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Random
things -The Limelight On Shaun Micallef
"Hear
ye! Hear ye!"
WARNING:The
following article has been written by an unhealthily happy Nightshade_pheonix,
who is angry at daylight saving and is listening to lovey-dovey
music from the film Moulin Rouge, so it shall be very silly and
ridiculously detailed. We accept no responsibility for any resulting
brain damage.
If, should you
live in Australia, somewhere near a newsagent and be reasonably
upright and sentient, then you should be able to easily purchase
the ABC magazine, Limelight, for about $5.00. If you don't, too
bad. Anyhoo, if it is sometime in October, 2003, you should buy
the mag as it has Micallefy goodness in it. The lovely, lovely
(for this month only) magazine has the name "Shaun Micallef" in
green closely followed by the words "What Now?" (in white) the
seventh block of text down (if you count title, price e.t.c.).
I have a strong hunch that the font involved is Times New Roman.
Anyway, it is on the cover. Then, on page 5, the index page, the
following text is included:
28 SHAUN MICALLEF
He's appeared on TV in more guises then Agent 86 but Shaun Micallef's
now peering out at us from the big screen. |
Now, allow me to clear
away any misconceptions about this text. It does NOT mean that
Shaun Micallef IS Agent 86, nor 85 or 84. It also surely does
not particularly set out to imply that there are 28 Shaun Micallefs,
as it would be very hard to provide evidence for such a claim
without using sophisticated technology that is far beyond any
ABC budget. This also should not cause alarm about government
plots to clone Shaun Micallef, as it would result in 36 knees
to be holy and worship, and whilst that would be very confusing,
it would be a very spiffy occurrence.
So, if you are not
by this point bouncing in your car seat whilst your father has
gone shopping in the mall and left you to your Micallefy fandomness
(or the closest situation achievable without the aid of paperclips,
elastic bands or maths exams) and feel that you need more Micallef
to sustain you, read on. Not off, as this would result in your
eyes not being directed at the screen, and you would be unable
to finish being educated by me, or the typed words I have left
for you. Then, being sure not to hurt the magazine’s fragile
pages (it has brought you Micallefy goodness and should be respected)
turn to page 28. The first thing you will see will be
(a) The back of your eyelids as you have just blinked
(b)Darkness because you haven’t turned the light on/lit your candle
(c) The picture at the top of this page of Shaun Micallef as Ken
Oats.
Should you indeed see, (b), then you should proceed to attempt
to stop melting onto the seat/donkey and read the caption:
ABOVE
Shocking: Shaun
Micallef as Ken Oats
in The Honorable
Wally Norman |
This should, if you
do indeed have eyes, be followed by the words:
The laws of comedy
Early this year, he was everywhere.
Within months, he was nowhere. But Shaun Micallef is far from
beaten, as Jo Litson
discovered on the set of his new movie |
Now, please don't
take these fonts literally as they were the closest I could find
that would work on the internet. Please don't throw socks or buildings
at me. If you haven't gathered it by now, this is about the latest
film Shaun is in, the Honerable Wally Norman (comes out in australia
on 13th November, 2003) To avoid legal stuff (and very sore
hands) I will not type out the whole three page, size 9 fonted
article, but the highlights i.e. the bits Shaun said. Hmm.
"Cut"
A random word thingy. How nice.
(when asked if he could
provide any anecdotes about filming)
"I remember that
being a hilarious day," he says. "One of us would go off to shoot
our lines and then come back to do the electronic press cut interview,
which seemed more important [than the actual filming]. We had
lots of fun"
(On the other actors)
"I remember Greig as HG reading it out a few times, so it
was funny that a few years later we should be working together.
We didn't have a lot of scenes together, but we spent a lot of
time sitting around and talking and laughing." (On the
first showing of the film, "The Honorable Wally Norman")
"I sat there literally feeling sick [with nerves] before it
started." he says. "I was pleasantly surprised and pleasantly
relieved. It wasn't that bad. And it's a fun film. It's quite
a sweet film, not the kind of thing I'm often connected with."
