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Yesterday I recieved a call from German Eric, my stuntman friend:
"Have you been to the casting for the Marine 2 WWE movie yet?"
"No, as usual no one has told me about the details"
I knew a quiet a while ago that the WWE were making a movie here in Thailand rather than their usual place of Queensland, Australia but I did not know it was The Marine 2 nor when it was casting.
As usual all the super bright people here who are supposed to be my representation (and take a 30% commission on any work they can send me to) did not have to cranial capacity to think WWE = wrestling, maybe we should see if we can get the only wrestler in Thailand into the Marine 2 movie?
So it comes down to my support network of friends again, the people that don't get paid yet still manage to think, amazing when you consider it really....
So anyway Eric calls me up and then finds a time when I can go in and see the casting agents and then messages me with the time and place (messages are better then there is no confusion as to where the heck you are supposed to be - helps when many Thai places sound the same to a foreigner).
Great so I go in, only when I arrive do I see the casting is for "The Marine 2", cool, I saw "The Marine" and though "The Marine" wasn't a legendary film it was entertaining with a good strong start.
For the Marine 2 I'll let the cat out of the bag a little while I can and say that John Cena is not starring in the Marine 2, a fellow by the name of Ted seems to be, whether Ted is his real name or character name in the movie I will leave it for you to decide - but that is enough rumour mongering for now.
*UPDATE: The actor playing in the Marine 2 is Ted Dibiase Jr, the son of old time wrestler Ted Dibiase (aka The Million Dollar Man).
The Marine 2 casting seemed to be an open call for one and all, I went in had my photos taken, talked a little, displayed that I could speak some Thai and gave a CD with professional photos and a .pdf of my biography also on the CD with my name AND phone number written on the CD (big tip there always have contact details on your CD).
I checked out the characters they were casting for The Marine 2 but none seemed to be particularly suitable for me, which is why I did not get a call from any agents but the casting agent was talking about me doing stand in for the star, Ted DiBiase Jr.
I smiled and as politely as I could I said I do not do extras work or that sort of thing, as I have now done 9 movies as a principle actor (and a few stunt actor roles) and that I was probably bigger and taller than the Star (well I am a heck of a lot bigger but I was trying to be polite)
To give you an idea a stand in basically sits around the entire shoot day and when scenes are being set up , lighting, camera angles, etc the stand in stands in the place of the actor and moves about as the actor will when the film is rolling, they may even blow some things up just to make sure it is safe for the actor to be that close (I have heard of this happening before but I won't mention where or when). A stand in role is something you would be excited to get if you were just starting out in the industry, it lets you get onset and see how things work, meet people, and get some basic experience., but in reality you contribute nothing to the movie at all.
And a stand in gets paid about the same as an extra - that alone gives some perspective of how important the role is, at least an extra might appear in the movie for a few seconds.
6 days a week for 5 weeks of 12 hour days on The Marine 2 eating at the 'extras table' (bodybuilding wise low quality, low protein, high carbs (rice), cheap local food) and training when and if I was able to. (12 hour days are onset, add on travel time and waiting around for transport on top of that).
Any of you serious trainers reading this know what that would mean to your physique, you would lose it, it'd take months to repair the damage, let alone try to get ahead and make your body better. Add in that I have a late Dec + Jan appointment in Hong Kong with a True Legend for which I will need to be in good shape and you can see why being a stand in on The Marine 2 is not an attractive option.
IF the money as a stand in on The Marine 2 was good I would consider it as I am sure I could wheedle my way into eating and training with the WWE guys, but a friend of mine on a recent big budget US film here was paid about $50 a day to be stand in for the star. Which he was happy about, as a beginning independant film maker he was running about onset every time he was not needed talking to the lighting guys, the sound man, the camera men, the grips, basically everyone - learning everything he could.
For me though I already have the experience, I have passed this point in my career. Let's wait and see what happens though. This was just the first meeting, maybe once it gets back to the Americans responsible for casting The Marine 2 something will be written in for me to play a major role....
I hope so, it would not be the first time.
*UPDATE: All the foreigner (ie white guys) roles were replaced with local (Thai) actors, rumour has it to save money, but I cannot see how a few thousand dollars could make a difference to The Marine 2 film budget. They ended up using about 5 white guys as extra, playing prisoners who Ted DiBiase Jr saves.
And I did not get a part but a couple of friends worked as Ted DiBiase's stand in (they needed the money and wanted the holiday on the island of Phuket where the Marine 2 was filmed
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