The Art of Theatrical Ushery Movie

Interview with C. Thaddeus Banks

By Kelly Carroll

Who doesn’t love to laugh?  Who doesn’t love to find out about the next big thing?  Upcoming director C. Thaddeus Banks, and his currently unreleased hilarious comedy, The Art of Theatrical Ushery are next big thing.  Anyone in distribution, you may want to look at this movie and give him a call now, while you have the chance…

For everyone – check out 5 minutes of this movie at http://www.myspace.com/ushery for some hard laughs about an usher who is quite a piece of work.  You will be uplifted from laughing so hard!  I spoke with this talented young director/ screenwriter to give us a bit of creative excellence to put into use in our own movie of life:

KC:  When a creative vision goes from being a vision into a reality, the person with that dream can sometimes experience resistance, either from their self, or others, often from unexpected sources.  Can you tell us your experience with this?

CTB:  The resistance can come from your peers due to jealousy, it can come from parents (although that has not been the problem for me) but most of the time I find the resistance coming from within. When you realize how much time and effort must go into creating a work of art, your mind tells you that it can not be done. You begin to measure your work against other artist and what they have accomplished and by doing that, you hinder and devalue your own progress. It’s impossible to be another artist because they are on a completely different path than you, experiencing things you know nothing about. The best way to get rid of the resistance is to measure yourself by the work you have produced and monitor your own artistic progressive path.

KC:  It takes confidence to go from start to finish on a project like The Art of Theatrical Ushery.  What can you say about your own confidence and what can you share with others who have a dream in their heart, how can they ignite their confidence?

CTB: The Art of Theatrical Ushery is a comedy and the more people laugh, the higher my confidence in the work goes. Your audience can make you very, very confident or very, very insecure. So I think it is best to give yourself the confidence from the start so that no matter what happens you leave feeling good, like you went in.

KC:  At the last minute, you stepped in as the lead actor in this film, in my opinion this is a divine coincidence - you give something to the film that no one else could.  Tell us about this last minute change and how you felt at the start of filming.

CTB: When the original actor cancelled on me (due to medical reasons) I thought the film was lost. I felt this way because the character, Ronnell, was introduced in a 30 second spot in my last feature film “Somebody Call…Somebody: Line 2,” It’s for YOU! According to the audience, that was the funniest part of the 2 hour movie, those 30 seconds with Ronnell (Originally played by Glenn Vickers). When he became ill, I didn’t want the 2 months of planning to be wasted and I felt it best if I play Ronnell and when Glenn got better we would re-shoot it. The whole time I was filming, in the back of my mind I said “I need to re-shoot this whole thing, damn.” When I showed the first cut to my wife, Felicia, she couldn’t stop laughing and it was her who gave me the confidence to keep it as it was. Thank you Felicia and I love you very much.

KC:  As a director, how do you motivate your actors and what about directing and motivating actors can be shared to motivate those who desire to make their dreams their reality?

CTB: First and most important I want everyone to have fun on the set. That goes for the technicians to the performers. Where my actors are concerned, anything I ask them to do, I will do first. If they are feeling uncomfortable about being nude, I will be nude on set also. Whatever they need to make them know I care about what they are doing, I will do. This kind of dedication has led me into some interesting situations (laughing).

KC:  This movie is hilarious.  Making people laugh is so cool.  It automatically places someone in a more inspired space after they get done laughing at a good comedy like The Art of Theatrical Ushery.   What can you say about films in general and how they can make us all feel better?

CTB: Films are very therapeutic for me. I got a ticket on the highway once and instead of going home I went straight to the movie theater because I know sitting in that dim theater with the smell of popcorn and twizzlers was the only thing that could make me feel better.

To find out more about Christopher Thaddeus Banks and check out 5 of the funniest minutes on the internet, go to www.myspace.com/ushery  If you would like to speak to C.Thaddeus about The Art of Theatrical Ushery contact him at 609 412 6423 or e mail ashacinema@gmail.com

Kelly Carroll is a writer who loves to inspire and loves to laugh!  kelly@canyon-news.com

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