Acting bites
CONNOQUENESSING TWP. — After 10 years of professional modeling, Katie Russell never expected to be discovered on a Web site.
Russell, 28, said independent movie director Len Kabasinski contacted her in March about playing a villain in his new movie, "Curse of the Wolf." She said she wasn't sure why he chose her because her only film experience consisted of two industrial commercials and a stint on the reality show, "Elimidate."
But after she spoke with Kabasinski, she knew this would be great experience. Even though it was a low-budget independent film, she was paid for this role, which helped because she had to take a leave from her full-time job to live on set in Erie for a month.
In the movie, she plays Harley, a villain who does not survive the end. Her character doesn't get along well with the star of the movie, a werewolf named Dakota. Dakota escapes the pack to attain a normal life, and Harley and three other werewolfs go to look for her.
"You have to be extremely dedicated to be in a movie like this,"Russell said. "The movie was gory with a lot of blood, and at some points, I was covered in fake blood all day."
Her month spent on set was hectic, she said. Most days, they filmed from 8 a.m. to midnight. She wasn't allowed to go home to visit until 85 percent of the movie was finished.
Russell said being an actress is not glamorous, and she got tired after a while: "Those long hour days you hear about in Hollywood aren't fake, it's not a fairytale."
She added there were days where she spent three hours in makeup, then sat around for six hours. She wouldn't be used until late in the day, and when that happened, she only worked for about 10 minutes.
"Filmmaking is a very demanding industry, and whoever's involved, must be extremely dedicated,"Russell said.
She said some parts of the filming surprised her. She said they filmed most of the movie backwards and it amazed her to find out that hundreds of hours of film can be cut into an hour and a half."It felt good after the movie was finished,"Russell said. "The director told me that I was officially an actress."She hopes her experience in this film will take her places. She already has gigs in two other independent films lined up, "Psycho Cheerleaders" and "Chasing Darkness." She will play the villain in these movies and both will be filmed in 2007."I'm kind of like whatever happens, happens,"Russell said. "I've met great contacts, and I have some other movies lined up.""Curse of the Wolf" premiered at the Great Lake Film Festival two weeks ago, where it won an award for best horror movie. It was played again at the recent Eerie Horror Film Festival in Erie, and from there, she hopes it will trickle down to Pittsburgh.It also will play in Meadville on Halloween.
