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01 Culture Feature TheRichest · March 8, 2021 View original
Culture · Afrofuturism

Ruth E. Carter's Authentic Afrofuturism Apparel in Zamunda

By RG · TheRichest · March 8, 2021

Ruth E. Carter is synonymous with iconic Black feature films. She is the mad genius behind the cultural costuming and Afro-Futurism apparel of this year's most popular Black features.

The styles and looks of the Academy Award winning designer first appeared in the late 80s. Back then, Carter styled actors in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, when black street wear was associated with an XL t-shirt. The Blaxploitation films in the 70s had fazed out. Their garments did not. The costumes that created its classic look left its mark in the 80s. Fast talking, gold tooth wearing, men were well known like their pimp walk. The colorful flare of street preachers and hustlers circulated in the ghetto. Their peacocked look inspired Carter to create the goldfish aquarium platform shoes in I'm Gonna Get You Sucka. In 2021, Black fashion has evolved from this urban wear. As Mookie tells Pino in Spike Lee's cult classic, the Black community started civilization and apparently fashion.

Other notable films Carter has costumed are B.A.P.S., Chai-Raq, Black Panther and the recently released film Coming 2 America The Return.

“Afro-future is the future you create. You are who you are with your culture in mind.”
— RUTH E. CARTER

Afro-future is the future you create, Carter said in a recent interview for Complex.com. You are who you are with your culture in mind, she says. The future she's created in Eddie Murphy's Coming 2 America is a dreamscape of garments that embody Black wealth, power and success. It is re-imagined African Royalty unraided by western society. The costumes in Zamunda are modern African styles worn by their upper crust. The Zamundaian Prince Akeem and his royal court are the fashion elite wearing the latest trend.

As a designer, Ruth admits she is inquisitive and hands-on when it comes to styling major motion features. She hand makes iconic pieces. She visits lesser known designers. She travels to hole in the wall joints where fabric and textile is cut and painted, stitched and hand made. For over three decades, this is how Carter has crafted on screen appeal. In Coming 2 America The Return, Carter was influenced by African wear. She was inspired by the rich vibrant colors and pattern of South African culture. The knits Akeem wears in the film are authentic tribal wear garments. It's an aesthetic she's wove into Prince Akeem's every day look. Laduma Ngxokolo was one of 60 designers she handpicked to help her create the authentic African apparel.

Ngxokolo is an up and coming designer in American fashion. His most popular looks are silk hand knit cardigans and vests from his MaXhosa Collection. Laduma's designs and patterns have appeared in pop up shops for the Lion King and on the red carpet of Black Panther.

In South Africa Laduma Ngxokolo is a name brand luxury fashion designer. In an interview for Czech Vogue, Laduma reveals the history behind his African luxury brand name. His obsession with colorful silks, knits, and beads, he says, began at twelve years old in a traditional Amakrwala ceremony. The South African knitwear is an homage to the styles worn by his tribe's elders.

“The ritual is about instilling a core set of values in young boys as they transition into manhood, while supported by their communities,” he explained. “This set of values is instilled in them, so they come back to society as new men able to go forth and expand their families' legacies. It is a very crucial part of the Xhosa culture, its relevance remains today. It does need to be preserved, and our very first collection was our way of ensuring an aspect of its preservation.”

Ngxokolo credits his mother for teaching him how to knit the daring fashion. He knew he wanted his own label and store because of her.

Laduma is not shy about showcasing his styles internationally. He worries about cultural appropriation and wants to preserve the meaning of the look — African Kings and Queens. Despite his worries, the South African stylist is managing to follow in Carter's footsteps. His styles are starting to pop up on the red carpet at premieres and on A-Listers like Alicia Keys.

Ruth Carter and he are kindred spirits in their quest to preserve their looks. Carter has kept over three decades of her styles in her home.

