Careers: Acting, Performing, Directing/movies

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Expert: - 7/1/2010


Question
In the Lord of the Rings :Fellowship of the Ring there were many religious undertones in the film.describe one and use a scene in tthe movie that explains.

Answer
Hi Connie,

I'm sorry, but I cannot answer this question for two reasons:

First, I have not seen the Lord of the Rings, nor did I care to. It's not a genre I can even remotely care about (unless I were being paid to act in it! Lol).

Secondly, the purpose of homework is to learn, and if I were to provide the answers, I would not be helping you to do that -to think for yourself. While the easy way is tempting, doing the work will help you down the road for your studies in the future...say college?

I will say this: many movies substitute other symbols, lifestyles, and characters to take the place of "touchier" ones. Ones that would upset people. When things are substituted, it clears the way for people to think outside the way they have learned to think about things from their parents, teachers, church, etc.

An HBO series I have been watching, "True Blood" sometimes uses "Vampire Rights" as a metaphor for Gay Rights. In Matthew McConaughey's film: A Time to Kill", he, as a lawyer, gave the jury a summation (a closing speech) about why his client killed the 2 men who savagely raped, beat and tried to kill his daughter by hanging her. He talked about what the men had done to his 9 year old daughter in graphic terms, and how she was scarred for life, to never have children, to suffer from what they did. His client, Samuel Jackson, and daughter, were of course, black. He asked the jury to imagine all this, then after, asked the Southern jury to imagine one last thing: that she were a little white girl. The reason was to get the jury to see past any pre-conceived prejudices to realize that they should decide guilt just the same as they would if the situation were different. Of course, it's a movie, so it worked, but whether real or not, it was a very clever ploy.

Good luck on this!

Best,

Taylor

Careers: Acting, Performing, Directing

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Taylor Sheppard

Expertise

I can answer questions: on starting a career in acting, mistakes in acting, etiquette when dealing with industry contacts, finer points on how to act, and things to avoid in the field.

Experience

I have been a professional actor 21 years, with appearances in TV, Film and commercials. I have made good decisions and potentially damaging mistakes. I believe anyone who has a dream deserves to explore it, and I take their aspirations seriously. That being said, I do not pull punches. I try to be tactful, but I will not lie to someone, honesty is more effective. My last film role was in "Teeth" which was picked for Sundance in January 2007. It was sold to Lionsgate and Weinstein Co. for somewhere over 2.5 million. The role was "Mr. Griffith", a sex-ed teacher.

Organizations
Ciao Agency-Austin/Georgetown, Texas. (Formerly known as Donna Adams Agency. Matthew McConaughey was a good friend and fellow member. I also have belonged to agencies in three other Texas cities, but they have since closed.) TXMPA -Texas Motion Picture Alliance. Various other internet networking web rings as well as Actors Access. I was instrumental in advising actress Krista Allen on getting her career in acting started in Austin,Texas (we worked at the same Health Club in the early '90's).

Publications
Previously wrote on a now defunct website such as this one. I enjoyed helping new actors.

Education/Credentials
I have acted for 21 years. I studied under James Nelson Harrell as well as other talented actors at Southwest Texas State University. After college, I have taken classes with Julliard graduate Mona Lee, Bill Johnson, Van Brookes, Marco Perella and others in Austin Texas. I am constantly attending classes to maintain my edge and explore new directions. In addition to attending strictly acting classes, I have also taken business workshops with respected casting directors, such as Shari Rhodes ("Jaws","Close Encounters", "Raggedy Man".) Barbara Brinkley, Jo Edna Bolden and Donise Hardy, (Castingworks LA).

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