lot in the first place, most of my stuff is safe.
So while I’ve not been rehearsing I’ve just been trying to find work, which is surprisingly sparse at the moment. It’s actually because I can’t really commit to anything as I have so many little things dotted around.
One of my major recent events was my advanced fight exam. To become an apprentice I need to get a gold recommendation qualification. Four years ago I got gold and it was hard work. I had to perform five fights (broadsword, quarterstaff, rapier and cloak, small sword and unarmed), one of those has to include dialogue. We are marked on technique, accuracy, safety, acting, performance, intention, reactions, etc, etc. On top of all that if I don’t get it this time I’ve got to wait until next September (2009) to register as an apprentice. So as you can imagine it was pretty tense. To cut a long story very short; I got it! So this September I will be registering as an apprentice to my master Philip Stafford and must then complete 300 teaching hours, as well as attending special workshops and doing lots of research and written work, before being examined as a teacher. It’s a long way off yet, but it’s nice to have finally started.
The weekend after my fight exam I was back working at the Kings Theatre (where I did panto last Christmas), but this time (to the crews’ surprise) I was stage managing. It was for a dance school show and it was rather complicated. My job is to sit at the side of the stage infront of a montitor and cue all the other technical aspects of the show – scenery/lighting/sound/film. The first performance was the first time any of us had really seen it, so you can imagine I was pretty nervous, not to mention it was the first time I had ever done this job (though I’ve seen it done many times). My hands were actually shaking all the way through. Fortunately by the second show we’d seen it and it improved 500%. However the cast weren’t perfect either and still kept me on my toes when a whole page of dialogue was skipped or even a whole scene! I handled it though and by the end of the fourth show it was running nice and smoothly. It was an amazing experience and I always enjoy working in different areas of production. Not only does it give you a different perspective to a show and a theatre and the staff, but you also come out with a lot more respect for the people that do that job when I’m just an actor ‘prancing about’ on stage.
Today I’m going to the Latitude festival to work for Pimms very shortly. There are various different areas we are working, so between now and Sunday I’ll be running lawn games, such as bowls and croquet by the Pimms bus, punting people across a lake to the private Pimms island and looking after VIPs in the Pimms luxury tent. All of which sounds rather fun. So providing the sun keeps shining I think it’ll be a jolly good weekend. Well cheerio for now.
Wednesday 27th August
Wow, what a month! I got back from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival yesterday and I’ve slept most of today as it was just exhausting. I would say hard work exactly, just always doing something. As we were performing at the Pleasance Courtyard, which is one of the major venues, we got to see all the Pleasance shows for free (and that’s a lot). I also had loads of friends up there either performing or visiting - some I discovered while I was there - so there was always someone to go out with. I reckon a saw an average of about 2 shows a day so I must have seen about 50 shows altogether, though I lost count after the first week. It seems so much thinking about it, but I’m not going to try to work it out so you’ll have to take my word for it. I saw some amazing shows, across the board – stand-up, musicals, drama, comedy, physical theatre – The ones that stood out for me were; ‘Tim Minchin’, ‘Charlie Alpha Romeo’, ‘A Dog Called Redemption’, ‘Nude’, ‘Pericles Redux’ and ‘Kiddy-Fiddler on the Roof’. Look them up. I also met some interesting people, particularly the fight choreographer of Kill Bill, who was performing in a Samurai show.
Our show went really well. We sold out three of our shows and averaged about 25 in the audience (which is very good for the fringe). We had some great feedback from the audiences and four star reviews in Three weeks and What’s on Stage. The producers were also invited to take the show to a Festival in Dublin in May next year.
I could go on and on about the things I got up to but with most of it you really had to be there, so I’ll spare you the full run down and just say if you haven’t yet experienced the Edinburgh Festival, GO!!!
Wednesday 3rd September
I find the best times to write these are when I’m doing filming as there’s so much waiting around. I’m currently doing a short film called ‘Get a Life’. I play a soldier in a TA centre having a briefing, when a man unwittingly breaks into the compound looking for a woman who borrowed his pen. Obviously not a serious piece of drama. I’ve been here two and a half hours so far and not done anything yet. That isn’t so bad, though I have a feeling we could still be waiting much longer.
Now I’m back home there’s a lot to look forward to. This Sunday we are casting for the trailer shoot of the feature film I’m producing. We’ve been preparing this for over a month now, so it’s good to be finally about to do it. It also means that after that we can really get things underway for the actual shoot which is scheduled for October. We have some exciting prospects for it already, so without saying too much, I’m quietly confident it’s going to do very well.
I’m also getting close to rehearsing and shooting ‘Born of Hope’ the Lord of the Rings fan film another really exciting project that I know is going to be an amazing experience and as it’s going to be much of the same team that were on ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ it’ll be great fun to do.