Black PantherComing 2 AmericaMaXhosaCostume Design
02 Celebrity Profile ActorCEO View original

I'm Not BoJack Horseman

An 80s & 90s Star · Keith Coogan
By RG · ActorCEO

Keith Coogan has been in show business since he was 5. The year was 1976. According to Keith, “it's a hard way to make an easy living.” Click on any TV in America and you'd find Keith on hit shows like Chips, Mork and Mindy, Silver Spoons, Knight Rider, and Growing Pains. This was before Apple TV, Amazon, or any streaming service. It's safe to say Keith Coogan was pretty up there, along with his cult classics Adventures In Babysitting, Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead and Disney's The Fox And The Hound. One minor note, Keith Coogan is also the grandson of Jackie Coogan — the world's first child star and ex-child star according to Keith. It would seem cult classics run in the family. In the 1920s, Jackie Coogan starred as The Kid in Charlie Chaplin's black and white classic, The Kid. Then as Uncle Fester in the 1970s hit The Addam's Family.

“Give it everything you've got but not everything you have,” says Keith. “It's hard but it's work.” Honestly, the man knows a thing or two. Keith's early beginnings were studying under the artistic tutelage of his grandfather, Jackie Coogan. He flashes his classic, boy charmer smile, which I'm sure has helped him book a role or two. “To hear him talk, he was a man in love with cinema and with the art.”

“Give it everything you've got — but not everything you have.”

On breaking into the industry, Keith says to zero in on confidence. “Give off the air, I don't need it.” And don't forget to look the other way, while he and his mother hop a gate to crash a studio audition. “I went to network with that move,” he says with a laugh. “Your goal is to work your audition material as best as you can. Not just get the job. Do it like the first day of work. It's where you start.” In the audition room, Keith says he goes with a boyish charm. “It never hurts to throw in an I'm stealing this role.”

It's safe to say Keith's a jokester. Jokes and setups are his thing. “You jump in and you do it,” he says. “It's quick.” It's clear he doesn't play around. “I'm going to show you a few gifts from my grandfather. Spit take, double take, quadruple take.” To watch him, it's like seeing a legend at work. “It's old school vaudeville comedy! There's a rule and a rhythm to set gags,” he says. “It's like math.” The most important thing: see how it's written, how it could be done, and how you can break from what other actors have done. “Chandler from Friends broke from convention. It's why he got the job. He spoke differently,” he says as he pops into a wide-eyed smile.

“It's about the new takes. New ways to throw away lines. I want you to laugh so I play identifiable. I'm relatable but not afraid to show I'm infallible — tripping, falling, stumbling.” His eyes light up. “It's about understanding your niche. I play arrogant characters who fall flat on their face.” Which explains the prankish attitude he bolsters throughout our interview. “Don't think, just do. Get in there, bust another actor's chops and get under their skin.”

It goes without saying but Keith's one of those hard-working actors who has been up against some major names. “River Phoenix and Christian Slater come to mind,” he says. “It's the oh, it's you part of the journey. But if you work at it long enough, you become that guy. Another actor's oh, God, it's you.”

Talking with Keith, it's clear he's full of Show Biz secrets like, “you can guide your career but can't control your image. Unless you're Zac Efron and a triple threat,” he laments. Other pieces of advice: “look within your own client base if you're looking to grow.” That's the first thing, he says. Once you're there, then comes the work of staying after — the meet and greets, getting cards, and learning names. After years of taking photos and shaking hands, he's learned what he calls Actor's Ego, his performance. That's different from the business, says Keith. “Get your engine going really well. Learn how to network.” It's a lesson he learned early on. “Look at the producers who actors work with. Making connections is key.” In the 80s and 90s, it was about being in a studio camp or with a showrunner who has connections. The same lesson applies today: find a management team that pre-packages everything. It could be your humble beginning. “Of course that's after you have your package — a headshot, resume, and a monologue in your back pocket.”

