GUEST STARRING
Before They Were Big: Alexander Skarsgard – Child Star!
Sep 15th
It’s time for another Before They Were Big here at Remote Patrolled, our look back at the stars before they were famous.
Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard has been hitting the headlines over the last couple of weeks, with the season finale of True Blood season 4 and the debut of his new movie, Straw Dogs this weekend.
By now you probably know Alex’s backstory. He’s the son of well know actor Stellan Skarsgard (Mamma Mia, Thor, Deep Blue Sea) and famously made his US debut in the Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander (one of my picks for most over-rated movie of all time).
Later Alexander would appear in HBO’s Generation Kill, before landing his big break in 2008 on True Blood.
But Skarsgard is no newcomer to the acting scene. As the son of a famous actor, he started very young back home in Sweden… check Alexander out, aged 11, in the TV series Idag Rog… no idea quite what’s going on here but it certainly looks dramatic! (more…)
Before They Were Big: Octavia Spencer in Ugly Betty
Aug 29th
Chance are if you’ve been to see The Help at the movies you’ve become a fan of Octavia Spencer!
As put upon maid Minny in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel, Octavia steals almost every scene she’s in – and this in a movie that’s full of big characters and performances.
I’d been wondering for a while where I’d seen Octavia before and turns out it wasn’t that long ago that she was gracing the small screen with another memorable role…
Yep, back in 2008, Octavia had a guest arc on Ugly Betty, playing Constance, an INS caseworker who became obsessed with Ignacio and tried to blackmail him into marriage. As you’ll see from the clip below – the part displays more of Octavia’s trademark ‘sass’, a stereotype she’s going to have to work hard to break in future performances.
Before They Were Big: Emma Stone’s Vh1 Reality Past!
Aug 17th
She’s one of the big success stories from this summer’s box office with starring roles in the terrific Crazy, Stupid, Love and the crowd-pleaser The Help (plus a cameo in Friends With Benefits)
But just a few years ago Emma Stone was a REALITY show contestant who ended up WINNING on Vh1′s long forgotten In Search Of The New Partridge Family!
Yep, in case you missed the show – and really WHY would you have watched – In Search featured a range of contestants vying to play iconic characters such as Keith, Laurie, Shirley and Danny in a Partridge family reboot.
Stone won the role of Laurie – but the show only taped a pilot episode, so the prize wasn’t really worth winning (like many reality prizes sadly!) Still it at least got Emma started on the road to stardom…
Here’s Stone in action on the show’s finale – looking (and sounding) EXTREMELY uncomfortable singing on stage with one of her ‘co-stars’.
Never mind Emma – at least you got to make out with Ryan Gosling a few years later…
Before They Were Big: The Early Roles Of 25 A-List Actors
Aug 15th
You know we love to run clips here on Remote Patrolled of famous stars before they made it big – and it seems we’re not the only ones…
Watch this cool compilation, just released on You Tube, of 25 big showbiz names in some of their earliest roles.
You’ll notice the likes of Sandra Bullock, Sean Connery, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Buscemi years before they became stars. A couple of the clips you may know already – but there’s a few surprises in there too.
Check out Joseph Gordon Levitt starring in an episode of Roseanne (I remember that one too!) And wow – there’s Jack Black BEFORE he put on the weight – dare I say it, he was actually quite hot. And as for Sarah Jessica Parker, well let’s just say that she certainly grew into her looks!
I always find it fascinating watching stars in their pre-fame days. And thanks to the internet, nothing is ever forgotten! Enjoy…
Before They Were Big: Jesse Eisenberg’s Dr Pepper Commercial
Aug 11th
It’s Before They Were Big time again – one of our most popular features here on Remote Patrolled!
Over the last couple of weeks we showcased what Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling and James Franco were all up to before they made it famous. And today’s the turn of their fellow summer movie star Jesse Eisenberg.
Jesse is starring in the new comedy 30 Minutes Or Less (or as I call it – ‘Yet Another Attempt To Make Aziz Ansari A Star’) but is of course most well known for movies like Zombieland, The Squid And The Whale and obviously The Social Network.
But back in 2001 Jesse was still a newbie to the acting scene. Check him out in action in this UK Dr Pepper commercial, hinging on the soda’s famous tag line ‘What’s The Worst That Could Happen’…
Watch the commercial and find out for yourself… it’s Jesse playing the stock ‘Jesse Eisenberg nerdy character’ (I guess Michael Cera wasn’t available) but still interesting to see the actor at age 17 finding his feet…
Enjoy! (more…)
Before They Were Big: James Franco In Pacific Blue
Aug 5th
He’s an actor, writer, director, painter, performance artist and Oscar nominee – and host!
