| Local actor makes his debut in Los Angeles’ 20th Century Fox movie |
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| Wednesday, 12 March 2008 | |
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Staff writer An Anoka County actor has his day in the sun this week when he attends his first-ever major movie premiere in Los Angeles. And he is a key-player in the film. In the action movie “Contract Killers,” Paul Cram of Columbia Heights plays a nerdy, neurotic, socially inept, but genius computer technician/FBI agent. By default, he gets involved with a field agent played by lead actress Frida Show. Someone has put a hit on her and she tries to figure the who and why of it all. The movie was scheduled to premiere March 13 at 20th Century Fox’s studio lot in Los Angeles, Calif. It will open in theaters internationally. In the U.S. it will play in select theaters in Florida and Los Angeles. The DVD is scheduled for release in fall 2008. Directed by Justin Rhodes, “Contract Killers” was filmed last year in Florida and Trinidad. Paul traveled to Florida for his part. He came upon the role by happenstance. He had auditioned for another comedy film. But the director did not cast him. He was wrong for the part, or so the director thought. But another Hollywood casting director at the audition, Christine Joyce, disagreed. A week later, she called Paul to read for the role of Chuck Dittmer in Rhodes’ movie. He won the part. “I am so excited about ‘Contract Killers,’ I can’t tell you,” Paul said in an interview with ABC Newspapers. Paul filmed his supporting character role in three days. In all, he appears in the movie for three or four minutes. But that’s OK with Paul, who has acted in about 40 films, many low budget or student films. Just last month Paul was called to Los Angeles for two days to do a post-production, audio-digital recording session. The process involves watching the movie and matching his voice to his mouth movements on screen. This required Paul to recreate his character again – a silly, English muffin-eating, crumb-spitting guy, who is most comfortable stuffing food into his mouth while working at his computer. In one scene, Dittmer was tongue-tied, which created a particular challenge for Paul after being away from the character for nearly a year. “We did 50 takes of it,” he said of the audio recording. In addition to the film work, people he has met and being jetted to Florida and Los Angeles, one of the best parts of the film for Paul, is when casting director Joyce went to bat for him. “Her rooting for me – seeing something special in me,” he said. “That is so wonderful on a human level.” Paul is equally at home performing in a variety of genres – drama, action, horror films and dramedy, a combination of humor with a focus on drama. He has also acted in “The Great Gatsby” (a non-speaking role) and “Edgardo Mine” at the Guthrie and in “Peer Gynt” at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, to name a few. Paul is already on to his next acting project. Next month, he will appear on stage in the Gremlin Company’s production of Alan Berks’ “Everywhere Signs Falls” at St. Paul’s Loading Dock Theatre. His character? Jeremy. A very smart, socially awkward, neurotic, nervous guy. “I don’t know if I’m starting to get type cast?” he muses as his voice inflects upward in question. But one thing Paul knows for sure – acting in the many student projects at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and Minneapolis Community and Technical College, plus the low budget films, has paid off. “Looking back, you know those did help me a lot,” he said. “All of those tiny steps have actually brought me somewhere.” For more information on Paul Cram and his career, visit www.paulcramactor.com . Elyse Kaner is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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