For a man who quadrupled-took his way into a career, I ask, are you BoJack Horseman? “Game can spot game,” Keith says as the interview comes to a close. “BoJack is the biggest self-victimising piece of crap. What has BoJack Horseman done lately?”

The Quarantine Bunch is a YouTube series about a secret society of child actors forced to take their weekly meetings over Zoom. Written & Produced by Ryan Paul James.

03 Long-form Profile ActorCEO View original
Actor Stories · SYFY's Happy

Joe Plays Ugly: Creating From the Shards

By RG · ActorCEO

“Mom, I've got good news and bad news,” Joe Reitman begins on a Zoom interview in his LA home. “The good news is, I got into a theatre company in London. The bad news is we have to figure out how to pay for it.” It was a different time for Reitman — before he was a successful actor and one of the stars of SYFY's Happy, starring Christopher Meloni. The wild-haired bad boy confesses he sold a lot of cookies to earn his two-week show in London. A show he helped co-write. Afterward, he knew acting would be a life-long passion.

No longer a bright-eyed cookie pusher, Joe enrolled at Pitzer College and studied theatre at Pomona. He was a wide receiver aptly named “Ugly,” because he didn't dance around people. He also partied hard. “We used to do something called crosstop during finals, which was like a form of speed. We'd crush it up and snort it. We did everything that was in the box or whatever was available.” After graduating from The Claremont Colleges, Joe moved to Los Angeles, where he met a kid called Hollywood Bob. “He was like a rocker on a motorcycle with long hair. He looked like he was from the 80s. A skid row kind of guy.” Hollywood Bob had connections to cocaine dealers.

Dealers who fueled Joe's growing cocaine habit, which he used to keep the weight off while moonlighting as a model. Eventually the cocaine use led to crystal meth. “I began using it like it was coffee,” says Joe. “I'd roll my cigarettes in it and smoke it. I was freebasing it and using it to get high and to sleep.” Despite his addiction, Joe remained committed to his career. The worst came when his dealer sold him a batch that looked grey and most likely washed in Comet. Death-ridden, wracked with tremors, and throwing up blood, Joe managed to perform at a table read the next day. At the reading was Rain Pryor. She reached out to Joe.

She said you're so high, you remind me of my dad. I said to her, I said, I'm so high I remind you of Richard Pryor? Yes, she said, yes.

After the reading, Rain helped Joe get clean, introduced him to her father, and the two — Rain and Joe — formed a relationship. “I give her all the credit in the world for helping me get clean.” Rain started a production company which Joe was a part of. “I did some shows,” he says, “but was still drinking very heavily.” The relationship didn't last.

Life after Rain wasn't easy. “I faced the breakup alone. I was in an acting class and asked my teacher Doug Warhit, what's wrong with me? Why aren't I more successful?” Doug knew how much Joe was drinking and encouraged him to get into AA. He did. Within thirty days of getting sober, Joe booked South of Sunset, a CBS drama. “I filmed the third episode but before it aired, the pilot was cancelled,” says Joe. “But it was my first real job. That's the moment everything started to click. I got my SAG card and never had to look back.”

“I spent three years being a train wreck. It was a lesson in the human condition.”

Over the course of his career, Joe's undertaken richer, grittier roles. “You can't play what you don't know,” he says of Very Bad Santa in SYFY's Happy. In the series, Joe stars as a wanted schizophrenic murderer with a Santa complex. He kidnaps Christopher Meloni's daughter and slowly turns her into a doll. To prepare, Joe strung up Christmas lights in his apartment and played Christmas music non-stop for 5 months. He plastered photos of his imaginary friends and Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni) on his fridge, drawn as the Grinch with horns and a tail. He avoided Meloni on set and gained 35 lbs. “I was at the gym and I blacked out for a second. I woke up with my face pressed against the mirror whispering the Twelve Days of Christmas. When I came to, there was this guy sitting on the bench. He was staring at me with his eyes wide. He was looking at me as if I had just lost my mind.” The balance between being an off-his-meds schizophrenic and a Santa who turns children into toys was a challenge, Joe admits. “As an actor you don't think you're bad,” he says. “I had to remember it was a blessing to be made into a gift.” So were his less-than-Christmas-ey Christmas cards, gifts to the children's parents. “I made cards for them. Handmade Christmas cards, decorated with the hair and pieces of their children. I was really burning holes where their eyes were. I was just making art. I didn't realize it was creepy.”

