Costas Mandylor

I now have a good example of how our subconscious minds pick up on stuff that our conscious minds do not.

If someone, this morning, asked me who I was going to be writing about today, I'd have no idea. I did see my list yesterday, but it usually doesn't stick in my brain....at least not consciously.

Last night, I dreamed about ghosts; mean ghosts who hid in closets and bathrooms. They wanted me to become one of them, and eventually I did. It could be a coincidence, but the one show I remember seeing with Costas Mandylor was Charmed. And in that, he played a mean ghost.

I didn't realize Mandylor was Australian until recently. It kind of surprised me. I think Americans are frequently surprised to find out that all these actors are Australian. We should probably just start assuming that everyone we see on American TV is Australian. Then we won't have to be surprised anymore. Well, maybe instead we'll be surprised when an actor turns out to be NOT Australian.

Mandylor has the same birthday as my mom. September 3. Although he was born in 1965, and she was born in 1948.

Lord Wiki says baby Costas was born in Melbourne. His original last name was Theodosopoulos. Wow. Well, I think Mandylor sounds better with his first name. It seems he didn't choose that one out of thin air. His mom's maiden name was Mandylaris.

Mandylor's father was a taxi driver. That's about all Lord Wiki provides regarding Mandylor's childhood.

There's not much personal stuff here. He's a soccer fan, and he was married from 1997-2000.

I guess I'll jump on over to IMDb.

Crap this guy has a VERY long filmography. This is going to take a long time to get through.

It starts in 1989. Mandylor was in Triumph of the Spirit. That sounds familar to me....like something I would have watched in film school. Well, I'm looking at it. I don't remember the plot on any conscious level. That doesn't mean I didn't see it though. It's about a Greek boxer who ends up in Auschwitz. I wonder if he was Jewish or not.

William Dafoe played the main character. Mandylor is fairly high up in the credits, though. Even though this was his first screen appearance, I don't think his role was overly small. I could be wrong, though.

The IMDb trivia page says that this was the first movie that was allowed to be filmed at the actual camp.

Here's the trailer. You can see Mandylor around :52.

In 1991, Mandylor was in The Doors. My sister was really into that movie.

Mandylor is way low in the credits, and plays someone named Italian Count. I'm guessing his role was pretty small. I also see Jennifer Rubin in the credits. I remember her from Nightmare on Elm Street 3.

That same year, Mandylor was in Soapdish and Mobsters.

I liked Soapdish. I don't remember it much now, but I remember thinking it was a fun movie. Mandylor played someone named Mark. Here's the trailer.

I like Robert Downey Jr.

I enjoyed watching that, although I didn't see Mandylor. Maybe I'll watch that movie again someday.

For Mobsters, Mandylor is way up high on the list. He's second, right behind Christian Slater.

Mandylor played Frank Costello. Lord Wiki says Costello was a major mafia guy. His nickname was Prime Minister of the Underworld.

Here's a scene from the movie. Patrick Dempsey is in it. This was back before he became so overly popular with Grey's Anatomy fans.

In 1993, Mandylor played someone named Costello again. But I don't think it was supposed to be the same guy. This movie was Fatal Past. It was an Australian-American thing. It was filmed in Sydney and Japan. That's about all the information I can find for now.

In 1994, Mandylor did a thing with one of the Charmed girls; Shannon Doherty. I can't remember if they also worked on Charmed together. Was the ghost episode during the Prue days or Paige days?

Anyway, this movie is a ghost thing too. It's about a psychologist who believes she's being haunted by her dead mother.

Here's a part of the movie.

The dead mother thing is creepy.

The acting in this is so horrible. It's funny, though.

The writing is awful too. It reminds me of the stuff I wrote in eighth grade. I fast-forwarded a bit to get to Mandylor. I think that's him at 3:46. He's in prison playing a harmonica.

Oh! What a twist! He's not a prisoner. He's a detective, and was just hanging out in the jail cell.

Is this movie supposed to be this bad. Is it kind of like a joke? Or did they really think they were making something brilliant? I mean...maybe it's kind of like a satire, or parody? I hope so. But it kind of doesn't seem like it.

