Moonshot - the book

First comes book, then comes movie, then comes DVD in the DVD case. Let's start with the book, published in May 2009 - Moonshot: The Inside Story of Mankind's Greatest Adventure by Dan Parry.

From the 4 star Time Out review by Peter Watts:
"'It was the arduous ordeal of defecation that really tested the men's resolve.' It's sentences like that which make this look at the first moon landing such a page-turner. Constructed as artfully as the Saturn V rocket that shot Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins out of the Earth's atmosphere 40 years ago, Moonshot dovetails passages covering the history of the space race up to 1969 with terrific reportage of the Apollo 11 mission itself, from launchpad to splashdown."

The story, as author Dan Parry tells it, is so compelling that a major TV drama was screaming to be made. How perfect that Parry is also Head of Research at Dangerous Films, a leading independent production company. Formed in 2003, it has produced the television events 9/11-The Twin Towers, Diana - The Last Days of a Princess, D-Day 6.6.44 and Emmy-nominated Human Body - Pushing the Limits.

So in May/June 2008 Dan Parry, the Dangerous Films team and cast which included Daniel Lapaine as Armstrong, James Marsters as Aldrin, Andrew Lincoln as Collins (and me as Collins' wife, Pat), traveled to Lithuania to shoot Moonshot, a major TV factual-drama inspired by the book.

Now, just over a year later, ITV is about to unveil the fruits of our labor. Next month (exact date TBA) Moonshot will be broadcast internationally. I, for one, am thrilled to finally see it! Stay tuned for details.

Working as an actor abroad

Extract from Dear John section of The Stage newspaper published Thursday 4 June 2009, in which I'm featured:

Q: I'm thinking of moving to another country to work as an actor - is the audition/casting process basically the same everywhere or are there differences I need to know about?

what the experts say...

Kosha Engler is an American actress and Anglophile, originally from Baltimore, Maryland. While in the US she acted regularly in Washington DC's finest theatres and appeared in TV and film, including The Wireand John Waters' A Dirty Shame. In 2005 she married a Brit, moved to London and has since worked in television, theatre, radio, voice-overs and commercials. This July she'll appear on ITV in Moon Shot, a TV movie about the Apollo 11 moon landing. www.koshaengler.com

"The Baltimore/Washington DC area was a smaller and less competitive place than London and, because of that, I found a healthy amount of theatre work, radio dramas and some film and television jobs. But despite the thriving acting community, the DC market wasn't big enough to justify agents, except in the case of on-camera work, where casting teams such as Pat Moran Associates (who cast me in The Wire) functioned as both casting director and agent, taking a cut of our fee. Without an agent, we actors had to be fiercely proactive and forge our own relationships with those who could employ us.

"In the four years I've lived in London - now with an agent - I've had more big auditions than in DC, but landing the job is much, much harder. The proportion of TV and film castings to theatre has reversed since my time in DC and I mostly go up for American roles. In the US, I was cast as English characters as often as American ones.

"As for the audition process itself, the main difference I've found is how British people use language to disguise what is a difficult experience. Early in my UK career, my agent sent me to a meeting at the National Theatre to have a little read and a chat with the director. Earnest American that I was, I made the mistake of taking my agent literally and thought I really was just going to chat. I thought there might even be tea and cakes as we casually got to know each other. Little did I know the translation was, 'You're going to an audition, so thoroughly prepare your scenes, learn the lines if possible, then have an interview with sir big shot, the director."

dear john sums up...

John Byrne is an entertainment industry career advisor and the author of several career guides for performers, including The Right Agent Right Now ebook written with Mary Elliott Nelson and available for download from www.showbusiness-success.com.

As in many other areas of transatlantic interaction, it is often the fact that British and American culture look superficially similar that leads to more misunderstandings that might occur when an actor is aiming to work in a more overtly different market, such as Bollywood or Japan. The things that can trip you up aren't always to do with the casting process itself, as much as the subtle differences in interpersonal communication or cultural norms. Probably the best way to approach work in a new country - and indeed new work in this country - is not to assume that any job will be the same as any previous one and be alert to spot and adapt to different ways of doing things as they arise. While you might not be able to predict where the curve balls will come from, honing your skills and going the extra mile in preparation is a good basis to approach every casting from, no matter where in the world it is happening.

Moon Shot - A Success

After some glorious weeks in Vilnius, Lithuania (and many cans of hairspray), I have finished filming for Moon Shot. At the wrap party we watched a 25 minute sampler of some of roughly edited scenes and it looks great! Very much looking forward to seeing the finished product in early 2009.

This was such a fun project to work on and everyone involved - cast, crew, producers, director - was fantastic. I especially enjoyed meeting and acting with so many new people, many of them North Americans.

Some highlights: riding Segways through Old Town, going to an impromptu Bob Dylan concert, rowing in Trakai lake, wearing vintage 60's gear, Lithuanian karaoke, many mojitos, visiting baroque cathedrals, Thai massage, bowling with the cast, and many fine meals.

I will publish broadcast details as soon as I know them.

Moon Shot

I am playing Pat Collins, wife of Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, in Moon Shot by BAFTA nominated writer Tony Basgallop (Hotel Babylon). Directed by Emmy winner Richard Dale (9/11: The Twin Towers) for Dangerous Films and ITV, Moon Shot is a feature length factual drama celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. It shoots in Lithuania in June and is due to broadcast on ITV1 and the History Channel in 2009. Visit the Dangerous Films website for details. Casting by Julie Harkin and Suzanne Smith.

Principal cast:
Neil Armstrong - Daniel Lapaine
Buzz Aldrin - James Marsters
Michael Collins - Andrew Lincoln
Janet Armstrong - Anna Maxwell Martin
Pat Collins - Kosha Engler
Joan Aldrin - Kelli Kerslake
Al Shepherd - Trevor White
Gene Aldrin - Michael J Reynolds
Bill Anders - Ian Porter
Frank Boreman - Martin McDougall
Tom Stafford - Richard Dillane
Faye Stafford - Jennifer Woodward
Marilyn Lovell - Ursula Burton
Deke Slayton - Nigel Whitmey
Chris Kraft - Colin Stinton