Monthly Archives: August 2011

Ezra Fremont, played by Lee Vander Boegh

Posted by Mark of the Veil on

I just introduced you to Kylie, now let’s meet her brother Ezra, played by the rockin’ Lee Vander Beogh.

Lee Vander Boegh as "Ezra Fremont"

Ezra Fremont is a major supporting character. As I said before, Kylie and Ezra come from separate biological family backgrounds, and were adopted at young ages by a mysterious preacher, Jonas Fremont, who was reportedly murdered several years prior to Mark of the Veil while street preaching.

Ezra is the kind of guy you’d want to have a beer with. He could care less about politics, traditions, religion… All he cares about are people. When Kylie starts turning their independent news site away from a focus on positive community outreach to a more combative tone against a rising local politician, their normal sibling rivalry jumps up a few notches. Kylie is the face of the site, and Ezra’s always felt a little bit pushed out of the spotlight by his beautiful sister; now he feels like she’s losing her focus and taking him with her. Ultimately, though, his concern comes not out of rivalry, but a fierce protective instinct. He lost his father, he’s not going to lose his sister. And inviting conflict worries him that danger might be just around the corner.

In the midst of this, Ezra is also dealing with another woman in his life, his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Bree, a firecracker of a woman. Even though Ezra doesn’t care about debating issues, and in spite of his problems with God, deep down, his past faith is still fighting for his heart. As such, he and Bree had never slept together… until one night, when they were careless. Ezra freaked out and instantly shut the relationship down for good, wounding Bree immensely. So, when we first encounter Ezra, he’s being yelled at by both of the women in his life at once.

Lee Vander Boegh also instantly struck me as a man you’d want to have a beer with (though beer itself… yuck, sorry, can’t stand the taste). He came in for a reading about a month ago, for both James and Ezra. As soon as he started reading for James, I knew he wasn’t that character, but when he read for Ezra, he intrigued me. I liked what he brought to the character.

I had a number of others read for the part after Lee came in, and I decided to give Lee a callback. We spent about 30 minutes in the room, and instead of having him just read the parts like an audition, I treated the callback as a directing/acting exercise, to see how readily he could change it up.

He changed it up really well, and in every instance, pushed himself to portray different thoughts. I really, really enjoyed the callback session. So much that I put the whole thing on YouTube, and am concluding this post with it here.

Stay tuned! More announcements to come.

Kylie Fremont, played by Marla Steenson

Posted by Mark of the Veil on

I thought you guys would like to meet a few more of Mark of the Veil‘s cast members.

First up, we have the leading female role, Kylie Fremont.

Marla Steenson as "Kylie Fremont"

Kylie Fremont is the first outside of James’ pre-conditioned world to encounter him. She and her brother, Ezra, were both adopted from separate family backgrounds by a now apparently deceased preacher, Jonas Fremont. Kylie has little memory of what life was like before Jonas and Ezra.

When Jonas was reportedly killed by a street punk while making the rounds street preaching, both she and Ezra simultaneously rejected the Christian faith, blaming God for his death, and yet clung heavily to Jonas’ humanitarian legacy. Jonas didn’t just preach the Gospel; he lived it.

Kylie and her brother Ezra run a heavily video-powered independent news site that they use to counter the increasingly negative toned press, trying to get the community focused on helping their fellow man instead of debating what they see as petty issues of politics. But when Gwen Anders, a third party, ambitious gubernatorial candidate, rubs Kylie the wrong way, the blog increasingly becomes political in nature (chiefly to counter Anders’ growing appeal), and Ezra and Kylie are currently a bit at odds over the shift in tone.

Marla Steenson is the actress playing the part. Marla was recommended to me by a friend, and I first met her after viewing her performance as Joy in the play “This Day And Age” at the Boise Little Theater.

Before meeting her, I had e-mailed her about possibly having a role in the film, and when she replied expressing interest, and seeing her headshot, I initially pictured her as another supporting character that is close to being cast, Bree, Ezra’s on and off girlfriend. After meeting Marla that evening, though, I felt like God nudged me with a whisper, “Have her read for Kylie.”

When she arrived, I had her read for Kylie first, and though she read for Bree as well, I instantly knew she was Kylie. She brought something to the role of Kylie that the character desperately needed; a gentle spirit. I had only pictured Kylie as being an intense go-getter, but Marla brought Kylie a pained innocence that both took me off guard and pulled me in at the same time. Her read for Bree was fun, but I knew before the read was even finished, she was Kylie.

Take a look below at her reads for both characters.

James has been found…

Posted by Mark of the Veil on

…and he’s being played by the talented Boise actor/filmmaker Mark Vashro.

Mark Vashro

Mark Vashro, local Boise actor and filmmaker.

I first met Mark at a local Boise editors’ club back in July. There, Mark showed an extremely powerful trailer to a documentary he had shot, called “Bike Against The Wind”. Check out the trailer below.

Honestly, that was the highlight of the night for me. Emotionally impacting, intriguing, and just downright fascinating, more so once I connected with Mark and his editor and partner in film Cody Fitch after the meeting. They told me that while Mark was riding across the country, he had two hard drives with him, and when one filled up with footage, he’d send it back to Cody. Cody would dump the footage and ship it back to Mark’s next projected destination, where Mark would in turn send the other hard drive, now full.

I really want to see this movie.

Mark contacted me a few weeks later and told me he was interested in auditioning for the part of James Sheridan. After experiencing the audition in person, and studying the footage later, I felt he was the right pick. After waiting several more weeks as other auditions came through, Mark became increasingly obvious to me as the right man for the job. Not only is he an experienced actor, but he has the experience of being behind the camera, too. He is currently working with others to get funding underway for another film project as well.

I believe his multiple areas of expertise will make him not only a great actor for the role, but a source of advice and knowledge as I navigate my own path in raising support for Mark of the Veil.

Take a look at Mark’s audition and interview.

More news to come!