On September 28th I’m going to be competing at the All British Weapons and Combat Championships in Manchester, performing choreographed fight displays for a competition. We will also be offering workshops and information to visitors on stage combat and fight choreography. ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ team will also be there to show some props, costumes and examples of our work from the film.
In December I’ll be doing my 15th Pantomime. This year I’m reprising my role as the Huntsman in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Playhouse Theatre in Harlow. The after that I’m playing Romeo in a tour of Romeo and Juliet until May 09. So I’m pretty pleased to be booked up until then, allowing me to concentrate more on other things in the meantime.
Monday 8th September
We had our big casting day for the trailer shoot of ‘Jericho’s Walls are Falling’ (the feature film I’m producing) yesterday and it was an awesome day. We saw about 50 actors altogether over two three hour sessions. There was a wide range of people from all walks of life, a mixture of ages, races, sexes, backgrounds and experience and the level of talent and enthusiasm was high. We started with some improvisations of a couple in a date scenario, one of the characters has HIV and the other character wants to sleep with them, but doesn’t know. It was really interesting to see the different directions the couples would take. This was followed by some readings from the script. Given the nature of the film, some of these scenes were really quite emotional and I noticed some people watching actually had tears in their eyes.
As this was effectively the first public outing of the script (at least sections of it) it was refreshing for Lance, the director, (and I) to see it performed live. It was also inspiring with the amount of people that came up to me to tell me how much they respected the project and us for doing it, as well offering us any support they could give.
We will be deciding on the cast over the next few days and are aiming to shoot in early October.
After the casting Lance, Sharon, (the casting director) and I went through everyone we had seen and discussed where they would be best suited. Our lead, Jericho, will be played by Gideon Turner, an experienced actor with many TV, and some film, credits already under his belt. I had also been in line up to play this role; however, I knew that Gideon’s name and experience would give the whole project much more kudos than a relatively unknown one like mine, so, donning the producer’s hat, I stepped back without argument. I will be playing Jericho’s best friend Steve who supports him throughout the film. We found a role for almost everyone giving us a very large cast, which will be expensive!
Today I had the briefing for my new full time promotional campaign over the next three months. I’m going to be driving all over the country building and dismantling a stand (with it’s own kitchen) for new curry sauce sampling., starting tomorrow at Victoria Station. It’s a big commitment for me and it’s going to mean I can’t do a lot of things that I’d had planned this autumn (and was looking forward to), however the money is very good and sometimes that’s what we have to look at, especially as it will allow us a better budget for the trailer shoot. It will also give me great security for next year, and the fact I’ll be going straight onto panto and then on tour is a good enough substitute for missing out on a few things this year. By May next year I should have saved to invest in some more of my own projects. Anyway, I’ll be looking forward to it as I’ll get to do some travelling and hopefully catch up with some long lost friends on the way.
Sunday 21st September
Today is eight years since I moved to London, maybe not the most significant date in the national calendar, but a day of retrospect and taking stock for me especially when I think how green and inexperienced (in many things) I was then. I won’t go into it, why not go through this diary.
I’m at Medieval Banquets at the moment after a long journey from Southsea where I’ve been auditioning dancers for panto. Over the weekend I’ve been in Hastings for the promo campaign and yesterday I also had a drive to and from London for my first BADC (British Academy of Dramatic Combat) stage fighting workshop as an apprentice instructor. I’ve begun teaching stage combat at Italia Conti performing arts school with my Master instructor, Philip Stafford which has been great experience, and I continue to assist and perform at the Globe Exhibition.
The film has been moving swiftly since our casting, I’m slowly ticking boxes on my ever growing to-do list of locations, crew, equipment, schedules, etc… and things seem to be on track (though I’m not letting that make me get complacent). We’re fully cast now, in two weeks we have a big rehearsal weekend planned and in three weeks – the 11th October - we begin shooting. We’re continually getting people offering their support, some quite substantial. Things have changed massively since Lance (Nielsen, the writer/director) and I first discussed doing something with the screenplay, it has grown to something really quite immense (at least for my experience), I’m actually quite intimidated by the work I’ve got to do for this and as the option to make the full feature becomes more and more realistic I can see I’m going to have my work cut out for me over the next year or so – learning as I go. I’ve always been the one to jump in at the deep end.
P.S. I saw all three of ‘The Norman Conquests’ at the Old Vic over the last couple of weeks. I highly recommend them an excellent script complimented by an excellent cast.
