Posts Tagged ‘Films’

Settling Into LA Life……

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Hello Again!

Yes, I know. I am officially the world’s worst blogger.  ;)

Seriously though, completing my next blog has been on my ‘To Do’ list since January! Settling into LA life has been crazy, amazing, awesome and out of control all at once…. But nonetheless, better late than never – so here I am once again!

So, as you all know, I made the move on December 11 2009. I was most disappointed, after leaving the sunny skies of Adelaide to arrive to miserable sheeting rain in Los Angeles. Oh. It wasn’t the most welcome arrival, but I was just happy to be ‘home’. In a whirlwind  few weeks, I managed to buy my car down in the OC, meet with my agent, start auditioning, and most importantly, we finally found a house to live in on the 31st of December! I spent Christmas with ‘old’ friends in LA and made some new ones too. I was happily joined by one of my compadres, Bek on the 28th of December….just in time to help me find the house to live in!

Shortly afterwards, in early January, I sent for my ‘kids’ and was happily reunited with my dogs and cat. They were not so ecstatic after a 14 hour plane journey out of Melbourne, which was experiencing a heat wave the day they were shipped out! Oops. Bad mother. However, you will be happy to know that they have settled in nicely and no longer resent me. ;)

So what have I been doing in the last four months? I couldn’t even really say….so terrible! The past four months have been a blur of auditioning, studying, catching up with friends, trying to squeeze in catch up time on film, television shows and theatre and just generally living life…. It was also exciting to have Lynda-Maree join us in early March to complete the set. Now the three of us are here, we are really digging our heels in and conquering the town!

I am also pleased to announce that I have found a new home at Sovereign Talent Group for my commercial and theatrical representation. Dina from Arete moved to her new home at Sovereign and I was pleased to accompany her for the ride. So, I look forward to a long and happy partnership with Sovereign.

Initially, I was taking scene study classes with Candace Silvers Studio, whom I had previously worked with, but have since transfered across to the Larry Moss Studio as they offer a Theater Company which is part of the studio and I have joined the Edgemar Theater Group and am very excited to start working on some very professional theater with them in the near future. As you all know, I am very passionate about great theater, and am excited about this transition.

I am also working with the Berubians on a Shakespeare ‘Best Of’, which will be produced in Hollywood in June, so watch out for updates! I have also already wrapped on two short films – ‘The Fortune Cookie’ by Kimie Koike, and ‘Non Fiction’ by Michael Lisenberry. I am always auditioning – so who knows what’s next? I also had a blast zooming around the Paramount Studios lot a few weeks ago when I went to be a reader for some pilot auditions with Pagano/Manwiller Casting.

On a personal level, I have indulged in a visit to Disneyland already (yes, I am a big kid at heart) and am looking forward to going back and doing CaliforniaLand sometime soon……… I have caught up with my LA friends and made some new ones.  I participated in an International Netball Tournament, which was great fun. So good to catch up with other Aussies, Kiwis, Brits and other commonwealth citizens, and eat more familiar food (all whilst playing 17 games of netball in the driving rain!). Sigh. I have done not as much shopping as I would like, but my wallet is happier that way! I also got a chance to catch up with my Aussie agent, who was in town the other week, which was great! I also get to do my two favourite things with friends every week – bowling on mondays and spa on wednesdays! Fun-ness!

We had a wonderful get together with about 30 friends at our place over Easter and I did indulge them all by ‘throwing some shrimps on the barbie’. Oh my, they tasted awesome too! Funnily enough, this was the day of the 6.9 earthquake, but I didn’t feel a thing!!! I was too busy working that Barbie…..like father, like daughter.

And, the question that always plagues me…….have I seen any celebs? Well, yes. It is Hollywood. I have played netball with Aaron Jeffrey, Simone Kessel, Tanc Sade and Molly Ringwald. I have been in classes with Rob Estes, Zoe Bell, Lindsey Mckeon and Jessica Sutta. I saw Apl from the Black Eyed Peas DJ in a club, and I almost ran Gerard Butler down with my car (true story).

