Self-Tapes, Show Reels, and U.S. Accents! | Ep 71

MAX: 00:13
Welcome back to Two Unemployed Actors. I'm Max. I'm Sam. We have a great show today. Got some movie reviews for you and uh bits and pieces. Sammy, what have you been up to? What do you got to talk about?

SAM: 00:23
Oh um Putting on the spot? Mostly just uh I I did a lot of crew work with that uh uh that show called Making It. Okay. Um that I briefly spoke about a couple podcasts ago. Briefly? Yeah, did a couple days with them and it was so much fun.

MAX: 00:39
They asked you back?

SAM: 00:40
Yeah, yeah. Multiple times. That's a good good sign of success. And I hope I get future work with them as well. Uh that and kind of uh talking to Grant about um just doing more self-tapes. We haven't been to him for months now. Yes, yes. Um, just because of busyness. Um yeah, good what sort of self-tapes you got?

MAX: 01:01
Like, is there anything in particular, like any genre or any sort of type of character?

SAM: 01:05
I'm trying to cover everything just so we can then show that off. So I'm still doing my show reel and um trying to move more into doing American accent self-tapes. So I'm actually seeing uh Danielle Roth, who is an accent coach that I worked with almost three years ago now. I haven't seen her in three years. Because you're so old. Yeah, exactly. I'm so old. And uh just like a check-in tomorrow, because I I think I've improved. I hope I've improved. Yeah.

MAX: 01:30
Just a check-in?

SAM: 01:31
Yeah, just a check-in.

MAX: 01:32
Um Are you gonna work through a script with with her or just general voices? Don't know yet. Voiciness.

SAM: 01:37
Literally just got a time rule for tomorrow. General voiceness, a check-in kind of thing. And uh so that's been good. Okay. Um Cooked got into the news, MBN News.

MAX: 01:48
Oh, well done. Regional news, it still counts.

SAM: 01:50
Yep, it still 100% counts.

MAX: 01:53
And and this is the film you just finished.

SAM: 01:54
This is the film I just finished, and uh the director was on uh ABC Newcastle Radio. Okay. It's been it so now like we've finished it, and he's got to you know edit it, but now it's all up to promoting and marketing, all that stuff. The fun part. Yeah, very exciting. Okay. And I just applied for another feature film with New House Cinema.

MAX: 02:15
Okay, what have they done? Anything we'd know?

SAM: 02:17
Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I haven't heard of anything. Yeah, a lot of indie stuff. But um yeah, no, that looks good. So hopefully again audition, the audition is in Brisbane. That's great. No self-tapes.

MAX: 02:28
With the um with the actual like doing your US reel, like updating that. Yeah. Um, I mean it's great that you're going to a voice coach and not just, you know, yourself and YouTube in the camera. Yeah. Uh but also, have you thought about uh like student films and stuff?

SAM: 02:45
Like if there's any American accent ones.

MAX: 02:48
Yeah, probably there's not actually.

SAM: 02:49
I just realized as I was saying that that there's not really So every single student film I've auditioned for, I I always ask before I send through a self-tape what accent would you like me to do it in? Yeah. It's most of the time. Actually, no, every time I've auditioned, it's always Australian. It is, isn't it? Um, unless you apply for one of the things.

MAX: 03:11
100%. Um because it's great content.

SAM: 03:13
Yeah, 100%.

MAX: 03:14
But also, yeah, like just the blue screen stuff, which is still like it's still okay.

SAM: 03:18
Yeah. Like working at home on your accents is good, obviously. Yeah. But you should go to an accent or dialect coach first, because you can't really hear yourself. And you don't I mean, until you know, you don't know how shit you can be. You know what I mean? Well, that's it.

MAX: 03:33
I mean you don't want to you don't want to sort of get get to stage where they've got to undo bad habits.

SAM: 03:38
Yeah, and exactly, and an accent isn't just about mimicking, that it's a whole art form, obviously. And it's like there there's so many technical aspects about where it sits, you know, uh inflections. It's just I I've spoken about this in past podcasts, just how amazing I found it all and so interesting. So I'm glad I'm going back. I'm glad I set one up. Uh, just because it's heading into that realm of I think I need to start moving into doing more American.