I do like one concept mentioned in this film. Doherty's character says she uses a research technique where she opens up to the subject about her own life. The idea is if she wants the subject to open up to her, she has to open up to them first. One of the things I don't like about psychology is the falseness and one-sidedness of it all. It doesn't seem right to me....one person spilling their guts, and the other person keeping things so private. That's why I feel it's better to tell your problems to a friend. When I was going through a rough time, I did long emails back and forth with an online friend. We BOTH shared, and I liked that. Although I think there are people who like to do all the talking. They love talking on and on about themselves. They don't like listening to other people's problems. So these people would probably enjoy going to a psychologist. Then there are other unfortunate souls who end up in a life filled with the people who like to talk and not listen. No one wants to listen to this person, so she ends up having to pay someone to listen to her. I think that's so sad.

In 1995, Mandylor was in Venus Rising. Jessica Alba gets top billing for this, but a YouTube user says she's in it for about fifteen seconds. That's annoying. An actor has a small bit in the movie but since they're famous, their part is over-emphasized.

The Yahoo movie site says it's about a prison escapee who comes to an island. Billy Wirth from Lost Boys is in it.

Mandylor did a bunch of stuff in 1995.

The next thing on the list is....

Oh no. I made another chronology mistake. I need to remember not to do this.

We gotta back up to 1992. So that was after Mobsters, and before the Shannon Doherty thing. Mandylor started work on Picket Fences. He played Kenny Lacos from 1992-1996. Here we have another Charmed connection. Holly Marie Combs was on this show. I've seen it once. It was when I first heard of Hulu.com I watched a scene where Combs kissed a girl. You know, I haven't really used Hulu since then. Maybe I should. It might be a good resource. ALTHOUGH an Australian friend told me Australians can't get Hulu. So if I link to it, I may make some people feel left out. It might be best to stick to YouTube.

Lord Wiki says Kenny Lacos is an impulsive and immature sheriff's deputy. He kind of sounds like David Arquette's character in the Scream movies.

Here's a fan video about Picket Fences. It's not just music and scenes. They have informational stuff. I'm learning here. The show is about a family living in Rome, Wisconsin. I used to live in Madison, Wisconsin. I loved it there.

Lord Wiki says there actually is a Rome Wisconsin....two of them actually. But the Picket Fences one is fictional. And he says that there was also a fictional Rome Wisconsin in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

You can see Mandylor in the video at :51.

Zelda Rubinstein from Poltergeist was in it!

I just found this interview with Rubinstein. She had such a sweet voice. The interview is done by The Advocate. At some point, Rubinstein did print ads advocating safe sex for men.

Here's part of an episode of Picket Fences. It involves the Amish. Mandylor has some lines at 2:31.

An Amish girl was raped.

There's more Mandylor at 7:25. The Amish refuse to press charges against the rapist. They forgive the guy and want to do the whole turn-the-other-cheek thing. I think that's noble, in some ways. Forgiveness is beautiful. The problem is he may rape someone else in the future. So to let the guy free might not be the best choice. But who knows. Maybe being forgiven will change his soul, or something.

I'm skipping ahead to the last part of the episode. I'm curious to how this all turns out. The Amish are in court, so maybe they changed their mind about pressing charges. Or maybe the city sued them for not pressing charges?

I'm at TV.com now. I want to find out what this is all about. They have me totally curious.

So what happens is.....another woman IS raped. This girl's played by Allison Hannigan. The parents of this girl are furious at the Amish for letting the guy go free. So, I was kind of right. The Amish are in court, because they're being sued.

Here's Alyson Hannigan. It's weird to see her in a serious role.

I'm liking Picket Fences. I should watch more of it someday.

Now I'm going to go back to 1995.

There's Falling for You. It's a TV movie about a serial killer. I'm not sure if Mandylor is the killer or not. Jennie Garth plays the protagonist.

Fist of the North Star looks like a martial arts type movie. It looks like the kind of stuff Tim loves.

It's based on Japanese graphic novels.

Here's the trailer. I can see Mandylor at :55, and he pops up briefly in other bits as well.

We have another Venus thing; Delta of Venus. It's about two Americans having an affair in Paris during World War II. Audie England was in this, and she was also in Mandylor's other Venus movies. Maybe the movies are connected?

Well, Mandylor and England both play different characters in each movie. The director is the same though. So I guess they're connected in a way, but it's not like a sequel.

