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http://www.onr.com/user/kentman/alamo_05.html
"I
got to be in a fairly tight shot with Patrick Wilson (portraying William
B. Travis) while he talked with Leon Rippy (portraying William Ward). I
stood behind Leon, so I only saw him from the back, but I had a great view
of Patrick. The guy is gonna be a huge star. He has a significant part in
the upcoming HBO miniseries "Angels in America" and of course he stars in
this "little" movie about the Alamo. He was really great in this scene. He
was great in the way that De Niro and Nicholson are great. His superb
acting had as much to do with what he DIDN'T do as well as what he DID. I
wouldn't have expected a stage actor to pull off such subtleties as well as
Patrick. I don't mean to discredit theater actors, and I'd never seen
Patrick act before. It's just that most plays that I have seen were acted
via a slightly over-the-top technique. I assume the idea is to play to the
audience so that the emotion is communicated to the people in the back row,
and those audience members would never see a quivering lip nor a teary eye.
Evidently, working on "Angels" opposite actors like Pacino did Patrick some
good. He is going to be a TV/movie star, and he deserves such recognition."
Remember The Alamo-Part 11
http://www.onr.com/user/kentman/alamo_11.html
The next
cantina scene was unofficially titled the Fandango scene. It was a fairly
complex scene with lots of principals and lots of camera angles. There were
musicians and trained dancers inside the cantina and loads of defenders, Tejanos,
and ladies inside and outside. All I had to do in the beginning was to walk to a
place barely inside the main doorway and act like I'm enjoying the festivities.
The music, great dancing and beautiful ladies made my job easy. ;-) The dialog
basically helps explain more about many of the main characters, including more
discord between Bowie and Travis. An intense confrontation ensues and I was
lucky enough to be almost right in the middle of it. Jason Patric and
Patrick Wilson
were both wonderful. Unfortunately for me, I could only see Jason from the back
for much of the scene, and therefore couldn't see his face, but he sounded
great. Some of his actions literally scared me, even though he (as the character
Bowie) wasn't even mad at me. He was so freakin' intense, like a caged tiger. He
would prowl around the cantina between takes, looking mean. I got to the
point (and I think everyone else did too) at which I couldn't even look him in
the eyes, because he looked so menacing. It was incredible. I had a front row
seat for Patrick's performance (as Travis). Damn, he's good. I wish I was at
liberty to say exactly what was spoken. I'll just say that more of Patrick's
subtle brilliance was on display. He was so good, that some extras admitted to
me afterward that they almost missed their queues because they were so moved by
his performance.
Remember The
Alamo-Part 12
http://www.onr.com/user/kentman/alamo_12.html
Anyway,
as I got about halfway around the plaza, I found Travis on horseback and was
supposed to say something to him to get his attention. He was supposed to say
something to me to (I guess) show a hint of being in command. It didn't matter
what either of us said, as I don't think they will use the audio. Patrick was so
good that I reacted to his command every time. Basically, I just called
his name, he looked down from his horse, pointed and said something like "that
way!" It was a little different each time, but what his face said was "go
that way, Dumbass...what do you think we're supposed to do?!" Each
time he said it, I felt a little embarrassed. He was right. And I didn't really
need to be told to evacuate to the Alamo. There was a lot of stuff going on all
around us, so I think our little "dialog" was just supposed to break the scene
up a bit. The point is that he was great as usual. As I ran around his horse, I
helped a family of Tejanos and grabbed a liquor bottle near the camera (as
instructed) as I exit screen right. There I was, a Bowie guy, thinkin' about
getting drunk amid all the chaos. Kind of quirky. I spoke with Patrick a few
minutes after the scene and complimented his work so far (especially the cantina
fandango scene). He asked about Austin, what brought me here, and eventually
what was my major at UT. I said Art, showed him my Alamo sketches, and gave him
a copy of "Funked
Up Christmas." Patrick is always a class act.
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