Day 4

This day began again like the others with an early morning and arrival at a church with locked doors. So we moved our meeting location to a house where some of the group were living. We proceeded to engage in one of the best discussions I have been a part of regarding film and working in the entertainment industry as believers. There were many great lessons and thoughts that came out over that hour and a half period. One thing we talked about was that we need to be able to speak into people’s lives on a daily basis through films and our relationships. We talked about being honest with others and ourselves and DEEPLY getting to know others and letting them know us. All life has pain, that’s the nature of an existence divided from God’s love, and we have to acknowledge that. However, unlike many of the films we saw these past few days and some you see mainstream, there is hope. We must acknowledge our limps—as it were—but instead of leaving it in despair and anguish we bring a hope to it. We are called to “limp with hope.” There is something so beautiful to me about that. It’s not about ignoring pain or hurt but rather coming alongside someone and showing them our limp and then our hope. That was a great discussion.

After that…I went skiing. Oh my gosh. Today was gorgeous and I had the chance to ski with Tony, another guy from our group and a director and producer from Tony’s movie. I didn’t plan on skiing so I had to wear my jeans and a borrowed pair of Gap fleece gloves (not waterproof) but decided to go for it anyway. I had so much fun. There was a lot of powder and different this time was we did a lot of off-terrain and through the trees (or into them) versus the aggressive double-black diamonds of Tahoe. I was covered head to toe in powder after pretty much rolling down a hill and falling a number of times. My legs burned from the 4 hours of skiing but my sides hurt worse from laughing so hard at each of us falling and crashing. It was a blast.

Earlier in the day I had been invited to go to the Sundance awards ceremony. I jumped at the chance and was thrilled to be a part of that show. It was such an amazing experience to walk into the green room and be there with Sandra Oh, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy (the host of the night), Quentin Tarantino and a few others. Pretty cool. The night was a fun night with great food and some good awards. After the show was a great party. There was a huge dance floor and after a little bit of DJ warm up, I hit the floor and hit it hard. Yes, the rumors are true. I did battle dance a few guys, had some people take my picture and video and felt good about my contribution.

Day 3

Very similar beginning to the day (save the fact that I had 4 hours of sleep) with our early rise, quick breakfast and discussion time regarding culture. Then I hopped a bus and took off for what has been the best film this festival (to date) for me. Birds of America. I am telling you right now that once this movie is purchased and then makes it to a theater within a 2-hour drive of your house you GO. Matthew Perry, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Foster and Lauren Graham round out this fantastic cast. It is great to see Matthew Perry in a role again that he inhabits and lives out. There are so many times you forget you are watching a movie and that is what I love. After Matthew Perry’s father dies, he is thrust into taking care of the house left to him in the will, as well as his younger sister, brother and invalid mother—at age 18. He is waiting for his tenure as a teacher before having kids and all seems like an average suburban life. Enter stage left: brother—who is unstable and brilliantly tough to understand, and sister who has been running for the past few years not knowing why. They all collide and Matthew Perry is confronted with issues of how to be an older brother, different than his father, a leading husband and a man who finally stands up for himself. I connected with a lot of the moments in the film and felt the ease of the cast and their reality of the situations was touching and human and truthful. It is my Little Miss Sunshine for this year.

I left there feeling on top of cloud nine and had a great discussion with the number of other guys from the summit who were with me there. We then got on the waitlist line for Pretty Bird with Paul Giamati and Billy Crudup. The first question after the film was over was, “What just happened? What did we just see?” To which the director answered, “Yeah, I know, right?!” It was lame and left me with a headache.

I had a ticket for the next show and had some time to burn so I just stuck around the tent area, made some phone calls and talked to people in line. The openness of everyone during this festival and willingness to talk about film is a dream for an extrovert like myself. I had a $8.25 half ham sandwich and cup of chili and talked with a girl who works for the Chicago International Film Festival. She is employed full-time and year-round readying the festival for October. Her job is to go to other festivals, watch entries, meet people and have fun. Sound like fun, huh? They finally opened up the doors for ticket holders and my friend and I went to, Anywhere USA. This movie was told in three parts and I will say it was bold in its technique AND the guys were from Ashville so that was pretty neat.

