Billy DaMota
Hey, it's me, Billy Dee of your giant M and JQ stores, where you can find the best prices on men's and women's shoes and boots in Southern California.
00:00:19:05 - 00:00:42:05
Clark
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Soldiers of Cinema Podcast. I'm Clark Coffey and always with me is Mr. Cullen McPhatter. And for the first time ever and I'm super excited about this, we have a third person on the podcast. We actually have a guest and I am super excited for this. Billy Mota is a casting director, writer, director, producer.
00:00:42:14 - 00:01:00:23
Clark
He was born and raised in San Francisco, California, where he began his career in the arts as a rock and roll guitar player. But we always, all of us, have aspirations or dreams of that. At some point I feel like he moved to L.A. in the mid seventies only to find that disco would put a damper on his live music aspirations.
00:01:01:09 - 00:01:17:17
Clark
After bouncing from what a dead end retail job to another in 85, he began his career in casting. Starting as an assistant on such films as Predator, The Running Man and The Three Amigos, which I feel like almost like, is a perfect encapsulation of my childhood cinema experience, by the way.
00:01:18:02 - 00:01:20:05
Billy DaMota
Should we all do the Three Amigos Salute right now.
00:01:21:18 - 00:01:24:08
Cullen
If I could. Yes, we could remember it.
00:01:24:14 - 00:01:34:02
Clark
Oh, my God. That brings back memories. There you go. In 88, he got a call from Dennis Hopper and they got God, I wish I got a call from Dennis Hopper as.
00:01:34:04 - 00:01:35:02
Billy DaMota
Happens to me all the time.
00:01:35:05 - 00:01:53:21
Clark
It happens to you. It happened to you all the time. Come to come on board. As a casting associate on the gang Epic Colors, which, of course, was directed by Hopper and starred Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. Then Billy went on to become an independent casting director with the film Miracle Mile, which I was just watching. Starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham.
00:01:54:05 - 00:02:11:15
Clark
Then he went on. This is a big shift to work on Steven Seagal's first film, Above the Law, with, of course, the wonderful Sharon Stone. And then he went on to cast the legendary cult classic and maybe one of the best named films of all time chopper chicks in zombie town. And actually, I'd had no idea of this.
00:02:12:05 - 00:02:37:12
Clark
That was one of Billy Bob Thornton. So maybe that was his first starring role, actually. Then you I mean, you've cast Billy's cast hundreds of films, TV shows, commercials, plays, music videos. He's gotten to cast a lot of directors at the start of their careers, like James Franco, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt, cast legends such as Faye Dunaway, Mickey Rooney, Glenn Ford, Martin Landau.
00:02:37:13 - 00:02:59:04
Clark
I mean, the list just goes on and on. But in addition to casting, he's always also been a writer, director and producer. He produced the award winning indie crime drama Reflections in the Dark with Billy Zane. And Mimi Rogers won several awards for his short film Poesy in 2012, which he wrote and directed at stars Ray Weiss and Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland.
00:02:59:04 - 00:03:16:05
Clark
And to top it all off, Billy has been nominated for times for an artist for best casting. Billy, thank you so much for being here. It is an honor. It is good to see your face and talk to you. I can't wait to dive into some of the stories you must have in all of that experience.
00:03:17:06 - 00:03:22:06
Billy DaMota
Well, I appreciate the invitation, and I'm always happy to chat about my career.
00:03:23:08 - 00:03:36:03
Clark
I've got to recover from that bio. It was so, you know, I've got to catch my breath. You have? And that's that's just like a tip of the iceberg. I mean, you've been in you. Now you're retired, as I understand it. Right? Although are you.
00:03:36:03 - 00:03:39:05
Billy DaMota
Still. You know, I'm I'm kind of semi-retired.
00:03:39:05 - 00:03:40:14
Clark
My semi-retired, Yeah.
00:03:41:00 - 00:03:43:17
Billy DaMota
When you tell people you're retired, the phone doesn't stop ringing.
00:03:43:17 - 00:03:45:08
Cullen
So now. Well.
00:03:46:18 - 00:04:15:07
Billy DaMota
A little a little history on that. I'm I, you know, I lived in Los Angeles for since I actually moved there in 1975, 74, 75 to play rock and roll and and it was I had moved away from my from my family in San Francisco and in my my friends and my whole sort of support group and started a new life in Los Angeles.
00:04:16:02 - 00:04:36:13
Billy DaMota
And my family had moved back to Oregon, where my mom grew up. So we were now even further apart. So I would, you know, go up to visit in Oregon and and and spend the summers and Christmas and that kind of stuff. But when I decided to retire four years ago or again, semi-retired, I couldn't afford to live in Los Angeles.
00:04:36:13 - 00:04:56:20
Billy DaMota
So I wound up, you know, moving back to where my my mom grew up. And I live literally 5 minutes from her, her the house she grew up in when she was a little girl in the fifties. And and my brothers and sisters all still live here. So it's a great, you know, a great way for me to kind of get away, too.
00:04:56:20 - 00:04:58:09
Billy DaMota
So that's where I'm at right now.
00:04:58:23 - 00:05:10:10
Clark
That I may I had never actually been to Oregon until I married my wife, and her family is actually in sisters. If you're familiar with that. It where that is outside.
00:05:10:11 - 00:05:10:21
Cullen
I'm not.
00:05:11:18 - 00:05:14:18
Clark
Oh, you're with it. Yeah. So not too far away from you.
00:05:15:02 - 00:05:16:04
Cullen
It's just a couple hundred miles.
00:05:16:10 - 00:05:26:11
Billy DaMota
I live in the about as south as you can get. There's Medford and Josephine County and Ashland Shakespeare Festival. All.
00:05:26:15 - 00:05:45:15
Clark
Yep, Yep. I've got family in Ashland, too. It's just a really beautiful, wonderful place. Well, let's. I kind of. You know, if you want to take us back maybe to 75, when you first moved to L.A., you know, I'm always curious about people's stories, about how they get into the business. And it sounds like you had aspirations to be a musician.
00:05:45:22 - 00:05:51:16
Clark
You show up in L.A.. Tell us a little bit about that and how you found yourself in casting.
00:05:52:01 - 00:06:18:20
Billy DaMota
Sure. Well, I I moved here in 1974 with my then fiancee. She was I was playing rock and roll and she was aspiring to be a recording engineer. So she she went to school in San Francisco. Then she worked at a few small studios down here when we moved here and I got a job working with a studio band.
00:06:19:04 - 00:06:49:04
Billy DaMota
I mean, excuse me, I started working in a studio as a studio musician and playing with a local band and it was great for about a year, a year and a half and, you know, kind of the live music career, the live music, you know, scene in Los Angeles kind of dried up for musicians on my level. You know, there's lots of clubs, small clubs that were playing, you know, with the bands could, you know, make a living playing it.
00:06:49:04 - 00:07:15:18
Billy DaMota
And unfortunately, when disco happened, they decided it was she were just a hired DJ. So I wound up selling shoes and, you know, doing all the other things that, you know, people in they that are artists do when they're trying to pay the rent in restaurants. And I wound up actually at Beverly Hills, Porsche, Audi, and in 1984 I was selling cars.
00:07:15:18 - 00:07:17:18
Billy DaMota
I was the sales manager there.
00:07:18:11 - 00:07:19:00
Cullen
Oh, wow.
00:07:19:05 - 00:07:27:18
Billy DaMota
I was, you know, making way too much money. I was I think I was probably making in 1984 probably $100,000 a year.
00:07:28:03 - 00:07:31:14
Clark
Which was. So that's probably like $300,000 today.
00:07:31:22 - 00:07:37:17
Billy DaMota
It was pretty it was pretty big. Wow. You know, that was it was a high traffic star with movie stars and rock stars buying.
00:07:37:21 - 00:07:38:06
Clark
I bet.
00:07:38:14 - 00:07:43:10
Billy DaMota
You know, I used to sell all of Hugh Hefner's girls would come in and they'd say, Hey, can I.
00:07:43:10 - 00:07:44:13
Cullen
Get that one? And can you.
00:07:44:13 - 00:07:45:16
Billy DaMota
Paint it pink for me?
00:07:45:16 - 00:07:48:01
Cullen
And, you know, I ended up selling.
00:07:48:15 - 00:07:55:01
Billy DaMota
Selling, you know, $100,000 cars to Playboy bunnies. Who would, you know, while you drive around Los Angeles and.
00:07:55:08 - 00:07:56:10
Speaker 4
In your life, that career.
00:07:56:21 - 00:08:18:04
Billy DaMota
Yeah, I did leave that career. And then here's the thing. Here's the thing. And you guys know, too, as artists, actors, you know, people involved in the arts, that that's always your heart, that's always your desire, that's always the thing that that drives you is your passion. And for my whole life, music has been my life. My mom, when I was five years old, taught me how to play ukulele.
00:08:18:04 - 00:08:21:02
Billy DaMota
And, you know, it was you know, it was.
00:08:21:20 - 00:08:22:11
Clark
It stuck.
00:08:22:13 - 00:08:40:06
Billy DaMota
At never it never left me, you know. So I so when I so I was working at the dealership and hating my life, I was, you know, hanging out with at the Playboy Mansion and and having movie stars buy cars for me and making a lot of money and driving around in 911 and wearing fancy three piece suits.
00:08:40:06 - 00:08:48:12
Billy DaMota
And and I was miserable because I wasn't playing my music. I wasn't right. I was it was a seven day a week job, you know, and.
00:08:48:17 - 00:08:51:23
Clark
And you weren't on your path. You were you were off the path. Yeah.
00:08:52:06 - 00:09:18:03
Billy DaMota
I had strayed. And so a friend of mine was living with a casting director, and, you know, he was my, my best buddy. We used to hang out and go to clubs and, you know, just hang out together. And I said, What is that? What does she do? What does a casting director do? He said, Well, you know, they find the actors for the movies and, you know, they audition them.
00:09:18:03 - 00:09:27:16
Billy DaMota
And and it was kind of a foreign thing to me. But I was 30 years old and I wanted to change my life. And I said, I, I think I could do that.
00:09:28:05 - 00:09:29:00
Cullen
I want to try that.
00:09:29:03 - 00:09:46:17
Billy DaMota
I like people. I like movies. And he said, Well, let's we'll get together for lunch with her and we'll chat about it. And we did. We all had lunch and at and I said, Can I try it? And she says, Yeah, come work with me for free.
00:09:47:09 - 00:09:50:21
Cullen
And so for free. For free, right?
00:09:51:05 - 00:10:32:03
Billy DaMota
So I did I, I left my big old job. My wife at the time was, was this. I have a different wife at this time and she is studying to be a a deaf teacher. A teacher for deaf children and and she's going to Cal State Northridge and they have the best program there. And instead of going to she went to night school and she worked days to help support our family and my new, you know, I guess diversion from from.
00:10:32:03 - 00:10:38:18
Clark
You know now that was that a challenge you know, to leave the had to have been a bit scary to.
00:10:38:18 - 00:10:49:16
Billy DaMota
Leave it was very well because yeah it was a it was a it was a it that was kind of a it would have been a career path for me had I stayed on. It would have been I would have been very successful.
00:10:50:04 - 00:10:52:22
Cullen
Yeah.
00:10:52:22 - 00:11:12:12
Billy DaMota
I would have been very successful and I'm sure I would have I mean I'm, you know, not to brag, but I always aspire to be the best I can be. Whatever I do. So but but that's the reason I had to leave, because I knew that if I if I was in it any longer, I would I would get immersed in it and not be able to get out.
00:11:12:12 - 00:11:35:08
Billy DaMota
So, yeah. So she supported me. She was, you know, I'm thankful I had and she's still one of my best friends today. She knew what my dreams and passions were, and she knew I wanted to get back in the arts and, and and this was a way for me to sort of get out of the drudgery of of 9 to 5 retail seven days a week.
00:11:35:14 - 00:11:37:08
Clark
Yeah. And now I'm curious.
00:11:37:08 - 00:11:37:19
Billy DaMota
In my dream.
00:11:38:08 - 00:11:55:20
Clark
I'm curious Billie, at this point of the story, you know your your passion was music. Did did you have a passion for film or cinema at this point when you first, like, dipped your toes into casting? Was that a big part of your childhood or not so much or.
00:11:56:04 - 00:12:09:23
Billy DaMota
You know, I mean, I, I grew up just like I think everybody you know, I'm not a youngster and I when I grew up, it was cost $0.50 to go to the movies. And when we would go every weekend.
