Extreme Bromance: Finding the Star

When I finished the script back in the day, I never knew if I would even make it. There is a huge difference from just writing a flick to actually making it and casting was something I didn't really think about. Except for the lead. From day one I knew who I would have star in it. In fact, I wrote it with him in mind. That man is named Ben Banks.

Ain't that a sweet slab-o-man?

We always wanted to work together on a project that was bigger than us just dicking around on a camera. Such as this classic that truly showcases our talents and the whole department:

When I finished writing the script all that time ago, I felt a little embaressed about showing him a movie that I wrote with him in mind as the lead. I mean, he starred in a movie named after him for God's sake! With a nervous pit in my stomach, I gave him in the script to read. He came back to me within a few days and not only liked the story, but was pumped to work on it. This helped me feel at ease. In some ways, it made me feel better about the project. If I could get a guy like Ben on my side, then it was a great step in the right direction. Ben Banks and I talked about the project on and off for the last two years. It was something we always wanted to do, but always felt like a pipe dream.

Enter Senior Capstone.

Over the course of my college career, I went back and forth on capstone ideas. I think One of the Good Guys (OotGG) was always the project I wanted to do, but I never thought it would happen. When the second to my last semester rolled around and I still didn't have an idea of what to do, it was my teacher Ben Braten who suggested that I work on OotGG. I thought it about it for a while and after having a talk with Mr. Banks, who agreed to commit to the project, it was on. Figured what do I have to lose? I am in college and this the best time to try to make a movie like this.

Once it was decided, Ben Banks and I started working on it. We met multiple times to talk about his character, Caleum Crow, and the motivations behind his actions. Ben gave me many great suggestions on what he wanted to bring to the character and I re-wrote aspects of the script to accommodate. Caleum was becoming Ben and Ben was becoming Caleum. To help Ben, I even wrote a detailed back story of his character's life and family. I felt that was the least I could do to help Ben get into character and for the fact that he was donating his time to a project that will probably never make any of us any cash.

Having Ben Banks on board has boosted my confidence in not only OotGG, but in my abilities as a director and writer. This has truly become a collaborative process. I look forward to working on this project more and more even though it fills me with dread. Good thing Benny is my leading man. I honestly don't think this project would work without him. 

Such a class act this guy.