I’ve always been quick to state that the prospect of acting has never been a significant passion of mine, but following my “strong, silent type” cameo in LRC, I’ve actually become somewhat enamored with the idea of acting as a secondary film talent of mine, as it were. Having said that, I hadn’t anticipated taking the lead role in writer/director Chris Cooper’s short film Bombs Away! this autumn.
I have to admit, it was definitely fun being on camera, especially in a film which is absolutely unlike anything I would ever write, produce, and/or direct. In this incredibly oddball comedy, I star as Gertrude (yes, Gertrude): an excitable conspiracy theorist who displays quite a level of mental instability. As I take a technical approach to acting, I didn’t so much become my character as much as I imitated a composite of: Rusty Gartrell, Art Bell, a meth addict, and a negative stereotype of a Fox News viewer. Throw in my lingering sinus infection at the time, and Gertrude was alive and kicking.
Yes, this entire project was conceived as intentionally stupid beyond belief, and therein is where lies its charms. My long-term projection is that Bombs Away! will ultimately be known as nothing more than an incredibly strange curiosity in my oeuvre, but its importance for me comes from the fact that it allowed me to overcome prior disappointment and be able to once again act on occasion…