But before he hit the big time James Franco was just another jobbing actor – taking roles wherever he could to build up his resume and skills.
Most people know that Franco scored his big break in the cult TV series Freaks And Geeks (alongside other future stars like Seth Rogen and Jason Segel). But here’s James in a far less familiar early role – on the barely remembered Pacific Blue.
Nicknamed ‘Baywatch On Bikes‘, Blue followed a team of police officers from the Santa Monica PD who patrolled the beaches on bikes. Yep, seriously! But even more amazing than the fact that the show was commissioned in the first place was that it ran for 5 seasons on the USA network!
As if that wasn’t bad enough – king of cheese Mario Lopez also starred in the show from 1998-2000.
Anyway for his part James played a bike shop worker who ticks off his boss and takes a bit of a beating – until the Pacific Blue team arrive – on their bikes. Sorry, I just can’t get over how gimmicky and silly the whole premise is. And to think people More >
Before They Were Big: Ryan Gosling Is Young Hercules!
Jul 29th
It’s time for another movie star flashback – this time featuring Crazy, Stupid, Love star Ryan Gosling…
Most people know that Ryan’s first big break was on The Mickey Mouse Club – the series that also famously launched Britney, Christina and Justin…
But Mickey wasn’t Ryan’s only notable early role. 3 years after he left the Club in 1998, Ryan headed to New Zealand to star as the title character in Young Hercules, a sword and sandals series from Sam Raimi, who also oversaw the adult Hercules and Xena: The Warrior Princess (and the current Spartacus)
Though Young Hercules only made it to one season, it was a super-size series – comprising of 50 episodes in total – all filmed for an amazing $20 million TOTAL! That’s some crafty TV making. The effects came courtesy of Weta Workshop, the New Zealand based effects house that would go on to win Academy Awards for their work on the Lord of the Rings movies…
The show ran on the Fox Kids network and attracted a passionate and devoted young female audience (I wonder why). Even back then Gosling was turning heads – though as anyone who’s watched the likes of The Believer, Half Nelson and Blue Valentine knows, he’s More >
Before They Were Big: Chris Evans in The Opposite Sex
Jul 21st
Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know that this weekend sees the release of Captain America: The First Avenger, the latest superhero epic to hit movie screens this summer.
You’ll also of course know that Captain America stars Chris Evans, the hunky star best known for The Fantastic Four and taking his shirt off (a lot!)
But before Evans made his big screen debut in 2001′s Not Another Teen Movie, he was just another jobbing teen actor. The result – Chris appeared in The Opposite Sex, a Fox summer series that came and went in the space of 8 episodes back in 2000.
Chris played Cary Baston, a student at a girl’s school that recently went co-ed. Together with his friends, Cary tries to implement some school changes – but the girls aren’t too happy!
Check out the typical teen titles at the 02.55 mark and Chris’s co-star, future Heroes actor Milo Ventimiglia. The Opposite Sex attracted mixed reviews upon airing, falling somewhere between Beverly Hills 90210 and Freeks and Geeks in tone…
But do you remember the show? Were you a fan? And did you ever think Chris Evans would make it this big? (more…)
More >
Cool Clip: Thor Star Chris Hemsworth ‘Dancing With The Stars’
Jun 6th
Well I guess everyone has to pay their dues!
Check out Thor star Chris Hemsworth back in 2006 when he was a contestant on the Australian version of Dancing With The Stars!
At the time Chris was an up and coming actor with one major credit to his name – long running Aussie soap opera Home And Away (which used to be huge back when I was a kid in the UK). Chris played Kim Hyde on the soap and obviously took on DWTS as a way to expand his brand, before he left the show in 2007.
How did he fare? Well in the end Chris came 6th, beaten out by an Olympic runner, a basketball player and a CHESS CHAMPION!
Oh well – Hemsworth ended up having the last laugh, landing the part of Kirk’s dad in the JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot just two years later. And then of course there was Thor – which I have to admit I enjoyed mightily for a whole host of reasons – not least of which was Chris himself!
Check Chris out in action below…. (more…)
Guest Starring: Robert Pattinson’s Fantasy Film Past…
Apr 22nd
It’s Guest Starring time again here at Remote Patrolled – our look back at some of today’s biggest names BEFORE they became famous…
This weekend he’s starring in Water For Elephants in movie theaters, alongside Reese Witherspoon and Christopher Waltz, but 7 years ago Robert Pattinson was just another jobbing Brit actor trying to make his name and taking on any work that would pay the bills…
Here’s Pattinson in 2004′s Ring of the Nibelungs, a German fantasy mini series that also featured Terminator 3 star Kristinna Loken, Julian Sands and Max Von Sydow. You’ll spot Robert straight away – he’s the one with the rather dodgy mullet!
