Let This Not Be My Fifteen Minutes....

I accidentally discovered to day that I am officially part of the HEROES Wiki, complete with this lovely photo:



Does it get any better?

LA Premiere

HEROES, f.k.a. [Redacted]

Remember this day?

Yes, it was HEROES. Duh.

And it's on tomorrow (Monday) night at 9pm on NBC. My last TV appearance for a bit, so enjoy it!

The Rule of Half

I saw Gigantic Thursday night, a week early.

There's a group here called New Filmmakers, and they screen upcoming unusual releases every week; my Google news alert told me they'd be showing Gigantic a full 8 days before it opens, so with about two hours' notice, Jody and I dropped everything and went.

Matt Aselton, the director, was at the screening. I went up and re-introduced myself and startled him a little, I think, because I look very different from the movie and it was completely out of context for him. But once he realized who I was, we had a few laughs about the shoot and caught up. It's been a whirlwind process for Matt. Some people have raved about the movie, and some have said, and I quote, "I don’t remember ever wanting to just haul out and punch a movie before ‘Gigantic,’" (Nick Pinkerton in the Village Voice, who comes across as a monster asshole in his review.) But it's always better to be hated than ignored, right?

And my take on the film? Hmmmmm.

I mean, I genuinely liked the film. I had a few problems with it, but I think it's different and thought-provoking and Aselton and cowriter Adam Nagata are refreshing new voices on the scene. Matt's got a history of thinking differently — he has shot a number of unusual commercials, but this is his first feature film — and I think the movie avoids falling into a lot of obvious traps (while stepping directly into one or two clichés towards the end). It's also got a very surreal aspect to it, which I loved. A lot of risk-taking. Overall, certainly a worthy and enjoyable night out at the cinema.

But my scene? Meh.

I'm starting to realize that there's a kind of Rule of Half to TV and film work. That rule reads something like this: Anything you shoot that isn't vital and crucial to the advancement of the plot will be cut in half. And it's likely to be the half that you wanted saved.

In this case, I wanted all of it saved, because it's a tiny little scene, but if they were going to cut, I'd rather they have kept some of the bits they left on the floor, because they were the funnier bits. To me, anyway. Matt has said in many interviews that he didn't want the movie to be too funny because it would then lose its emotional core. And I agree with him, and I also see how leaving in all of my scene might have damaged the tone of the larger scene around it.

That said, it was a little disappointing. It's all done in a medium-to-long shot, from one angle, which came across to me as a little static.

Well, not all of it. Clarke Peters (who was a joy to work with) got his coverage, but we (the actress playing my wife and I) did not get ours. And I get that—I mean, the scene is supposed to showcase him, and it did—but still, I was hoping for a bit more. I'd forgotten that they didn't cut my hair and it was super-long at the time. I think I look kind of nondescript and blend-into-the-backgroundy (story of my life). And the sum total of my screen time couldn't have been more than 30 seconds. Friends of mine who see this film and don't know I'm in it will likely not recognize me.

Still, as Jody pointed out to me over gelato afterwards: I've shot my first film, and that's a nice thing to be able to say.

I'll just have to try to get that Rule down to One-Quarter or below.

Another Op'nin', Another Show....

Gigantic officially opens in NYC today. It has a two-week run at the Village East Cinema.

I have, like, two lines and 45 seconds in this film. But it's my first movie, so I'm proud. Hope y'all get a chance to see it.

Upcoming cities here, including LA on April 17.

It's Official . . .

My appearance on Heroes (a.k.a. "Redacted") will be Monday evening, April 13.

And just a reminder for those of you in New York: my first feature, Gigantic, opens Friday April 3 at the Village East Cinema. It appears, however, that it will only have a two-week run, so mark your calendars!

Other cities' opening dates for Gigantic can be found here.

Keeping You In The Loop

First of all, a pic from several weeks ago:


This is from mid February. I snapped it during my ADR session for Lie To Me. ADR, or "looping" is when you go into a sound studio after something has been shot and re-record certain dialogue. It is usually done for one of two reasons: either because a line didn't come out clean (like, a plane passed during that moment, or another actor cut into the line), or because a line has been changed (to further explain the plot, or sometimes even to change it).

In this case, it was for clarification. My scene opened with a pan shot that, on its way to picking me up, passes over a waiter being interrogated in the corner of the kitchen. The director was afraid the audience would think the waiter was the one speaking. So to my original line ("If you're not part of the families, we can't give you the tapes"), they added the following for the sake of clarity: "We're professional videographers. We have rules. So....."

I guess the idea was that with the added line, the audience would realize that the waiter isn't a professional videographer! Brilliant!

ADR is nicknamed "looping" by everyone in the biz because in Ye Olde Days, the way they did it was to have an actor listen to and watch a "loop" of the same film clip over and over and over; after hearing it many times the performer was able to easily sync up with the soundtrack on the next "loop" and thus match his/her lips moving onscreen.

