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Busy month. I directed my first film on the 19th. Over Breakfast (which I also wrote) is a dramatic short film about a mother and daughter sitting over the breakfast table not talking about the fact that the daughter has been sleeping with the father for a number of years. It's all very "Pinteresque" and looks beautiful. It stars Diana Kyle as the mother (Rose), Shelley Gant as the daughter (Iris) and Karen Smith as Clara. (See pictures). The shoot went great. My cinematographer, Remi Tournois, knew exactly what we needed to tell the story and his sensitive hand delivered exactly the look required. I start editing the film in a few weeks with Camden Toy (My editor of choice, good friend and Gnarl from the Buffy series.) He's a great editor and I can't wait to work with him on this piece. We're hoping to get it into Sundance, of course, but other festivals are being looked at as well. Especially Cannes. Remi being French and all.

The weekend after we shot Over Breakfast we opened Hamlet - the First Quarto. A number of the reviews are in. (See reviews) One of my biggest fears has always been "going up" (which means forgetting your lines) is a Shakespeare play. I'm great at ad-libbing and improvisation, but in iambic pentameter? It's a worrier. So I kind of avoided Shakespeare for years as a result. Well, I'm here to tell you it's not THAT big of a deal if you do. Second night of the show, I enter for a big speech that goes like this:"

So. It's like jazz. If you screw up, just keep going, and maybe somebody will think it was purposeful.

More Shakespeare. I've been cast as "Corambis" (AKA "Polonius") in NOTE's production of "Hamlet - The First Quarto". Corambis is Ophelia's father. He has the "To thy own self be true..." speech. He also gets stabbed by Hamlet who, in our production, is being played by a woman. Cool. I'm also playing the role of the Gravedigger. He's the one who waxes philosophical and hands Hamlet the skull that once belonged to Yorick. As in "Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio." Again. Cool.

I see that Ellen Muth (RAIN) has a show on Showtime now called DEAD LIKE ME. It's gotten great reviews. I only saw a little bit of the pilot and it looked really good. Ellen and I were in RAIN together, so I'm hoping her show will be a HUGE smash so that maybe RAIN will get a U.S. distributor. Any takers out there?

Another interesting show I was involved with (however briefly) was LINDA LOVELACE - THE MUSICAL starring Tina Yothers of "Family Ties" fame, featuring music by the Go-Go's. I mean...come ON! The audition will forever be one of my favorite moments. It was Palm Sunday. The auditions were to be held, of all places, at Dupar's restaurant in the Ramada Hotel in West Hollywood. Now, I'd always kind of figured that my singing in a restaurant days were over but, hell, just goes to show you, never say "never". Anyway, I'd decided to sing a rock cover of "Pilate's Song" from Jesus Christ Superstar. So, there I was singing "Who...is...this Jesus Christ...cluttering up my hallway...!" on Palm Sunday, in a family restaurant, in front of Tina Yothers and the Go-Go's auditioning for a show about a woman who could take it all the way down the throat. God I love show business.

The show had originally been intended as a backer's audition for a NY production and a fundraiser for Theatre of NOTE so, as an Equity member it was ok for me to rehearse and perform in it. I was playing "The Entertainer". A role based on Sammy Davis Jr. Hey. I could play it.

Eventually all Theatre of NOTE members who were in the show were booted out by the director/writer because...well, I'm not quite sure why, actually. You'd have to ask him. All I know is it's the first time I was ever let go from a show. And the only time a director ever shoved me. Oh, the stories, the glamour, the stories. I'm sure it'll go quite far. And it was really quite lovely getting to know Tina Yothers and the Go-Go's.

Also attended the LA Film Festival. Didn't like a helluva lot this time round. With the exception of THE MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP directed by George Hickenlooper. (George directed me in THE MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS. But that's not why I liked the movie.)

Shot a national commercial for PRILOSEC OTC that should start airing sometime in July. I play a NASCAR driver. The director was Jordan Brady. An incredibly smooth director who was the life of the party at all times. We were outside in the sun for most of the very hot day at a race track in the San Gabriel valley but, man, he went out of his way to make sure that everybody was happy and content. From the hero lead to the smallest extra. I hope to work with him again very soon. Great guy.

Been working hard with Theatre of NOTE, trying to help restructure some of its organizational process. We currently doing a production called "Drift" by Jon Tuttle. It's a good play but I think it'd be an even better independent film. An art house Fest Fave featuring Ileanna Douglas, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Forster, Steve Buscemi and, ahem...me.

Went to Network for a Pilot this year. It was called BATTLE CREEK and was a sort of "Twin Peaks" meets "Bakersfield PD" one-camera comedy for CBS. Going to the CBS building on Fairfax is always a treat because it always reminds me of when I watched the Carol Burnett show as a kid and they showed the exterior of the building with the big "CBS" logo on it. The Pilot ended up never even being shot, but it's always good to be seen by Leslie Moonves. President of CBS.

