Chasing a Dream

“Ever since I saw the Academy Awards, when I was seven years old, I wanted to be an actor,” stated Mathew Karl. Now that chance may be coming true. Karl, along with his sister Angela have been with the local talent agency Talent Trek for the past year. Each have already completed several acting gigs. Angela worked in a commercial for Baptist Hospital, has worked as a model for Goody’s Department Store and recently completed a commercial for the Food Network and HGTV, which aired nationally. Mathew has made several projects for Goody’s including: photo shoots and commercials, a commercial for Ripley’s Aquarium and this week he is filming a commercial for Food City. What every actor is looking for is that one big break. Two weeks ago, the agency called to say there was a casting call for a young boy to play the lead in a new feature film in Atlanta. They wanted Mathew to audition. The film, “Good Boy!” is a co-production with Jim Henson Pictures and MGM. ET Online describes the flick as, “family comedy, a hybrid of live-action performers and CGI-enhanced canines, similar to the manner in which “Babe” anthropomorphized animals. It follows the adventures of an alien dog coming to Earth from Sirius, the Dog Star, to investigate interstellar reports that his fellow canines have abandoned their original plan to take over the planet. While investigating, he becomes the pet and friend of a human boy.” MGM and Henson officials are hoping the $20 million picture can become a franchise. Casting for the boy to play the part was nationwide with casting crews in several states being asked to check out local talent. So we figured, why not - let’s give it a shot. We drove to Atlanta (a four hour drive each way) and arrived at the call location, which was a hotel. Mathew was handed three pages of script and asked to come back in an hour with it memorized. We sat outside and went over the lines. Then Mathew went in for “his shot”. It was close to 1:00 p.m. and my thoughts were of hitting the freeway before Atlanta traffic picked up. Mathew read his lines and when he came out I was ready to go. “Wait,” the assistant said. “Here, take these eight pages and come back when you have them memorized, as soon as you can.” What? They wanted more? It appeared they liked him and wanted to see how well he would do with the next set of script. Memorizing eight pages of script in two hours is not easy! We tried to leave and find a quiet place to rehearse. Not an easy thing to do in Atlanta. When Mathew felt he knew his lines well enough, he went back in and this time he was put on film. Local actors in Atlanta had the advantage because they received their scripts in advance and had days to memorize compared to Mathew’s two hours. He went in, did his lines and we were off. We never wait for a call. You audition, then you forget about it. Otherwise it will drive you crazy. A week later out of the blue, Mathew’s agent was on the phone, she was so excited I thought she was going to scream. “They want to see Mathew again. He has a call back on the movie!” “What! How exciting” I said. “They need to see you tomorrow and I’ll fax the script to you soon.” Later that afternoon we received twelve pages of new script. Two of the pages had long paragraph-sized dialog. We went about practicing, practicing, and practicing some more. Then got up early the next morning to drive back to Atlanta. They were only auditioning Mathew and one other boy that day. The crowds from the first audition were nowhere in sight. The other boy went first. He was in the taping room quite awhile. Mathew was next. “Do you know your lines?” they asked. “All but the last long paragraph and I know most of that” Mathew replied. Then the door shut. I wanted desperately to listen at the door but I was afraid I’d be caught. It didn’t take much time at all and Mathew was out. “Well, we’ll see what the production company says, thanks” they said, and with that we were off. “Boy you weren’t in there as long as the other kid,” I told Mathew. Usually the longer you’re in an audition the better. “That’s because the other kid didn’t know his lines and they had to keep redoing it,” Mathew said. “Oh, really? And how did you do?” I asked. “Great, I knew all my lines except the last part and I got 75% of that.” With that we were off, back on the road to Seymour. Maybe Mathew will win the lead role of Owen the boy with the dog walking business, or maybe he won’t. Prominent stars will be sought to voice the pictures seven dog roles. Shooting is scheduled to begin in Vancouver, Canada in late August. Maybe he will become famous and have lunch boxes, an action figure and t-shirts made with his image or maybe he won’t. Maybe he’ll get to walk down the red carpet at the Academy Awards because he was nominated for an award or maybe we won’t. In the entertainment and acting business only one thing is for sure and that is - nothing is for sure. One thing I am sure about is that being a movie star, or just being plain Mathew, we as proud of him as any mom and dad could be.