00:12:10:09 - 00:12:11:01
Cullen
Yeah, my.
00:12:11:03 - 00:12:28:17
Billy DaMota
My brother and I would go to the to the in in San Francisco. We were at the Castro Theater when the Castro Theater had you know, I mean, my first my first movie, the very first movie that I ever saw in a movie theater when I was nine years old was the pit in the pendulum.
00:12:28:17 - 00:12:29:03
Cullen
Uh.
00:12:30:06 - 00:12:31:09
Billy DaMota
You know Roger Corman?
00:12:31:19 - 00:12:33:03
Cullen
Mm hmm.
00:12:33:11 - 00:12:55:21
Billy DaMota
Directing Vincent Price and, you know, Edgar Allan Poe and one of my favorite, you know, scary movies of all time. And it freaked me out. I mean, it literally freaked me out. There was a I have to tell you, just a quick aside, there was a huge chandelier in the Castro Theater, like an old you know, the movie theater probably built in the early twenties.
00:12:56:01 - 00:13:26:23
Billy DaMota
Yeah. Or early part of the 19th, 1900s. And the and and when the when the the if you're familiar with the movie, when the pendulum actually starts to swing across and is going to you know, and the and the victim is strapped down and is getting closer and closer to where they're dissecting. Yeah human there is I'm looking up and I and I'm absolutely positive that the chandelier is going to fall on me.
00:13:27:13 - 00:13:29:01
Cullen
And I mean I was nine.
00:13:29:05 - 00:13:29:10
Billy DaMota
Years.
00:13:29:10 - 00:13:31:04
Cullen
Old I think. Yeah, yeah. I love it.
00:13:31:04 - 00:13:33:10
Billy DaMota
I think actually walked out of the theater crying.
00:13:33:23 - 00:13:35:03
Cullen
Oh, I.
00:13:35:03 - 00:13:50:10
Billy DaMota
Think our babysitter took us my, my, me and my little brother Oscar. So anyway, my, my, my movie, you know, sort of. I love to go see the movies every week, you know? And my dad used to take us to see all the Three Stooges movies and.
00:13:50:19 - 00:13:51:14
Clark
Oh, yeah.
00:13:52:09 - 00:13:55:13
Billy DaMota
But I was a huge, you know, I mean, those were the days when you went to the movies every week.
00:13:55:13 - 00:13:55:22
Clark
Yeah.
00:13:56:07 - 00:14:17:13
Billy DaMota
You bought a ticket. You sat in front of a big screen, so and when I got into the business, the, the, the, the, the movie industry was huge, you know. Yeah. And, you know, I started when the the woman that I was working for, I'm not going to mention her name because we, we don't get along anymore and I hate her guts.
00:14:17:21 - 00:14:21:19
Clark
Oh no we don't have to mention her name. That's okay.
00:14:22:07 - 00:14:23:10
Billy DaMota
She actually hates my guts.
00:14:23:22 - 00:14:24:11
Cullen
Oh.
00:14:25:01 - 00:14:58:20
Billy DaMota
She, she was working on she worked for John Hughes, and so. Oh, wow. She had just finished doing 16 Candles in the Breakfast Club and Weird Science when I started, I started with her. When I started with I she was working on and basically I started as an intern and I was shuffling paper. Yeah. And being, you know, being basically a gofer.
00:15:00:04 - 00:15:08:17
Billy DaMota
And I'm sure that for all your, your, your audience, you understand what a gofer is. The guy who was the guy you send to go for coffee?
00:15:09:02 - 00:15:12:09
Clark
Most of us have been there ourselves at one point or another.
00:15:12:22 - 00:15:28:05
Billy DaMota
And this is before Starbucks and and so basically I was you know, I was the office slave, which I didn't mind. I was I couldn't have been more excited to be making no money and doing lots of work. Yeah, it was. It was.
00:15:28:07 - 00:15:29:14
Clark
But for real though, right? I mean.
00:15:29:14 - 00:15:31:19
Billy DaMota
Because I mean sure. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean.
00:15:32:03 - 00:15:32:13
Clark
Because it.
00:15:32:13 - 00:15:33:23
Billy DaMota
Was a brand new adventure for.
00:15:33:23 - 00:15:50:07
Clark
Me and exciting. I would have met. I mean, even if you're pushing paper, you know, I've been there, you know, and a slight parallel to your story, not to make this about me, but I left a successful career in marketing, advertising. I wasn't on my path and I was kind of I felt like it was sucking the soul from my body.
00:15:50:07 - 00:15:59:03
Clark
And and then I left that to go be the lowest man on the totem pole, so to speak. And I know what that's like. But you're just happy as can be, though.
00:15:59:12 - 00:16:00:07
Billy DaMota
Yeah, absolutely.
00:16:00:07 - 00:16:05:20
Clark
At least for a while. And so you're pushing paper. Yeah.
00:16:06:04 - 00:16:28:06
Billy DaMota
And but. But I'm loving every single minute of it. And yeah, she was working with, you know, I mean, at the time she was, you know, there, you know, Judd Nelson and Virginia madsen and, and Craig Sheffer and Ally Sheedy and all these people were walking through the office and, you know, they at the time they were nobody.
00:16:28:06 - 00:16:49:11
Billy DaMota
They were just kids, you know, who wanted to be in movies and, and so I was sort of at the very the very beginning. And, and, and I think what really inspired me, too, was that she worked with a lot of, you know, working with John Hughes. You worked with a lot of young talent. Yeah. There is an energy that's palpable when you're in the middle of that.
00:16:50:04 - 00:17:02:18
Billy DaMota
And, you know, I don't I don't know if you're into astrology, and I'm not really that much. I don't know that much about it, but my excuse me, I'm I hope you can edit this stuff.
00:17:03:02 - 00:17:03:15
Cullen
Yeah, it's.
00:17:05:13 - 00:17:06:07
Clark
It's okay. Yeah.
00:17:06:12 - 00:17:06:16
Billy DaMota
Yeah.
00:17:07:11 - 00:17:08:01
Clark
It's okay.
00:17:08:01 - 00:17:10:10
Billy DaMota
I have. I'm allergic to cats and I.
00:17:10:10 - 00:17:17:00
Clark
Don't know, and I just saw one walk across the screen. So did I not That's not. That seems like a good fit.
00:17:17:10 - 00:17:18:05
Cullen
The the.
00:17:18:05 - 00:17:20:18
Billy DaMota
The the fountain is on my table here, so.
00:17:21:10 - 00:17:22:06
Clark
I gotcha.
00:17:22:06 - 00:17:23:06
Billy DaMota
The kitty drinks to hang on.
00:17:23:08 - 00:17:30:08
Clark
I'm surprised. I'm surprised my cats haven't, you know, made an appearance yet. Eventually, they probably will knock something off my desk.
00:17:30:09 - 00:17:32:12
Billy DaMota
This is Leroy. Leroy makes a lot of appearances.
00:17:32:18 - 00:17:34:01
Clark
So. Hey, Leroy.
00:17:35:00 - 00:18:02:03
Billy DaMota
So I had had an astrologer friend of mine. Yeah, We said, Billy, you're 30 years old. Your Saturn is returning and. And in astrology, that means that your you're due for a shift in your life and a seismic shift as one that that is like, you know, you work for 30 years. That's the first phase of your or you live for 30 years.
00:18:02:03 - 00:18:25:19
Billy DaMota
That's the first phase and then it's time to make a sharp left turn, to go to do something else and to follow your dreams. And so that's what I accidentally kind of accidentally on purpose fell into. And so I work I work with excuse me, I work with Jackie on, oh, I just said her name.
00:18:25:19 - 00:18:26:22
Clark
So you just said her name.
00:18:27:01 - 00:18:30:08
Cullen
We're going to we're going to cut that out.
00:18:30:08 - 00:18:40:16
Billy DaMota
So I work with this, though. I'll tell you, it's it's Jackie Birch. Jackie Birch cast huge, you know, huge movies. And yeah, and I worked for when we had a dispute when I left.
00:18:40:16 - 00:19:06:01
Clark
So and it's and this is so you're talking just to kind of let people know because I'm you know I'm here of course I've got your IMDB up like a good podcast host would and you know it. I'm looking at these early films that you've got credited here. It's, you know, Commando, Three Amigos, Project X, which of course at the time I thought Matthew Broderick was, you know, just like I idolized that kid.
00:19:06:01 - 00:19:33:22
Clark
So, oh yeah, X was a film. I loved Predator. I mean, how could you not running, man? You know, these are like the pillar of my childhood cinema experience and and, and I was actually reading Quentin Tarantino's new book, Cinema Speculation, and I'm a fan of his, but he goes out of his way to say that he thinks the eighties is maybe the worst decade of cinema ever.
00:19:33:22 - 00:19:58:01
Clark
And I have to just completely disagree that there are so many wonderful movies from the eighties. And, you know, I just couldn't disagree more. But so this is so just to give people a little background. So this is what you're talking about, right? These early experiences, you're interning, right, commando in these films. I mean, they had to have been extraordinary because these are these are major studio feature films.
00:19:58:01 - 00:20:00:23
Clark
You've got Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead here.
00:20:02:00 - 00:20:05:06
Billy DaMota
Did you see my, my, my, my Polaroid with Arnold?
00:20:05:16 - 00:20:29:07
Clark
I did. Well, that was you know, I was looking at it. So if on Facebook, you have been posting like a Polaroid a day basically for a while now. And yeah, that I saw some of those Polaroids and I just thought that's actually what sparked this. I was like, I got to get a hold of Billie. I'm looking at these Polaroids and I've seen all these young faces, all these people who've gone on to have, you know, extraordinary careers.
00:20:29:07 - 00:20:33:05
Clark
And I just thought, you've got to have some amazing stories.
00:20:33:05 - 00:20:33:10
Cullen
Yeah.
00:20:33:10 - 00:20:51:05
Billy DaMota
And it's been so it's just been amazing being there. Yeah. Beginning of their careers to watch people like, you know, like Arnold's Commando was really his first, you know? I mean, he did he did. The Red Sonja would not race or any of that, but he did.
00:20:51:10 - 00:20:54:12
Clark
CONAN was known for that. Yeah. Going on in.
00:20:54:20 - 00:20:56:22
Billy DaMota
And then the documentaries before that. But yeah.
00:20:57:00 - 00:20:57:18
Clark
The Pumping Iron.
00:20:58:11 - 00:21:19:21
Billy DaMota
Yeah, but this was his first kind of like acting real acting movie. I mean, that's what he called it, you know, And he wanted it to be perfect and Arnold, you know, was and still is a perfectionist. And yeah, he would come in and re loop every single line that he did to make sure that it was that it was, you know, on the on the money and that everything was, you know, locked in it.
00:21:20:14 - 00:21:38:08
Billy DaMota
And, you know, he went to acting class and he did everything, you know, he the way he worked in bodybuilding, he put the same sort of passion and effort into into his acting career. And, you know, like him or not, he is you know, he he set an example for a lot of people at BET. And it was great being there at the beginning.
00:21:38:11 - 00:21:47:12
Billy DaMota
I mean, you know, I, I was young. I was in my thirties, and he would invite me to to hang out with him at Patrick's Roadhouse.
00:21:48:00 - 00:21:48:06
Cullen
In.
00:21:48:06 - 00:22:20:04
Billy DaMota
Santa monica. Patrick's Roadhouse, which is a for for those who don't know, is there is a little restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway and in, you know, in Santa monica. And and every Saturday it was Saturday morning. I think Arnold and his friends would all get together, all his bodybuilding friends. Sven, if you haven't you guys, if you're familiar with Arnold, you know Sven, who is his right hand man and the guy who was his, I think he called him his bodyguard, but it was just his friend who he worked out with in Franco Colombo.
00:22:20:12 - 00:22:20:14
Cullen
Who?
00:22:20:16 - 00:22:21:12
Clark
Absolutely, Yeah.
00:22:21:12 - 00:22:32:05
Billy DaMota
Who went on to work with in a couple of movies that he produced in Italy. But we would go to Patrick's Roadhouse and everybody would smoke these these big cigars.
00:22:32:18 - 00:22:34:12
Clark
Right. Which he's famous for.
00:22:34:12 - 00:23:00:20
Billy DaMota
Yeah, right. And, and so I, I wound up going for the, you know, the first couple of weeks and I, I smoke cigarets. But at the time, but being in a room, you know, where and the thing is, is nobody else would come into the restaurant because they knew it was Saturday. Arnold Cigars and you know and they'd all sit around and shoot the breeze and smoke cigars.
00:23:00:20 - 00:23:11:03
Billy DaMota
And so I had to tell Arnold, I'm not going to be able to hang out with you very much. But the point I'm making, it was it was it was when you could hang out with Arnold Schwarzenegger on the beach house.
00:23:11:03 - 00:23:12:11
Cullen
And it's.
00:23:12:11 - 00:23:13:01
Clark
Amazing.
00:23:13:02 - 00:23:18:05
Billy DaMota
I think you still can almost you know, because Arnold is is really that accessible. He's so cool.
00:23:18:18 - 00:23:47:01
Clark
I mean, that's so so your so let's so go back to this So you're you're you're interning you're learning the ropes. Tell me kind of what that experience was like and maybe to even kind of step back, you know, because a lot of the people that are listening there, their film, their film fans, they're cinephiles, but they don't necessarily know kind of how the sausage is made and or maybe even really understand exactly what casting directors do.
00:23:47:11 - 00:24:06:08
Clark
But maybe you could kind of go in a little bit on. And obviously it can be different from film to film, but for the most part, kind of, if you wouldn't mind describing what a casting directors job is, how do they contribute to a film? How do they work with producers? Director, etc., just to give people maybe a little background?
00:24:06:23 - 00:24:20:07
Billy DaMota
Sure. Well, yeah, it's it's it's funny because we kind of do everything, but I'll give you the general overview of what we're supposed to do.
00:24:20:21 - 00:24:21:06
Clark
Right.
00:24:21:06 - 00:25:00:12
Billy DaMota
And, and, and but you know, essentially in casting as an assistant and an intern, in the beginning, I was pretty much relegated to doing all the sort of office work filing stuff. And making phone calls and setting up an appointment, setting up appointments, you know, making sure I travel arrangements for actors. You know, when I first started, I was we were she was just finishing up a movie called What's was it called?
00:25:00:12 - 00:25:33:20
Billy DaMota
I think it was called Fire With Fire with Virginia madsen and Craig Sheffer. And it was a it was a movie about two a boy and a girl who were teens that were both delinquents. And they got together and fell in love and it was a fiery, terrible romantic relationship. And so I was doing all the paperwork after the movie had wrapped and I was doing like, you know, setting up people for looping and for for, you know, coming in and doing reshoots and stuff.
00:25:34:13 - 00:25:56:21
Billy DaMota
Because the movie was done. People don't know what looping is, is when you actually come back and you rerecord your voice because it wasn't perfect when you write it the first time. And I would be setting up travel for them to come into town or out of town or whatever, you know, it was basically just, you know, office work, you know, almost like the house of the DMV.
00:25:56:21 - 00:26:15:11
Billy DaMota
But I was working with movies, but and then and then I got a little bit more responsibility and I was able to actually hang out and sit in the sessions and and help with putting ideas and putting list together and I became an assistant. And then I moved on to be an associate when I started working on bigger movies.
00:26:16:02 - 00:26:43:08
Billy DaMota
And. And your responsibilities changed But, but essentially what casting directors do and what they are the job developers for the movie that you're working on, the project, your work. So you'll meet with the producer and director and whoever in the creative team is, you know, sort of in charge of of making the movie. Sometimes the writers involved, sometimes the like.
00:26:43:08 - 00:27:03:15
Billy DaMota
For instance, we were talking about colors. Sean Penn would be in all the meetings because he was like the executive producer and the star, right? He was the one who hired Dennis Hopper. He was the one who came up with the idea for Robert Duvall to be his partner in the movie. So you, you, you you basically sit with producer and director.
00:27:03:15 - 00:27:20:00
Billy DaMota
You figure out what you what your your your goals are as far as finding talent goes. And then you put out a breakdown. You release a breakdown is basically a job listing for the actors. You want to make a short.
00:27:20:00 - 00:27:22:14
Clark
Description of the character, right? Their requirements. Yeah.
00:27:22:15 - 00:27:47:04
Billy DaMota
And the roles you want for the roles you want to cast. Yeah. And. And then the agents and managers who are out there, those are the people that represent the talent. They submit their best ideas for each of the roles that you're looking for. And and then in the you know, it's changed now because now because of the pandemic, there was the process has changed where it's become a lot less in person.
00:27:47:17 - 00:27:52:14
Billy DaMota
And you can do more virtual casting self tapes, online casting.
00:27:53:11 - 00:28:08:13
Clark
Which has been the the trend I feel like for quite a while. I mean, even when, you know, when I was in the game and really actively pursuing acting about, you know, 15 to 10 years ago, we already started to see some of that.
00:28:08:13 - 00:28:16:22
Speaker 4
And I imagine when I was a kid too, it was self tapes were primarily my limited experience in any professional capacity was also tapes.
00:28:17:10 - 00:28:23:01
Billy DaMota
So but it wasn't always like that. I mean, yeah. And in the casting you miss that. Oh yeah.
00:28:23:01 - 00:28:25:02
Clark
I feel like that's a good or. Yeah, no.
00:28:25:03 - 00:28:42:21
Billy DaMota
Yeah it's, it's a bad thing. And so yeah, well the whole I mean it's, it's good in it in the fact that it's convenient and it's efficient but sometimes in that convenience in that efficiency you lose the art and you lose the human connection and absolute.
00:28:42:21 - 00:28:52:22
Clark
And that's what, you know, the art is. Let's, let's talk about that for a little bit. As I you know, I didn't know this about you, but I think I read you have actually studied acting, correct?
00:28:53:13 - 00:28:54:12
Billy DaMota
You have studied acting.
00:28:54:15 - 00:29:07:17
Clark
You studied acting. Yeah. When did you decide to do that in your career in this timeline? So kind of curious about how that affected the art of your process.
00:29:07:17 - 00:29:38:23
Billy DaMota
Okay, good. It's a great question. Well, you know, in the in the late eighties, I'd been casting for a few years. I had finished above the law and finished colors on my own. I did a movie called Miracle Mile and and I was still trying to understand how actors think and how they process. And so I could be a better casting director.
00:29:38:23 - 00:30:11:21
Billy DaMota
So there was I mean, I got to figure out exactly the timeline, but I guess it was around 88 or 89. I kept seeing actors who I really thought were amazing, and every time I would turn over their resume, there was a teacher named Howard Fine who was on their resumé. Now, I'd met Howard a few years before he was working as a partner with another acting teacher or sort of he was a sort of an associate teacher there, and he had just started his own studio in the late eighties.
00:30:12:10 - 00:30:31:11
Billy DaMota
And so I called Howard and I said, you know, I'd love to be able to come by and audit your class and just look at it, look at the way you work, if I can, because every single resume that I turn over of an actor I'm in love with has your name on it is Come on down. You can, you know, Monday nights we have auditing You sit in the back your fly on the wall.
00:30:32:00 - 00:30:59:17
Billy DaMota
So I went down there and I went down to the actor. Howard Fine acting studio was on Robertson at the time, and I sat in the back watching the talent and there were movie stars in the class and there were novices in the class. There were people that had just started in there, people that were had been working for years and and every single one of them was doing amazing work at the top of their game.
00:30:59:17 - 00:31:19:04
Billy DaMota
It was it was mind blowing, almost. And so after the class, I said, Howard, how do you what do you do? I mean, what is your formula? How do you get how do you get such great performances out of these guys and how do you how do you instill them with such brilliant, you know, insight and into acting?
00:31:19:04 - 00:31:22:22
Billy DaMota
He said, Take my class.
00:31:22:22 - 00:31:25:05
Cullen
Yeah, yeah. And I and.
00:31:25:05 - 00:31:28:17
Billy DaMota
I said, No, no, no, you don't understand. I'm a casting director. I just want.
00:31:28:18 - 00:31:29:17
Cullen
I'm not an actor.
00:31:29:17 - 00:32:07:01
Billy DaMota
I'm not an actor. I just want to he's just take my class, take my basic technique. Class is now called the foundation class, but in the eighties it was called the basic technique, and it was a 12 week class. He says, Come in, take the class. He says, I'll I'll I'll I'll give you a scholarship. Take 12 weeks and you'll And by the time you get out of that class, you'll understand what goes on in an actor's head and you understand how they think and you understand how they process and you'll understand how they do the work and how they put together a character and how they, you know, immerse themselves in roles.
00:32:07:01 - 00:32:32:23
Billy DaMota
You'll understand all of that because that's what basic technique is about. So I took the class and I was in the class and it was revelatory. It was it was something that I never expected. It was it was an insight into a profession that I didn't want to pursue, but that I wanted to understand the. And so I was I have another cat that's up here playing with the microphone she's trying to get.
00:32:32:23 - 00:32:33:04
Billy DaMota
Yeah.
00:32:33:04 - 00:32:46:07
Clark
Like I said, I'm surprised that mine mine have it Usually when I when they anytime my cats I don't know if this is the same for you Billy when they hear my voice, they just assume I'm talking to them. And so they just come to me, like, no matter what I'm doing, you know, that same thing I.
00:32:46:07 - 00:32:51:12
Billy DaMota
Talked to Siri. And so she and whenever I talk to Siri, the casting, I'm talking to her.
00:32:51:20 - 00:32:53:19
Cullen
Yeah, I know it.
00:32:53:20 - 00:33:09:12
Clark
So I just watched it. But how was your experience, like on a personal level? So it was like, you know, it's you're learning about what it's like in the mind of an actor and what the process may be like, but how it like was it was it intimidating? Was it scary? Did you enjoy it just kind of on that level?
00:33:09:12 - 00:33:10:10
Clark
I'm kind of curious.
00:33:10:10 - 00:33:11:18
Cullen
Yeah. You know, it's.
00:33:11:18 - 00:33:27:15
Billy DaMota
Like it's like anything else. You do it first, you know, you're on a tightrope. You're it's like I this is not my area of expertise. I don't know what I'm doing. I, I have no. And then once you start to get the tools, once you start to understand the process and the technique, it becomes so much more comfortable.
00:33:27:15 - 00:33:54:00
Billy DaMota
It almost. And if you're if you are artistically inclined, you tend to lean into it and you tend to you tend to, to absorb it. And that's what I did. And, you know, after I did the 12 week Foundation class, I said to Howard, I said, you know, you changed my life. You made my you've opened up my eyes and I see acting and actors and the profession and the process in a whole different way.
00:33:54:00 - 00:33:59:14
Billy DaMota
And he says he says, Wait, you're not done.
00:33:59:14 - 00:34:00:00
Clark
I'm not.
00:34:01:02 - 00:34:20:16
Billy DaMota
I beg your pardon? He says, No, he's I'm giving you a scholarship for my masterclass. And so he enrolled me in his masterclass is I think it was on Monday nights, you know, where I would study with, you know, people like John Corbett and Heather Locklear and Lou Ferrigno.
00:34:20:16 - 00:34:21:07
Clark
Amazing.
00:34:21:17 - 00:34:30:10
Billy DaMota
You know, And these are all actors that, you know, that John Corbett was at the beginning of his career. But, you know, Heather Locklear and Lily would, you know.
00:34:30:13 - 00:34:31:12
Clark
Are established and.
00:34:31:12 - 00:34:50:12
Billy DaMota
Other people, they were already established, but they were in class so they could improve their craft. And so I basically so I was in his master class for about three years, probably until the early nineties. And then I got you know, I started working in Europe. I started working with we're talking about Franco Colombo. He was producing movies now.
00:34:51:02 - 00:34:51:12
Clark
Yeah.
00:34:51:21 - 00:35:00:15
Billy DaMota
And he asked me if I wanted to come to Italy and work on some movies and I said, Yeah. And so I wasn't able to, to commit to that.
00:35:00:15 - 00:35:14:16
Clark
But so you really went for it. I mean, because I was going to think, well, you, you know, I thought you were going to kind of say, well, I was there for three months and I got a little taste and, you know, then I went back to casting. I mean, but to be in that class for three plus years, that's Yeah.
00:35:14:16 - 00:35:17:21
Billy DaMota
And it but, but I never got out of casting. I mean I.
00:35:18:07 - 00:35:35:10
Clark
Yeah. You were casting the entire time. Absolutely. You know and, and you know I've, I have either, you know, either talked to or been in Q and A is or whatever it might be. I've lost track of how many casting directors I've kind of spoken to and got at least a little bit of a taste of, of their background.
00:35:35:10 - 00:35:56:18
Clark
And it's interesting that yours is is kind of almost the opposite of what I hear so much in casting directors in that so many casting directors. In my experience when I talked to them, started out actually pursuing acting. They, they, they were looking for a career as an actor. And then through that process, they, they shifted into casting.
00:35:57:01 - 00:36:08:11
Clark
And you're one of the few stories where you were already in casting and you actually went out, not that you were trying to find a career in acting, but that you studied. Acting is almost kind of the reverse of what I hear.
00:36:08:11 - 00:36:08:21
Cullen
A lot of.
00:36:09:18 - 00:36:25:20
Billy DaMota
Yeah. And ironically, Howard said to me when I finished the 12 week class, he says, You need to stop casting and start acting. He says, You could be. He told me he was basically predicting that I, I would be a very successful actor if I.
00:36:26:00 - 00:36:28:05
Clark
And it just and you just said I approached it.
00:36:28:11 - 00:36:54:05
Billy DaMota
When I probably could have and if I pursued it, but I wasn't interested. That wasn't that wasn't the reason I was in class. That wasn't a reason I was studying acting. So but you're right, there are a lot of actors. There are a lot of casting directors in this business that and I think and I think, you know, my history on, on, on the whole, the whole workshops and the sort of arrogance of the casting industry over the years.
00:36:54:15 - 00:36:54:22
Cullen
Yeah.
00:36:55:23 - 00:37:23:13
Billy DaMota
And the sort of the criminal behavior of of a lot of my profession. But, but I think that what what there's a lot of casting directors who because they were actors in the past and because they kind of got shit on or stepped on or or on you know were unappreciated by the industry because actors generally are, you know, sit at the bottom of the totem pole and often get the worst.
00:37:23:13 - 00:37:39:14
Billy DaMota
You know, they get the short shrift all the time. Yeah. That when they got a little bit of taste of casting, when they got to be a casting assistant, they got a little taste of power in a lot. And there was a thing that happened with a lot of casting, a lot of actors. When they got into casting, just they weren't.
00:37:39:21 - 00:37:51:19
Billy DaMota
They said they wanted to try it just so they could understand the process a little bit more. But then they they started to enjoy and appreciate the the attention they got from other actors. Yeah. And the power they got from it.
00:37:51:19 - 00:38:15:07
Clark
So it took and even, you know, I think sometimes just subconsciously, it doesn't even have to be a malicious thing not to go too far down this rabbit hole. But no, you're right. Sometimes it's just that, you know, if if you desired a career and a certain path and you're sitting in the room in the end, for whatever reason, because it look, it's a tremendously difficult industry and you can be exceptionally talented and not find yourself with a career that's paying the bills.
00:38:15:18 - 00:38:31:04
Clark
And you could be sitting in that room and just see somebody who is just, just absolute dynamite and there's might just be that we're all human, that little bitty part of you that's like, Gosh darn it, that should be me, you know? Yeah. And so sometimes that even can exist. Yeah.
00:38:31:07 - 00:38:45:10
Billy DaMota
But also I that's a little weasely. No, no. And in the sense that if you're if you, if you have a passion for a career, you don't just shift because it's easier to do. You know what I mean?
00:38:45:10 - 00:38:46:03
Clark
It's like I do.
00:38:46:09 - 00:39:03:08
Billy DaMota
I'm going to be an actor and I'm going to struggle and I'm going to try to make it up. But I, you know, I feel I get a little bit more power and money and whatever out of casting. So even though it's not maybe their preferred first choice, yeah, I think they take it's, I think it's yeah.
00:39:03:17 - 00:39:05:01
Clark
It's a little bit of a sell out there.
00:39:05:05 - 00:39:06:00
Cullen
A little bit of history.
00:39:06:10 - 00:39:08:20
Clark
And a little bit of a subjugation of your soul.
00:39:08:20 - 00:39:15:09
Billy DaMota
So maybe it's because I'm closer to it and I see more of it than that. I've seen more of it over the years, you know, close up.
00:39:15:18 - 00:39:16:19
Clark
That could be.
00:39:17:04 - 00:39:19:04
Cullen
So when you.
00:39:19:12 - 00:39:51:14
Clark
When you come back or like as you're taking the class, because I want to talk about, too, you know, as you're progressing in your ability when you're now you're in the room and you're in these sessions and you're seeing actors come in and I'm sure seen, you know, the whole range of of auditions, I kind of just curious more to like how do casting directors, how do you specifically start to hone in on your like, hone your intuition where you because it's such a art.
00:39:51:14 - 00:40:12:18
Clark
And I think a lot of people don't realize if you're outside, if you've not ever worked on a film or been a part of the process, what an art it is to cast a film and how much that influences the quality of the film. And it's not just, you know, the top one or two people. I mean, it's it's every single person who's in frame during that entire well, it's.
00:40:13:06 - 00:40:20:17
Billy DaMota
Because they're all an intrinsic part of the final product. So, you know, yeah, just finding one good actor, but it's finding an ensemble.
00:40:20:17 - 00:40:22:06
Clark
It's finding cousins or a mother.
00:40:22:06 - 00:40:22:15
Billy DaMota
Right?
00:40:23:03 - 00:40:33:00
Clark
And so it just, you know, like just so curious about how you that developed for you, like what your perception of developing that intuition was or whatever you want to call it. I don't want to know.
00:40:33:03 - 00:41:01:04
Billy DaMota
No, no, it is intuition. But yeah, here's the thing. I think you have to have it in the beginning. I just sort of like they say, you can, you can't make a bad actor, a good actor. You just like you can't make a you can't make a bad casting director. A good casting director. I think you have to have a certain level of talent and intuition going in and and this and hone it and develop it as a skill the more you do it.
00:41:01:12 - 00:41:22:12
Billy DaMota
You know, when I first started casting, I used to, you know, a second guess myself all the time. And I used to, you know, when I, I would bring actors in, I'd say he was good, wasn't he. Let me bring him back and, and, and I, and I would see him a second time and, and and then after a while, I would just you start to get this sort of sixth sense.
00:41:22:12 - 00:41:49:20
Billy DaMota
I mean, from seeing so many actors and watching sort of the, you know, the gamut of, you know, terrible actors to actors who blow you away, then you don't really understand why they do. But after you start seeing that on a regular basis, you start to understand what makes somebody bad and what makes somebody good. For instance, you can see that somebody who is not who is not nailing it when they come to an audition.
00:41:50:16 - 00:41:54:20
Billy DaMota
There are a few different reasons. Sometimes they're just bad that.
00:41:55:02 - 00:41:55:08
Cullen
Yeah.
00:41:55:12 - 00:41:57:07
Billy DaMota
And some and they're and.
00:41:57:07 - 00:41:58:03
Clark
They will get in there.
00:41:58:12 - 00:42:15:05
Billy DaMota
And they'll never be good. And sometimes they're just nervous or sometimes they're just unprepared. And it's you have to understand all the nuances and that develops after seeing lots of actors. I mean, I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning. I think everybody does when they when they start out now.
00:42:15:15 - 00:42:30:17
Speaker 4
Do you find that, um, or did you find that after doing those those acting classes and studying acting that you sort of like that really helped you hone in on the choices that these actors were making in the auditions? Absolutely. That you were you better understood this nervousness or this.
00:42:30:17 - 00:42:46:14
Billy DaMota
Absolutely. Well, I mean, there are times when actors come in and I mean and I've seen it because I've been in other casting sessions with other casting directors will say they'll see an actor and they'll say, thank you very much and the actor will leave and and I'll be thinking in my head or wait, that actor just was, you know, a little nervous.
00:42:46:14 - 00:42:52:01
Billy DaMota
Or he'd just gotten out of the out of you know, he'd just got to have traffic, two.
00:42:52:01 - 00:42:53:02
Clark
Hours of traffic at.
00:42:53:12 - 00:43:17:14
Billy DaMota
110 degrees outside. And he had to pee. And he didn't get he didn't get any water before he came to the audition and he was nervous. So is it bad or do you give him another chance? You you know, when actors would come in to my office, even to this day, I can recognize when they're not in their body and they're when they're when they're not when they're not present, whether or not you know.
00:43:18:01 - 00:43:44:15
Billy DaMota
And sometimes I'll just say to them, Hey, listen, go outside, have a drink of water, take 10 minutes, chill, meditate, get in the character and come back in. Because sometimes they'll that's all they need and they come back in and they blow me away. But I think what's happened is because of the abbreviation of the process so much because of the the and has I do a self tapes because you can't connect with an actor personally.
00:43:45:15 - 00:44:06:01
Billy DaMota
For instance, if I'm doing a self tape, I can't readjust that actor. If I see something that I think is there to find out whether or not that actor has the the wherewithal to actually, you know, accept a redirect or understand how to change a character a little bit to make it more what the director's looking for. I can't do that if the actor's not in the room.
00:44:06:01 - 00:44:20:07
Billy DaMota
So but I would do that when the actors are doing, for instance, an actor would come in and would be nervous or would be, you know, tired or would be, you know, just a little unprepared. And I would send them out to kind of regroup.
00:44:20:20 - 00:44:21:05
Cullen
Yeah.
00:44:22:00 - 00:44:23:02
Billy DaMota
Or which is rare.
00:44:23:02 - 00:44:39:07
Clark
That's that's rare, especially for some smaller roles. And it's grateful for casting directors like you that are willing to do that, because the reality is it's just not not that many, in my experience, are willing to kind of give a little bit of extra leeway, you know, empathize a little.
00:44:39:07 - 00:45:02:11
Billy DaMota
I think that the process has suffered, though, because of the because of self tapes and because of of of the inability for a casting director to see actors in the room. You know, what's happened is that producers, you know, especially on low budget stuff, have said hey, well you can do that self tape thing can't you. You know, where you can just see actors on tape and then I can just look at all the tapes.
00:45:02:19 - 00:45:05:23
Billy DaMota
Well, I don't need to spend the money to rent the studio for you, do I?
00:45:06:09 - 00:45:10:12
Clark
And it let's see how many followers they have on Instagram. Yeah.
00:45:10:14 - 00:45:11:13
Billy DaMota
Yeah. I don't anything.
00:45:11:15 - 00:45:12:01
Clark
That comes.
00:45:12:01 - 00:45:14:11
Cullen
Out of that. Yeah. I'm a bit of a.
00:45:14:11 - 00:45:36:20
Speaker 4
Related question to that because of course, you know, since the inception of of budget filmmaking, it's been, you know, for better or for worse and to the perhaps the dismay of a lot of the artists that work in the industry, it's always been, you know, a business. It's been something that that is is designed at the end of the day to to make a return on investment.
00:45:37:18 - 00:46:07:04
Speaker 4
And You know, a lot of people say that there's a lot of corporatization today that exists, which I don't disagree with, but there's always been that level to it. And so I guess I'm curious to know, how did you find and how do you still find that balance between like maybe a studio saying, hey, we really want, you know, this actor in this role and maybe you disagree, Maybe it's maybe it's like a financial decision that they're sort of pushing on the film versus something that you say, you know, you have a different idea.
00:46:07:06 - 00:46:10:17
Speaker 4
It was that it challenged a balance. Was there ever any moment where you sort of Well.
00:46:11:13 - 00:46:39:22
Billy DaMota
I mean, it's a challenge to balance that. If I allow myself to be involved in that situation. What I do, though, in the beginning, as I, you know, of every project, is I meet with the producer and director and and make sure that we're all on the same page about what we're looking at creatively. If they want somebody who is if they want an actor with with, you know, who's the biggest actor on Tik-Tok, whether or not they can act or not, I'm not going to cast the movie so in.
00:46:40:01 - 00:47:16:20
Billy DaMota
So we'll let somebody else figure that out. If we get into a situation where they say to me, like, for instance, I worked for Pure Flix, I don't know if you guys are familiar with that, but it's the biggest Christian production company on the planet, right? And it used to be it's it's kind of a fallen from grace, but in the beginning they would they would say, you need to we need to find people with with, you know, as many Facebook followers as we or as many, you know, Twitter followers or as I'd say, no, you need to find the best actor for the role if they happen to have, you know, a big social
00:47:16:20 - 00:47:39:11
Billy DaMota
media, you know, profile, that's a bonus. But if you start hiring people that are only, you know, in your movie because they have big numbers on social media, you're going to have bad movies and people don't like to watch bad movies. So you can't have an influencer as the star of your movie just because he has, you know, a million TikTok followers now.
00:47:39:11 - 00:47:44:07
Billy DaMota
And, you know, thankfully, they would listen to me. And if they didn't listen to me, then I would not work on their movie.
00:47:44:07 - 00:47:45:17
Clark
So you're out of there? Yeah.
00:47:45:17 - 00:48:18:05
Billy DaMota
All right. But the great thing about about working with new filmmakers is they want talent. And, I mean, sometimes it's changing now. Sometimes they'll be sort of there. They'll go on that. And don't get me wrong, every movie is made to make money, you know, from the beginning of time. I mean, we all make them for art because we want to make the best, you know, you we want to make the best thing that we can, and we want it to reflect good on our on our on our sort of career.
00:48:18:05 - 00:48:39:02
Billy DaMota
And in the long run, we want to make sure that we make good art. But, you know, we all know that the movies have to make money, but the bottom line is that if, if, if the difference between an actor who's got a lot of numbers and an actor who's got a lot of talent, I always go for the talent because that in the end always sells the movie better than the numbers do.
00:48:39:18 - 00:48:45:02
Billy DaMota
There's never been I mean, how many influencers do you know that have been nominated for an Academy Award? I mean.
00:48:45:18 - 00:48:47:13
Clark
I think zero so.
00:48:47:13 - 00:48:49:12
Billy DaMota
Far that would be, yeah, negative.
00:48:49:19 - 00:49:11:06
Clark
And, you know, I and I think it really shows these films. I mean, so and I think I even made shot you a little message just to use a specific example so colors I'm watching that recently and of course you have Sean Penn and Robert Duvall, which are huge actors. And, you know, like you said, Sean put that project together.
00:49:11:06 - 00:49:24:23
Clark
Robert Duvall, these actors are already attached to the project, right? I'm assuming you even get there. But and for my money, honestly, Trinidad Silva, who plays Frog in that film, I feel like steals.
00:49:25:09 - 00:49:25:19
Cullen
Every.
00:49:25:19 - 00:49:52:10
Clark
Single scene. He's so great. And do you know what? And I, I had a flashback I totally for and this is horrible, I'm sure. But when I was a kid and watching this film, so this came out in 88, I was 12. I probably watched it on HBO, you know, a year or two after this. Right? So here I'm this little white kid in Missouri, and I used to have an impression of frog that I would do for my friend.
00:49:53:15 - 00:49:56:20
Cullen
I just to all man wife love.
00:49:57:01 - 00:49:59:06
Clark
What I'm saying. HOLMES All the time. You know.
00:50:00:04 - 00:50:02:00
Cullen
What? I'm. HOLMES But he's.
00:50:02:00 - 00:50:07:21
Clark
Fantastic in that film. So great and and and Damon Wayans is funny in that film and then one.
00:50:07:21 - 00:50:09:20
Billy DaMota
Of Damon Wayans first films because first.
00:50:09:20 - 00:50:10:09
Clark
Films.
00:50:10:10 - 00:50:21:23
Billy DaMota
I got him right out of the Comedy Store. Yeah. I mean, I saw him on the at the Comedy Store doing some crazy stuff and he yeah, and he came in and did the same crazy stuff in the audition, you know, And he's.
00:50:22:06 - 00:50:27:23
Cullen
He's like, he's, he's wearing diaper. He's wearing a diaper in the film. These are these.
00:50:27:23 - 00:50:31:09
Clark
Are the things that and Don Cheadle, this is an early film for.
00:50:31:09 - 00:50:32:23
Billy DaMota
Him. It was one of his first movies.
00:50:33:07 - 00:50:54:20
Clark
And I just absolutely love to see that in it. I mean, it's one of my absolute pleasures to see those kind of roles that that you don't expect. And and I just it it And do you have any fun stories? Like I'm just curious, do you remember casting Frog? Do you remember?
00:50:54:20 - 00:51:17:13
Billy DaMota
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that every frog was a friend of Sean Penn, so he came in to audition, but Sean was in the room for that one. And I always love it when he came by because he would he would read with the actors and and but he you have to remember that that movie, we cast real gang members.
00:51:17:13 - 00:51:20:04
Clark
So, yeah, I was curious about that, too.
00:51:20:04 - 00:51:30:13
Billy DaMota
Well. Well, Denis and I, he would we would take midnight run sometimes and we would get in his 1978 Cadillac Seville.
00:51:31:09 - 00:51:37:07
Clark
I mean, this is where I blown my I mean, I just want to I just want to slow down for a second. So you're with Dennis Hopper?
00:51:37:15 - 00:51:38:01
Billy DaMota
Yes.
00:51:38:06 - 00:51:41:15
Clark
And you're in a Cadillac. What did you say? A 78.
00:51:41:19 - 00:51:43:06
Billy DaMota
A 78 Cadillac, Seville.
00:51:43:06 - 00:51:47:09
Clark
78 Cadillac Seville. And you're driving through the streets of Los Angeles.
00:51:47:18 - 00:51:49:06
Billy DaMota
At 2:00 in the morning.
00:51:49:06 - 00:51:51:07
Clark
That already blows my mind. I know.
00:51:51:16 - 00:51:52:09
Cullen
That's already.
00:51:52:09 - 00:51:53:04
Clark
So amazing.
00:51:53:18 - 00:51:57:07
Speaker 4
I mean, I'm just imagining from the point of view of a gang member, suddenly Dennis Hopper shows up.
00:51:58:13 - 00:52:19:14
Billy DaMota
It's dead. Well, wait. I'm going to tell you the story. Yeah, You know, it's Dennis Hopper. It's Dennis fucking Hopper. So Dennis is. Dennis is like he's the ultimate rebel. So he says to me one day, he says, Hey, who could we you know, we. I want to go out and meet the gang members. Is it Dennis? You can't just, you know, you can't go meet gang members.
00:52:19:14 - 00:52:46:01
Billy DaMota
You know, you can't go there. Why not? So what we did what I did is I called we were dealing with crash and Crash was the was the gang intervention unit with the LAPD. And they were and they knew all the heads of all the gangs, the white Fence and the Crips and the Bloods and all the way from San Pedro to, you know, to Simi Valley.
00:52:46:01 - 00:53:01:10
Billy DaMota
And they so I called them and they set me up with the the the the guy who I guess sort of the liaison for the Bloods.
00:53:01:23 - 00:53:02:06
Clark
Okay.
00:53:02:11 - 00:53:19:07
Billy DaMota
And and they were going to they wanted to meet us at a place it was near watchtowers. I can't remember exactly the name of the place at some park at 2:00 in the morning on a random night.
00:53:19:17 - 00:53:20:15
Clark
And at all.
00:53:20:21 - 00:53:21:22
Billy DaMota
Not to catch you also.
00:53:22:05 - 00:53:22:21
Cullen
So, Dennis.
00:53:23:06 - 00:53:50:17
Billy DaMota
To Dennis, Dennis says, Let's I want to do it, man. Let's go. Sure. Okay. You white boy. Now, you know, I. I grew up in, you know, in not the best neighborhood, so I'm familiar with the streets, but I'm not, you know, I mean, I got a Polaroid camera, you know, and that's what I got. So we're driving in a 78 Cadillac Seville, and we go to we go to a to this meeting at 2:00 in the morning.
00:53:50:17 - 00:54:04:17
Billy DaMota
We pull into a parking lot, and all I can remember is, oh, you know, the parking lot with all the the the lights lighting the parking lot and, complete quiet. We just park there. We have a prearranged meeting and there's nobody there.
00:54:05:00 - 00:54:05:11
Cullen
Yeah.
00:54:05:15 - 00:54:09:15
Billy DaMota
And all of a sudden you're boom.
00:54:09:23 - 00:54:11:08
Cullen
Boom, boom, boom.
00:54:13:01 - 00:54:20:05
Billy DaMota
What's that? There's cars that are starting to pull in, and they're all red cars or red Chevelle. It's kind of bouncing on it.
00:54:20:05 - 00:54:20:23
Clark
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:21:06 - 00:54:35:21
Billy DaMota
And a red Porsche and a mercedes and a and I had a Cadillac. And there's all these cars that are they're pulling into the line. There's literally 20 cars in there. And all these guys start to get out of the car and, you know, right around us, right?
00:54:36:03 - 00:54:36:22
Clark
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:37:05 - 00:54:52:12
Billy DaMota
And Dennis gets out of the car and he's like, you know, and and, you know, whoever was like the sort of the head of this particular entourage came up and greeted. Dennis Yeah. Hey man you that you easy.
00:54:52:12 - 00:54:53:13
Cullen
Ride or man.
00:54:54:05 - 00:54:56:21
Clark
That's what I was going to ask. Did they recognize them? Did they know?
00:54:56:21 - 00:55:02:04
Billy DaMota
Course they reacted. They recognized that man and Blue Velvet man. What was that you put on your face?
00:55:02:04 - 00:55:04:16
Cullen
Well, I.
00:55:04:16 - 00:55:31:17
Billy DaMota
I was like, and, you know, we were high fiving and the music was playing and they had their doo rags out and they were dancing. And there was and the music and they, you know, they would pop their trunks and they had like acres and hand grenades in there, you know. And I just, I was out and I was armed with my Polaroid, and I was I was tasked with taking, you know, Polaroids and all these guys get their numbers.
00:55:32:06 - 00:55:59:07
Billy DaMota
Wow. And then they would say, you know, take a picture, my car, man. Oh, my car to be in the movie. So then I started taking pictures of cars and so and, you know, and then we would we basically go through all the pictures, Dennis and I and Lauren Lloyd, who was the other casting director on the movie, and we would we would pick out the people that we were going to bring in and, you know, do auditions.
00:55:59:07 - 00:56:27:03
Billy DaMota
And and I'll never forget there was like a there was a guy named what was his name? T Rogers was his name is in the movie. T Rogers was he was he was a blood. He was I'm trying to say I'm trying to remember whether he was red or blue. And actually I think he might have I think he might have been a Crip, but we needed somebody to play a blood and he played a blood the movie.
00:56:27:03 - 00:56:27:15
Billy DaMota
And it was like.
00:56:27:15 - 00:56:33:00
Clark
Dr. Feelgood is his credited name. If that rings a bell. So you're right. Yeah.
00:56:33:08 - 00:56:52:22
Billy DaMota
And and when he got to the set, he looked at you, looked at all the production designer had painted all the walls and stuff, and he said, Man, what is that shit on the wall? I mean, and the guy was saying, What's that? You know, graffiti.
00:56:54:01 - 00:56:54:13
Cullen
Oh, man.
00:56:54:13 - 00:57:09:07
Billy DaMota
We don't do like that. And he way. And so I said, Well, you help me out. They repainted the whole, they grade the wall, they repainted it all and he went and he did, we grabbed his spray paint, he did the whole wall and he went on to become a consultant for movies.
00:57:09:07 - 00:57:09:23
Cullen
I'll be it.
00:57:11:08 - 00:57:34:12
Billy DaMota
In the future for other stuff. And then he started this thing called Sidewalk. You I'll never forget where he would call me and would. And he got out of the gangs and he he got a he started a sort of an intervention program where he will because, you know, gang, the gang members could not leave voluntarily. You can't just say, hey, man, I want to be in the movies, you know?
00:57:35:01 - 00:57:51:18
Billy DaMota
Yeah. So he would help channel them out and find them jobs in the entertainment business. You know, there were there were kids that would come up to me on the set, literally, you know, 15 or 16 year old extras that we'd hired for the movie that we, you know, how much I we making for this movie? You're making $180 a day.
00:57:52:17 - 00:57:56:13
Billy DaMota
And, you know, in 1988, $188 for an extra jack. Extra.
00:57:56:23 - 00:57:57:12
Cullen
Yeah.
00:57:57:12 - 00:58:05:14
Billy DaMota
And and we don't have to sell no drugs or nothing and I get 180. It's like they, they couldn't believe that they could actually.
00:58:05:21 - 00:58:06:09
Clark
Did everything.
00:58:06:19 - 00:58:16:07
Billy DaMota
Right And they said but they would whisper to me how do I do this man? How can I do this? How can I do this for a living? How can I I want to do this, You know, I want to get out, is what they were saying.
00:58:16:14 - 00:58:17:02
Clark
Yeah.
00:58:17:08 - 00:58:39:13
Billy DaMota
Which was pretty amazing. You know, they're. Yeah. So anyway, there was another guy named Peter Vasquez who was in that movie, Peter Vasquez. Was he play Flaco, I think is the name of his character. And he he had this great scene where interaction with with Robert Duvall and he was white fence. He was it was OG. And the guy was like, I think he's probably in his early forties.
00:58:39:20 - 00:59:03:23
Billy DaMota
He started a company called Suspect Entertainment with another gang member who basically were now representing ex-gang members for music videos and for movies and stuff. And and so they found their way out, sort of channeled their way out of the gang life. But yeah, anyway, there's there there's a million stories from that movie. But it's that was one of my.
00:59:04:00 - 00:59:29:18
Clark
I love it. I love these things. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like it was just such an extraordinary experience. And at least for me, I find these kind of stories just captivating and interesting, just that these like little windows into, you know, I mean, look, you know, I absolutely love cinema. It's just I mean, it's my passion. And so I just find these little stories are kind of windows into a view that you don't ever get to, you know, get to see.
00:59:29:18 - 00:59:32:03
Clark
So it's just, you know, I'm fascinated and.
00:59:32:09 - 00:59:52:16
Billy DaMota
There's a lot I mean, in every movie is like that. Every movie, every moment in stories that are that that if the public only knew, you know, I'd say, yeah, that's why I love putting up these Polaroids on my Facebook page, because it allows it allows me to to sort of, you know, expound a little bit on the history of the of the actors in the movie.
00:59:53:02 - 01:00:02:03
Clark
It hooked me and I and I will say I don't know if there'd be any legal issues with this, but I just I feel like you should do a coffee table book. I think it would be fantastic.
01:00:02:03 - 01:00:03:05
Cullen
I'm thinking about all I got.
01:00:03:05 - 01:00:06:02
Billy DaMota
I have to figure out to do. I probably should have to get permission from the actors.
01:00:06:07 - 01:00:09:12
Clark
Yeah, if you've got a few minutes. Are you okay on time? Do you have.
01:00:09:15 - 01:00:18:06
Billy DaMota
Also by you know, Courtney Gaines was in colors too you played the he played though the the white kid the one the token white gang member.
01:00:18:12 - 01:00:19:17
Cullen
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:00:19:17 - 01:00:21:05
Clark
The ginger. Not to. I don't do.
01:00:21:06 - 01:00:23:18
Cullen
It right, right. Yeah. And no, he's great.
01:00:24:02 - 01:00:44:21
Clark
I mean there's such, there's such character and, and flavor in these roles. That's what I'm saying. I mean all those things really stand out to me when I watch. I mean, you know, another one that if you've got a couple of minutes, that Miracle Mile is, Oh, what a fantastic film. And this is another film that.
01:00:44:21 - 01:00:47:09
Billy DaMota
Was my first movie casting all by myself was.
01:00:47:12 - 01:00:55:20
Clark
So tell us about that. I mean, was that was that a big jump for you? Were you anxious, excited, all the above? Like, how did that. It was a big jump there.
01:00:55:21 - 01:01:14:07
Billy DaMota
It was a became I just come off of colors. Yeah. Lauren Lloyd was my you know, I was her associate on colors we were working together on on that movie and she couldn't do Miracle Mile. Steve Dejan at the director had asked her because I guess they were friends. And she said, Well, you have Billy do it. He's, you know, he's good.
01:01:15:00 - 01:01:21:02
Billy DaMota
And so Steve and I became friends and I read the script and I fell in love with it. And we started casting.
01:01:21:02 - 01:01:23:19
Cullen
And I mean, there's a.
01:01:23:19 - 01:01:27:10
Billy DaMota
Ham down movie was when Ham Dale It was the million dollar budget.
01:01:27:20 - 01:01:28:20
Clark
Yeah, tiny.
01:01:29:10 - 01:01:29:20
Billy DaMota
Tiny.
01:01:30:04 - 01:01:42:23
Clark
Tiny movie shot at night on in L.A. And I feel like it's a it shows L.A. It's L.A. is such a fantastic I mean, if people if you want to see L.A. in in the eighties, this film shoots L.A. so beautifully. Yeah.
01:01:43:07 - 01:02:10:14
Billy DaMota
It's all shot in. It's all shot in Miracle Mile. It's all right there in that in that one one block area. And they go down to that. But it's it starts in Miracle Mile and then the I don't know if you know this, but from the time that he finds out that that there's you know, that there's a a in a nuclear nuclear missile headed toward Los Angeles, it turns into real time.
01:02:10:14 - 01:02:32:06
Billy DaMota
So, yes, from there to the end of the movie, it's it's, you know, whatever the real time in the film is. So it's a it's it's exciting to watch it. And and it visually, it just, you know, it was Theo Van de Santé who was the the beautiful cinematographer who went on to do tons of stuff. But he that was one of his first films, too.
01:02:32:06 - 01:02:46:14
Billy DaMota
So again, another movie where a lot of people kind of jumped off that off to much bigger careers, the production designer. And and and I think Jamie Horner was that which is Jamie Horner did the music I'm trying to remember.
01:02:47:04 - 01:02:50:03
Clark
That's a good question. Not what? Well, Tangerine Dream.
01:02:50:06 - 01:02:51:17
Billy DaMota
Tangerine Dream right did the right.
01:02:51:17 - 01:02:53:13
Clark
Which of course everybody and.
01:02:53:13 - 01:02:57:15
Billy DaMota
Steve went to Austria to actually sit with Tangerine Dream and compose, help compose.
01:02:57:15 - 01:03:21:12
Clark
Them. It's an amazing soundtrack. And I think I have you posted about Tangerine Dream, too, but I'm a huge fan of Tangerine Dream and their scores, their scores in the eighties are just some of my favorite films epic, But I mean, this film, it's I mean, obviously you have Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham are fantastic, but there's some other people that really stand out to me, like Kelly Joe Mentor.
01:03:21:22 - 01:03:37:11
Clark
Oh yeah. When I was when I was a kid, I loved her in summer school. She just has like the best voice. I think she's just a great presence in this film. I, I'd forgotten that she's in this. And like Alan Rosenberg, who actually went on to be said president for president.
01:03:37:11 - 01:03:38:03
Billy DaMota
That's correct.
01:03:38:03 - 01:03:38:19
Cullen
He did. Yeah.
01:03:39:07 - 01:03:44:22
Billy DaMota
And Denise Crosby was in it all.
01:03:44:22 - 01:03:49:12
Clark
And Jones Ryan Thompson is somebody who stands out to me.
01:03:49:12 - 01:03:51:23
Billy DaMota
Oh, Brian Thompson. Yeah, it was Terminator. I mean, he's.
01:03:51:23 - 01:03:52:07
Cullen
Such a.
01:03:52:07 - 01:03:54:04
Clark
Singular face. Yeah.
01:03:54:07 - 01:03:55:14
Billy DaMota
And Jenette.
01:03:55:14 - 01:03:56:03
Clark
Goldstein.
01:03:57:00 - 01:04:01:19
Billy DaMota
You that goes in. Great. Who went on to work with Cameron? She James Cameron, Right.
01:04:02:04 - 01:04:16:06
Clark
I mean, she's fantastic. And and I missed this. I had to go back and I actually didn't I didn't notice this until I listened to the commentary. There's a new release on Blu ray for this film, actually, which is a really beautiful restoration. So get a chance to check it out.
01:04:16:19 - 01:04:17:15
Cullen
Peter Berg.
01:04:18:05 - 01:04:19:05
Billy DaMota
Oh yeah. Peter Berg.
01:04:19:12 - 01:04:20:05
Clark
That card I.
01:04:20:10 - 01:04:21:07
Billy DaMota
Have partly.
01:04:21:07 - 01:04:23:20
Cullen
Peter Yeah, I'm.
01:04:24:05 - 01:04:45:15
Billy DaMota
Peter Berg and he wasn't even supposed to get his SAG card. But we, you know, he this is very funny. He played the sax player in the band, you know, here. Yeah, here he was shallow. Was the trombone player in a, in a traveling band that was coming through town. And they met, you know, at the Edwards meets Mary Winningham at Johnny's Diner, which is still there.
01:04:45:15 - 01:04:47:22
Billy DaMota
And they still use at the time it was a real diner.
01:04:48:03 - 01:04:49:06
Clark
Yeah. Now what it.
01:04:49:06 - 01:04:50:20
Billy DaMota
Was now is just for filming.
01:04:51:01 - 01:04:52:22
Clark
For filming? Yeah.
01:04:52:22 - 01:05:31:09
Billy DaMota
And he meets her there and and then he. Yeah, he, she goes to see him in the park where Pan Pacific Park went before, before it burned down, you know, because we used Steve was amazing in finding these great old, you know, Los Angeles landmarks and so there's a scene where he stands up and where they're playing in the band, and Peter Berg stands up with the saxophone to take a and Harry kind of like, you know, he's trying to impress his girl and he stands up with his trombone instead and Peter sits back down.
01:05:31:14 - 01:05:38:16
Billy DaMota
That was his big gain. And technically you're supposed to say something before you get Taft-Hartley, but right, we Taft-Hartley it anyways.
01:05:38:17 - 01:05:41:17
Cullen
And well, and then.
01:05:42:02 - 01:05:45:22
Clark
And then the rest is history obviously went on to do a lot, but.
01:05:46:22 - 01:05:47:08
Cullen
That's just.
01:05:47:16 - 01:05:58:23
Billy DaMota
What it is. Well I'm just blanking on that. On his name the Who went on to have a great career you know Forrest Gump.
01:05:59:04 - 01:06:02:16
Clark
Oh yeah that's McNulty. Williamson Yeah.
01:06:02:17 - 01:06:08:15
Billy DaMota
Mykelti Williamson Yeah. And who used to be before he was Michael. T He was Michael.
01:06:08:22 - 01:06:10:12
Clark
T Yes. And.
01:06:11:02 - 01:06:18:12
Billy DaMota
And it's funny, he was actually Michael. T his credit in original credit. The movie is Michael T Williamson and then it is and.
01:06:18:19 - 01:06:27:01
Clark
And in the commentary track the director this is interesting the director actually apologized as for the misspelling in the credits but it was actually how he.
01:06:27:10 - 01:06:28:03
Billy DaMota
That's how he spelled.
01:06:28:03 - 01:06:29:12
Clark
It that's how spelled got it back.
01:06:29:12 - 01:06:33:09
Billy DaMota
Right it wasn't there was no Michael and why it wasn't all one word.
01:06:33:09 - 01:06:35:04
Cullen
It was Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:06:35:14 - 01:06:53:18
Clark
I just thought that was an interesting piece of trivia. I mean, just, you know, as we kind of wrap up. Well, wait. Okay, so I have to ask, and I don't mean to put you on the spot, Billy, but I just was, like, above the law. Do you have any ridiculous stories working with Steven Seagal now? I don't know if he was ridiculous back then, but he kind.
01:06:54:00 - 01:06:54:16
Cullen
Him a little.
01:06:54:16 - 01:06:56:11
Billy DaMota
Bit. He he he became ridiculous.
01:06:56:11 - 01:06:58:02
Cullen
No, he he was.
01:06:58:02 - 01:07:24:07
Billy DaMota
Still he was still kind of a dick, but. Yeah, but he was he was a younger, nicer dick. His stick. You know, you have to you have to remember that Steven's whole life is based on a lie. I mean, everything. Everything that he says or has done in his life, he made up or he exaggerated or he extrapolated from and in totally.
01:07:24:07 - 01:07:35:00
Clark
Turn, it's a fake. I have seen videos of his supposedly, I don't want to use the martial arts technique, for example, which apparently a lot of that's fabricated.
01:07:35:06 - 01:07:37:01
Cullen
Well well.
01:07:37:01 - 01:07:54:15
Billy DaMota
I spoke to a few people who said, you know, he was married to a Japanese woman and he lived in Japan. Her father was the head of the dojo. He's probably going to hear this and try to kick my ass. I'm going to I'll tell you a couple of good stories about Steven about so so I'd love to hear it.
01:07:54:21 - 01:08:16:07
Billy DaMota
So he he he was he was he moved here having having saying that he became the you know, he was the whatever the highest degree of thing you can get in in like window or whatever are not going to end in.
01:08:16:17 - 01:08:17:17
Speaker 4
This kind of thing.
01:08:17:21 - 01:08:19:10
Clark
Like, like 10th degree. Right.
01:08:19:17 - 01:08:32:13
Billy DaMota
Yeah. What would happen is that because he was married to a Japanese woman whose father ran the dojo, he kind of let it slide. It has been said that the the the father was sleeping when he took his test.
01:08:32:13 - 01:08:35:08
Cullen
So, you know.
01:08:35:08 - 01:08:53:21
Billy DaMota
You can you know, and also people that have watched him do his his stuff saying that it's, you know, it's theatrical aikido, it's not real, but You know, the story is that he was he had a dojo on the corner of Santa monica Boulevard and La Cienega.
01:08:53:21 - 01:08:55:09
Clark
And now is this back then?
01:08:55:09 - 01:09:20:00
Billy DaMota
Is this was back then? Yes, this is this is in 1980. What would happen is in 1987, 88, there was going to be a writers strike there. It was pending in the early part of the year, and Mikovits decided he wanted to make a movie out of a script that he had heard from would go back that Stephen had the the dojo.
01:09:20:08 - 01:09:26:23
Billy DaMota
Mike Ovitz, the head of CAA, was one of his students in the class, was taken by Akito.
01:09:27:09 - 01:09:37:07
Clark
There's the connection because I've always wondered, well, not to cut you, but how in the world somebody like Steven Seagal even gets this big of a shot. But, well.
01:09:37:18 - 01:10:08:05
Billy DaMota
It's like, well, what happened is he would pitch the story to Mikovits telling him about how he was in the CIA and that when he was in Vietnam, he was involved in the Vang Pao heroin cartel, you know, to help stop that. And that basically what he did is he took the idea from the Christa Institute. The Christa Institute talks about the real story of how heroin being channeled into the inner cities in the eighties was a huge problem.
01:10:08:05 - 01:10:37:02
Billy DaMota
And he took that and he extrapolated on it. Yeah, basically turned it his own story, talking about how and you're going to have to figure out how to edit this. And so I don't get sued. But he but he basically would tell people the story that he was in the CIA. This is what he told Mikovits I was in the CIA I helped stop the heroin trade and in South Vietnam, I mean, I don't even know if he's old enough to be that.
01:10:37:02 - 01:11:02:15
Billy DaMota
I mean, he's he just turns that so and and so my brother said, Hey, let's make a movie. So I get a call. I get a call from Robert Solo, who is the guy who was one of the producers on Colors. And he said, I'm working on this movie and and you want to cast it with this new guy.
01:11:02:20 - 01:11:07:06
Billy DaMota
And the first thing he said to me is he's kind of a dick. But, you know, I guess a good story.
01:11:07:09 - 01:11:12:23
Clark
Right up to now. And this was so I'm not I'm not a Steven Seagal scholar, so you'll have to forgive me.
01:11:12:23 - 01:11:13:08
Billy DaMota
Now, know.
01:11:13:09 - 01:11:13:20
Cullen
This is.
01:11:13:20 - 01:11:15:19
Clark
His first this is his first film, right?
01:11:15:19 - 01:11:16:22
Billy DaMota
It's his first film, right?
01:11:16:22 - 01:11:17:14
Clark
Yeah. Yeah.
01:11:18:05 - 01:11:31:22
Billy DaMota
And so and and this is what I hear. This is just the stories that I hear that he is living with Kelly Le Brock, and. And I think he actually got married to her when he was still married to the Japanese woman.
01:11:31:22 - 01:11:32:07
Clark
Oh, my.
01:11:33:08 - 01:11:59:11
Billy DaMota
And and you know, the the the, the general you know, knowledge of Steven in the in in the eighties that he was kind of a freeloader and he, he had a Rolls Royce. He bought a Rolls Royce one of the you know like a 1965 or, you know, the old ones, because he could drive a Rolls Royce around in Beverly Hills and pretend like he was whatever.
01:11:59:20 - 01:12:00:16
Cullen
Right.
01:12:00:23 - 01:12:20:02
Billy DaMota
I think somebody said he was sleeping in it when he met Kelly the Brock Wow. And and so they so he he convinced Mike Ovitz to make the movie and they put it in the production amazing. And and thankfully we found a great cast to support him Henry Silver who one of my favorite actors of all time.
01:12:20:08 - 01:12:21:07
Clark
Yeah yeah.
01:12:21:12 - 01:12:22:16
Billy DaMota
And he for all although.
01:12:26:21 - 01:12:27:12
Cullen
Pam Grier.
01:12:27:12 - 01:12:28:06
Billy DaMota
Pam Grier.
01:12:28:06 - 01:12:30:12
Clark
Pam Yeah John C Reilly Amazing.
01:12:30:12 - 01:12:32:20
Speaker 4
John C Reilly Know God is great.
01:12:33:02 - 01:12:37:20
Billy DaMota
Yeah right. There were some really, really great talent in the movie.
01:12:37:21 - 01:12:53:21
Clark
Now I'm curious, you know, because you kind of talked about colors. You know, Sean Penn was these sessions had a lot of influence, I would say, or had a lot of say. Worked closely with you on the cast in this film Above the Law. Did Steven Seagal, was he, you know.
01:12:53:21 - 01:12:56:21
Billy DaMota
Every single session he was in every single.
01:12:56:21 - 01:12:57:06
Clark
Cast.
01:12:57:15 - 01:13:00:23
Billy DaMota
Because he wanted to be there when the girls were reading.
01:13:01:09 - 01:13:04:06
Cullen
Oh, I was you know, I mean, in my.
01:13:04:06 - 01:13:05:07
Speaker 4
Mind, I said, you.
01:13:05:07 - 01:13:05:21
Clark
Really had to.
01:13:06:15 - 01:13:06:20
Cullen
You.
01:13:06:20 - 01:13:12:10
Clark
Really had to earn your money on that one. I mean, you basically have him looking over your shoulder. I'm imagining it.
01:13:12:10 - 01:13:18:14
Billy DaMota
You were still like an excited kid, though. And he he gave me a lot of different things. Billy, can I sit in on this one? Can I do?
01:13:18:18 - 01:13:20:21
Cullen
But, you know. Hey. Okay. He was the star.
01:13:21:04 - 01:13:24:02
Billy DaMota
He was the star of. The movie. And he knew he could if he wanted to, but.
01:13:24:03 - 01:13:26:06
Clark
He but he was actually pretty decent about it.
01:13:26:06 - 01:13:26:22
Billy DaMota
Yeah, he was.
01:13:27:02 - 01:13:46:22
Clark
Okay. Right on. What were some of your we? I know we've kind of talked a lot about your your earlier films, but. And you had kind of hinted that your work at Pure Flix and the faith based films and you were a part of probably like the largest right. Or one of the largest box office faith, faith based films.
01:13:46:22 - 01:13:48:20
Clark
The God Is Not Dead, Right?
01:13:48:22 - 01:13:49:17
Cullen
Wasn't that. Yeah.
01:13:50:01 - 01:14:12:04
Clark
And did you I'm just kind of curious. I'm not as familiar with that genre of film as I am some of these others. But what was that transition like? What did was there far as casting goes? Was there any significant difference to kind of how I mean, you talked a little bit about how they wanted to kind of steer you toward, you know, people that had social media, but, you know.
01:14:12:10 - 01:14:16:00
Billy DaMota
They also wanted to steer me toward, you know, people who are big in the Christian community, which makes.
01:14:16:01 - 01:14:17:02
Clark
Okay. Yeah.
01:14:17:15 - 01:14:38:10
Billy DaMota
So I did that again, though, trying to steer them in the direction of the best actor, not just the person who was the most Christian, you know, or had the most Christian followers. There were some people that we had to cast that I wasn't crazy about, But, you know, I worked on 35 movies for him. So 35 to end to TV series.
01:14:38:21 - 01:14:51:17
Billy DaMota
Oh, my goodness. And the biggest ones were the were the kind of the funniest of the Case for Christ was fun with with Alicia. So. And not her. What's her name? Blanca.
01:14:52:14 - 01:14:54:05
Cullen
It's okay I should.
01:14:54:05 - 01:14:55:17
Clark
We can added in poll after.
01:14:55:17 - 01:14:57:07
Billy DaMota
Poll I'm going to pull my I MTV.
01:14:57:07 - 01:14:59:06
Cullen
Here. Yeah pull it up. Pull it up so I.
01:14:59:06 - 01:15:00:17
Billy DaMota
Can even I remember.
01:15:02:07 - 01:15:02:23
Clark
I mean, it's really.
01:15:02:23 - 01:15:04:22
Speaker 4
CHRISTIANSON Yeah. Faye Dunaway.
01:15:05:12 - 01:15:08:10
Billy DaMota
Yeah. Faye or Faye Dunaway was was fun to work with.
01:15:08:22 - 01:15:29:16
Clark
Oh, my gosh. You know, and you've worked with so many people and you've worked on so many films, There's obviously no way we can touch on all of this. But I'm just curious, do you have any stories to share about Faye Dunaway? We actually just in one of our last episodes, we talked at length about the film Barfly, which of course Faye Dunaway is in and she's fantastic in.
01:15:29:21 - 01:15:36:00
Billy DaMota
Yeah, she was. She was good in the shoot. I said one scene, basically one day we got her for sort of a cameo.
01:15:36:00 - 01:15:36:10
Cullen
Yeah.
01:15:36:10 - 01:15:43:22
Billy DaMota
And paid her a lot of money. And she was terrific. She was.
01:15:43:22 - 01:15:44:08
Cullen
She.
01:15:44:13 - 01:15:59:14
Billy DaMota
She had some problems standing up because she had I think she had just had surgery, so I had to do most of it sitting down or we had to have her because there was some questions with her, her movement and her and the scene where she had to do some moving the scene. But no, but she was there.
01:15:59:21 - 01:16:11:12
Billy DaMota
But she was terrific. And mean. She was just you know, she's old movie star. So, yeah, you get some of the baggage that comes from that and you get, you know, the excitement that sort of overwhelms her.
01:16:11:12 - 01:16:17:09
Clark
But I would imagine so. Yeah. Somebody and that's. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Billy. You were.
01:16:17:17 - 01:16:43:17
Billy DaMota
But I but that was one of the movies where because I think a lot of people were sort of a lot of the main mainstream movie stars were sort of steering away from faith based movies because they didn't want to be labeled as a Christian actor. This movie, this movie came from Lisa Robles novel and are not novels.
01:16:43:19 - 01:17:04:02
Billy DaMota
This book actually was a novel. And it's a it's a, you know, a pretty it was made a little bit easier for them to get involved. So we got I mean, Erika Christensen and and Mike Vogel and Faye Dunaway and Frankie Faison, who is amazing in the movie Robert Forster in one of his last Oh.
01:17:04:14 - 01:17:26:06
Clark
I that's another actor that I feel like was really extraordinary. And I was, you know, it's and it's so interesting how people are cast, you know. So again, I was reading Quentin's book and he talks about how he came to cast or even had the idea to cast Forster in Jackie Brown. And he and speaking of Corman, we talked about a Corman flick, right?
01:17:26:06 - 01:17:35:05
Clark
You know, the very top of the podcast. And I don't know if you've ever seen this film, but Forster is the lead in Corman's Alligator, which is kind of like.
01:17:35:05 - 01:17:36:07
Billy DaMota
A movie that I'm familiar with.
01:17:36:07 - 01:18:06:17
Clark
Yeah, a Jaws knockoff, right about that ERA just replaced a shark with an alligator. Corman. Corman was the best at that. And but, but that performance had just stuck in Quentin's mind that even though the film is obviously pretty schlocky, that his performance was outstanding. And that was actually kind of the hook that stayed in his brain. Fast forward all the way to the mid nineties or late nineties and he has a bit of a career resurgence with his casting in Jackie Brown.
01:18:07:14 - 01:18:08:21
Clark
So wonderful in that.
01:18:08:21 - 01:18:41:11
Billy DaMota
Yeah, and it's Robert Forster who's been on, you know the scene for, you know, 50 years. He was, he was, you know, a working actor all the time was never, you know, he used to hang out at, at the silver spoon in West Hollywood, you know, along with, you know, all the other sort of movie stars that were not working anymore and are not working as much as they used to, you know, And and it gave him a real a real you know, he really pumped up his career especially with the, you know, Academy Award nomination and everything.
01:18:41:22 - 01:18:43:12
Clark
It's got to be fun to see that.
01:18:43:12 - 01:18:51:19
Billy DaMota
I got a chance to work with him in a movie called Touching Home with Ed Harris. That was one of my favorite movies because.
01:18:51:22 - 01:18:52:22
Speaker 4
We spoke about that. I mean.
01:18:53:12 - 01:18:55:13
Billy DaMota
That yeah, it was a fun movie.
01:18:55:20 - 01:19:00:06
Clark
What about that film? Was kind of made that one of your favorites? Was there anything.
01:19:00:06 - 01:19:38:03
Billy DaMota
Specific? You know what I loved? This is the two brothers here. I'm going to go back to my Yeager boy names now. But it was it was it was the whole process because you have to remember that these were two guys that wrote a script and it won the Panavision Best New Screenplay award. And they got $100,000 prize money and they wound up, you know, making a an amazing base because they were both baseball guys, you know, making a amazing baseball kind of a promo.
01:19:39:09 - 01:19:47:13
Billy DaMota
Let me go down here. I'm going to look at it. It's like I'm just trying to find the I'm going to have my eye candy.
01:19:47:13 - 01:19:48:19
Cullen
But you've got.
01:19:48:19 - 01:19:49:20
Clark
So many films.
01:19:50:03 - 01:19:51:16
Billy DaMota
There's a lot of stuff here, man.
01:19:52:04 - 01:19:59:02
Clark
It's it's understandable that you might forget a few details right away.
01:19:59:02 - 01:20:25:03
Billy DaMota
So it was almost this touching home here. It was such a home. The Miller Brothers. Yes. Logan Brothers. Yeah. Were twins. And they they you know, the Miller brothers, too, in order to fund their movies where they did modeling for like Calvin Klein. There was a there was a I think there's a very famous picture that one of them put up or the other of this poster on Sunset Boulevard in his underwear.
01:20:25:03 - 01:20:25:10
Billy DaMota
You know.
01:20:25:13 - 01:20:26:06
Cullen
I'll be darned.
01:20:26:13 - 01:20:52:06
Billy DaMota
Calvin Klein. So they, they they you know, they had aspirations to be baseball players growing up and their their alcoholic father kind of ruined that for them. But they never lost their love for their father. So when he passed away, they did the story of of their, you know, their aspirations to be Major League Baseball and. You know, Ed Harris is there is their dysfunctional father who is so good.
01:20:52:14 - 01:21:11:05
Billy DaMota
He's so and in the movies, just amazing. But that was one of the that was one of my favorite movies, just too. I love the hanging out. I loved hanging out with them and their energy and their their passion, you know, to make movies. I don't know if they really done anything since then. I think they went on to do a couple.
01:21:11:05 - 01:21:15:12
Speaker 4
They did Dumb White Boy Rick, which I heard a lot about in 2018 oh.
01:21:16:12 - 01:21:17:13
Clark
Where they have Logan.
01:21:17:13 - 01:21:19:12
Speaker 4
One of them did not they but I think they both were involved.
01:21:19:12 - 01:21:24:05
Cullen
In that and I'll have to ask that. Yeah.
01:21:24:05 - 01:21:32:14
Billy DaMota
What if you can rent it because it's a it's a terrific movie and it's shot beautifully. It's it looks great. It's it and it's a fun story. Brad Dourif is great in the movie.
01:21:32:23 - 01:21:36:23
Speaker 4
Oh, yeah. We were in Brad terms, one of my favorite actors over there.
01:21:37:11 - 01:21:44:23
Billy DaMota
And you know, Lee Meriwether, you know, the bad, bad girl, that woman, she was terrific in it, too.
01:21:44:23 - 01:22:05:03
Clark
So yeah, you know, one of the things that's just at least for me, most entertaining or to hear about some of these stories of how you how you found some of these actors that that ended up being, you know, your experiences with some or maybe some of your early experiences with some of actors who were at the very beginning of their career.
01:22:05:08 - 01:22:32:17
Clark
And I'm kind of, you know, curious what what was kind of there what if you could kind of maybe define the spark that was there maybe that you saw for some of these people is you're see dozens or hundreds of people. And just and I know it might be hard to kind of articulate it, but maybe we can try just what's that spark that you feel like when somebody walks in the room and you're like, Oh, I think this person's going to be a star?
01:22:32:17 - 01:23:03:07
Billy DaMota
It's, you know, I don't know if it I can't say any bad words, but it's it's there's a there's a sort charisma that an actor has. And it's sort of like it's hard to explain. But you you walk into a restaurant and you see a beautiful woman or a beautiful man across the restaurant, and there's something that lights up the room and you go to or there's somebody there's some kind of charisma, and that's and there's a confidence.
01:23:03:18 - 01:23:24:21
Billy DaMota
I think, you know, if you if you meet somebody who is confident about what they do, even if they're not Oh, they're not the best yet. There's something really special about about their energy. And and I think as a casting director, what happens is you become more aware of that and you become more of a of a center right into it.
01:23:25:07 - 01:23:55:23
Billy DaMota
So, you know, people like Cameron Diaz, who came Cameron Diaz was a model. She never really done any acting at all. And Alex Proyas, who was the director, I finished I just finished working with Alex on a on on a a along a bunch of commercials. And he was just starting this new Australia Australian Coca-Cola campaign and he was looking for a girl for the campaign and.
01:23:56:02 - 01:24:25:21
Billy DaMota
All right and so Alex produced by the way, I went on to work with him on iRobot and the Crow. He's a amazing director he's on who directed The Crow and and Cameron came in. There were there were probably 200 women that came in in the scene as a woman running along the beach in Australia toward a White House, toward a lighthouse that is projecting a big Coca-Cola banner for.
01:24:25:21 - 01:24:26:14
Clark
A Coke commercial.
01:24:26:18 - 01:24:32:17
Billy DaMota
Coke commercial. Right. And and so we were looking at all these girls in their bikinis, right? And the girls.
01:24:33:02 - 01:24:37:08
Clark
And Steven Seagal pops in and says, Hey, can I join?
01:24:37:08 - 01:24:38:14
Cullen
I know, but I.
01:24:40:22 - 01:24:48:08
Billy DaMota
But there were other people that did want to drive. I whenever we did bikini sessions, there was always people outside the rooms that, hey, can I borrow a pencil.
01:24:48:08 - 01:24:50:00
Cullen
Or write.
01:24:50:06 - 01:25:07:15
Billy DaMota
Now? But, but so, but these were pretty routine. What happens is a girl would come in, she'd do a couple of lines, she'd drop her caftan and do a little spin in her bikini and she'd be gone. Well, camera guys came in and she had, like, cargo shorts and a tank top on, you know.
01:25:08:02 - 01:25:08:15
Clark
Yeah.
01:25:08:18 - 01:25:30:21
Billy DaMota
And, and, and, and she, and she was huge. She came in. I think the first thing she did was she told a joke and, and she had this a girl who just been on 17 magazine and was like a big, you know, print model and she was gorgeous And she was cute. I think at the time she was like 19 or 20 years old and.
01:25:30:21 - 01:25:40:11
Billy DaMota
And so Alex or somebody in the room said, or maybe it was me, do you wear a bikini? And she's looked at she goes, You don't need to see me a bikini.
01:25:40:12 - 01:25:43:08
Cullen
Trust me.
01:25:43:08 - 01:25:48:14
Billy DaMota
And and she just like you. She had the room cracking up.
01:25:48:20 - 01:25:49:07
Cullen
Yeah.
01:25:49:12 - 01:26:03:07
Billy DaMota
And and she told another joke and she said the line and she says, okay, goodbye. And she walked out. And then we all looked at each other and say, okay, that's the one. Yeah, she's the one we're going to cast.
01:26:03:14 - 01:26:26:04
Clark
It's amazing. God, you know, I, I, I look back at, you know, my early auditions and I just, like, I'm like, God, I wish that I would have, you know, and it's you can't manufacture that is the thing. Like you can't even know you can't manufacture it. And it's like, okay, I know that, you know, they're looking for X, Y, Z, and, you know, desperation is going to be the death of, you know, audition.
01:26:26:09 - 01:26:40:00
Clark
I mean, you can know all these things conceptually, but you've just got to own it in your body. You can't fake it, you can't manufacture it. And, you know, and I'm sure you were honed in on when somebody was like acting confident as opposed to actually.
01:26:40:01 - 01:26:50:03
Billy DaMota
Right. They'd be right. Yes, sure. Yeah. I mean, just when you when they walk in the room and they don't give a shit, they're just like, you know, here I am And there's a certain, you know, you confidence.
01:26:50:11 - 01:27:23:16
Clark
Yeah. It, it's, it really is wonderful to see. And I have been in casting sessions myself for different, you know, in different capacities either at a casting office or on my own projects. And you do you really, you really start to get a feel for it and, and it's really amazing when you've you know that when you've said in a session and you've just seen person after person and you're just like, I'm never going to be able to like there's just not, you know, and then and then you know, that one person walks in and you're just like, All right.
01:27:23:23 - 01:27:25:01
Cullen
Oh my God.
01:27:26:10 - 01:27:38:07
Billy DaMota
I'll tell you another funny story. So I'm I'm working on a movie called Brothers in Arms, probably 1988 or 87, 88.
01:27:38:07 - 01:27:38:16
Clark
Okay.
01:27:39:09 - 01:28:11:01
Billy DaMota
And it's a movie about these sort of Amish type men who live in the mountains, who wear long black coats and, ride around, you know, horse and buggies. Right. And and and there's a there's a production manager on the movie who says, hey, you know, I have a I have a new roommate. And he just came out from Saint Louis and he's trying to meet casting and and get into, you know, acting more.
01:28:11:01 - 01:28:33:13
Billy DaMota
And I wonder if he could come in and read for one of their roles. Such as? Sure. Haven't come in to read for, you know, whoever Jedidiah the young, young son. And so this kid comes in, he's got a long black coat, big had he dresses up for the audition is Brad Pitt and oh, and he probably one of his first auditions in Los Angeles.
01:28:33:13 - 01:28:59:16
Billy DaMota
I think he worked in some commercials and maybe done small TV stuff. Right? He wanted to do movies, so he came in and it was really cute music in early twenties, and he was reading for this thing in his Long Black Coat in his. And he was terrible. And and I but I saw something and I said, you know, you're not right for this, but I'll keep you.
01:28:59:17 - 01:29:11:13
Billy DaMota
I'll bring you in for something else in the future. Yeah. You know, he was like a puppy dog and he was like, he would call me every once in a while and he would talk, you know, what should I do? Should I be in classes, get new pictures, whatever. You know, we were kind of like buddies like that.
01:29:12:00 - 01:29:30:16
Billy DaMota
You actors that call casting directors and chat with them. But when I left the audition, I, I, I pinned his picture on the wall behind me in my office. And when I, you know, it's I call it the wall of Shame, where you have just, you know, pictures of actors that you like, that you keep up there just to keep in your memory.
01:29:30:22 - 01:29:59:18
Billy DaMota
And I mean, I had Helen Hunt's picture up there. I had I tell you, the Helen Hunt story, too. In a minute. That's a good one. So so time goes on. Brad doesn't get that movie. Yeah. And, and I get a call from what was the name of the. It was a movie called Oh Dear. And we got to look at my IMDB.
01:29:59:22 - 01:30:01:01
Cullen
It's okay.
01:30:01:11 - 01:30:04:18
Billy DaMota
It's, it's, it was really bad movie Carlo Rambaldi.
01:30:05:01 - 01:30:06:10
Clark
Who just forgotten it. Yeah.
01:30:06:15 - 01:30:24:12
Billy DaMota
Carlo Rambaldi is the guy who who was the who was special effects Italian special effects guy who created the creature E.T. He created the actual created the E.T. His son. I'm going to find his name right here. Hold on a finger down here.
01:30:25:04 - 01:30:48:20
Clark
You know, while you're looking. You know, it's just a totally random, weird piece of trivia. So, you know, there there were there were a of ways that they did the E.T. puppet. You know, there was like a puppet and then there wasn't. So there were some there was one version where I guess you needed to be able to see where they had an actual person in the suit and yeah, one person and this person didn't have the majority of their legs.
01:30:48:20 - 01:31:12:22
Clark
And I'm not quite sure exactly what had happened to this, you know, why that came to be for this individual. But I actually ended up working with him. Wow. At a at a software company out in Redlands, which is, you know, whatever. No. Yeah. Yeah. It's like 50, 60 miles east of L.A. or maybe it's only 30 or so, but it feels like 60 because it's like two hour drive on the ten.
01:31:13:06 - 01:31:25:04
Clark
But I actually worked with him and super nice guy. Fantastic. But that was, you know, his one little foray Hollywood. But I was like, I tell people I worked with E.T., it's kind of but.
01:31:25:21 - 01:31:32:03
Speaker 4
Remember, we also did Alien, which we did, um, last episode. So there's a little connection.
01:31:32:03 - 01:31:38:01
Billy DaMota
Yeah, there's a lot of people that are amputees and that are Yeah. Or, you know, they, they get, they get a lot of work in those kinds of things.
01:31:38:01 - 01:31:38:22
Clark
Yeah, yeah.
01:31:39:11 - 02:50:25:01
Billy DaMota
Movie was called Primal Rage.