Throughout the course of his career, Joe “Ugly” Reitman, the once bright-eyed cookie pusher, has learned to lean into the jarring and often-times shattering pieces of his life. He's become an actor unafraid of his own grime, a role of a lifetime. “I like pushing boundaries creatively because of it,” says Joe. “I like getting my hands dirty that way.”

Joe “Ugly” Reitman — Netflix / SYFY's Happy · creating from the shards
04 Q&A Interview ActorCEO View original
INT. STUDIO · TAKE 1
In Conversation · The 18-Year Grind

Patrick Gallagher Opens Up About His 18 Year Grind

By RG · ActorCEO

Patrick dives into his long-term grind as a character actor and the lessons he's learned along the way.

So, tell us who you are, how you got your start.

I got my start in Toronto. I'm Canadian. I'm a dual citizen. I went to the National Theatre School in Canada and graduated in 1993. I don't know how people get their start down here. I have nothing but respect for people who come to this town and manage to do it. I wouldn't know where to start to be honest with you. In Canada there was a lot of work. There's as many productions but not as many actors. I think Vancouver has 10 casting directors, you know? It was a huge advantage for me to be able to start up there and just work all the time. Nothing huge, you know? But you'd work 10, 15, 20 jobs in five years. Not big ones but you'd just learn how to be on set. I was really, really fortunate to be able to do that.

What's been happening in your world since #StayHome?

My graduating class and I have been Zooming every week. Every Saturday. Most of us are still in the business someway or another and we still keep in touch, which is nice. Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), Kari Matchett (ER), and Waneta Storms (Saving Hope), who is mainly a successful TV writer, were in that class. We were a very close class…and that bond is still there. We started about five weeks ago getting together every Saturday and just doing the Zoom. It was nice to reconnect.

What was your first gig?

Well, I was a Security Guard in RoboCop where I learned set continuity. My line was yes, hey, come with me. Get out. On the master I had to walk in and reach over with my left hand. When it came time to do the close up, I realized that didn't work, so I had to use my right hand.

And my second job was a bodyguard in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. I didn't have a lot to say but I got to be on set for 5 days and figure out what the hell this was all about.

What was your first major role?

The big one was Master and Commander. I still don't know how I got that job. I was really fortunate. It was the British Navy in 1805, I looked at my agents and thought are you guys crazy? This guy's Welsh in 1805. It's a Russell Crowe film and a Peter Weir film. I thought, look at me. I'm ethnic. I'm not going to get it and I just thought I'm going to go, you never know. And somehow I got that job.

Is that when you decided you would leave for the States?

After that I was able to get Sideways because of my Sandra connection for a big Asian bartender, Gary the bartender. I did a Canadian show called Da Vinci's Inquest, which is the first time I'd done a recurring character with any substance. So those three jobs I did in 2003 and 2004… that's when I decided to come down in 2006 and I didn't work for a year and a half.

Only to become the man of many faces — Glee's Coach Ken Tanaka, Night At The Museum's Attila The Hun, and True Blood's Chow.

There is no right way to do this. It's only the truth. Make a strong choice and go for it because they don't know what they want until they see it. I've gotten jobs that were written for women. I've gotten jobs that were written for older, younger, different races. They're looking for truth, you know? The only thing I try to do when I audition with a tape is to walk out and go, you know, I didn't leave anything behind. I didn't stop any impulses. I'm happy with that. Then you can not get the job and be fine with it. It's just about doing good auditions.

What's been the biggest lesson you've learned since moving to the US?