MAX: 04:02
Yeah, I think I've been telling everyone, absolutely, you uh you get your US show reel up. I mean, there's there's a lot of work in Australia at the moment. Yep. Just announced yesterday the new Mad Max movie, the prequel to Furiosa Emsworth. Yeah, will be filmed in New South Wales, and that's $350 million, which is a decent budget.

SAM: 04:21
The biggest film for New South Wales uh that's been filmed in New South Wales. Oh, Australia. Yeah, that's huge.

MAX: 04:26
So but there's lots of work going around, is my point. And if you've a lot of American stuff, yeah. Yeah, and if you've got a US showreel, it obviously helps you to tap in because I'd hate to miss out on all these millions that are floating around.

SAM: 04:40
Yeah, and what I've been told is that yeah, exactly. I'll take a 50 word for guest here. And what I've been told is like, you know, obviously on set, yeah, you'll have a dialect coach, but and you they expect you to know America. Absolutely.

MAX: 04:51
When they look at a self-tape, when they see an audition, they want you to just pick up and go. There's none of this, oh well, great for the role. I can see them that person playing the role, but Max needs to work on his accent. We'll get him some coaching or something. Yeah, it's like nut. They just want to see Max and insert Max with US flawless accent.

SAM: 05:10
You know what's really interesting? This obviously we know this industry is quite subjective, but um, years ago, before I went to a dialect coach, I had an audition with a casting director. Back in the olden days. Yeah, with a casting uh casting director. Before the pandemic. Before the or way before the pandemic, yeah. I had an audition with a casting director. Um, not gonna say which one it was, because well they said my accent was great. Okay. And then I go to a dialect coach and it's like it's okay. Maybe they're just being nice. Well, but also casting maybe they had headphones in. Maybe. But also casting directors at the same time um haven't studied accents as much as dialect coaches. Obviously, they can tell if you're shit. Yeah. Or good, but not yeah, I think above that good. You know, great. You gotta, you know, there's gonna be something there where they're like, wow, that sounds convincing, but they don't know why. And you don't know why until until you go to an dialect coach.

MAX: 06:09
I mean that those ears are precious.

SAM: 06:11
Flick into it and be able to do it, relax, and you know, it's good.

MAX: 06:15
Well, I've got uh what have you done? I've got some news. I actually finished updating my website today. When I say finished, I mean like 95% there. There's a few tweaks because on wet on mobile one page looks a bit funny and I'm updating it. Yeah, but like it didn't take as long as I thought. I don't know why I put off so long, but anyway, because the hard thing was well, I'm good at that. I mean, if you know, I've got to be good at something, and so procrastination is me. But uh I the structure was gonna be hard too, because like voiceovers, podcasting, and acting. So what I did was I made the maxbelmonte.com, so the landing page, um, an image of me with my social handles, and then just three buttons actor, voiceover, artist, podcaster. Perfect. Yeah, so because I thought that you know sometimes the solution can be so simple right in front of you. Yeah, like duh, but it took me a while to come to that conclusion. And then so podcast just takes you through to the town employed actors page. Um, voiceover, I've got like a few pages just for that that opens up those menus when you're in there. Yep. Same with acting. Cool. So um it was a lot of fun, and then doing all the um coding stuff and making sure the images are small enough to open fast and it looks good on different sized devices, all that sort of boring stuff. But it really didn't take that long because I was still using Adobe Dreamweaver. Only three days straight. Finally getting the hang of it. Yeah.

SAM: 07:36
Nine to five.

MAX: 07:37
Hardly. But anyway, at least it doesn't look like at the 1990s website, so it's a little bit more a little bit more courage. 1990s website, and refreshed. Um, anyway, I've got news because straight out of the last play, and I thought to myself, you know what? I'm gonna wait a while before I get involved in another play. Because it's just it's it's such a commitment, right? It's months, and then you know, it opens and yeah. Like, I'm like, uh, but then a few weeks down the track, here I am auditioning for a play. So it it's an Australian play, yeah. It's uh it's um written for Australia, it was written years ago. Um, and I don't know if the New Theatre's performed it before. Oh, is it with the New Theatre? It is with the New Theatre, which for those that don't know Sydney, uh is literally like a block from where I live, which would be handy.

