Sunday, July 27, 2008

BIOS _ everyone worked for free - Debbie Ngo

I decided to devote some space on the blog to the actors that made my dream come true. Debbie Ngo was a trooper. She was one of the last members of the cast to be brought in and she had a huge roll to fill. Originally the roll of Danea was for a tall, massive, muscular black woman. Debbie is clearly none of those. She is smaller than Zack, my Ten year old, and has not a mean bone in her body. However, she has a strong, commanding personality. She was a student of mine in a drawing class and for many months, I was convinced that she hated me as an instructor...mainly because she was such a FANTASTICAL artist that I felt I had little if anything to teach her. What I didn't know was that she was shy. VERY SHY. When I approached her to play the part of Danea, I was shocked at how quickly she grabbed on to the idea. (Fool) She had no idea what we would put her through. She was forced to run, blindfolded, through the forest, act out NINJA moves (she stated more than once that she had no ninja moves...she lied) and deal with mosquitoes (she would burst out in huge welts anytime a mosquito flew even close to her) and deal with the evil RAIN RACK that produced extremely cold water.

So, here's to you Debbie! Thanks for the contribution.






Below: Debbie and Dani take a break and discuss how bad their costumes are stinking.

4 comments:

jonzig said...
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jonzig said...

So... regardless of your actor's kind demeanor and personality, you felt she deserved to be tortured just like the others?

*sigh*

Although, admittedly, one or two characters who never got rained on in the movie would appear odd...

Did you intend for the graphic novel to depict the characters as they appear in the film or as you had planned/storyboarded it? (I think I know the answer)

Michael Grant Clark said...

Poor Debbie. Look she must have loved by the expression on her face.

I'm rubbish at reading people I am, you may have guessed.

allen etter said...

Jon: A little of both...some actors looked just like the drawings (Danielle, Adam and Luke) while others...not so much (Debbie, Norfleet and Sally).

Michael: During this particular shoot we had tons of mosquitos as it had finally rained the week before. Debbie was coated with bug spray and it kept getting in her mouth...thus the expression on her face.