An Interview with a Starving Artist - David Holland

Every one has dreams and aspirations. The drive to be an actor, painter, musician, poet or writer smolders in most, but remains a fire in quite a few. David Holland has a fire burning in his acting soul. David has been active in Community Theater and has had several small roles in films. This short on-line interview with David gives a brief glimpse into the mind of an aspiring actor.

Question one: Ok, you played a bit part as paparazzi. What do you think of Britney Spears getting a contract to advertise for Joe Boxer, in a new this crotch for rent marketing campaign?

First of all, calling that a "bit part" is a bit of a stretch. I was an extra, or "background artist" as they are now called. That is the only position in the entertainment industry actually out-ranked by street mimes. I know. I started out as a street mime. But I digress.

As for Britney's crotch for rent, I have no real problem with that. First of all sex sells, and she is sexy. Secondly, it's great when anybody can get that much mileage out of stating the obvious. Next, it leaves me, and I'm sure a lot of other people, with the hope that one day we can afford those rates. It also leaves me with the hope that one day Joe Boxer will approach me to be in their "this crotch free to a good home" campaign. Maybe then I can afford to rent Britney's, although I'm sure that by that time the property value will have decreased greatly.

Question two: As an actor, how would you best describe your worst role?

Worst role? I try not to think of any role as bad. Like Stanislavsky said, "There are no small roles, only small actors." But I'm only human.

I once let myself get suckered into being a "background artist" in a live production of Lenny's Back, a one-man show about Lenny Bruce. It's a great script, and the actor playing Lenny was brilliant. The premise is a posthumous autobiographical monologue, and the script calls for several mannequins to be on stage. Now the director, being the egomaniac he is, thought it would be great to make the mannequins real actors playing corpses in the cemetery. I played a freakin' stiff.

Now, referring back to Stanislavsky, I committed to the role. I made facial prosthetics to make myself look decayed, and of all those playing dead, I was the only one who was there every night. For free. The jackass director has never even had the decency to show any respect or say "thank you", even when I was performing Prospero in "The Tempest" or the role of King Lear in his space, helping to pay his rent. I mean, I received a Charlotte Theater Award for Prospero, and I was nominated for an MTA award. I don't think the guy ever even bothered to read my resume.

Even so, it wasn't so much the role that was bad. It was the disrespect and lack of appreciation. Needless to say, that director is no longer on my Christmas card list.

Question three: Being from South Carolina, has your natural Southern accent been accepted by filmmakers?

Funny you should ask about the accent and film. I have been primarily a stage actor for the years I've been doing this, occasionally earning some money in film and video. For marketability reasons I realized the necessity of "flattening out" my accent, and it took me about seven years of working at it to do that. I was actually pretty proud of that. Oddly enough, the Southern accent has actually helped me with stage work when I've needed to learn things like English, Scottish and Irish accents. I consider accent work one of my strong points.

Now we get to film. It seems the roles I'm most likely to be read for are those involving heavy Southern accents, axe murdering rednecks and such. I seem to be getting the most professional respect from the indie horror guys. As far as whether my Southern accent is accepted, no problem. I'm just hoping the industry will be willing to accept me as an actor with or without it.

Finally: Make-up your own last question.

Make up my own question:

What is the next film we can expect to see you in?

Be on the lookout for a spring release of an indie horror film called "Carver", directed by Franklin Guerrero. I play the role of Billy Hall Carver. If you like indie horror flicks, this is definitely one to see.