SAM: 08:28
Don't tell everyone.

MAX: 08:29
But uh there's three there's three uh characters that I could easily see myself playing.

SAM: 08:34
Beautiful. What's it called? What's it the part?

MAX: 08:36
Uh spooks. Spooks. So it's like it's set in like 60s Australia, where in a country town there's a Communist Party uh branch. Yeah. And uh this ASIO dude uh uh converts this 19-year-old to be his mole. So he turns up all enthusiastic, ready to be James Bond, and it's this country party with a half a dozen members. They talk about doing stuff, they never really do stuff, so he kind of tries to help make things move forward and build momentum. So it it's pretty funny. Um and well, I mean, true to Forbes, one of the uh I think I think she was a founding member, I can't remember now, but anyway, passed away from the new theatre life member anyway, uh uh early this year. She had an ASIOphile on her. Oh yeah. And they even published one of the photos that they took of her uh on her way to the theatre or something, uh an old black and white shot from the 70s, because she was a communist party member, and I think everyone who is a member of the Communist Party gets an ASIO file. Yeah, nice. I don't think it's I don't think there's any special treatment. But anyway, so they did mention Star Now. Uh Star Now uh no, I'm a member of the new theatre. So it came up and then they yeah, I think it was through their social actually. Uh Instagram or Facebook or something. We've got this new play, auditions up, you know, let us know. So I've got to self-tape it and do a little intro and get that away by the end of the week, which is my job. Well done. So I'm on unless my job. And you know what I think we're gonna do? I think I'm gonna dial up that uh I did a bit from uh The Odd Couple, which is a play I did back in the day, and it worked for Lipstick, got me that role.

SAM: 10:21
Um I think I'm gonna give it a shot because I mean Did you not audition for Lipstick with a lipstick script? You sent through they just wanted to see anything. Yep.

MAX: 10:28
Same same with um same with the new theatre. So the process is here's an online version of the script. Please read it, because you want to read the script before you write. Oh yeah. Uh and and uh uh and then 30-second intro, you need to film with a rough, roughly two-minute piece from film or television or theatre that you'd like to use to apply. For me, look, it's uh Fred, stop assaulting Sam. It it's it's it's theatre, it's a comedy, so I'm going to do something from theatre that is a comedy. Cool. Um, so that's me being Felix from The Odd Couple. So it's a nice little bit. Nice. I'll um I might even I might even put it up on the on the two a socials so you can have a look at what I submitted. Yeah, yeah, do it. Um but uh I'll get that to them, and who knows, maybe I'll hear something, maybe not, but at least there's three characters I can sort of slip into. Um so that'll be fun. I mean great too, because yeah, it's like the end of the street. Like, come on, I've got no excuse for being late and not being committed.

SAM: 11:28
Can you walk there?

MAX: 11:29
I can. It l it literally is half a block away. That's brilliant. You go to the end of the street, turn right, turn left, and there's the new theatre.

SAM: 11:36
Yeah, I think I've been before.

MAX: 11:38
I went to see my last production I went to see there was the Grapes of Wrath, heavy, full-on production. But um, I mean that's the script, the story, but it was fantastic. Like I remember saying I went with uh uh my cousin who works at Create New South Wales and they do all the budgets for all the the arts companies, yeah, and uh saying it's up there with Sydney Theatre Company, like it was fantastic. I mean, you I I looked at a minimal stage at about 20 actors on stage and at Scrapes of Wrath. I'm like, oh god, this is gonna be a journey, you know. But it was just so slick, it was great. I talking to the director afterwards, I was just like drooling, going, Oh my god, it was so good. It was amazing, it really was. But anyway, so fantastic. So it'd be great to be a part of that. New theatre being a voluntary organization, it's all volunteer voluntary, but again, it's up another level, like in terms of professionalism. Yes, it is, yeah. And the the the the director there has done so much work in industry, so I'm I'm looking forward to it.

SAM: 12:32
Hopefully, good stuff.

MAX: 12:33
Fingers crossed and all that.

SAM: 12:34
Fingers crossed.

