kevinashworth.com

I have in my possession a DVD of short Harvard student films. I appear in two of them. The students were all shooting from the same skeletal script, and if you watch the shorts, you’ll see very different films, but, at the end of the day, a bunch of typical student films. EXCEPT. Except there’s one shot that stands out: a crazy swerving zoom in to the moment when the poison I’ve administered does her in. The setup for that shot kept us up quite late that night, like 4am. Maybe later. It was a lot of work for that one shot. But Damien had a vision, and he made it happen, like no other director on that DVD.

While watching the opening scene of La La Land, I immediately saw a connection with the elaborate camera work, and I laughed. Sure, I laughed in delight for the music and dance and love and all that goodness, as I’m sure many audience members have also laughed in sheer delight. But I laughed, too, to see the connection to the film we shot at Harvard, and the fact that he’s still doing it, with the zooms and the setups that are off the charts, be it for the meager resources at hand, or off the charts for the history of film. A lot of work went into that crazy awesome freeway shot, and boy does Damien’s vision pay off.

Mr Chazelle, I look forward to what you’re going to do next!

Julie Wittner, Kristin Wendell, Benji Weinstein, Gerald Webb, Natasha Ward, Ryan Tsang, Jodi Sonnenberg, Christine Shevchenko, Jing Shao, Francene Selkirk, Arlene Schuster-Goss, Bethany Rooney, Charlie Robinson, Dave Reifsnyder, Joel Novoa, Mike Nelson, Keith Nam, Kirk Moody, Gilli Messer, Jonathan Medina, Kim McCollum, Karen Maseng, Chuck Marra, Amanda Lenker Doyle, Justin Lee, Alexis Koczara, Jason Kennedy, Jeff Hardwick, Kim Hardin, Darrin Glesser, Julia Flores, Faryn Einhorn, Michael Donovan, Rachel Dill, Kim Davis-Wagner, Doug Campbell, Juel Bestrop, Troian Bellisario, Dan Bell, Eric Almquist

Julie Zahn, Aloma Wright, Kerry Washington, Tom Verica, Larry Trilling, John Terlesky, Alisa Taylor, Darby Stanchfield, Patrick Robert Smith, Brian Slaten, Brennan Shaw, Erica Shaffer, Phyllis Schuringa, Richard Riehle, Bridget Regan, Christopher Misiano, Jeff Marlow, Norm Macdonald, William Lu, Allison Liddi‑Brown, Young Jean Lee, Claire Koonce, Asante Jones, Ulf Johansson, Lisa Hamil, Shannon Hagenbuch, Yetta Gottesman, Tony Goldwyn, Meg Fister, Danielle Eskinazi, Peter Dubois, Christopher Dihn, Ed Deraney, Seve Canales, Cassie Brennan, Frank Boyd, Mell Bowser, Jodie Bowman, Bill Blair, Stephen Belber, Hayley Atwell, Amrapali Ambegaokar

I’m sure I’ve missed a few, but I’m glad that these fine folk — casting directors, actors, writers, directors, producers, agents — were an active part of my year in acting work. Thank you!

(WEDNESDAY UPDATE: It was a blast last night, but I don’t expect to go on again. Will post more updates if that changes!)

A short, exciting update: I’ve been understudying Straight White Men at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, and I’ve just learned that I’m going on for tonight’s performance (Tuesday, Dec 15 at 8pm).

The play and its author, Young Jean Lee, have generated a lot of talk, including at least three recent articles in the LA Times. Information about this production, including tickets and driving directions, can be found on the Center Theatre Group’s site.

That’s it! Short message because I have a lot of other things to do right now (!), but I will be tweeting updates with the hashtag #swmigo, i.e., Straight White Men — I’m going on!

Spent the weekend doing the work of my union as a delegate to the 2015 SAG-AFTRA National Convention. An honor to serve. Many emotional moments. The work we did is private, or will be shared on the union web site, but the Convention was also a great social occasion!