Cast Away

‘Cast Away’ enables a viewer to experience isolation and desolation like no other film in recent memory. Director Robert Zemeckis (What Lies Beneath, Forrest Gump) crafts an ambitious and elegant story revolving around Chuck Nolan (Tom Hanks), a FedEx employee who is stranded on a desert island for several years due to a horrific plane crash.

 

Zemeckis makes no secret of handing over the complete second act to Hanks to retain the viewer’s attention. No music, no 45-degree camera angles – just simple storytelling to demonstrate Hanks’ isolation. ‘Cast Away’ is quite an achievement in terms of a film’s power to play with the human emotion.

 

This film is structured into three related yet completely different acts which all have a different story to tell. The film opens with an energetic and rowdy scene in Russia where Hanks’s character is leading a giant FedEx shipment. With the use of frantic editing and great camera tracking – including a p.o.v. shot from a FedEx package, Zemeckis demonstrates the importance of delivering packages on time. Here we see Hanks’ character’s obsession with his work in which he utters these great lines, ` We live and die by the clock. We must never allow ourselves the sin of turning our backs on the clock’. Yet, in watching the film closely, we see completely that Hanks had to have let go of this mantra to survive. Within this first act, we enter Hanks’ life through an enormous Christmas dinner with his girlfriend (Helen Hunt) and discover all that Hanks has to live for. Cut quickly to a terrific plane crash sequence that comes completely unexpected in which our main character finds himself stranded on a deserted island with nothing but his sanity to keep him grounded.

 

In this second act we are limited to extraordinary filmmaking with little use of dialogue and musical score. Instead, we are treated to Hanks’ ‘tour-de-force’ performance in which he commands his screen presence. We see Hanks struggle with the impossibility of starting a fire from scratch, making acquaintances with a volley ball named ‘Wilson’ and deal with the inevitable possibility of never returning home. The third act is in essence a closure to all the events that have occurred in the film. Therefore, we will not go into detail, yet some might find the last act a tad disappointing, yet, it is evident that the filmmakers stuck with the most realistic ending possible.

 

As far as the film is concerned, it plays on no other level than human emotion. Zemeckis leaves us no choice but to sympathize with our beloved character as he struggles to maintain his dignity in a world where there is none. We also see our character struggle with an unbearable weight loss as he wrestles with famine in a place where food is scarce and loneliness inevitable.

 

The best thing about this film are the subtle, yet present symbolic events or images that convey the notion that although we might seem alone- we never are. It might take a second viewing to notice these, but they are there – and that is just one of the many great elements that compose this great film.

 

Cast Away is an iconic film that’s still talked about years later. But if yor’re looking for something a little fresher, read up on what’s hot from hollywood today.

 

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Not A ‘Drop-Dead’ Beautiful Actor_ Here’s 8 Acting Career Benefits

The Terms ‘Drop Dead’ Beautiful, Or ‘Drop-Dead Handsome’, Or ‘Drop-Dead’ Attractive…

…Are Descriptive Words That Actually Are Used In The Acting Business: When Casting Roles, On The Audition Breakdowns, As Character Descriptions In Screenplays, In Colloquial Speech Amongst Professionals In The Industry, By Casting Directors And Agents

 

(As a professional actress, whenever I heard it used, I cringed. Why? Well, it made me feel a little ‘lesser than’, in terms of my value level inside the profession of the art form that I loved with all my might.

 

I, myself, was not considered a ‘Drop Dead’ beautiful acting type. No. I was never treated as such, in the acting profession. Never auditioned for roles that were that acting type, etc. That’s why I can advise you about getting your own successful acting career, if you aren’t that physical type.

 

To be absolutely up front about this…I learned that I was cast and considered as such, for one role. Daniella in THE SUPER MARIO BROS. And when I heard that, mid-film-shoot, I was caught by surprise. For years, I was accustomed to hearing that I was not inside the Business.)

 

Acting Career Benefits, For Those Actors Who May Not Be Gorgeous Enough To Give Someone A Heart Attack

I’ll give you the list of professional acting benefits; then later, I’ll write about the individual items on this list.

 

1. The Gorgeous Type Is An Overpopulated, Highly-Competitive Acting Type, In The Industry.

 

2. The Roles For DDG Types, Are Almost Never As Interesting As Those Acting Roles For The Non-Gorgeous Actors

 

3. When You Aren’t A DDG Acting Type, And You DO Get Into The Business, You Get In Because You Really Are An Actor. That’s Integrity That Sustains Over A Professional Acting Career.

 

4. You’ll Also Be An Actor Who Will Work Hard And Earn Your Acting Career. (An Awesome Accomplishment.)

 

5. Models, Usually, Can’t Act. It’s Almost Always True, For Good Reason, And Learned Habits.

 

6. Necessary Actor ‘Privacy’ Onstage And On Camera: Gorgeous Actors Often Have Issues With This Acting Essential

 

7. Being Gorgeous Has A Short Shelf Life, That Expires Relatively Early In Acting Careers. Especially True For Actresses.

 

8. Most Actors Do Not Accept Their Acting Shortcomings. Or They Simply Aren’t Aware Of Them. Many Actors Expect To Be Professionals Long Before Their Acting Abilities Are Professionally Ready. Certainly Not Virtuoso-Level. Sometimes, The Delay In Acting Success Forces Actors To An Acting Expertise Level Of Brilliance.

 

Inside The Acting Business: Your Acting Attributes, Physical Attributes, Are Discussed With You And To You.

Get used to it. You just have to.

 

Most of the time, it’s hard to hear.

 

Also, most of the time, it’s accurate information that you can use to get you acting career success. Because if you are on the wrong track for your type, and you are trying to promote yourself, and be cast in a type that doesn’t fit, you are only stalling your own career.

 

Sometimes, that information that the actor doesn’t want to hear, is the wake up information that they can incorporate to kickstart a career; or move an inactive acting career, forward.

 

There’s nothing more acting-career-HALTing than actors whose photos are inaccurate representations of what their cast-ability is. Their acting type.

 

The biggest 8X10 headshot mistakes that novice actors make, is to present themselves in their photo as more glamorous, sexier, or as a top-tier beauty.  (Refer back to benefit #1)  That kind of mistake keeps many actors from ever breaking in professionally. Their representational photos are not really representational of who they are, and how they would be cast. As they use them in attempts to become an acting professional; to compete as an acting type, and a visually verifiable acting type; that they just are not. These actors present an expectation that they can’t and won’t deliver, when seen in person. As an actor. Especially when there are so many other verifiable… ‘drop dead beautiful’ novice actors.

 

Want more inspiration? Just look to Adam Driver, a breakout star with numerous accolades under his belt who’s managed to make his unique look work to his advantage.

 

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