After that, I was able to join a friend of mine for an industry party and meet some interesting people. It was a party for friends of the director and I got to meet a lot of people. One lady I met and talked to about her pig farm, raising peacocks and starting her own RV park which she is selling. She also spoke to me about her husband. They are currently going through a divorce and after hearing of the repression and verbal abuse and emotional manipulation I felt heavy and sad. I did have the boldness to speak very openly with her about her pain and felt honored to be in that position.

Day 2

With a wakeup time of 6:30 mountain time (5:30 emotionally) I woke up, showered, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then loaded up in the van to head to our first meeting. My morning commute was gorgeous! The sun was painting the sky with pastel yellows and pinks and the deep snow and silent town seemed as if it were all frozen (it was also very cold) in time. Ten foot icicles dripping from the roof to the ground of surrounding houses and cars covered in feet of snow made for quite a scene.

We met up with the other half of our group and had a time of introductions, light breakfast and began our discussions on culture, being cultural leaders and just touched on some of the Bonhoffer texts we had been reading. One element I loved that was brough up was the difference between trying to change people and trying to love people. Are you supposed to say, “Man, I wish those writers from Knocked Up and Superbad would just change” versus “Why don’t we produce and contribute quality stuff?” It was an interesting point and thought to really dwell on. Awesome.Really the purpose was to set up a framework to discuss and watch the upcoming movies. We left there and went straight to a Q&A session with the writer, director, actors and producer of a movie we hadn’t seen yet. Though I don’t recommend going to a session where people talk about something you have no knowledge (though arguably this is how my entire junior year of English was in high school) it was still pretty interesting.

Sundance is known as a film festival showcasing upcoming talent and culturally conscious and aware movies. That’s the idea, at least. I left with a small group and headed to my first film the dark comedy, Choke. It was…interesting. You can look it up if you want. It was adapted (7 years in the making) from a book of the same author of Fight Club. This one had a very similar feel of disconnectedness and you find yourself questioning the reality and who you can trust. There was a very blatant God element in it that says people are not born bad or wrong but they choose it and you can just change yourself and choose away from that. Interesting thought.

After that I busted a move across the “campus” area and got a number for the wait list on another movie I wanted to see called, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and I was number 151 on the list. You have to arrive 2 hours before the movie to get a number then come back 30 minutes before and stand in line…outside…in the snow and very cold temps. WORTH IT! So I made some phone calls in a warm lobby and then headed back. I stood outside for about 25 minutes and then found out I was 30 people too deep in the pack to get in and the movie was sold out!

So I decided to go to mainstreet and eat and look at over-priced snow trinkets. I grabbed lunch a pizzeria that had somehow legally price fixed it’s limited menu for this festival. I seriously doubt people normally pay close to $20 for a 10-inch pizza. I mean I live in LA and that’s expensive. It was above average but not more than a Midwestern steak dinner!

I spent some time walking around downtown and the snow began to crash around me. Huge flakes and snowstorm-like conditions led me to take the bus instead of walking the half-mile back to the headquarters. It was packed and took forever to get to my next movie, The Year of Getting to Know Us. Sharon Stone, Lucy Lui, Jimmy Fallon, Tom Arnold and my friend Tony Hale. It was a very interesting movie that dealt with deep issues of family, especially father-son and father-mother. After sticking around for a Q&A with the cast—where Tom Arnold rambled like the drunk uncle making a wedding toast—I took off with some friends and went to a second dinner.

We had FANTASTIC conversation talking about industry stuff, wives (again), and totally unpacking some of the movies we had seen during the day.

After we left (around 11:00p.m.) I decided I wanted to see if there was a chance I’d make a movie that had caught my eye, The Sunshine Cleaners. So I left and asked a group of people where the theater was and some girl said she was going there so we walked together to the bus stop and got to the theater. Neither of us had a ticket so we were hopeful. We got there and I pulled a number (171) for the wait list knowing the theater only holds 400 and she pulled a 172. We decided to try our hand outside and ask for tickets. Finally we found a guy who we bought a ticket from and also gave us a #8 waitlist—almost certain to get in. Danielle took the ticket and I took the number. Turns out that number had been given to a guy in our group b/c some guy he met in line left early then this guy bought a ticket so gave it to the guy I got it from. I didn’t realize this divine transaction occurred until after the movie when I was talking about it with our group. Pretty cool. It felt like the whole thing (last minute decision, meet girl and we exchange cards, get #8, see movie) was purposed.

