Page 47 - ABILITY Magazine - Avril Lavigne Issue

Martirosyan: (singing)“California is the place to be.” Cooper: (to Lia) Do you know what show that’s from? Woodburn: Come on, you can do it.
Cooper: That’s before her time.
Actually, I try not to think of crying on cue. I want to find the moment when it’s appropriate for the character. If I can grab onto the reality of the scene, then it should just come. But as you know, being in my class, I’m a real believer that we can alter our physical state to get where we need to. You think about the contortion that your face is in when you’re going to cry, or when some- thing is emotionally devastating, or sapping, or draining, or whatever. Just like when you smile, if you physically put a smile on your face, you feel better. The feeling comes from the activity.
Martirosyan: Green Acres! (singing) “Green Acres is the place to be.”
Cooper: Wasn’t that Beverly Hillbillies?
Cooper: You and Lia know each other from—
Woodburn: She’s half right: The tune Lia was singing was the Green Acres’ theme. “California is the place you ought to be” is a lyric from the Beverly Hillbillies. The line went on: “so they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly—Hills, that’s is. Swimming pools, movie stars.”
Woodburn: She’s come to a lot of different—
The other song goes: “Green Acres is the place to be, clean livin’ is the life for me.” I don’t know the rest. I just remember the line that always disturbed me was when he said, “You are my wife.” And she said, “Good- bye, city life.” Like, “I’m givin’ it all up now ‘cause I’m the woman.” Even as a little kid I was like, “Why does she have to do that? Why does she have to live the city? Just because she’s the wife?”
Woodburn: —the classes I’ve been involved in with David Zimmerman.
Martirosyan: There’s a lot of that kind of stuff in old films. You know, the no-sound movies.
Woodburn: Not necessarily from personal contacts, but maybe by people reaching out to me. There’ve been a handful of movies or directors I’ve worked with over the years that began with people reaching out to me and it went from there. I worked on this kids’ series of movies called Santa Buddies. I did about three, and then that director called on me again just last month to come and do a movie called Monkey Up, which has a talking Capuchin monkey in it. I play some big-time movie director, which is very outside the box for me.
Cooper: I think they call them “silent” movies.
Woodburn: The no-sound movies! I’d turn ‘em up.
Cooper: Is that animation?
(laughter)
Woodburn: No, it’s live action, but the monkey will be voiced. They’ll probably do something in post-produc- tion to make his mouth move. I don’t know how much they do. They did it with dogs. I haven’t seen them do it with monkeys yet. This is the director’s second mon- key movie, and I think he’s spoiled now because the monkeys are smarter and follow direction better.
Cooper: Do you use digital cameras to shoot your web series?
Woodburn: Yes, the RedX.
Cooper: Those are nice.
Woodburn: With 4X digital, you can take a shot and enlarge it and not lose quality. Frank Capra had a prob- lem with that in It’s a Wonderful Life: On one of the takes, Jimmy Stewart is on the bridge doing his mono- logue before he’s about to jump in the water and end it all. Stewart thought he was doing his close-up, but he was still in the wide shot, and he did this full-on emo- tional moment that they loved, so they had to enlarge it to bring the image closer, if memory serves.
(laughter)
Martirosyan: How are you with crying on cue?
Martirosyan: That’s really funny. Has it gotten easier? Do you still have to hustle for gigs?
Woodburn: Good, if I pull out enough nose hairs.
Woodburn: Always. I’ve written some scripts, so I want to pursue different production companies to take a
(laughter)
Martirosyan: I’ve taken his improv and scene—
Martirosyan: Do you get most of your gigs through personal contacts or through agents?
The guy would flip open his thumb and index finger and say, “Smile!” and the monkey would smile. He would say, “Come in and pick that up,” and the mon- key would come in and pick the thing up. He would say, “Walk,” and he could get the monkey to actually pace. So the monkey and I are pacing in a scene and having a conversation.
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