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: James McKinley
James joined the company in the spring of 2001 when he agreed to be an extra in The Curse. He has participated in 7 productions as cast and/or crew.
I first met James in the fall of 1999 shortly after I joined SPC-TV, the student operated television station at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. We got along right away and he's a super friendly, wonderful guy. I wasn't filming anything at SIU at the time since I was still filming Pandora's Box in CU but he eagerly helped me record some voice overs for Episode 10. He became a big Pandora's Box fan which only made me like him more, of course.
When I finally finished Pandora's Box and began to film The Curse I wasn't able to give him a big part right away due to his time commitment issues I think? I'm not sure why. However he did become an extra whenever I needed him, which was mostly to play students in Zandra's classes and the occasional random ghost.
He was unable to return to SIUC in the fall of 2001 so he I couldn't cast him in The Gift Bearer, however he was able to visit a few times and was willing to just be a crew member, hold the boom mic, and hang out on set. He joined the cast in the Spring of 2002 when he played Margaurite's attendant when their coach is held up by the Drakes and Silverstones in Episode 17. It was only a few lines but it was more than he had ever had before.
With The Gift Bearer completed I took a short break from filming, but finally decided to write and film another TV show in the late fall of 2002. It was called Dream Chasers which was a prequel to The Curse. Although the cast was limited and most of the actors had already been decided there were some parts still available. Primarily the evil sorcerers we meet in Episodes 5 and 6.
I really wanted James to play one of those guys and fortunately he was able to do it. He played Ares, a sneaky sorcerer who helped to kidnap the gods of both Dreams and Nightmares and steal their powers. Unfortunately the day he filmed with us was the coldest day of filming ever where we had to go outside of the freezing stone fort to warm up by the snow.
I didn't realize it at the time but James was actually quite sick and the severely cold temperature did not help him at all. The fact that I didn't realize it at the time is a tribute to how well he played the part and hid his illness. Great acting dude! I wish I had been more sympathetic to you on that day! I don't think I was mean, but we were all freezing our butts off and I had just had a second mental breakdown so I wasn't at my best either. Despite the cold the fort day was still fun.
While filming The Gift Bearer I help create another TV show for SPC-TV called Tape and a Stick. Each episode there would be two new objects that the writers and directors had to incorporate into their productions. There were three productions per episode that were supposed to be directed by three different people. The first one - Tape and a Stick - had two by me. One of those was The Walking Stick, a short film about a woman who steals an antique walking stick on display outside a store.
It turns out the item is haunted. Freaked out she seeks the advice of her friend Frank who doesn't believe her and asks for proof. When she video tapes the ghost and shows him the video has mysteriously been erased and he makes fun of her. He's a bad friend, that's why he ended up with the name Frank the Bad Friend. James and another SPCTV friend had gone with me back home to CU to celebrate Easter with my family and we got bored so we filmed a movie. James played Frank, and he's a much better friend then Frank could ever be.
Before filming Dream Chasers I made another short film for Episode 3 of Tape and a Stick. The items for that episode were soup and a cookie. In need of one more show for the episode I quickly wrote a really really bad script called Attack of the Cookie People about a trio of students who get lost in the woods, run into a group of not-so-pygmy mimes, and nearly get sacrificed to the Great Cookie God by his worshipers - a group of British exchange students who got lost in the woods years ago and live on cookie soup in exchange for human sacrifices. I told you it was bad. James agreed to play one of the British exchange students, Joseph, and did as great a job as anyone could with that disaster of a script.
I had planned to stop filming after Dream Chasers, mostly because I finally stablized on my meds leading to true feelings of sanity and I really liked that. However my addiction to filming could not be contained by going cold turkey and in 2003 I found myself playing around with ideas of filming a sequel to The Curse to wrap up all the loose ends from both The Curse and Dream Chasers. I somehow convinced Brittany Ann Whalen, Morgan Thomas, and James to help me with planning, producing, and writing it. We even had a weekend in the Spring of 2004 where we all got together at Brittany's house and workshopped the show, doing roll play, improv, and also just kind of hung out. All of this allowed James to help create and craft his first, and sadly only as of now, real character: Skyler Jackson.
Skyler wasn't one of the main characters but he was still a lead with his character being introduced in Episode 3 of what eventually became Eidolon. There were so many other directions his character could have taken given the crazy directions of the other scripts, but in all versions he was a ghost hunter who was a lot more menacing and powerful then he looked. In all the versions he was also a widower.
James designed the character, giving him a faux-hawk, dark shirts, and a smoking habit. The character is dark and brooding, the complete opposite of James personality. Ever since his wife was killed by serial killer and got away with it, Skyler decided to get revenge. He killed his wife's murderer then trapped the serial killer's ghost and that's when he got a taste for vigilante justice.
At the start of Eidolon he is a student in Maria's class (and has a crush on her) and is in the same class as Terri. He gets involved when Terri is being hunted by Zelda and he makes the assumption that not only is Zelda annoying but since she's a ghost she must also be evil. During the show he learns to let go and after experiencing what it's like to be a ghost as well as a meeting with the spirit of his wife in what is basically heaven gets a stern lecture from her and changes his ways. He becomes best friends with Zelda, Terri, and Maria and helps them out many times - at first through threats and coercion then later for friendship.
Almost all of this backstory was created by James and he turned what could have been a two dimensional character into a very complex individual. He even wrote a few scenes including Sklyer's interaction with the fake medium Madame Genna and the scene where Skyler briefly reunites with his wife. The dialogue is great and the sentimental emotional in the later scenes are both well written and well performed.
James did a fantastic job playing Skyler and I really wish he could have played another major role. Unfortunately the next time I filmed with him was in the winter of 2009 when we filmed Hulde - during a blizzard. He was cast as the shady stranger, Joel, but we weren't able to film the scenes with him because of the snow. After the camera froze up then took forever to defrost we gave up shooting when it froze up a second time. The sun was also setting and we ran out of time to film.
He was able to be my assistant director and hang out with the other actors but that's not the same as getting to perform. I don't remember why but we also couldn't film his scenes the next day either and he left disappointed. I assumed he'd be able to film the following year when we were able to shoot the rest of Hulde, but sadly he wasn't able to make it. He did get paid with the rest of the cast and crew after the first shoot though. It was only a quarter but that's more than anyone else had made at the point, so...yay?
That was the last time I filmed with him and it's been twelve years since then. I haven't even gotten to see him since his wedding in 2012, since he became really busy with school, work, and married life when he met the most wonderful man Caleb Porter. I also want to film with Caleb someday. I want to film with both of them and I am determined to make it happen eventually. Now that I no longer live in Illinois that will be harder, but it will happen!
I was hoping he might be able to make it to the Spoon River shoot and do a poem from Spoon River Anthology, but sadly he could not. I need to visit Southern Illinois since there won't be a need to travel and he'll have to get to film with me, hopefully he'll be willing and able to since I plan to make sure he can't escape I will ask him nicely.
Thanks for always being willing to do whatever was needed on the set whether it was holding the boom mic, being my Assistant Director, being an extra or a small part, and especially being willing to help write and produce Eidolon. You're awesome James and I can't wait to kidnap you film with you again! I should probably finish editing your wedding video. It's been like ten years. I'll work on that in June...or July. Sometime this summer, I promise!
No comments:
Post a Comment