MAX: 12:35
But I've been busy going back to the cinema. Hopefully, wherever you're listening to this podcast, you're able to go to the cinema. I know we've been lucky in Australia, very lucky. Um, and chime in if you've seen any of these. First one I saw. You turn in the first one. Yes. Anyone, well, anyone's welcome to chime in on social. Fred, if you want to. I saw Six Minutes to Midnight on Sunday. Okay. Um, it's got Judy Dench and Eddie Izzard. It's a film about like it's a spy thriller cold war thing. Well, not really Cold War, it's it's pretty comedy? World War No, no. World War II, um, just before the war breaks out, actually, and it's just from an interesting perspective where there's an Anglo-German school on the coast of England, and uh the you know German social uh uh elite send their their daughters there for it's like a finishing school. So they get to experience British culture and accent and etc. Um so obviously the parents are well connected of these 25-odd girls who are at the finishing school for that year. What's interesting is it'll be a great sign or another sign that war is about to start if they can work out, they being the British government, when the children are being sent back to Germany all of a sudden. Yeah, because that will tell them when the war's gonna start. Yeah, okay. And they know it will be sudden because the hierarchy, who are obviously Nazi Party well connected, wouldn't want their daughters to be held captive in England, it'll certainly impact their ability to move forward in the Nazi Party. And um so it it talks about this, it revolves around this character who's inserted into the school to try and work things out. Okay. So it's not so much James Bond, but more you know, truer to life, so to speak. But good. Uh really interesting, really, really great. It is, I was great. I think yeah, like and based on true story. So at the end, you actually do see pictures of the the girls at the school at the time, yeah. Which was closed for the war, obviously, and never never reopened, but hey, that's it. Oh, uh another movie, okay. Similar vein, the courier, um, a spy thriller. Another spy thriller that is based on true story. Bear with me if you like spy thrills. Um, but this is more about an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances. They just they just choose him because Benedict Cumberbatch. Yeah, he's great, isn't he? And and really good in these drama, dramatic roles. I I I like uh he's really good at this average guy. Um it's like I'm a salesman. What do you want me to you know take secrets from A to B for? You know, but it's precisely because he's so average and ordinary and normal and has access in and out of the country that he's perfect. Yeah, he doesn't see it though, yeah. And then he gets in so deep that he ends up doing more risky stuff, and I don't want to spoil it for people, but really interesting. And and yeah, Benedict's great. He went up in my books in that movie. He's great, yeah. Um nobody. So we're we're talking well uh well, okay. It's not a true story, it's lots of action, and it's less thriller. Um, but it's the same theme, like ordinary guy in extraordinary situation. It it follows Bob Odenkirk's character, who um really is, and I love the opening scenes, the the montage of the Monday to Friday You saw all these in the cinema, yeah, yeah. Start of March. Yeah, start of March. So it's been a few weeks, but um, but yeah, I love the opening montage of his just to paint the picture very quickly of average guy Monday to Friday, you know. It it I really like those opening scenes, and it really does set the scene, and then for when things do happen, it's just amazing. Uh a great supporting role, Christopher Lloyd, who people remember from Back to the Future as the mad scientist. Um, fantastic character. I love his character in that. How old is he? I know hundreds of so no coincidence he plays the father in a retirement home who comes back for some action and literally does he ever one of the greatest lines is is when he opens up and he's got all these guns everywhere, and he says, Bob says to his father, uh Christopher Lloyd's character, um, why did you bring so many guns? He said, Well, you invited so many Russians. So it's just crazy. It's just absolutely crazy. But it was funnier than I thought because it doesn't take itself so seriously. Um and it is an action movie, but it's from um the producers of John Wick. In fact, the producer, um one of the producers anyway, uh David Leach, he he did actually has a stunt background and so great for action, right? And his first directorial debut was John Wick. There we go. So uh, you know, for and remember the last time we talked about a stunty turned director was yeah, extraction, Chris Hargrave, and that's was a huge movie. So I mean it's great, it's fantastic. So you can imagine the action sequences are amazing, yeah, great fight scenes, but it I really enjoyed it because like I knew it's not gonna be the spy thrillers that I'd seen. But you know, park if your brain cells, sit back and enjoy. Yeah, but it was really interesting, really fun. And Bob Odenkirk was fantastic. Oh, good. I remember him from Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul. Uh great character. Um the last one I saw, Crisis, uh Gary Oldman, Army Hammer, Greg Kinnear. Remember Greg Kineer? Uh Lily Rose Depp. Okay. Depp's daughter.