Here's a scene from the movie. It's an erotics type thing, but this scene is pretty tame.

The last movie for 1995 is Virtuosity with Denzel Washington. It's about virtual reality.

Here's the trailer. It looks dumb, yet somewhat intriguing. The basic story is that a virtual reality guy becomes real and unfortunately, he's a murderer. There was an episode of Electric Company like this. A video game character was brought into the real world. He wasn't a killer, though.

Oh! The Virtuosity killer was Russell Crowe! I thought he looked kind of familar. I didn't think of Crowe though.

In 1996, Mandylor was in a science fiction TV movie called Last Exit to Earth. This website says it's about a future where men have been bred to lose their aggression. The catch is they also became sterile. Humans become almost extinct, and people have to go to the past to get fertile men.

Next we have Portraits of a Killer with Jennifer Grey. Is that Grey before the new nose or after the new nose? The movie is about a lawyer who falls in love with her client. She wants to believe he's innocent, but she has her suspicions. That sounds like a rough situation to be in.

Crosscut is about a man who moves to California to get away from it all....or at least his family and work associates. Mandylor is the star. An IMDb user provides more info. Mandylor's character was a Mafia man. He's running from that life to work in the timber industry.

It looks like Mandylor's first film project after Picket Fences was Just Write. Jobeth Williams from Poltergeist was in this. So I've had two Poltergeist people already today. The funny thing is Oliver Robins was in my ghost dream last night. He was one of the bad ghosts. Then this morning, I googled him. I found this interview. They have a picture of how he looks today. He's kind of cute.

Maybe Poltergeist is one of the themes of my day.

Lord Wiki says Just Write is a romantic-comedy about a bus driver who meets an actress. She believes he's a famous screenwriter, and he lets her go on believing that. I didn't know being a screenwriter could get you such positive attention in Los Angeles. I thought they were usually ignored and unappreciated.

Mandylor is not the fake screenwriter in the movie. That's Jeremy Piven. I'm not sure who Mandylor is supposed to be.

In the TV movie Love-Struck, Mandylor played Cupid.

Here's a scene from the movie. It reminds me of Charmed.

The premise of Stand-ins sounds interesting. It takes place in 1937 Hollywood, and is about actors who never make it big themselves. Instead, they stand in for the movie stars. Lord Wiki says they're not the same as body doubles. Body doubles are actually seen in the movie. The stand-in is just there before the camera is rolling. They're used for lighting, blocking, and all that stuff. They don't need to look like the actor, but they need to have the same skin tone and size. Sometimes the person who is used for the stand-in will also be used for the body double.

Here's a whole website about the job. It doesn't sound that fun....pretty tedious. I wonder if they get paid well. Maybe there's hope that this job will lead to an acting job? Maybe some people just like being part of the movie production. There's probably some amount of excitement to that.

From 1997-1998, Mandylor was in the TV show Players. It was about convicted scam-artists helping the FBI.

In 1998, he was in Double Take, a political thriller involving Argentina. Then there was Shelter. It involves the Greek mafia. Mandylor plays a Greek guy. I'm guessing from his last name, the guy is Greek in real life.

I don't usually mention shorts, but YouTube has a scene from My Brother Cicero. If I can watch part of a short, I'll usually mention it. This one is about a guy who wants his roommate taken care of...if you know what I mean. And that roommate happens to be a cat. It's a comedy. Don't feel sorry for the cat. He's abusive to his human.

The movie was written by Mandylor's brother, Louis. Lord Wiki says it won the best short film in the New York Underground Film Festival. Well, that's kind of sad. It seems the New York Underground Film Festival is no more. It ended in 2008.

Also in 1998, Mandylor was in the TV movie The Fury Within. It's a horror-paranormal thing. I like that kind of stuff...sometimes.

Mandylor played the husband of Ally Sheedy. Ally Sheedy makes me think of my sister's nasal surgery. Why? When she was recovering at my parent's house, she was watching The Breakfast Club.

