Life Imitates Art Imitates Life

Hi everyone! Finally found some time to blog! Hope you enjoy!

Something I try to stay aware of in my acting is what I can learn from the parts I play. Some of the stories I’ve been involved with have proven to have valuable lessons for me. This is especially true with projects that are based on true events. Real life history offers a significant chance to glean something from what others have gone through. Acting can offer a unique perspective in this area because you not only have the facts that history provides but it is your job to delve into the emotional realities—to try to find out why people did what they did. As an actor, you can never be sure that your choice for the character’s motivations are historically true, but it does offer the chance for you to really put yourself in their shoes. And in the end what better perspective to learn from than that?

The Hatfields and McCoys offered just this opportunity for me. Historically based on the most famous blood feud in American history, it is the story of two men, returning home from the Civil War, whose friendship turned to such unbridled hatred and murder that it almost lead to a second civil war.

For me, the story of the Hatfields and the McCoys provides a very clear look at something I think we all understand first-hand: the importance of forgiveness. We have all been hurt, we have all been the subject of lies, and we have all placed trust in people that turned out to be unworthy of it. Misunderstandings and deep hurts are a part of life. But this project reminded me that the most important thing is not the cause of the hurt; it is rather one’s reaction to it.

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The Twilight Zone.

It’s a cliché, but one of the most wonderful things about acting is that it is NEVER the same twice. Every character is different, every location is different, every crew, cast and experience is different. Twilight is no exception. It is by far the most popular and recognizable project I have been a part of. But the really amazing thing about the Twilight universe is what a community it is. Never have I seen a clearer example of this than the MTV Movie Awards.

First, I want to say that being invited to a show you have seen more times than you can remember growing up is pretty exciting and a bit of a trip. But when I arrived I saw that my childhood imagination had NOT exaggerated the size of this event! The red carpet alone must have been 400 ft long. So long in fact, that you couldn’t see from one end of it to the other. It just kept going until it wrapped around a corner and out of sight!

So there I am in almost a dream state—walking the Red Carpet at the MTV Movie awards. And from out of nowhere I hear my name being called. I turn to the audience bleachers and see—in person for the first time—a fellow tweeter! Of all places to finally meet someone! A wonderful, grounding surprise—and as it happened, the first of many.

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Home Sweet Home.

Well…it’s over. Twilight: Breaking Dawn is wrapped and, now that a few of weeks have passed, I am finally starting to feel like I have landed back into my life.

It’s always a strange period of time after a job finishes. I often feel like I am being pulled in two different directions at once. There is a part that feels so much joy in returning home, sleeping in my own bed, seeing loved ones and friends whom I may not have seen or even spoken to in months! At the same time, there is this feeling of loss. It isn’t really loss of course, it’s more of a change of scenery but it can feel a little jarring when the people that have become such a huge part of your daily existence aren’t there any more in the same way.

If one looks at it in the right light, this experience can create a lot of clarity. For me it often reminds me to enjoy the moment wherever I am because there will always be positives and negatives. As you celebrate no longer living the hotel life (which is great but can wear on you after a while) you also remember how much fun it was to walk into the lobby and run into some friends heading out to lunch or hopping in the hotel shuttle and chatting it up with the driver on your way to Whole Foods.

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Battle and Twitter and Vampires...oh, my.

Well, in the last month, I've had a birthday, started a website, started "tweeting", went to the premiere of my film, Battle: Los Angeles and vamped it up all over Baton Rouge and Vancouver filming Breaking Dawn. Now, as I wind down a busy start to 2011, I'm writing my first blog. Not being a "blogger" by nature and not sure my life warrants the detailed documentation, I have some trepidation. But, what the hey. I never thought I would get the hang of tweeting either. :)

I am not a huge computer person. I know enough to get by and that’s pretty much it. I write emails, do banking and look up movie times basically. Because of this, my recent dive into social media has been a truly amazing experience. The welcome I received on Twitter and Facebook has astounded me. I have been blown away by the amount of support and love that comes through on my Twitter feed every day and I want to send a big thank you out to everyone on there. You bring a smile to my face every time I look at it.

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