A few weeks back i was called to a casting for an X-box video game print ad. I
did'nt really
know what to expect with this one. The casting was for a muscular bodybuilder
type, not
bulky, but lean. I was contacted my one of the producers who came across my
photos on
bodybuilding.com.

So I showed up to the casting call, the first thing I heard was a great scowl
and rawwwww
from behind a divider...I think to myself, Whats going on here. A guy comes out
from
behind the divider signs a paper and walks off. Another guy strips down to his
boxers,
goes behind the divider, I here a little talk and then a loud scowl...okay whats
going on
here. I ask the guy when he comes out, what is the screaming about, he says,
don't worry
you'll see.

I know from the sketch of the ad that the producer sent me, that they want a
muscular
being with angel wings, swinging a large hammer at a conveyer belt, which has
video
games on it coming ot of a refinery furnace. The being has a scowl on his face,
very
intense.

It's my turn to go behind the divider. Behind the screen is a crew of 4 people;
a
photographer, a lighting guy, the producer and her assistant. I say hi, and ask
what I have
to do. The producer tells me to strip down to my boxers, I'm not shy so no
problem. So
the shirt and pants come off, and they ask me if I'm a personal trainer, and how
much I
lift, i say I started lifting last week and I'm a quick responder. We laugh.

They then ask me to take a heads on shot, a 3/4 shot, a muscular shot and a shot
swinging a plastic axe. They tell me to be very animated to growl loud while I
swing this
axe, so I start laughing because this is taking me straight out of my element.
After a
couple of laughs, I swing the axe a few times and get a good growl going. After
that I said
thanks, good bye and see ya.

A few days later they call me back, they tell me that they like me for the ad,
that they just
have to check in with the client. After a few more days they called me back to
do the ad,
asking me if I wanted to do it, I said of course I do.

I here that that they selected me out of 600 well built to average built people,
I feel good
about that.

So when the date came up to go I went to the studio where the ad was being shot.
Basically I had to get into character, this meant wearing dungerees and boots
covered with
oil and rips. The make up artist glued a fake beard to my face and trimmed it
down.
Charcoal was added to my torso as well as spray bottle water to make me look
like a
shirtless worker in a foundery. I also wore leather arm bands to complete the
look. I
looked like a rail road worker from back in the day. Oh yes, I can't forget the
welding
googles.

Next they strapped me to a harness which was attached to a steel cable above,
after
removing a box which I was standing on I was elevated off the ground. They
wanted me to
look like I was flying and swinging an axe with a scowl on my face; they
atttached a large
wrench to a steel bar and had me hold it like I was swinging it...wild stuff.

You can't imagine the kind of energy that goes into continuely pretending that
your
swinging a hammer, while fyling through the sky, screaming. The shot started at
around
12am and went until 630 or so, so this was about 5 hours of pretending anger and
activity. It was great fun, and my friend (that I went with) had great fun with
the people
there.

The ad will be coming out this month and I know it will be national, if not
international. I
will definitely post the finished pics and ad here when I get them.

Law