Have been attending the Director Series through the Independent Features Project/West in LA. It's being hosted by Elizabeth Pena (Resurrection Blvd.) and has featured guests as varied as the Polish Brothers ("Twin Falls, Idaho", "Northfork") and Miguel Arteta ("The Good Girl", "Chuck & Buck"). It's incredibly informative and, since I'm going to be shooting a short this summer, I'm finding it fascinating.

I've also been attending the screenings for films being considered for the Indie Spirit awards, again through IFP/W. My favorites so far are: SECRETARY (of course), "Charlotte Sometimes", "Interview With The Assassin", "Narc" and "Igby Goes Down" (this last one primarily because my friend Kathleen Gati is the maid under Susan Sarandon's butt in one scene.)

Shot a commercial for GEICO this month. (See pics). I played a moving man opposite a great guy named Oleg Zatsepin. It was much fun and an easy day.

Went to the Sundance Film Festival with my bud Karen. We stayed for the full 10 days and saw some really great stuff. We got a pass so it would be easier to get into the screenings. (See pics)

My favorite films seen were: "Pieces of April", "Capturing the Friedman's", "A Soldier's Girl", "Camp", "The Hebrew Hammer" and "Girl's Will Be Girls". I plan to make Sundance an annual event as well. In fact, I plan to write and direct a short film for inclusion in next year's festival.

This month has proven exciting. I've been cast in NOTE's production of a brand new, brilliant play called "Yellow/Flesh/Alabaster/Rose". It's truly incredible. It's by Eric Anderson and proves to be one of those plays you get involved with that will effect your entire take on the theatre. It's about a severely dysfunctional group of siblings who have been sexually abused by their father. I play the role of "Mike". He's a "daddy" type hustler that the son pays for sexual services. I also play the voice of the father. Quite a creepy combination. (See pics).

Also, with the recent passing of my mom, there's really no reason for me to head to the flatlands of Indiana anymore for the holidays so I've started a new tradition I call "V4X". That stands for "Vegas For Xmas"!

Went to the Aladdin and got an incredible deal. For only a little bit more than I'd planned on paying, I got an upgrade to a HUGE suite on the 40th floor with a gorgeous view of the Bellagio fountain. Nice kushy robes, liquid crystal TV in the bathroom, about 300 closets and a feather bed.

After I got back from Indiana for my mom's service, I got into a little bang up with my car. That was drag and really poorly timed. The last thing you need, really, after going through such a life changing experience is a life changing experience. But, it could have been worse, I suppose.

Right after that I was contacted by a good friend to see if I'd be interested in replacing Tim Curry (yes, that Tim Curry) in a reading of a new parlor play. It's called "Variety". Since I had nothing else pressing (and it was the leading role, after all) I accepted. It was really funny. Harkening back to the days when plays were more of a peek into the lives of the idle rich and very witty and fast. Great cast and a strong script. There was only one performance and it went swimmingly.

Had about 15 people over for Thanksgiving dinner. A blasty time was had by all.

Very sad news. My mom passed away this month. We were very good friends and the thought that she won't be around for weekly phone calls anymore is pretty hard to take. But, in a way, I feel even closer to her now. I'm sure she'd be sorry that her passing made me miss the last week of "Richard III". She was an actress and a poet and she totally understood what the performer's life is like. When I went back to Indiana for the service it was really odd. It was like a combination of wake and reunion. My mom taught most of my school friends in High School. A number of them were in attendance. And I hadn't seen any of them in years. So, between the tears, there was much laughter. She would have been extremely happy to see us getting together again.

Richard III has opened to glorious reviews. (See reviews). The run proves to be very exciting and fulfilling.

I've been cast in William Shakespeare's "Richard III" (the hunchbacked king) Theatre of NOTE. I'll be playing the role of Ratcliffe. In this version, though, the role has been fleshed out to include the murderers. So, basically, I'll be playing an assassin. I'm going to dye my hair white and spike it out. (See pictures) My weapon of choice will be a chain around my neck that I use to strangle my victims. I'll even get to kill Richard at the end of the play. The costumes are going to be very "Matrix" like. I'll have a long black trench coat which should work really well with my new hair.

I totally killed! I looked NOTHING like Jack Albertson (the actor who played my role in the film). In fact, I looked more like Sonny Bono had he lived to have gray hair. (See pictures) But that didn't seem to matter. The audience went crazy. What a blast!

This evening, I begin to understudy for my friend John O'Brien in a musical version of the 1970's disaster classic, The Poseidon Adventure... The Musical.

My website is now over four years old! It is undergoing some major renovations at this time, so it is possible that some links might not work or take you to unexpected places. Some pictures may disappear. Beware of holes in the stage.

I have just finished shooting a movie called ZEN NOIR, written and directed by Marc Rosenbush. It is a murder mystery centered around a death at a Buddhist monastery. I play a mad monk named Ed. See Pictures.

Here is a picture of me and the dog I spent two days with shooting a commercial for CINGULAR WIRELESS. He was an absolute nightmare and I (and most of the other dog handlig actors) were cut from the final commercial. It was cool learing how to train a dog but after about six hours of holding the lead (leash) so tightly with one hand and holding chewy "treats" in the other it got pretty old. Also, my right pants pocket got pretty gamey holding chewy treats all day long. Never work with children or animals.

