Box Office Friday – When Art Imitates Life

I began Box Office Fridays earlier this year, intending to update this blog EVERY Friday with wit and wisdom surrounding a subject that would be screening at theater near you.  If you look back, you’ll see my “habit” hasn’t fully developed yet, so please bear with me by reading and keeping me accountable!

In any case I’m not sure if Bad Teacher, starring Cameron Diaz as a foul-mouthed, inappropriate, drinking, ruthless teacher who can’t wait to give up her bogus day job to marry rich, is quite my cup of tea.  I mean I LOVE Cameron, and director Jake Kasdan, son of Oscar winner Lawrence Kasdan, is amazing in his own right.  But do I really want to see a “humorous” portrayal of what is indeed a real problem in some of our schools?

I must admit I’m not totally up on the whole “get rid of tenure” or fire all the “bad teachers” in the system…because lets face it, GOOD and BAD are interpretations.  Just like some folks will think this movie is good and some will think it’s bad, it’s all a point of view.

This always gets me to thinking about “talent” where actors are concerned.  In my opinion there are some really GOOD, talented actors out there…not working.  There are also some crummy ones that are also BOX OFFICE stars.

So next time your bad teacher, tells you you’re a good actor, or your good teacher tells you you’re a bad actor, just give it some thought… It’s here I’ll recommend one of the books my first acting teacher, Darrel Hickman, recommended to me:  What You Think of Me is None of my Business.  Amazing, worth it and it will be some of the best “learnin” you ever had!

Also, if you’d like to share a story about a “bad teacher” I think it would be great to hear how it affected you…or didn’t!  Lisa Gold