I really liked this movie. The delightful Alan Arkin and the hideous and not even slightly attractive duo of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt made it hard to watch but worth it. I won’t spend time with the synop but there are some really touching scenes. Maybe it was b/c I was tired, maybe the 100% packed theater, maybe I was watching a movie starting at midnight but I was moved big time!

Day 1

After a great flight from Burbank to Salt Lake on Jet Blue—btw: huge fan of Jet Blue b/c directv with a personal screen for each passenger, great leg room, easy boarding and deplaning and quick luggage—where we landed in 12 degree weather. Our group of about 10 guys waited for a few others from NYC to get in and then we loaded up a ‘church van’ and left for our houses. Two families are playing host to our group of 14 this year. My family are two elderly folks who have a beautiful multi-bedroom with the requisite mountain chalet-style decorations such as antique brooms, leather snowshoes and Thomas Kinkaid lake scenes on the wall.

We arrived a bit late but some guys still had business to take care of in town (we are about 20 minutes away from the festival) and the rest of us stayed behind and watched a great match from the Australian Open and talked about wives (theirs) and writing movies, the strike, television trends, etc. It was really fun conversation and I loved getting the perspective of these Christians in the industry and seeing how they were able to have a family and not be millionaires. That’s very encouraging to me and I was left with a great excitement about the next few days of living with these guys, seeing movies, talking about those movies and getting to know other Christian artists.

...it's official...

I finally have my domain and a website.

So to view my professional acting website (meaning the website acts professional) go to www.bradleyhasemeyer.com

I will be updating it with my work and still probably posting stuff on here too but just wanted to let y'all know.

Ait. Enjoy

...you have GOT to be kidding me...

So I'm at home just doing laundry and this ad comes on and a notebook computer is pulled from an inter-office memo file.

It's the new MacBook Air. UNREAL

Basic stuff:
1) 3lbs
2) Standard 80gb hard drive intel duo core 2 processor
3) Ability to access another disc drive on a computer to install information (there is not a drive on the Air...i.e. on slot for a DVD or CD)
4) It has an LED screen and backlit keyboard
5) It is aluminum so very strong
6) It's awesome

They are planning on the fact that most people who need portable computers will be in wireless areas to utilize all they might need--files online, rent movies from iTunes now, and of course antiquated e-mail

Check out the new commercial

....to dance in the sun...

Sun+dance. Other than my mom and bacon, there are not two things I like more than the Sun and dancing. In a few days (wed) I will get on a flight to go to Park City, Utah for the last half of the Sundance Film Festival. I will be going with a group from LA made up of writers, actors, documentarians, producers and others involved with the film industry. The quaint city of Park City with it's highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits will host our group for three days of watching movies, discussing movies, attending parties, networking, standing in lines for more movies, eating while running between theaters, sleeping very little and hopefully laughing and learning ALOT.

"So Bradley just goes off to these things because he is that cool, huh?"

I assure you of two things:
1) Yes.
2) I was invited by a friend of mine who is heading up our "cultural leadership summit"

Our purpose is not only to do all the aforementioned, but to find a way as Christians to be relevant and speak a "new language that is quite non-religious." How do we take one of the most prolific and popular methods of storytelling and speak truth and redemption into the lives of the audience? How do we be cultural leaders within this media?

One thing my pastor said recently in a sermon regarding Luke 19: 11-27 talking about using your minas (abilities, gifts, talents) is that if we are good at being pastry chefs, our job is "not to make (only) croissants in the shape of the Virgin Mary." We are to be the best at what we do in order to glorify God. I loved this illustration (because I was hungry)! I think this is a great picture of what I want to be doing in LA and the entertainment industry. I am here to use my gifts to the the top of their potential, not for better "Jesus films" but for better films that speak truth. Movies that matter. All truth is God's truth. Romans 11 says, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen."

I must say I am learning so much about how much little I know about God. There is great confusion and yet great clarity simultaneously. All I can do is submit to Jesus' words in the garden before being taken, "not my will but yours be done." Those words are the hardest and most powerful words I can imagine saying. I have felt that difficulty recently in my life with relationships, career stuff and just life. It always seemed so neat on that felt board in Sunday school. It is so much messier than that when you are pounding the ground and weeping because you know that it's not about your will and you CAN relinquish control to our God.

That was a tangent.

Sorry.

So I am heading to change the world. Cool.

Pray for this this time:
1) I'll learn
2) I'll further my career
3) I'll be warm

Thanks