Add in a Western cinema release for True Legend at about the same time and the mix gets very interesting for me.
It makes me look more important in the industry.
For instance I have heard people in the industry in Australia look at my acting CV, ohhh... but they are Asian films in a derogatory tone. I even had one agent (Australian) call me and say I think I have a part for you in a real movie, a period drama deferred payment TV movie.
So the agent calls and says I might have a part for you in a deferred payment Australian period piece TV movie SO YOU CAN GET A REAL CREDIT ON YOUR CV !!!!!!!!!!!
My reply "So a $12 million dollar Warner Bros movie is not a real movie because it was shot in India in the Hindi language - even though it got International cinema release and Walmart sold the DVD."
2.5 billion people don't count because they are Asiatic (India is considered Asia), and my movie work doesn't mean anything according to some people.
Small minded local tribesmen in modern clothing, cars and job titles. I was really insulted not only because they discredited my work to get the roles and to do the roles but because I really thought Australia being so "multi-cultural" had progressed beyond this blantant red neck racism.
Apparently not.
Now to explain a little more. Acting in Indian movies in particular is a good example, it is often seen as overacting, singing and dancing and silly situations. This is all true. One very experienced Indian movie Producer explained it to me this way - Indian people have too much reality, many live in abject poverty and they go to the cinema to escape this reality (see a Street Car Named Desire for further proof of this motive). The further removed from reality the movie is the more they can take this inexpensive vacation from real life.
Whereas Westerners are so removed from real life that they would prefer to go home and watch 'reality' TV to experience some feelings and thrills. Sort of like looking at porn rather than enjoying the courting, dating and ultimately having sex with someone you really like. Porn is a poor copy, an unemotional, uninteresting immitation at best. BTW why is porn so popular in the West?
I'll take a break from moralising and get back to the point.
True Legend will be in US and Western cinemas, so this makes it a real movie now for some people such as those I have described. It also validates the credit as the movie is good enough to get a cinema release in the country that I am ultimately going to be working for (the US), so it is more valuable than a straight to DVD release.
HBO's Game of Thrones has had some initial reviews come out from some pre-release screenings and they are praising the show, not just good reviews with nice wording but positively excited reviews.
That is promising for the signing of a second season, and hopefully more after that. Being involved in a successful well known show over a show that failed in the first season is obviously much better to be associated with and obviously if the show continues I get more work, more pay and greater recognition. ie I become more famous and can build my internet base and have more people visit my site.
Those who read this site and click with my personality, find me amusing, or learn something - or just become interested enough to follow my story in a strange country as a junior artist with no idea of which direction to take this through to International success. In short I end up with what used to be called a fan club.
Having a fan club increases my value as an actor.
Having HBO come out then True Legend come out people who see me will have something else to see me in, as nearly everything I have done so far has not been seen in the West, except the DVD release of Bangkok Adrenaline , then this is a good thing to have these coming out to build this fan base.
It will also give people a point of reference when my name is mentioned say on fansites or Internet forums (as in today I saw my name mentioned for a character in a Sword Of Shannara movie - I'll chase up that rumour and see if I can get into the casting for that 7 foot tall character after I finish this article).
After all it was the fans who helped me get the role of Ser Gregor Clegane in a Game of Thrones, and helped me develop a new method of self marketing and scoring jobs that for some reason no one else seems to be following - even when I post the exact methods on a private, credentialed actors only website....
More moralising (get used to it): Is it because I have 140+ IQ? No. Is it because i am lucky I am 7 feet tall? Definetly not. Is it because I have a self taught background in Internet marketing? No, but it helps my chosen methods. Is it because I was a hyper actice kid and no one put me on ADD/ADHD medications? That probably helped me a lot - why the F would anyone give a growing child amphetamines - let's give our kids the same drug they gave kamikaze pilots and see how long before they flip out, brilliant. Is it because I had a loving, nuturing family? No. Early home schooling? No. Popular at school? No
It's because I do what Charlie Sheen says "You make a choice to win, and you win." Of course you have to first of all decide what you want from life , follow it up, ignore the naysayers , do the preparation , get the skills needed, make the contacts, make yourself a valuable addition to the field you are chasing, but then you will win if you follow it all through and do what it takes - that should not involve compromising your morals or your body.
So fans are an exceptional asset in many ways, even including ideas (there is one idea in particular that I see being a massive viral video that will appeal to many GoT fans, I will speak to the producers about this when i see them next) I get news and updates sent to me and sometime leads to more work. The intelligent people I enjoy corresponding with even and there have been times when I have been feeling depressed having a hard time of all aspects of my life and I get an upbeat appreciative email from a stranger who stumbled upon my site.
I even got an email from a fellow who bought my dieting book who was able to control his diabetes with the diet and was able to go off his medication. I am very, very proud of that. I really helped someone.
As I become more known I seem like less of an unknown, less of a risk to hire to the major studios and Producers - meaning better paying jobs and more of them for me. After years of living on the edge (and under the Australian poverty line) this is a welcome change coming.
But mostly it is because when/if my name is announced in a major movie then people will be able to look me up and find out who I am, even see a little footage of me, get a feel for who I am.
And of course visit my site, link to it from major media outlets, link their blogs to mine, make my Internet traffic escalate so my Internet earning improve - which helps a lot when this has been my major source of steady income for years, and finally when I no longer need the Internet money I'll channel it to a few select small locally run charities in S.E. Asia - none of those big ones with massive glass and chrome offices in prime rental locations paying huge salaries to the 'charitable' staff. Where do you think your money is going when you 'give' to these people? Clue: look at the imported luxury cars in the third world staff car park and take a guess - not where it belongs.
Morals: you'll get them from me.
Lastly the more people I reach, the more I help and the more I can moralise, the more 'power' I have to influence not only my life but others as well, either the individual reading my website, or say as a Hollywood star who asks for donations to an ailing charity school in Cambodia for the poor and run by teachers who do the work because they want to help - thye barely get enough to live on (not Western style excessive life but live as in Bamboo hut and rice with small serving of meat or vegetables for meals).
This is why this is all important for me at the end of it all.
Many people say that life is unfair. Well it is particularly unfair when your family are killed by the American government backed Khmer Rouge (democratically elected? yes, with Chinese AK-47's and American financed M-16's (watch John Pilger documentaries for the unearthing of the contacts involved)), your husband was killed by a landmine while farming the fields and you work as a prositute as you cannot read or write nor get a job that pays more than $1 a day and you have 2 children to feed and school. That is the tip of the iceberg in what some people call thier life.
If you are reading this then you are lucky, you did not grow up in a bamboo hut in the jungle with terrorist troops killing all and sundry for minor imagined offences, nor were you conscripted as a child soldier. I think many others deserve a fair go at some stage in their lives, just one time in their lives someone they don't know helps them, shows them that life is not all hardship and suffering.
Back to the story, sorry you can see my mind is wandering and fairly random today, there is a lot on my mind and I am having trouble concentrating. Rahter than edit this all out, just take it as it is - the disjointed thought process that is common for Conan Stevens.
Now here's the news.
True Legend US Cinema Trailer