I've done a fair amount of looping on past shows and I feel like I'm pretty good at it. I've found that it's less about matching the lips perfectly (which comes with repetition) and more about matching the intention and intensity of the original scene.

In the case of this shot, there was no lip-sync to worry about: because my entire first line occurs during the pan, I wasn't even on camera until the very tail end.

A good production company will always get "room tone" at a location before they leave it. That's about a minute of recorded "nothingness" on the set/location that actually isn't nothing; it's whatever ambient noise exists that day: air conditioners, rain, even the hum of fluorescent lights. No matter how controlled your set is, there's always a little room tone to pick up. Later, if a scene has to be looped, they can mix the "room tone" under the new dialogue and make it sound more real.

Of course, there are varying degrees of success (or failure) at getting ADR to meld seamlessly into your final product. And as a viewer, once you're aware of looping, it jumps out at you all the time. Either because the room tone doesn't match well, or because even though someone's back is to camera, you can tell their cheeks aren't moving in sync with the dialogue (as was the case with me on Law and Order: Trial By Jury a few years back....but there was nothing I could do, because they were adding an entirely new line, so the synch would never have been right).

So now when we're watching TV, I'll often mutter "looping" when I see it.... much to Jody's chagrin.

Two Items of Note

1. I have confirmed with the producers that I made the final cut in Gigantic (yippee!), despite my absence from the cast and crew page on the website. Apparently I wasn't the only one left off, so I'm a little less offended. A reminder that Gigantic opens April 3 in NYC and April 17 elsewhere.


2. My episode of Eleventh Hour (remember Tom, the painfully shy neighbor creepy doorman?) was apparently on the fast track. It is scheduled to air Thursday night, March 12, at 10pm on CBS. Set those DVRs!

I was going to upload a bonus picture that I forgot the other day, but Blogger is not cooperating. So next time, I guess.

GIGANTIC Trailer Released

This is a trailer from the film Gigantic, a movie I shot in Brooklyn last March. It stars Paul Dano (the crazy preacher kid in There Will Be Blood), Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman, Ed Asner, and Jane Alexander. Also Clarke Peters, who portrayed Lester Freamon on The Wire, and who my scene was with. Meeting him was pretty much awesome.

I still don't know if I made the final cut, but it looks like it'll be a fun flick.

It premieres in NYC on April 3, and in Los Angeles two weeks later on April 17. So some of you will probably find out if I'm in the movie before I know myself!

(Requires Quicktime. Get it here. Also, what's loading is the larger, 40MB trailer, because I want you to actually be able to see peoples faces 'n stuff. If you don't feel like waiting, and want to see a smaller version, click here.)

Family Pride

Most of you know that my mom, Rosemary Knower, is also an actress.

She appears in the new Friday the 13th movie due out next week, and is currently visible in one of its trailers.

If you haven't caught her yet, you can go to this page and watch "Trailer 2a". Her line, coming roughly in the middle is,

She ain't missin'....She's DEAD!

Loves ya, mom. Even with your creepy cataract contact lenses:

Loving Leah

Just for the record: The original title of this film?

Unorthodox.

Get it?

Catching Up

In Brief:

• The same casting director who cast me as the co-star videographer on Lie To Me called me in for a sweet guest-starring role on The Unit. I was to play a dickish father who selfishly puts others in danger during a chlorine gas leak situation. An amazing part with a great arc. Great audition, made it to producers, did not book the role. But this office clearly likes me, so that's good
• Was also called in for a comic role ("Kevin James type"—aka the King of Queens) on a new comedy, Better Off Ted. Felt I had to make a strong choice, and did. Showed up to the audition to see a room full of guys who actually look like Kevin James (i.e., blue collar, balding, 300 lb. types). Realized halfway through the audition that my strong choice was not remotely funny to the casting directors. They were very sweet, but I tanked. Oh well. It's gonna happen. I didn't lose my cool, and I didn't apologize. Sitcoms are just not going to be my strong point
• Took Jody to Sundance for a belated surprise birthday weekend. Saw nine films in three days. Two of them sucked, one was so-so, three were very good, and three were breathtaking. Not a bad batting average. Park City was beautiful and amazing—I really want to ski there now. Bonus points: The entire trip is a write-off for me! Keep your eyes open in the future for Amreeka, Afghan Star, and Mary and Max.
• Lastly, saw the premiere tonight of Loving Leah, the Hallmark TV movie I shot in September with Lauren Ambrose. On the down side, most of my scene (originally about 3 minutes) was cut. Or "slashed" is perhaps the better word. Down to about 10 seconds! On the good side, I am still in the movie, and when I appeared onscreen, the entire theater cracked up. The sight gag is that good. Bonus points: the director apologized, said the decision to cut came from Hallmark (they were afraid it might offend). He's going to try to get me the whole scene for my reel. Yay! Loving Leah airs Sunday night on CBS at 9pm eastern. Reprising my Law and Order success of a few years ago (Bible Story), I once again play an orthodox jew. But this time I'm actually a rabbi: