Monday, June 8, 2009

Shrooms

Rob was in a horror movie called Shrooms where he plays Bluto, a jock who's on steroids.

Interesting trivia about this movie:

1. it was filmed in Ireland where he filmed Urban Ninja 2.
2. the movie also stars Maya Hazen who played the girl ninja in UN2.
3. Alice Greczyn was also in this movie
4. Oscar Orosco, who plays the rival ninja in UN2 was in You Got Served with Rob [but that's not interesting trivia about Shrooms is it? Well, I'm not sure what he was doing in Ireland. Maybe those scenes were shot later?]

Here's an excerpt from the Shrooms press kit:

And anyone who thinks filmmaking is all about glamour would do well to meet Alice Greczyn at the end of a shooting day. ‘’It isn’t so glamorous!’’ she laughs. ‘’But it’s hard to complain because it’s such a fun, interesting job and you get to meet so many cool people. The day-to-day grind is very draining. Your body can only take so much mud, moss and fake blood!’’ While most of the young American actors met for the first time on the set of Shrooms, Alice did spot one familiar face. ‘’I knew Rob before, from working on a TV show in America [that show was Quintuplets], so that was kind of fun, bumping into him again. I didn’t know anyone else, but we pretty much got along great right from the beginning. Everyone’s been really cool and really friendly.’’

The Rob in question is Robert Hoffman. The 25-five-year-old Floridian is a professional dancer who has also made his mark in the world of improvised comedy. Portraying Bluto was a challenging experience for the young actor. “Bluto is the outcast of the group,’’ says Rob. ‘’He’s like the steroid head, arrogant, Jock-ish kind of guy. Bluto is just there to have fun with his girlfriend. He’s not interested in anyone else. It’s when he heads off to do mushrooms on his own that he gets into a whole world of trouble. I really liked the character of Bluto but then I liked all the characters. The script really appealed to me. I liked the twists and I liked the way it was a horror story with a difference.’’

In portraying the maverick of the group, Rob feels he benefited from the fact that he arrived in Ireland a little bit later than the other cast members. ‘’The rest of the guys had been together for a week before I arrived,’’ he explains, ‘’and that made it easier for me to feel like the outsider of the group. I knew Alice from when we worked together on a US show but it’s always fun to make a movie with a bunch of people who are all around the same age. We all took to each other really quickly and hung out, and all that stuff.’

Unlike his fellow actors, Rob Hoffman has experience of working on stage and his comedy pedigree meant he was no slouch when it came to improvising lines. He brought that experience to bear on SHROOMS. ‘’I always try to respect what the writer has put on the page,’’ says Rob, ‘’but the script wasn’t carved in stone. We could toy with it a little but not too much. I work on improv shows back in the States but I don’t like to toy with other people’s work. That said, Paddy did allow me to throw in a couple of lines here and there, so that was cool.’’

N0mee posted a clip on youtube with just Rob's scenes in the movie [warning: foul language and sexual situations].


No comments:

Post a Comment