Saturday 4th October
We had our first rehearsal for ‘Jericho’s Walls are Falling’ today and it’s been another truly inspirational day. We’ve been working on individual scenes today and tomorrow we will be doing the big group scenes. It was a long day with a lot of waiting around, I was kept busy with my never ending production work as well as taking some of the cast and crew for interviews and just ensuring everyone was ok. As at the auditions I had many people expressing their enthusiasm and support to me, which continues to spur me on with my work, which I admit has been quite wearing.
I’ve been up North for nearly two weeks working on the promo campaign in and around Manchester. Fortunately, without the usual distractions at home, I was able to get a lot done while being away. There is another rehearsal tomorrow but I am working in Staffordshire and it is also my sister’s Birthday so I’ll be going to my mum’s afterwards. In a week today we will begin shooting. There is still a lot to be done, but I can see everything is coming together.
Sunday 26th October
Anyone that has ever had anything to do with filmmaking, particularly those that have produced before will appreciate that the last three weeks have been utterly exhausting. We began shooting on the 11th and finished this Wednesday 22nd. Eight days in total, 17 hours of footage, 54 cast members and 30 crew (which continues to grow).
Today has been my first official day off since the 6th, though I’ve been fighting at the Globe Exhibition all afternoon. I’m slowly recovering as I begin to prepare myself for the next task at hand – the screening and launch party on 1st December (World Aids day) – but more about that later.
Because of the promotional campaign I’m currently working on (to afford to pay for all this) I was unable to be around the filming as much as I’d liked. I tried to get back to set between work as much as I could, which often meant I was doing about six to eight, or more, hours driving a day and only getting about four hours sleep in my van, in a car park, each night.
The first day of shooting was one of these occasions. I was working in Chippenham, near bath, that morning finishing around 11am I then made the two and a half hour drive back to London to see how everyone was getting on. Despite running a little behind as the equipment had arrived late everything else seemed to be going smoothly. It was a relatively easy day (intentionally), so a good way to kick off. The next day however was our biggest shoot day – at least in terms of people anyway – with 40 people on set, who all needed to be signed in, made up, have costumes checked, rehearsed, fed, etc, etc, we knew we’d have our work cut out for us. Again there were set backs, but other people stepped in to help us out and we had another successful day. The cast were great, the crew were great, the food was great (there were even leftovers for me to take home - Mmm). I got to stay the whole day this time, so actually had a chance to sit down and talk to people. I borrowed a camera and went around documenting the day and getting more interviews for our promo package. At one point the support group cast were doing an improvised rehearsal. Every actor had a character background, how they’d been infected, how they found out, how they dealt with it, what support they had, what medication they were on. Everyone was briefed by our acting coach (who is also acting himself) and he’d also given everyone fact sheets about the current news and issues that were affecting positive people. It was amazing to watch, everyone was so in character I totally believed it, even the people that I knew.
On Monday 13th I was on the road again, this time to Bristol. I was working on production things late on Sunday so I drove straight there overnight and slept in the van. Once I’d finished I came back to London to do my first scenes as Steve (Jericho’s best friend). Again things were slightly behind schedule and sadly my main scene was a little rushed and as we were doing it in true guerrilla style, with cameras and crew hiding in cars and behind walls, it was difficult for Lance to direct. However I felt it went well and as soon as we were done I jumped back in the van and back to Bristol.
Tuesday was officially a day off, but I had a short lie in before going to Italia Conti to teach stage combat, then home again for more production work and then to RC-Annie for more stage combat instructing.
The next two days I was running back and forth to Oxford and on Friday morning I was back at Italia Conti for four hours then met the rest of my production team on the South Bank where they were just wrapping up a scene. I continued home to tidy up and prep for a shoot in my bedroom later that day. By the time everyone had arrived, my flat was turned upside down. It had been a long day for all, so we were all tired but it was a good shoot and moral stayed high. I had two semi naked women in my bed, sadly I wasn’t even allowed in the room, but I’ll have the footage!! He he he. I’m still rearranging my flat today.
Over the weekend I had more running (driving) across the country, it was quite hairy on Saturday as the logistics of transporting the equipment went all wrong as the shoot overran, but we sorted it.
Sunday was another scene I was acting in and another of our largest days for cast and crew. While I was working in Newbury in the morning everyone else got on with another section that I’m not involved in. I got to set just in time for lunch, which was delicious and then quickly shot my bits before I had to dash off again. That evening there was a karaoke arranged for everyone. I tried to get back as quick as I can, but arrive just as everyone was about to go home. I packed up the van and went home to prepare for our Brighton shoot on Monday.
We were shooting a scene on the sea front in Brighton, only two actors and a minimal crew so relatively easy in that respect, however it was so windy and cold it turned out to be quite a challenge. I’m so glad I invested in some good quality radio mics or the sound would have been a disaster. The tide was coming in fast two and at one point we had to move up the beach to avoid getting swept away – I hope that doesn’t show up as a continuity issue. It was a very good shoot though and everyone pulled together. Afterwards we went to a fish and chips restaurant and had a really nice meal.