Speaker 2: 18:19
Yep.

MAX: 18:19
Deppy's daughter. Uh fantastic. I like opioid epidemic, so it's full on. It's not, you know, a fun one, but it's uh it's a good thriller and more like corporate espionage type thing where he's a professor, Gary Oldman plays the this professor at university and he's pressured into saying certain things about a drug that he doesn't believe in. Okay. And the ramifications are like billions of dollars, and there's a lot at stake and lots of stuff happening. So I really enjoyed that. Um really interesting. Actually, I have to talk about Nomaid Land before I forget.

SAM: 18:51
Yes, I've got to see that as well.

MAX: 18:52
You have to see it. And if you can at the at the cinema, it's still on the cinema. Uh the cinematography is great, and it really does help draw you in. It's almost like a documentary. You feel like you feel like a voyeur, but it's because of that that it really gets you in there. So when things happen to the characters, it's like you're there and you want to just give them a hug because like it's so relatable and full-on. Um, it's gritty, it's real, it's not escapism, it's not a spy thriller. Cool, cool, and it's not an action movie. So it's like the opposite of everything I'm saying. But the awards, um I mentioned the cinematography, it won a BAFTA for best cinematography. Nice, Golden Globe Best Picture, BAFTA best film, and the director, um BAFTA, even Actor, gave them a Best Director Award. The Australian Association of Cinema, Television, and the Arts. Um, Chloe Zhao is the director. So, like, some great stuff on the cinema. And so there should be because we waited so bloody long that kept postponing things because of the pandemic. So I'm really looking like it's just been great. Yeah.

SAM: 19:55
And go on. You talk about the cinema. I will talk about stuff at home from streaming services. I watched a couple of things. What did you do? What did you do streaming? Um, so recently I watched um on Amazon Prime uh Good Omens. Okay. You heard of it? It's with Michael Sheen and David Tennant.

MAX: 20:13
Right.

SAM: 20:13
Uh it's about so Michael Sheen plays an angel.

MAX: 20:17
Is that the Angel and the Devil?

SAM: 20:18
Yeah.

MAX: 20:18
And they have this get together, and it's just, oh, it's the funny.

SAM: 20:22
It's almost like a spoof on these supernatural kind of angels, uh, demon shows. Um, you've got like Michael Sheen and David Tennant, and they're playing Angel and and Demon respectively, and they kind of um I mean two pastors, right? They become best friends over the from the start of time to monitor. Yeah, they're hilarious.

MAX: 20:43
I think I because I I remember I watched Graham Norton and he was interviewed there about this. Yeah, I didn't think it was out yet. That's fantastic. I written it down.

SAM: 20:50
It came out in 2019. Did it? Yeah, and it's uh quite stylistic and kind of it's very cool. Yeah, unfortunately, there's only six episodes. I have a feeling that it got cancelled.

MAX: 20:59
Limited series, or maybe they hit pandemic and had to Yeah, but it's an interesting, interesting show.

SAM: 21:04
That was good. Okay. Um I also watched uh Love and Monsters, which came out like a couple days ago on Netflix. It's with Dylan O'Brien, who was the guy from Maze Runner, and he's so I always knew he was great, but watching this, I was like, oh my god, he's he's actually an incredible actor. You can see the subtleties in the different characters, but it's still him, and it's it's just he's really good. And it was so it was a bit funny.

MAX: 21:28
Um it's good that he's got something a bit more substantial to stick his teeth into than the script from Maze Runner.

SAM: 21:33
Yeah, well, it was a bit funny, a bit emotional. Um it was kind of a mixture of everything, and it just goes to show that an action film can still actually be a really good film. Yeah. Um the plot being kind of like uh there was an asteroid heading towards Earth, humans blew it up before it got there, but then it rained back down chemicals that made like rodents and insects mutated into monsters. It's called my sci-fi. It's called Love and Monsters. Okay. Um and then what's that on?