So what next? Well, this week is going to be HUGE!!!!

It’s off to Las Vegas for me tomorrow for the MGM Pool Party ‘Wet Republic’ with some promoter friends and to celebrate Lynda-Maree and another friend Nick’s respective birthdays…..oh, and to honour Anzac Day. Then, I am getting new headshots taken this week and heading to a film premiere at Sony Studios on Thursday – ‘Turning Japanese’ with Brian Austin Green. I am also madly trying to organise a house move, as we have just found a great 4 bedroom house for us all to move into next month! I still have classes every week and plenty of auditions coming up! I am also looking forward to the series of One Acts opening at Edgemar, as I will be volunteering in the box office for a couple of nights, which is always fun. You never know who will show up!!

Also, now that the weather is finally heating up and we are heading towards summer, I would love to get down to Venice sometime soon and throw my rollerblades on and set off into the sunshine – BLISS! Fingers crossed I can fit that in soon……..

I am also looking forward to a brief visit to Australia in June to see family, so that will be a nice break to catch up on all that has been going on back home.

So, until I blog again – and let’s face it, it could be another 4 months…….(well, let’s hope not) you can keep up with all my adventures on Facebook. I have a new fanpage, so look me up under Alicia Hovell (Actor/Director).

Keep Smiling and Being Amazing!

xoxoxo

Leash

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2009 Rapidly drawing to a close….

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Well, am I right or am I right? 2009 feels like it has rapidly sped along, bringing me for the ride whether I like it or not!

It feels like forever since I last sat down to write about my adventures – but here I am at last!

I’ll start where I left off – India. I was blessed to travel to India for 3 weeks with Candace Silvers from Los Angeles and 13 other talented and amazing people for a spiritual journey in Rishikesh, at the foothills of the Himalayas. 

Rishikesh – the home of Yoga, the place where the Beatles famously travelled in 1968 to stay in an Ashram, and the birthplace of Anand Mehrotra – our other spiritual guide on this journey and Yin to Candace’s Yang.

What an amazing adventure! There’s too much to detail here – but it was an immense journey of self discovery for all involved…. we climbed mountains to temples, meditated in caves, swam in the mighty Ganga, participated in Diwali celebrations, did morning yoga, played with monkeys and elephants and made life long friends. We laughed, we cried, we broke through barriers – We talked about the universe and quantum physics and splashed each other with water. We jumped off a cliff and changed our lives forever. I took so many things from my journey to India – lessons about life and insights into self. I have come away a stronger and fuller person and am blessed to have had the opportunity. Perhaps my highlight of the trip was visiting the school children supported by Candace’s charity – New Possibilities Children Foundation. To see the smiles and joy in their hearts touched me deeply and was an experience I won’t soon forget.

For more information, check out:

www.candacesilvers.com

www.childrenofrishikesh.com

www.anandteachings.com

Apart from my trip to India – October has been a HUGE month! 

Firstly, there was the voting for the AFI awards. I have to say what an amazingly strong field of great Australian films it was this year! I really enjoyed tearing through my viewers and getting to see some fantastic features and documentaries. 

I have to say two films that stood out for me were:

The Combination, directed by David Field – and Beautiful, directed by Dean O’Flaherty. Admittedly, I might be slightly biased towards Beautiful as it featured several close friends and was shot on location in Adelaide,  but all in all, it was a fantastically written and shot piece. The Combination was a surprisingly powerful and emotional piece about marginalised youth which really packed a punch. I can highly recommend both of these films.

In other film news, The Boys Are Back is on release from this Thursday the 12th of November in selected cinemas. I attended the cast screening on Monday, and discovered a beautiful, emotional and delicately crafted film. Again, although I may be slightly biased, I found it to be very well written, with fantastic cinematography and strong acting – particularly from the leads, Clive Owen and Nicholas McAnulty. It was also a perfect showcase for the beauty of the South Australian coast. Let alone on a personal level, the opportunity to work with Scott Hicks, which was amazing. Look out for me at Katie’s wake….. ;)

I’ve also had the great pleasure of reading several scripts this month – mostly in the developmental and pre-production stages. It has inspired me to get off my backside and start working on some fresh projects myself, as well as some scripts that have been on the shelf for a while!

