25 Actors: Day 2 - Bryan Kieft

As part of the 25 Days of Sine Fine Films extravaganza leading up the 25th Anniversary I have decided to write a series of posts celebrating the 25 actors who have been the most dedicated by participating in the most productions.   

Actor of the Day: Bryan Kieft

Bryan joined the company in May of 2004 when we began filming for Eidolon.  He has participated in 5 productions as cast and/or crew.  

I had actually met him before we started filming through a friend and later that summer we became roommates with Jen Weber in the house we filmed the majority of Eidolon in so it was pretty easy for Bryan to show up to the set.  Although we did have to wake him up once or twice when it was time to film his scenes early in the morning. 

In the TV Show Eidolon Bryan was cast as both Morpheus - the benevolent God of Dreams, and his look-a-like Namtaru the treacherous God of Nightmares.  It wasn't easy to play two totally different characters but Bryan did a fantastic job.  He was good at being bad for Namtaru but I think he was actually better at playing Morpheus, or maybe that's because I know that Bryan is such a wonderful person. 

After Eidolon he particpated in the next production: The Cursed Destiny of Pandora's Gift Box.  It was the 10 year anniversary production and he played Prince Loverboy, the combination of all the heroic royals and lovers in SFF productions. This was the only part he ever played where he got to wear a costume rather then his regular clothes.  

Actually he did get to wear a big, long dark black and blue sparkly cloak as Namtaru sometimes as Namtaru's sorcerer's robe.  Also he wore "sorcerer garb" for Morpheus in an episode of Eidolon which was basically the costume he wore to Ren Fairs.  It was a sweet costume though - very yummy.  Doublets are always yummy (yes, I have a thing for costumes - not the actors, just the costumes).

He also participated in the next production: Quatrain. Quatrain is a bit confusing because it was an experiment in filming where 4 different people wrote 4 scripts each.  The 4 scripts were directed by 4 different people and there were 4 different actors in almost all of them.  Bryan was one of those actors, although his many roles didn't really have character names. He was officially called "Actor D".   As always he did a great job, made a lot of bloopers, and had to fake crying about a goldfish.

After that it was a while before he was able to film with us again until 2012.  Although unable to participate in the filming for The Gift Bearer: Time After Time due to his schedule he was able to help out on crew.  That was easy since he lived in the house we were filming in.  I can't thank him enough for knowing how to lace up a corset and displaying his superior corseting skills so I could keep filming while Christine got ready for her next scene. You cannot tie a corset by yourself.  If you can then you are wearing it wrong. 

I need an emergency actor to film a two person short film in November of 2012 and luckily Bryan was available.  He played the gay ex-boyfriend Jack with Brittany Ann Whalen as Bethany in Fortunate Ones: Only You.  I don't know which one of them was funnier but they both had me laughing so hard I could barely breathe.  It was a great day of filming, although we did get smoked out of the tipi at one point, with lots of laughs and in-jokes.  

Unfortunately that was the last time I was able to film with him.  He did stop by the set of Villain's Workshop in 2014 but he wasn't able to film, just hang out for a little while.  That's better than nothing - I'll take what I can get! I hope that someday I can once again film with the amazing, wonderful, silly, friendly, exceptional Bryan Kieft.  I forgot handsome.  He's also handsome and looks dang good in period clothing!

If you want to learn more about Bryan check out his interview.

Oh, and he also let me borrow his digital camera off and on for like...seven years. THANK YOU!