WINTER 2003
LYDIA and JAN'S MIDWINTER FILM FESTIVAL JAN 20 THRU FEB 9, 2003
ALBANY, NY
Steve Fisher's Response #1:
From: PRaxis
To: Jan Galligan <galligan@sprynet.com>
Subject: Re: Late, again.
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 16:10:17
+0100
Jan:
Good lord, dear boy. I'm in
the first ten minutes of the film, when Chon
Wang (Jackie Chan) finds Roy
O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) apparently living the
high life, dressed in a white
tuxedo and surrounded by beautiful women in
the restaurant of the Waldorf-Astoria.
When Chon asks Roy where his share
of the money is (that they
got at the end of "Shanghai Noon"), Roy assures
him it's safely invested,
not to worry. "Just look at me, Chon," says Roy,
pointing at his tux. "You
can see I've done pretty well for myself..."
And that is the moment when I, dressed
in an identical white tuxedo, walk up to Roy, angrily tell him, "The couple
at table five is ready to order!" and then storm off.
"You work here?" asks Chon,
shocked.
"Oh...no, no," Roy fumbles. "They're just confused because my tuxedo looks like one of theirs."
At which point, another actor, also
in a white tuxedo, walks up, hands Roy
some money, and says, "Here's your
share of the tips, Roy."
Hoo-hah! I can't believe
you missed me.
Steve
Steve Fisher's Response #2: From: PRaxis To: Jan Galligan <galligan@sprynet.com>
Subject: Re::eR
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 15:28:52
+0100
Jan and Lydia:
I envy your filmgoing ...I've been
only twice, to see "A Perfect Mind" and "...........", what was it called?
That recent Spielberg sci-fi movie with Tom Cruise about which The
New Yorker said that its title was the worst thing about it...oh, yeah,
"Minority Report".
On the subject of sci-fi, I have just been cast in a really cool role, as a government agent hunting evil
creatures in "Hellboy", yet another film based
on a comic book. I'm quite
excited about it, as I'll be getting to do a lot
of "action" scenes, hunting
in dark places, shining a flashlight around (a
la "X-Files") and shooting
(have never fired a weapon in a film before).
Best of all, my character,
an agent named Quarry (ironic, eh?) is eventually
killed (devoured, in fact)
by one of the evil mutants in a very grisly
scene. Lots of screen time
and terrific pay. They're hiring me for seven
weeks of shooting (rather than
just by the day), during which I have to be
available to work nine days.
That's a lot of work in the bit player biz.
And yesterday I auditioned
for a BBC film, "Charles II" (no, not a sequel,
dear boy, it's a historical
film about the king), doing my best British
accent for the role of the
queen's doctor. The director was there during
the casting (which is not usually
the case) and seemed impressed by my
reading. We'll see. And next
Monday, yet another casting for a comedy,
"Ugly Americans".
So, only January 24 and 2003 is already
shaping up to be a dynamite year...as it should be, being the Year of the
Goat in Chinese astrology, which is my year. During the last one, 12 years
ago, I suddenly made a rather odd and unexpected decision to change my
life completely, when the opportunity to live in a place called Czechoslovakia
presented itself to me. 12 years before that, in 1979, I was miraculously
rescued from a two-year spell of directionless and improverished post-university
wandering by the simultaneous offer of a job and a place to live from an
organization with the ingtriguingly humourous name of Electronic Body Arts,
which marked the beginning of a very happy and creative period of my life.
Sorry about that bloody cold
weather you've been having. First you're
buried in snow, and now this.
Here it's also just a bit above zero, but
Celsius is a much kinder scale,
as are things generally here in the Old
Country. Germany and France
seem to be quite the bugs up GW's and Rummy's
respective asses. "We don't
need 'em," Rummy said yesterday. How's that
for diplomacy?
Looking forward to "Catch Me
If You Can" when it arrives on the shelves of
our English-language video
rental shop sometime this summer. The New Yorker
carped about the lack of interior
lighting in "Gangs of New York", saying
that authenticity is one thing,
but it's nice to actually be able to see
what's happening in a film.
I'm sure I'll want to see it (as much as that's
possible) anyway.
Happy Movie-Going!
Steve
Steve Fisher's Response #3: From: PRaxis To: Galligan-Jan <galligan@sprynet.com>
Subject: Re: Hellboy
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 15:42:59
+0100
Jan: Something in me suspects that you've already been surfing the Net for references to the film "Hellboy" which I told you I've been cast in. I did the same myself today, and the web is loaded with fan sites as well as official sites such as www.hellboy.com
and www.hellsite2.com
Suddenly I feel an awesome responsibility to live up to the rabid devotion of the comic's fans, not to mention the director's own adoration of the comic and its creator. The director, Del Toro, also directed "Blade II" here, which got terrific reviews. Shooting starts
in March. Will keep you posted.
Steve
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