The movie was an Australian-American production. An Australian IMDb user is very offended that it was made. Leask81 says, Hold on. The Australian Government announces almost $1m in tax concessions for overseas films being made in Australia...so that we can continue to get trash like THIS on our screens??? (That's obviously a cynical view...THE MATRIX and STAR WARS EPISODE I weren't too bad...) Do Americans actually like these films???!!! Surely someone must, otherwise they wouldn't get made!! Kind of eerie. He wrote that on 11 September 2001. I wonder if it was before or after the bombs. Well, hopefully it was before. Kind of sad if he was thinking about American movie crap at a time like that.

Next we have the TV movie Exiled. It's a Law and Order movie. I didn't know they made Law and Order movies. Chris Noth from Sex and the City (and also Law and Order) is the star of it.

This Mandylor guy is in a lot of TV movies. I think he's that type of actor; TV Movie Man.

In 1999, we have Bonanno: A Godfather's Story. As the title suggests, it's a mafia thing. Mafia stuff bores me.

Here's the trailer. I think that's Mandylor at :19.

Next on the list is Shame, Shame, Shame which reunites Mandylor with Audie England. This England girl's career pretty much ended after this movie. She did one movie in 2000, and that's it. Well, I shouldn't be so dismal. Her career could come back at some point. And maybe her life is going well without film and TV. Maybe she's doing theatre or something.

Last in 1999 is Stealth Fighter. Ice-T is in it. I've seen his name crop up a few times today. Yep. He also worked with Mandylor on Players and Exiled.

Here's a trailer for Stealth Fighter. Ernie Hudson plays the President of the United States. I wonder how many movies and TV shows have had black presidents. Off my head, I can think of two others....24, and that disaster movie with Morgan Freeman. This website lists more.

In 2000, Mandylor and Ice-T did yet another movie together. This was Gangland. Here's the trailer. It looks kind of like Mad Max.

Next we have Intrepid. It's an action film involving a cruise ship. Here's that trailer.

I'm not attracted to many of these movies, but I do find Mandylor to be kind of attractive. He reminds me of Aidan Quinn.

Mandylor was in a short-lived TV show in 2000 called Secret Agent Man. Here are some scenes from an episode.

Is that supposed to be a fashion show?

This actually looks somewhat entertaining....kind of funny.

Mandylor did two episodes of a show called Resurrection Blvd. I totally don't remember hearing of this show. Lord Wiki says it was on Showtime, and it was about a Latino family involved with boxing.

In 2001, Mandylor was in Turn of Faith. It's about three kids in the same neighborhood, taking different paths of life. I think it's another mafia. thing. Well, the family business is mentioned. I doubt they're talking about a film-developing business.

Although maybe it's NOT the mafia. I shouldn't jump to conclusions.

Here's the trailer. It might be fan-made. It does look like a mafia thing. It looks pretty dumb, and they really overuse the f word. I totally love that word, but it's better in moderation.

The next movie was directed by Sean Penn; The Pledge. The credits here throw me off a bit. Jack Nicholson is the main star, yet he's not on the first page of credits. What's that all about?

The movie is about a retiring detective who promises a grieving mother that he will find the killer of her child.

Here's the trailer. Well, that has caught my interest. I gotta go read the spoilers, so I can find out what happened. Don't worry. I won't talk about what I find.....

It sounds pretty good. I'm not disappointed with the outcome. Mandylor played a deputy in the film. I don't think his role was overly substantial.

Mandylor was in a TV movie based on a Nora Roberts book; Sanctuary. Melissa Gilbert plays the victim of a stalker. I wonder if Mandylor is the stalker.

Above and Beyond is about a man whose best friend becomes paralyzed. And the man falls in love with his best friend's wife. That would be a complicated situation. Adam Baldwin is the other star. I remember him from that old movie, My Bodyguard.

I'm going to mention this one-time guest appearance because it's a show I watch and like. In 2001, Mandylor appeared in Sex and the City.

Here's a scene, but it's in German.

Mandylor plays a friar. I think Samantha is interested in him.

It's fun watching this in German.

TV.com describes the episode. Samantha has an affair with the friar....in her mind. That's usually the safest place to have sex, especially when it comes to forbidden love. You get the fun without the guilt. Well, there might be a little guilt, but there won't be all that messy drama.

In 2002, Mandylor was in another one of those thriller things. This was Cover Story. That Show Girls woman was in it.

It's about a magazine editor who gets accused of murder. How exciting.

