Tall Order

I think this is the only film role I actually auditioned for. Mike O'Connell told me about a short gangster flick he was working on as a writer and co-director. A graduate film class was going to be shooting it in a couple of weeks, and they were going to be shooting it on a RED, in 4K. I'd been drooling over and lusting after RED's cameras since I'd finished the script to Marlon the year before, so a chance to be on set with one--while playing a foul-mouthed gangster, no less--was too much to pass up. I auditioned, got the part, and started learning my lines. Shooting started in a week.

Then I hurt my back. Bad. A bruised and swollen disc in my lower back that had me on bed rest for four days, and in physical therapy and traction for half a year. Seriously.

I'm either dedicated, stubborn, or stupid (although they're all probably different sides of the same thing), but I took a ton of acetaminophen, gritted my teeth, and made it through the shoot. The first thing we shot, the day after I got off bed rest, was me vaulting over a barrier, chasing Shane out onto the bridge, manhandling him, and then falling to the ground. Good times.

The best part of the shoot was the diner stuff: most of it is improv. A lot of my character work was improv. Jacob Laitinen is a marvelous actor, and an absolute dream to work with. I learned a lot from watching him work.

As an epilogue of sorts, "Tall Order" was shown at an event at NMU. I was told that there was so much profanity, the group that showed the film was forbidden from screening it on campus again...the only student film banned by the University.

There was no profanity in the script.