So about a week ago on Thursday I get a call from this guy named Evan from Bodega studios. Turns out he’s in charge of casting for a wine commercial that features a few Parkour moves or at least some “cat-like” movements. I tell the other parkour coaches on the CFM staff about it and Glenn helps me with pictures and I get some last minute headshots done. A few of us went to audition last Friday for the principal part, which actually pays pretty well. We enjoyed using what Andrey calls our “Parkour Vision” to find different moves on the small obstacles by the bay next to Pac Bell stadium. That was the easy part. The hard part was trying to look “suave” while pretending to swish fine wine in our wine glasses- errr.. water bottles. It was definately fun, at least after we got over the nervousness. ( Maybe I’m speaking for just myself, but I was nervous at first, anyways, until the cute parkour girl showed up to audition. Then it was just plain fun. ) None of us got the principal part but Ryder and I were offered paid parts as extras. Not that much, but pay is pay. The principal part was offered to a fellow from L.A. who’s been involved in different parkour related movie projects. Other big-name traceurs also applied and I’m not going to list them off, but naturally it made me think of our old friend Shane Daniels, who coached at CFM briefly before moving down to L.A. and finally landing a spot on Team Tempest and fullfilling his dream of becoming a professional stuntman and actor. Ryder Darcy is also an aspiring actor and he plans on moving down to L.A. eventually to give it a shot, as does our ballet and tap dance teacher, Lindsey Herrera. (I’m also encouraging Seraphina Schinner, our youngest parkour coach, to look into a stunt/acting career. She is definately talented enough.) Both Ryder and Lindsey have been on commercial and modeling shoots before and Ryder recently played a character who heroically gets killed off on a B-rated horror movie. It’s a process to try to break into an acting career, unless your the child of a famous actor. I’m happy to go tomorrow to participate, learn, make new friends, and watch the process. Now I’m just nervous about my wardrobe being adequate for the shoot, which starts early tomorrow morning, so there’s now time for shopping. Oh well, what I have will have to do. Wish us luck.
In the meantime, here is a video that Tempest made when they were shooting the AT&T parkour commercial featuring some of our favorite traceurs, and of course, Shane:
