As
an actor, writer, director and teacher with a career spanning over
thirty years, Dan Shor is certainly a veteran of the media industry.
Having featured in one of my all-time favourite films, Bill and
Ted's Excellent Adventure,
as Billy the Kid, I was looking
forward to talking with him about his experiences in the movie, as
well as his current career as a producer.
BJ: Hello, Dan Shor!
You having a good weekend?
DS: Oh, yeah! What is
that?!
BJ: Sorry, yeah, I'm
recording!
DS: It looks like a
laser gun or something!
BJ: It's the new
model phaser; the iPod nano of Starfleet weaponry!
DS: Yeah, that's what
it looks like! Anyway, yeah, it's a very good weekend. I didn't sleep
last night, so, I'm like dizzy man. Literally the whole world is
spinning.
BJ: Did you arrive
in the UK recently then?
DS: I've been here
three days, and I'll be here three more days, that's it.
BJ: Probably still a
bit jet-lagged then!
DS: I'm quite a bit
jet-lagged! Also, beer. But it should be gone, it should be out of my
system! You never know...
BJ: Hmm, a good mix!
You're well known for playing Ram in the original Tron,
and of course Billy the Kid in Bill and Ted's Excellent
Adventure, and yesterday
you and Jane Wiedlin held a Q&A on the latter. Did you do much
preparation for your role in Bill and Ted?
DS: When I initially
auditioned for Bill and Ted,
I did that generic cowboy act. But when I got the part I went back
and studied Billy the Kid, read up on all his history. The guy was a
syphilitic lunatic! So when I turned up on the first day of shooting,
I started to twitch and do all this weird stuff, and they shouted
“cut that shit out! Do it like you did in the audition when you
played Generic Cowboy Number 1. I want you to play Generic Cowboy
Number 1.” Ok...
BJ: After all that
work!
DS: Yeah! I worked my
butt off for that! And then of course we're rammed into this phone
box...
BJ: And they
actually used a real phone booth didn't they?
DS:
It was an actual British phone booth. It was just a normal sized
phone booth, and you all get in. Do you know how long it takes to
light any scene?! They shoved all these actors into a phone booth,
and they squashed us all in at the back and put Keanu and Alex in the
front. We're all like “I can't breathe! Abe Lincoln get the f-”.
The next day they figured that they didn't have to squash Jane in
because you couldn't see her, so she escaped it!
BJ: Ha, sounds like
an experience and a half! Yesterday you also mentioned your
production company, ShodaVision. Obviously you started out as an
actor, so how did the production company come about?
DS: I left the United
States and moved to the South Pacific and to Asia for seven years.
During that time, I became a video director for visitor channels on
four different Mariana islands, and did exposes and documentaries on
the island culture, history, music, dance and sports, and became a
documentarian. I then created my own soap opera, then created
commercials that played around the world, then did a reality
television series that I hosted and wrote in the Philippines, and all
that knowledge, when I came back to the States, I used to create my
own production company. I now shoot music videos, web stream videos
for major power companies on the east coast of the United States and
their energy saving programs.
BJ: That's an
impressive amount of stuff!
DS: I've started a
whole new career out of the sea, literally, and I still plan to act,
but it's few and far between when I wait for people to ask me.
BJ: Have you got any
projects your currently working on?
DS: Yeah, I just
finished some. I've got seven web streams that are going to be airing
on the web for major power companies, and I will be doing many many
more. I'm lining up close to thirty-one, and that's going to happen
in the next six months.
BJ: Blimey!
DS: That's all that I
know of right now. I never know what's going to happen, actually, I
just hope, you know.
BJ: Yeah, that's the
nature of this industry!
DS: Especially when
you're a freelancer. When you're a freelancer, you freelance! My
daughter wants me to get a job, I want me to get a job! But, doing
what I do.
BJ: That is a perk
of being freelance – you can get on and do the work you want to do.
But unfortunately it's also quite insecure when it comes to getting
that work...
DS: Yeah, it's very
insecure! You have many many many days that you can't explain to your
child. “Dad, why are you still asleep?” Because I can!
BJ: Ha, both a
blessing and a curse! Well, thank you for your time, it was a
pleasure meeting you. Best of luck with the web streams, and all your
future endeavours!
DS:
Thank you, you too.
For
more information on Dan Shor's production company, check out his
website at www.shodavision.com
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