2002 was also the year Mandylor was in Charmed. And now I see this was a Paige episode. It was season 4. Prue died at the end of season 3...or kind of at the beginning of season 4.

Here are some scenes from the episode. First we have the Aussie Prime Minister's son. Then Mandylor appears at 3:01.

Oh! The other brother is Louis Mandylor. This is a family thing.

They're very mean ghosts. They're killer ghosts....just like in my dream. At first they were just there. Then they wanted me dead. Then I WAS dead. I floated around this camp-like place, and tried to scare this woman. She couldn't see me, but her boyfriend could. Then it all became a bit x-rated, so I won't go into that.

I like Charmed. It has some great lines, and I also like the acting.

Next is another TV movie thriller thing; Scent of Danger. It's about an FBI agent and a missing child case. Oh, and it's also about search and rescue dogs. The movie was shown on Animal Planet. An IMDb user wasn't impressed with the film. TC-4 says, Obviously this movie had no technical advisors as everything was totally wrong and made real handlers look stupid. For example, it takes years of training under all sorts of weather with qualified instructors and after passing difficult exams to become a certified S and;R dog and handler. Yet one of the dogs was trained in a backyard once for 5 minutes and suddenly became a S and R dog.

Also in 2002, Mandylor was in The Real Deal.

Here's a trailer. Maybe it's fan made? It has some female nudity, so it doesn't seem like something that would be shown on American TV during our usual commercial time. It doesn't look overly exciting to me. Neither does Hitters, another mafia type thing.

In 2004, Mandylor was in the TV movie Just Desserts. It's about a family that owns a bakery. Lauren Holly was in it. She was in Picket Fences with Mandylor. I think she played his love interest. So here, they're reunited.

Next we have an animal horror movie. I love those. This was in called Dinocroc. The animal is an ancestor of the crocodile. Miracle of miracles. I think Mandylor actually plays an Australian in this movie.

Here's a trailer. Shit. That thing is scary. But I think modern day real crocodiles are scarier.

Next we have The Eavesdropper. It's about a deaf woman who is given a treatment that allows her to read minds. That sounds kind of interesting. All the other patients in the experiment went psychotic. That kind of sucks for them.

In 2005, we have another Mandylor brother movie. This is The Game of Their Lives. Gerald Butler is in it too. I like him. The movie is about a US soccer team winning against England. It's a big deal because America doesn't really get much into soccer like other countries do. It's a true story; it happened in 1950. Lord Wiki says America didn't even really care. Only one American journalist (Dent McSkimming) had been there to cover the event, and he had to take off work to cover the event. His newspaper wouldn't support him going to the event.

I'm not usually into sport movies, but this one sounds good to me. Patrick Stewart plays the older Dent McSkimming. I'm guessing maybe the movie is a flashback type thing.

Here's the trailer. I think it looks good. I wonder if Tim has seen it. I'll go down and ask him now. I want to grab a snack....

He hasn't seen the movie yet. Maybe he can see it someday.

Let's continue.

We next have Dr. Chopper, a straight-to-video slasher film. It's partying college students against a crazed doctor and his nurses. Here's the trailer. I guess Mandylor plays a cop. He seems a bit sadistic.

Lord Wiki says the movie got horrible reviews, but it has developed a sort of cult status.

Sub Zero was another straight-to-video thing; It's about Russian terrorists. It involves snow, cold, and climbing.

The Shore is another movie about missing children. It sounds depressing.

In 2006, Mandylor was in Payback. I thought I had heard of this movie, but I think I was thinking of something else.

Okay yeah. Lord Wiki says there was a Payback movie with Mel Gibson. That came out in 1999.

Here's something funny. Christopher Atkins is in Payback. He plays a cop that put Mandylor in prison. Mandylor seeks revenge against him. Christopher Atkins was in The Blue Lagoon. Brian Krause from Charmed was in the sequel to the Blue Lagoon. In the Charmed episode, Mandylor's character seeks revenge against Krause's character. So twice, Mandylor has played characters going after Blue Lagoon people.

Okay. We gotta back up again. I missed a TV show. Mandylor did five episodes of 7th Heaven. They were spaced out a bit, ranging from 2004-2006. He played Bill Brewer.

