You see, I am a humble man, born into a middle class family and living what could be considered a mundane but pleasant life. Not that is stated in a pejorative way, only to illustrate that life has only been punctuated briefly by flashes of brilliance
like midwest lightning preceding a downpour. Now I found that the downpour is beginning - not of rain, but of fame. In my humility, I am somewhat awed by this fame. Surely I did not ask for this fame. Fame found me. I fear that stardom has been stalking me, and as a rudder steers a mighty ship, as a bit in the mouth of the horse shapes the journey, as stealthily as a repo man in the dead of night - I am destined for greatness.I'm going to be in a movie. Purely by chance (or was it fate?) I happened across an open casting call for an extra in a movie directed by Sean Penn. The movie, Into the Wild, is an adaptation of a real life story of a young privileged college graduate who walks away from his life, eventually leaving friends, eschewing culture and dying starving, alone, penniless and frozen in an abandoned school bus in Alaska. You can read more about it here.
I showed up with several hundred other people, aspiring actors and actresses all. I filled out an application, and was ushered in front of a polaroid camera where a snapshot would soon be stapled to the application. It was almost eerie - as the photographer got ready to take the picture, in her eyes and body language I could see the thoughts in her mind as easily as I type these words:
I'm looking at the Next Big Thing. Cruise is crazy, Eastwood is old, Nicholson moves to nothingness, Pitt is passe' - and standing before me is the Majestic Mister Mundt.
Well, I made the cut and was told I will be in the movie. Lest you begin to groan as my story starts, I assure you that this is no easy thing. Many decisions lie before me. A movie star is always before the camera. I must be ready, in season and out of season, to display my regal demeanor in a way that satiates my fan base. Oh, my fans! The hordes, the massing throngs of ordinary people seeking a nod, an autograph, a wave, a picture with me for the relatives - how I love them as they adore me!
More decisions are soon to be made - my agent, my lawyer, my entourage - the small circle that will accompany my greatness and hitch their wagons to my rising star. And central in this group - my wife Sherry. She never gave up believing me, as I studied my lines and practiced my parts her encouragement provide me with the inner fortitude I would need as popularity pursues me.
My scene is at a college where I'll play a family member witnessing the graduation. Supposedly set in Atlanta, Georgia the scene is being filmed at Reed College here in Portland. There is an interesting juxtaposition about Reed College - well known locally for the flagrant student body drug and acohol abuse that turns them into Karl Marx devotees. In a curious cold war juxtaposition, it's the only American college (to my knowledge) with a nuclear reactor on the campus. There's just something about stoned communist students skinny dipping in the cooling pond that's slightly unnerving.
Well, I digress. Welcome friends and join me on the journey as I continue to blog the miracle of my movie career.
