Albert Lea son finds his way into an independent film

Published 12:00 am Monday, December 31, 2007

By Brie Cohen, staff writer

Albert Lea native Jacob Christianson may be on his way to stardom.

In an effort to get on-camera experience last year, Christianson decided to browse through online advertisements for acting gigs. Right away he found auditions for parts in the movie &8220;Love Revised&8221; by Aurora Trigon Films, an independent film company based in Webster, Wis. With no real acting experience, Christianson called them up and went with a friend to the audition. Christianson said this was his first audition and his friend told him he &8220;looked like a scared wet cat&8221; while reading lines during the audition.

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&8220;But they still liked me,&8221; Christianson said.

They liked him so much, they called and e-mailed him to see if he was still interested in the job. Christianson said he told them yes, but he had no idea the best news of all.

He had gotten the lead role of Will Tyler in the film.

&8220;I was really excited,&8221; Christianson said. He said he called his mom and she &8220;freaked out.&8221;

Christianson said Will Tyler is a smart, cold man working on his dissertation. Tyler believes that love does not exist other than in the form of chemicals. He hires a female to film the interviews for his dissertation. Over time the two end up falling in love.

Christianson said he was challenged by the 200-page script, because so much of it was his to memorize. He had about three months to learn the script and then around this time last year, filming began.

The filming lasted about five months and during the filming Christianson said he not only enjoyed the fancy hotel he was put in (even though it was called the &8220;Buckey Beaver&8221; room), but also liked trying to find new ways to act out the same scene. When the crew is watching the scene and they take about five to six takes per scene, Christianson said he felt he couldn&8217;t just do the same thing over and over when the same people were watching. So he always varied it up.

&8220;It was just a blast,&8221; Christianson said, &8220;So many little things just make it fun.&8221;

The film has not been completed yet, because the film studio is still working on editing the movie, but when it is finished, Christianson said it will most likely be shopped around at different independent film festivals.

Currently Christianson said he doesn&8217;t plan to pursue acting as a full-time career, but even if he declines to pursue the entertainment industry, that doesn&8217;t mean that you won&8217;t see him on the screen. It may just be a TV screen.

Christianson is currently studying videography at Brown College in Mendota Heights.

At first Christianson said he decided to study videography because he thought it would be fun to get into movies, especially after participating in Tiger Vision at Albert Lea High School.

But in the last three months Christianson has been interning on the weekends at WEAU, an NBC broadcast news station affiliate in Eau Claire, Wis.

Christianson said he gets to do everything a staff reporter gets to do there, except drive the company car. He interviews people, shoots the story, edits the story, writes the story and his story is put on air during the news broadcast.

&8220;It was super-exciting the first time that happened,&8221; Christianson said.

Now, when he graduates from Brown College in three months, he hopes to get a job at a news station.

&8220;Writing is really fun; that&8217;s why I want to be a reporter. I just really like the profession as long as I can do it somewhere,&8221; Christianson said.