Lord Wiki's cousin
says that Bill is the dad of Martin. Martin is a kid who lived with the Camdens while his father was fighting in the Iraq war.

In 2006, Mandylor was in the TV movie Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York. Michael Ironside from V was in it. Here's the trailer. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.

Next, Mandylor was in Saw III. He plays Mark Hoffman. Lord Wiki has a whole entry on him. Apparently, Mandylor has done many of these movies; four so far, and Mandylor plans to be in a fifth. If I'm reading this right, Hoffman is an apprentice of the Jigsaw killer guy. A friend tried to explain the movies to me. The Jigsaw is not just a killer. He's some kind of moral teacher as well. He puts people in situations to try to get them to better themselves. It's kind of like tough love...a very sadistic kind.

The IMDb trivia page has something pretty funny. They say the producers of Saw III asked the producers of Scary Movie 4 to borrow their set, because Scary Movie 4 had an exact replica of the Saw sets. What happened the real Saw sets?

Here's the parody scenes from Scary Movie 4 of Saw. I've never liked Dr. Phil but at least he can make fun of himself. I respect that.

Here's a fan video tribute to Mark Hoffman.

The screenplay of Saw III was written by Australians. I think I learned that before. I don't remember why.

In 2007, Mandylor was in made in Brooklyn. Here's the trailer. Is that Mandylor at 1:41?

Mandylor was in a Canadian movie; Nobody. Here's the trailer. It looks weird....a surreal type thing.

Saw IV came out in 2007. Here's the trailer. That doesn't look like a fun situation to be in. It's kind of like a demented version of that camp thing....What's that called again....where they try to get you to work as a team? I forgot the name. But you climb a wall together. You have to fall down, and other people catch you? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Mandylor was in the Angelina Jolie Bewulf movie. He played Hondshew. According to this book-cheat website, Hondshew is a minor character eaten by Grendel. I hope he was delicious.

Here's the trailer.

Oh. It's one of those CGI movies.

Mandylor was in the TV movie Primal Doubt. It's an internet murder mystery thing. Here's the trailer. It's a bit confusing to me. I had to watch it three times. What's confusing is Mandylor looks like both the murder victim AND the suspect. Well, at least to me he does. It's not the same person, though. Mandylor is only the suspect. The murder victim is a guy that his wife was having an Email affair with.

In 2008, Mandylor was in Lost Warrior: Left Behind, a straight-to-video movie. It's a thriller about reality TV. Mandylor plays a producer who made a kill-0r-be-killed type show.

In Emma Blue, Mandylor plays the devil. It's a romantic-comedy. It sounds kind of cute. The devil falls in love. That's sweet.

It's a Greek movie.

Here's the trailer. It looks interesting. Since I'm not Christian, I'm destined to go to hell. So it's nice to imagine the devil is a sexy guy like that.

Well, this is funny. In Mandylor's next movie, he played Jesus. I'm not sure if it's THAT Jesus, though. The movie is The Drum Beats Twice. I can't find much about the movie. Have any of you seen it?

Toxic is a movie about an escaped mental patient. Here's the trailer. It reminds me of The Ring. Lord Wiki says Mandylor plays the owner of a strip club. He explains the plot, but it's too long and confusing for me to understand. I can't say I'm overly interested.

Saw V came out in 2008. Here's another fan video about Mark Hoffman. So do fans of Saw see Hoffman as a hero? I'm trying to understand. Without seeing the movies, I can't be sympathetic to their love. But I'm guessing it's kind of how I love Ben in Lost. If I listed all the bad stuff Ben has done, a person who doesn't watch Lost would think I was nuts for loving him. But although he does evil things, he's not an evil person. He has good in him. Is that what Mark Hoffman is like?

The Mandylor brothers did an Indonesian movie about sports. This was The Ball is Round. Here's the trailer. I like the singing. That's pretty awesome. It's a bit different from most movie trailers. Maybe it's fan made?

In 2009, Mandylor was in a vampire movie; Immortally Yours. One of the actresses used to be on Another World. Katie Rich. I can't remember her exact storyline, but I think it involved a guy named Tony the Tuna.

