Stateside

I have returned from Jolly Olde England, and lovely though it was, I am very glad to see my dogs and my own bed once again. Wherever my travels take me, as soon as I see that Baltimore city skyline I can't help but smile, and my heart says, "I'm home."

This weekend was very hectic but much fun, extremely busy at my "day job", and on top of that, Saturday was my birthday and about a dozen friends helped me celebrate in various ways throughout the day and evening. Work was still busy today, and Eric Thornett from Piranha Pictures was filming at my hotel once again.

While I was in London I stopped by the gift shop of the Globe Theater and there I found a little something for Eric - a bottle of stage blood. As I write this, that very bottle is being used in my attic. Tonight he filmed his villainess chopping off someones head with an axe, her weapon of choice. Along with my little tiny bottle of blood, Eric is also using half a gallon of homemade blood that he whipped up himself. I think the ingredients are Karo syrup, creamer, food coloring, and chocolate sauce. My attic floor and two of his actors are now covered in it.

I'm not one to see films with a lot of blood and/or gore, but now that I am learning how it all takes place behind the scenes, it is kind of fun to see how it comes together. No blood or gore in, "Charm City," but I may have a more open mind about such things in the future.

This week is all about getting ready for the big callbacks on Sunday, June 8. The actors have been studying hard and preparing to do battle for their roles. I have never had to do that, and I must say I am glad. I think it would be completely nerve-wracking. I have been in front of the camera, which is nerve-wracking enough, but I did not have to compete against anyone else to be in that position. I give actors much credit for their sheer courage.

I have some great people coming in, and I am looking forward to it, though it will be a lot of work for everyone involved. The hard part for me is keeping an open mind right now, trying not to lean towards any one person for a role before seeing what they are capable of. An important part of the process is taping the whole thing, then afterwards giving it a few days to clear my mind and then watch the tapes, several times over, a few days apart between viewings. "The camera sees things the eye doesn't," as I have already been told countless times by my filmmaker friends, and it is true. In the first round of auditions, some people looked great to me in person, but after watching them a few times I thought differently. Maybe in person I thought they gave a strong performance, while when I watched it on film a few times, I could better see that they were a bit, "hammy." And some people that didn't "wow" me at all in the auditions, seeing them on film made me appreciate that they were very natural, which is what I am hoping to find for most of the actors I will be casting.

But in Baltimore, it is a fine line between "natural" and "hammy". Eric helped me by being one of the three people who watched the tapes with me at different times. He liked some people that I found a little too plain, either in appearance or delivery, and he thought the people that I liked were often a little hammy. I think our difference in opinion can largely be attributed to geography (though I will state for the record, in case he ever reads this, that he disagrees). Eric doesn't live in Baltimore, and he doesn't know a lot of permanent residents here. I, on the other hand, do, and I gotta say - people in Baltimore are...hammy!

I gave it a lot of thought after he and I watched the tapes and had our differences of opinion. Eric has been doing this a lot longer than I have been and I have a great deal of respect for his experience and advice. I questioned myself and wondered if I was making amateurish choices. I watched the tapes again, and compared notes with Ann Mladinov, who sat in on the live auditions with me.

Although Eric's feedback helped open my mind to give some people a chance that I might not have considered, I honestly think that most people, real live people, in Baltimore are at least a little bit over the top. Going through a list of friends in my head, particularly the ones that the characters in this film are loosely based on, check, check, check, they are all, "a bit hammy." And in many cases, the "bit" is superfluous.

And THAT is why I love this town.