MAX: 22:00
What'd you say that on? Netflix. Netflix.

SAM: 22:02
No, he's writing it down. It's made the list. Yeah, but so so you look you look you look at the synopsis and I mean the plot. I yeah, the synopsis, I guess, and you're like, oh, it's one of those films again. Is it actually gonna be good? But it's amazing. And it I mean it's Paramount in Netflix, so it has to be good. Okay. Um but uh yeah, no, they did it really well, and it was filmed in Australia, it was filmed in Queensland because I'm watching it and I'm like It looks a bit familiar. Like those, so it's all set in kind of like because it's post-apocalyptic almost.

MAX: 22:32
Um it's set in kind of like bushland and stuff, and I'm like, those paper to the wonderful views around Queensland, it's post-apocalyptic views.

SAM: 22:40
No, no, no, but as in like so but we're in the bush and it's really pretty, right? So I'm looking at it and like those paperbark trees look really local. It's funny as well. Um yeah, so so it's funny. I was thinking about it, I was like, for anyone else who don't doesn't live in Australia, yeah, would just be like, okay, this could be set in America where it was set, but we're watching it like nah, those trees are so distinct.

MAX: 22:59
That looks like the trees just behind Movie World on the Gold Coast.

SAM: 23:02
But it was amazing, it was it was really well done. Uh yeah, got a bit teary like near the end. It was just really well.

MAX: 23:09
And is that is that a movie or a series? Movie. Okay.

SAM: 23:12
And and so there's a guy in it, an Aussie guy who plays an Aussie. His name's Dan Uig.

MAX: 23:17
Oh yeah. I did a short film with it.

SAM: 23:20
He was he was in he is in Home and Away, I think. Oh no, he was in Home and Away. Right, right. Um, but I did a short film with him years ago. My first ever short film. Oh I was a very non-existent role. Um, but that was interesting. So he was also in um shit. What are those colored? You're doing a max. What are the yeah, I am. What are those coloured those coloured superheroes? They all have helmets. You got a pink one, a green one, like a white one. Uh oh, yeah, yeah, Power Rangers. Power Rangers, he was also in Power Rangers at the time. Don't know how I know that. Um but yeah, so that was cool seeing my oh my god. Uh so yeah, that's a great film. Put that on this. And now I'm I've gotten into the handmaid's tale. Have you really? I tried. You tried? It's a bit slow, yeah, but just I'm watching Elizabeth Moss and I'm like, she's great. Her accent's amazing.

MAX: 24:08
The Invisible Man, I think was the last thing I saw with her in it, and I really enjoyed that.

SAM: 24:12
But it's such an interesting idea, the Handmaid's Tale. Um backwards pretty much, and then even worse, for women. I mean, the idea of it. Do you know do you know the idea behind it? Yeah.

MAX: 24:23
And that everything that that they talk about, every every sort of every everything in the series actually happened to women at some stage in history.

SAM: 24:34
Yeah, and the I I mean it's scary how this should actually in many ways is not comforting. No, and this could actually happen, like again.

MAX: 24:41
Well, when you when you look at themes of the controlling and the big brother type stuff, I mean, yeah, it's a lot of things. It's quite disturbing of a TV show.

SAM: 24:49
So yeah, those are mine. Okay, good.

MAX: 24:51
That's good stuff around. Um, there's some. I mean, it's amazing what was slated to go cinema and then went straight to video on demand. And then now that the cinemas are open, there is some good stuff coming back. It's fantastic. So I've got my rewards points for I'll enjoy. So looking forward to it. Um, all right. Well, hopefully I'll get through my audition audition this week. It might give me more to talk about next week almost. You'll be listening to To Unemployed Actors, I'm Max. I'm Sam. Make sure you like, subscribe, follow us on social media, and you'll hear from us next week.

SAM: 25:22
See ya.

unknown: 25:23
Bye.

Speaker 2: 25:25
To Unemployed Actors.

MAX: 25:30
Welcome back to To Unemployed Actors, I'm Max.

SAM: 25:32
I'm Sam.

MAX: 25:33
Great show today. Going to talk about a few movies, some movie reviews.

SAM: 25:37
Um Fred jumped on my own. One more time, one more time.