Whilst I didn’t hear anything about the audition I went for as discussed last blog, I was cast in a guest role for the upcoming new radioplay, “Starpol”. I appear as Commander F’Iner in Episode One, Power of the Emperor. I had a blast at the recording session yesterday with many familiar faces. Someone commented that I sounded like Frank Sinatra whilst recording! Whilst I personally can’t see the comparisons….. make up your own mind! Episode One available online in the coming weeks at:

www.starpol.net

Now, FINALLY to the news we have all been waiting for…… my O1 Talent visa to go and work on some projects in the United States has been conditionally approved! I have booked my consulate appointment and am starting to make the preparations to relocate….. Phew! So many things to do, and not enough hours in the day! 

I’ve also been invited to attend a Masterclass in Adelaide with Marcus Graham in early December before I plan to make the move to LA – how many things can I squeeze into my itinerary? Ha!

And if that is not crazy enough, I sit here on the eve of my departure to Egypt. Yep – that’s right – I’m going on another 3 week spiritual journey! Meditations in ancient pyramids and temples and journeys down the Nile (as opposed to journeys in Denial!!). I can’t wait!

So, to all, I bid a temporary Adieu, as, in true Alicia fashion, I still haven’t packed yet! I like to think of the Internet as my personal packing procrastination medium………

I look forward to sharing more adventures with you soon!

Until then, enjoy the sunshine…

Leash

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Busy, Busy!

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Well, it has been a while since I last updated everyone – but let me say it has been an INSANELY busy time for me!

I returned briefly to LA to organise the business side of things in a whirlwind tour over 3 weeks in August… and thankfully it was a very fruitful trip! Bek and I dashed from meeting to meeting – although we were able to slot some time in for shopping and catching up with everyone! I will update everyone further in my next blog – I should have tied up all the loose ends by then……

Unfortunately, our masterclass with Jason Alexander was cancelled at the last minute, but we had some very fruitful workshops with Casting Directors including Caroline Liem and Lauren Bass at AIA Studios. Also, we had some amazing new headshots taken with Mary Grace Mckernan in LA, with gorgeous makeup by Lisa Marie Deroma. They are very natural and really communicate my essence. I’ll be uploading the new shots on here very soon. In the meantime, check out the amazing work by Mary Grace and Lisa Marie via my links page. I highly recommend that anyone wanting to get new shots done in LA contact Mary Grace as she is amazing to work with and really gets results!

In other fantastic news, my O1 Visa Application was finalised last month and has now been lodged! Many thanks to my hardworking immigration attorney, Gil Brito at Beltran Brito for many tireless hours slaving away at the finer details of my case. Now, it is just a case of waiting for the outcome of my application. Yay!

Of course, I have returned home to more madness, as usual! When I arrived home, there was a lovely fat parcel awaiting me – almost half the films up for contention in the AFI awards for 2009. Phew! I almost forgot that we are swinging around to awards season once more…. Luckily, as a professional member, the kind people at the AFI have sent the majority of the films direct to me for judging in the comfort of my own home! For the ones they were not able to send to me, I have a fistful of film passes that arrive almost every other day, so I am taking my excited little self off to the cinema for an Australian cinematic extravaganza! I have made a very small dent in the collection so far and am looking forward to a bit of a filmfest this week, now that I have cleared some space in my diary……. I am very excited, as the calibre of Aussie films this year seems exceptional as always. I’m especially excited to check out Lynda-Maree and Bek in ‘Beautiful’. Otherwise, I’m not going to give too much away – my votes are secret! At least for now…… :)

In other film news, I saw Judd Apatow’s latest effort ‘Funny People’ last night in Gold Class…. it lived up to it’s title and was a very funny film. I was especially impressed with Apatow’s ability to nail the Australian persona on the head, with Eric Bana cast in the role of “Clarke”. It was great to see Bana return to his comedic roots in a way that an international audience have probably never seen. Think of Bana in ‘The Castle’ and as the Comedy Company clashic – “Poida”. I have to say it was an extremely funny yet accurate portrayal of the Aussie character, and was very well written. Two thumbs up from me!