Here's the trailer for Immortally Yours. Like Twilight and the Sookie Stackhouse stuff, it's about vampire-human romance. In the movie, Mandylor plays the henchman of the leader of a evil crime group. The leader is trying to obtain immortality. The vampire's love interest is the daughter of a scientist. The scientist's work is funded by the evil crime boss. It sounds like a fairly okay plot to me.

In 2009, we had Saw VI. I'm going to skip watching a video for that one. It's getting late, and I'm tired.

Recently, Mandylor was in Hyenas. Or maybe it hasn't come out yet. It's a horror thing about shape-shifters.

Here's a fan-made trailer.

Link
You know. I think Mandylor is like the prince of B movies.

Next we have Sinners and Saints. Here's the trailer. I'm not interested.

Then there's Cursed...another Mandylor brother thing. I might like this better. It's supernatural. I like supernatural stuff. Here's the trailer. The southern accents are cute, but the movie's not really calling to me. Honestly, I might just be tired of Mandylor. I've been with the guy all day. I feel like we're married...and I am about ready for a divorce.

Mandylor is in five upcoming movies. I don't have the energy or motivation to talk about all of them. I'm going to look at them briefly, and pick the one which looks the most interesting to me. Then I'll talk about it.

Okay. I have picked it. It's Torn. The reason it looks interesting to me, is it's an Australian film. I don't think Mandylor has done a lot of Australian movies. Mandylor plays a real estate agent named Steve. Some guy decides he doesn't like Steve, and sets out to destroy him.

Now I'm going to read the IMDb trivia page.

Mandylor used to play professional soccer, but he had shin issues.

He's into boxing.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1987. I wonder if he still has an Australian accent.

Well, I shall see in a minute. I'm going to take a break, and then watch an interview.

Before I watch the interview, I'm looking at The Official Costas Mandylor site....or at least they say they're official. I started questioning it, because they have a link to Mandylor on Facebook. I thought. Well, since it's connected to his site, it must be his real Facebook account. But then I started wondering....what if it's a fake official site?

They have that fan made trailer of Hyenas. Or maybe it's not fan-made. They call it un-official. What does that mean?

I'm so confused.

Anyway, here's an interview. It's done by a Greek media thing. He sounds more Greek to me than Australian. His voice is....gravely? Would that be the right term?

Here's an interview for Saw VI. I'm guessing it's from the DVD, probably. Mandylor talks about how he's a funny guy on the set. But in the interview, he doesn't really seem like someone who is very funny. He seems serious. But it could just be that he's nervous. Yeah. He seems nervous. I wish I could see him on a talk show kind of thing. I'd love a Craig Ferguson interview.

I have spent so much time with Mandylor, but I feel so horribly distant from him. I want to get close. I want to bond.

Here's another interview. Mandylor is wearing one of those rubber/plastic bracelet things. I wonder what he's promoting.

He says he's a prankster.

The interviewer asks him about crappy movies he's done. Mandylor says there has been bad movies, and he just puts them down to learning. I support bad movies for struggling actors. I think when you're an actor, there's a point where you're happy to do anything. I have trouble understanding why successful actors are in crappy movies. I watch them, and wonder....did they not notice how bad the writing was? And why didn't the director try to fix the acting?

I kind of think Mandylor is still in a career situation where he doesn't have much choice. I don't think he's at a point where A level scripts are often thrown his way. He's been in a few big films, but in those he seems to get small parts. He gets big roles in the B movies.

Now I could be wrong. Maybe Mandylor truly likes all the scripts he chooses. Maybe we just have really different taste in films.

In a way, I think an actor should be happy for any level of career. There's not enough roles for every successful actor to be in box office hits and/or award winning movies. Some guys are going to end up in soap operas. Some will end up in B movies. Some will become stars of multiple horror sequels. It's better than nothing.

Mandylor says Hollywood is getting on his nerves. He's like me...not a fan of reality TV. He's getting tired of actors who only want to talk about acting. He wants to talk about a variety of things.

This is probably a crazy thing to say. But I see Mandylor as being weird in a certain way. And that certain way is like...well, he reminds me of my relatives. I can totally picture him at one of our family reunions. He would fit in so well.