(On the character of
Ken Oates)
"It's a pretty unpleasant character so it might be less then
flattering. But I must say, it was easy for me to play. I wasn't
aware they'd actually written it for me until I'd said yes to
it. But I read it and thought, this feels like my voice, so
it was quite easy to get into the character and ad-lib around
the lines a bit, which they kindly left in the final edit.
It wouldn't be accurate to say that there is a lot of improvisation
in there. But either I'd be so poor an actor that I'd forgotten
my lines and had to improvise my way back to them or Ted would
come up with an idea he wanted us to try out."
(On acting on the big
screen)
"I was conscious that there would be a difference between the
big screen versus what you would do on the small screen. I just
assumed that I'd be a bit subtler and not so broad. It turns out
that you can't go in with these sorts of rules. I watched
the rushes and thought, oh, I was a bit small there. I was underdoing
rather than underplaying- and there's a subtle difference between
the two. So I was learning on the job, and it was reassuring to
have Ted directing."
(On his favourite
movies)
Micallef also loves Capra. "It's a wonderful life, in which
James Stewart tries to kill himself and is rescued by an angel,
is one of my favourite films," he says. "also, Mr. Smith Goes
To Washington and Meet John Doe. These sorts of films were standard
telivision standard when I was growing up."
(On his comedic preferences)
"But as a youngster, I went for the performers: The Marx Brothers,
Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Laurel and Hardy, Moracambe and Wise.
The clowns. I had a great affection for them. I remember coming
home from school and the family sitting down to watch Laurel and
Hardy on ABC before dinner." His mum introduced him to The Goons,
from which he discovered Peter Cellars, who became an influence.
"You can see that in the characters I choose to play. I tend to
gravitate towards the fools who think that no-one's noticed they're
fools."
(On the general character
traits of his roles)
"I rather suspect that if I play the villain or the bastard
in these things, he's always going to be a bit of an idiot," says
Micallef. "it wouldn't be as much fun otherwise. I much prefer
playing that kind of role then somebody a bit noble. I just
find it funny and instinctively go there when I'm playing the
character. It seems a bit cold if I don't. It enables me to both
be vulnerable and authoritative at the same time. Without the
vulnerability, it'd just come off as unlikable."
(On the subject of
returning to law)
"It's something that doesn't interest me enough to go back
to it and it would be very difficult for me to do these days.
It's the lack of gravitas I would have in courtroom. It would
be a joke."
So, thankies to Limelight,
I now have something to tide me over until November the 13th *scurries
off to moneybox to see if she has enough to go to the first screening
of the movie* How did I come across this little gem of up-to-date
goodness?? Welll
*insert trippy flashback
music here*
One night, I was innocently watching my beloved television, hoping
that Dad would give in and let me watch my Micallef video for
the millionth time, and I got the munchies. I left the room to
partake in the never-ending quest, hosted in the land of refrigerator
to obtain chocolate. When I returned, my father informed me that
Shaun Micallef had been in an advertisement for a magazine. Well,
pictures of him anyway and someone mispronouncing his name (Mic-ah-lef
you mongweeds, not Mic-ae-lef!). Naturally I was devastated at
missing the holiness and had to get more chocolate. Much to my
parent's dismay, I stayed resolutely watching TV till 11:05 until
the ad was shown again.
After peeling myself
(and choccie) off the carpet from the joy of seeing a new pic
of his holiness and his knees, I woke Mum and Dad up and
proceeded to shine a torch into their eyes until they agreed to
buy me the magazine, limelight. Ahh, happy times. I still miss
Micallef Tonight though *leans back* DAMN YOU KASPAROV!!...I mean
DAMN YOU CHANNEL NINE!!!...I think I'd better crawl back under
my little rock...
Here endeth the sore
eyes from reading such small font in that magazine (Dear
Limelight, could you please make the font a bit above microscopic??).
Fly
to the top! |