I also have managed to sneak in last week an audition for a small role in the upcoming feature “Oranges and Sunshine” with Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham, shooting in Adelaide in 2010. It is a very well written script, and I cried my way through a majority of it – need I say anymore?

Whilst on the subject, I am currently reading “Women Who Run With The Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. It is an inspirational read – highlighting the culture of storytelling to tell tales of the ‘Wild Woman’ who lives in the female psyche. A great read I can highly recommend to anyone wanting to unleash their inner wild side!

In other news, I am heading off on more world travels in two weeks today – I’m going to India! I am travelling with acting and life coach, Candace Silvers from LA and a whole bunch of other actors. This will be a bit of a down time for me, with yoga and meditations and treks aplenty! I’m looking forward to some relaxation, as 2010 is shaping up to be a monster of a year with plenty on the go already!

So – that is my world in brief for now…… I have many other things on the burner that I am trying to slot into the next few months, and I’ll update you all on my return from India. Refreshed and revived and ready to Go!!!!

Smiles and Sunshine,

;)

Leash

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Heading Off Again!

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Well, another month has gone by – where does time go? ?

As always, I have been busy busy and getting a multitude of things done. Most importantly, I’ve updated my showreel and had it uploaded to the site – I am really happy with how it’s shaped up…….. Thanks a bunch, Tess!!! Also thanks to everyone for all your kind feedback on it.

Otherwise, I am excited to announce I am heading back to LA for a whirlwind trip two weeks from today – yay! It is going to be an insane three weeks…. we’ll be meeting with agents, doing a comedy masterclass with Jason Alexander at AIA Studios, getting some more headshots done – not to mention, catching up with everyone! I can’t wait! More importantly, it’s summer in the US and I am looking forward to escaping the winter doldrums for a while!

Before that time however, I am heading off to Melbourne for a few days with Lynda-Maree to meet Kevin when he flies in from LA, followed by a few days back home and then a couple of days each in Sydney and Queensland. Phew!

Aside from that, I have been enjoying reading some Tennessee Williams – it’s always great to revisit the classics. I’ve also been to the movies this month, so here is my brief wrap-up of what I thought:

The Hangover – What an incredibly funny film! It was actually a very well scripted comedy with a strong narrative thread to carry the humour off. I think I spent the better part of the film in tears – I highly recommend it!

Bruno – I must be in the mood to laugh this month….. Bruno was very funny, but not quite as good as the Hangover. Whilst I love Sascha Baron Cohen, I find his films a little disjointed – with a weak narrative that feels basically like several punchlines strung together one after the other. Having said that, there were some extremely funny scenes and I admire the tenacity his style – it takes a lot of guts to pull off some of those stunts! Would recommend this more for a DVD night at home with some mates.

The Lucky Country – Obviously, I felt the need to counter all the funnies I had been watching and went along to watch this AFI award contender, an Australian Period drama. It was very well scripted and the cinematography was amazing. Very strong acting from the cast, however, it just missed the mark with me. I have to say I found it an extremely depressing film. Perhaps an indication of the excellent writing, I just felt uncomfortable throughout the entire piece. There was really no sense of hope offered at any point in the film, and without ruining the plot, the ending was somewhat bleak… Absolutely worth a view, particularly if you are voting this year, but just don’t go if you are having a down day! On the upside, the film was an amazing advertisement for rural South Australia with stunning vistas. Again, not sure if it is indicative of the climate, but it appears there are a few seriously confronting pieces of cinema coming out of the local film market at the moment…….

Anyways, that’s my two cents worth!

That’s it for now, but I will touch base again soon and let everyone know how my return visit to LA goes!

Until next time….. stay warm!

Leash

:)

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