March and April have been busy months. I have directed two plays now running at Theatre of Note. One is called Son of a Biker and is running on Wednesday and Thursday nights and the other is Truly Truly Judy on Friday and Saturday nights.

Today I have a new management team. They are called Sovereign Management. They can be contacted at 323.462.0070. The announcement appeared in Variety.

My Canon Copier commerical began playing this month during the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

Well, awards season has begun. I am fortunate to be in several movies doing very well.

Ghost World has won numerous awards. It has won Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay from the San Diego Film Critics. Thora Birch won Best Actress from the Toronto Film Critics. Steve Buscemi is Best Supporting Actor says the New York Film Critics Circle. Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch were both nominated for Golden Globes.

Rain is not in competition but is an exhibition film. Friends tell me it is sold out. So far Rain has won best cinematographer at the Stockholm Film Festival.

Ghost World is getting some buzz at the awards shows this year. Steve Buscemi won b

I am now busy stage managing a show called Destronelli at Theatre of Note.

Last week I shot the commercial for Sonic Burgers. They say it should be on the air starting in February. As should my Canon commercial.

I have been cast in a commercial for SONIC BURGER Restaurants. It is a southern regional chain of restaurants. They have cast me as a barber. Shooting should be the second week of the new year.

My theatre life is busy these days. In between my performances at Theatre of Note I flew home for Thanksgiving and was in a dramatic reading of

Opening night for three one act plays collectively called NEAR LIFE at the Theatre of Note. I am brilliant of course. I play an aging man trying to connect with his adult son and not succeeding who then turns to the fortune cookies that come with his daily chinese meal, hoping to find some meaning for his life in the fortunes.

Everybody in the film industry knows that when you begin a project it's as if you've been brought into a new extended family. This is not always such a good thing. Sometimes it works like a well-tuned machine. Other times it falls apart like a cheap suit and everybody who doesn't die gets sued.

But, just like families, film sets are full of intrigue, "dysfunction", vendettas, agendas and slights. They are also made up of special bonds, shared joys, secret laughs and tolerated truths.

But the one true thing about working on a film, or any other project, I suppose, is the inevitable and unavoidable certainty that the extended family of which you are a currently part is, at its core, temporary.

This can conjure great sadness. It can also be the one thought that gets you through a hellish project. "Well, at least it's temporary."

Whenever a film wraps there is a joyous cry of victory immediately followed by a shared emptiness that creates a void where, only moments before, had been something substantive if intangible. Even if one is going right into another project, there is the sense that this special world that had been created specifically for this short period of time, this esthetic machine incorporating a one time only mix of individuals who came together briefly to create a specific something, has now disappeared into the ether and can never be recreated. For the wise there is also a joy in knowing their own place in that act of creativity. Like having children, that to which you have contributed will live on after you.

While working on "The Towering Inferno: The Musical" I was struck by the ease with which a number of the cast members could work with each other. It was as if they knew what the other was thinking at any given moment and would, on occasion, finish each others' sentences. I noticed that all of the people who shared this intimacy were members of the same theatre company:

There's an old theatre exercise called "The Machine". A group of actors are given a subject or a theme: "The Bush Administration", for example, or "violence in our schools". An actor then approaches the playing area and creates a movement which s/he repeats (like a machine) as s/he says a line and repeats that in tandem with the movement. Another actor then incorporates him/herself into the machine by adding on to the movement and vocalization. It's an ensemble building exercise designed to assist in creating a physical and aural dependence the other ensemble members.

If one cog gets screwed up, the entire machine can easily collapse and everybody would die. Or get an eye poked out. Or, maybe, be sued. So one must be dependent on the entire ensemble so as to achieve the goal of creating the machine.

I shot a CANON copier commercial last week. It should start airing nationally on the major networks in October. It was was a kick. I got to spend the entire shoot laughing. Literally. The bit is that I've found something extremely funny on the copier. And I literally fall down laughing. We shot on the 14th in an industrial area of L.A. down near the airport. When the director saw me at the shoot he came over and said: "Hey, I saw GHOST WORLD last night."

I've heard two negative comments about the film and I've discounted them both as just a matter of personal taste. I'm very lucky to have been associated with such great artistic projects as GHOST WORLD, FIGHT CLUB, and MAGNOLIA. The other films I've done have been great in their own ways as well, but to be attached to classics, well, that's a different kind of feather in one's cap.

Word is that RAIN starring MELORA WALTERS, JAMEY SHERIDAN and DIANE LADD (which I shot in Iowa last October) has been accepted into the VENICE FILM FESTIVAL. The name might change as there is another film out there by the same title. I can't seem to find a website address for their current festival, so, if you happen to know of one, please forward it on to me so I can post it. I think it runs later this month.

SAY IT ISN'T SO should be available on DVD and video soon. Check your local stores and check it out. The reviews were overly cruel to this film. I think due mostly politics (the fact that it was the first Farrelly Brothers produced film that didn't feature them as directors.) But check it out. It's the same director (J.B. Rogers) who just released AMERICAN PIE II.

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