On Tuesday I was working in Southampton and Wednesday was our last day shooting the clinic scenes. We discovered one of our crew lived in a converted doctors’ surgery, and it still had a lot of the existing fittings and equipment, perfect! It was a nice chilled shoot to finish on and after that I’d arranged a wrap party for everyone at a bar in Holborn. I also doubled it as my early birthday party – I knew I wouldn’t really get a chance to celebrate any other time. Sadly I had to return all the equipment before I could go, so I ended up being rather late for my own party. Still, I had a really good time. Everyone had arranged a card and a cake for me, which I don’t think anyone has ever done for me before, and we danced until late.
And that was it. Now I have to arrange the screening/fundraising party for 1st December
Monday 1st December
1st December was our World Aids Day screening party for the promo video of ‘Jericho’s Walls are Falling’. Since finishing the shoot on 22nd October I’ve been co-ordinating with our editor, who was working as much as she could to get the trailer and promo scenes ready for screening and also collaborating with our publicity person to arrange the whole event which consisted of:
5-7pm - HAPPY HOUR
6pm - Evening begins (donation boxes will be available on the door. This is not an entry charge and is entirely at your discretion).
7pm – An introduction to Uturns, who’s single ‘Violent Silence’ was released in 2004 and profits went to HIV charity Terence Higgins Trust. On 6th December the Uturns are performing a gig at SIN - They are donating all gig profits to an HIV charity.
7:10pm – An introduction to the project and key players: Producer Dan Stilwell, Writer/Director Lance Nielsen and leading actor Gideon Turner
7:15pm – Screening of the promotional trailer and some full scenes from the film followed by a Q&A with Dan, Lance and Gideon
8:00pm – Live music from singer/songwriter Peter Hepworth
8:30pm – Break
9pm – Stand up comedy with Kate Smurthwaite, Donald Mack & Darren Ruddell
9:30pm – 2nd Screening of the trailer
9:35pm - The raffle and auction. Get your tickets now!!!
10:30pm – DJ Huds
12midnight – DJ Jonathan Bishop
1am – DJ Phil Noize
Raffle tickets will be available on the door and cost £5 per strip.
Even if you cannot make the event you can still buy a raffle ticket as long as you can get the money to me in cash or cheque (or balance transfer if you wish) Email Dan with your name, email and phone number, how you’d like to pay and of course how many tickets you’d like and I will get back to you with your numbers. Your details will be written on the ticket so if it is drawn you will be contacted. This means you can also sell tickets to your friends, so tell everyone!
Prizes include:
For the auction:
A photo shoot with our stills photographer Richard Unger (valid for one year)
A photo shoot with our stills photographer Simon Barnes (valid for one year)
A one day showreel/promotional video shoot, including an edited DVD (valid for one year)
4 personal training sessions (valid for one year)
Maharishi clothing (worth approx £350)
Signed ‘Rise of the Footsoldier’ poster
For the raffle:
50 World Aids Day condoms
2 tickets to see Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre, London
2 tickets for The London Eye
4 tickets for The London Dungeons
Tickets to live music events Teddy Thompson (Courtesy of the Mama Group)
Stussy clothing
Sedgwick clothing
And 1 clothing
Signed Books by Alex Wheatle (MBE)
Dermalogica Skincare range giftset
A box of assorted promotional branded goodies courtesy of Brand Experience
4 tickets to see Snow White at the Harlow Playhouse, Harlow
Uturns - Violent Silence CD
Bottle of Champagne
Plus many more
Sunday 7th December
I don’t remember my last day off, and really with the amount of catching up I have to do today I’m not sure if this one counts. But anyway…
Well, November has been a bit of a blur, the majority of it was spent driving between Reading, Leeds, Leicester, Bristol and so on, in-between which I still managed to fit in some fighting time at Italia Conti, The Globe, RC-Annie and on a shoot for ‘Born of Hope’ – the Lord of the Rings fan film I’ve been so much looking forward to. Because of all the other work I haven’t actually been able to do anything on it until now and I’ve been involved for over two years. It was very different to the Hunt for Gollum shoot, with lots more people on board, most of whom I’d never met before, but a few familiar faces, somewhat different costumes and prosthetics too. In a small scene we had to scare a horse, which was fun, everyone was worried about what it would do, but it did exactly what it was supposed to, so all was ok. Sadly it was a very rainy weekend and much was delayed. Also there was a lot of running around during the fight sequences and it’s very difficult to stay upright in wet leaves, especially with limited vision. I ended up covered in scratches and bruises.