Mandylor says he admires the actors who take breaks and doesn't act in every piece of crap that's offered his way. That's ironic, because I think Mandylor had one of the longest filmographies I've ever seen. And a lot of it looks like crap. But maybe he means he's going to try to be different for now on. I think he wants to be more selective. If he can financially afford that, I think it would be a wise idea. There's tons of stuff he can do in his spare time: Sports, update Facebook, theatre, watch videos on YouTube, knit sweaters, etc.

Now that I think of it though. Who am I to fault someone for being overly prolific. That's a bit hypocritical, isn't it?


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10 comments:

  1. Hi Dina, thanks for your visit. Manly is fab, isn't it. I always find it so strange that Australians had to lose their accents to get anywhere overseas. I love our drawl! xx

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  2. Josephine,

    I loved reading your blog entry on Manly. I'm missing it. It's funny. The last time we went it wasn't so pleasant (blue bottle scare, shoes broke, bomb scare on ferry, and some bad stuff when we returned to the city). So I kind of lost my love for awhile. But reading your post, rekindled my feelings. Then today I was reading about Sydney, and they talked about how great Manly is. I miss it!

    I think it's sad when Australians give up their accent. I LOVE the Aussie accent. To me, an Australian without their accent is like a cupcake without the frosting. Not that they can't still be awesome people. But...yeah. They should totally keep the accent.

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  3. Well this totally made my day!

    So I totally have a weird crush on Costas right now. Mainly from the Saw movies. Sick, I know, crushing on the villian from a horror movie. Though, as it's been pointed out, I don't know if he really counts as a villian.

    I don't think he's even all that good looking, just very..appealing.

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  4. Rebecca,

    Yeah. I've had totally weird crushes in my life. I had a thing for Hannibal Lector, and also Kiefer Sutherland in Lost Boys. They're villains, but there's something...about them. A vulnerability maybe?

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  5. Thanks for the link to Stand-In Central!(http://standincentral.com) I am Stand-In Central's editor and I appreciate the buzz.

    Indeed, standing in can be a tedious job, though it can be really very fun at times, too. You're very much part of the process of making a film or television show, which can actually be tedious for all parties involved (directors, actors, et al.). We don't usually hear the word "tedious" though, because the work is generally pretty stimulating.

    Standing in can pay pretty well (of course, a relative term), and the rate is usually dictated by the unions, which can mean great rewards in overtime or when shooting at odd hours or under odd circumstances. Standing in pays also in the experiences; the opportunities you get from standing in can be unforgettable. You can see things in a city you wouldn't be able to see as a regular citizen, work with celebrities and other talented people you elsewise wouldn't get the opportunity to, and be a part of the making of history when the film or television show does well.

    For more information, check out the website and follow along with its blog updated weekly on the job of the stand-in. :)

    Cheers,
    Ben Hauck
    Editor, Stand-In Central
    http://standincentral.com

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  6. Ben,

    Hi! Thank you so much for stopping by.

    I'm betting that being a stand-in pays at least more than preschool teachers are paid! I did that, and the pay was very low.

    I can imagine you're right...that film-making can be tedious for EVERYONE. But I'm thinking the fun stuff makes up for all of it.

    When I saw your comment, I was thinking....I've written screenplays, and did a semester of film school. Yet I've never been on a movie set. If I had gone on to purse film as a career, it would have been a great opportunity to see what really goes on.

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  7. I don't think people love Costas from saw because they look at him as a hero. I think its because he's a bit of a bad-ass in the film... I for one have developed a huge crush on him because of that reason and also the fact he gets half his jaw ripped apart, yells a little and then walks away and stitches it up... HIMSELF!!! But he does get that awesome scar from it! Haha

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  8. But534hearts1,

    That makes sense. Yeah. I think a lot of people have crushes on "bad-asses". From what you describe about the jaw injury, it also sounds very brave. And strong.

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  9. Did you know Costa did a Coca Cola commercial before he hit Hollywood? My parents had a shop two doors up from Costas mums Hairdressing salon. Lovely people. His mum tried to help me find work back in the 90s. Very lovely lady. His dad was a sweet man too, would always come and say hello to my dad and they'd tell each other jokes. Louis was the darling of the neighbourhood that all the girls loved...those blue eyes you know. Very proud of both the boys. I hope they are happy in their lives. Bless.

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  10. Margaret,

    Thank you so much for your comment, and thank you for sharing your sweet Costas Mandylor info!

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