It can be a tough slug sometimes. I've had a couple of pilots. It's the greatest thing in the world to get a pilot. All of a sudden your life is going to change. Then the business changes and suddenly it doesn't happen. But I'm quite happy right now. I can't complain. I've made a living at it. I haven't had a regular job since Mother's Day of 2002. That was right when I got Master and Commander. It was actually 18 years to the day I punched my last time clock on Mother's Day 2002.

After so many roles, do you still get excited about the craft and the journey?

It goes in waves. I still get that same excitement I used to get when I was 23 or 24 every once in a while. At some point it never becomes boring, it becomes a job. Especially for someone like me. I play a lot of character actors and guest star actors. It's a lot of the same thing, especially on Network Cop Shows. Some things excite me more than others. It's always fun to work. I feel very fortunate.

You work what's in your control, I love that.

I think what is really important is to understand the tone of the show. NCIS is not like doing A Streetcar Named Desire. It's truthful but there is a certain, heightened level to it. I think you need to understand what the tone of the show is, which is important. A comedy is going to be different than a really, really heavy-duty emotional drama. Everything after comes down to relationships, tensions, emotional setup, and figuring out what is going on in the scene.

And you've just wrapped Fortunate Son on CBC Gem, which is a drama.

Yeah, Fortunate Son is a Canadian CBC series written by Andrew Wreggitt. Loosely based on his and his friend's experience being US Draft Dodgers in Vancouver. Then it became a bit of spy stuff with the CIA, where the guy was playing both sides. I'd worked with the creators at Lark Productions and Seven24 Films on a show called Borealis. That was one of the pilots that didn't go. I worked with him and my friend Ty Olsson as the lead. I was sort of his sidekick. When Andrew was writing the two cops for the show, McLeod and Sullivan, he'd subconsciously written it with our voices in mind. One of the directors Stefan Schwartz said, who do you see? Who do you have in mind, and he said, Patrick and Ty.

Finally, tell us about Dancing Ninja, starring Lucas Grabeel and David Hasselhoff, which was completely off the beaten path.

I just blew that one out my ass because, you know, those things they want big. They want you to have as much fun as you possibly can. That was a fun job actually. I had a lot of freedom from the director. They changed directors literally the day I got there. And so I showed up and he just let me experiment. Our job is to try things. I remember it said, it's set somewhere in Asia so I said, I'm going to do a somewhere-in-Asia accent because I can't do a straight up one. Then I said I want to do one line in every scene without the accent.

When I did Night At The Museum I remember Shawn Levy, the director — we kept trying things and trying things. He called it the Gallagher check… you would have 5 terrible ideas but I knew the sixth one would be a gem. That was so much fun because we just kept trying things and trying things. Attila was basically unwritten. We invented most of that. It was really really fun as an actor. You can't be afraid to find gold.

18years to the day since he punched his last time clock — Mother's Day, 2002.
05 Profile / Feature ActorCEO · September 2, 2020 View original
Case File · Dead Eyes
The Conspiracies

The Connor Ratliff Conspiracies

The Mishaps and Misfortunes That Lead to His Success · By RG · ActorCEO · Sept 2, 2020

From Humble Beginnings

There is a music to Connor Ratliff that has followed him for most of his life. Though he wouldn't call it that. For the UCB-bred comedian, he's experienced his share of trials and triumphs. Some of which would cause most actors to quit. Not Connor, oh, no. His tune is something special. “Doctor and lawyer were never alternatives floated around in my house,” Connor begins in his parents' home in isolated Missouri. He's spent the better most part of the pandemic there filming The George Lucas Talk Show. “You should do the thing you want,” they said, “for as long as you can.”

Connor and his parents, Bill and Gretta Ratliff, on Episode 19, “The Great American Presidential Debate,” of The Chris Gethard Show.

His Big Break

After graduating from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Connor stayed in London, worked as a reader, and tried to make it as an actor. His first auditions were for the Royal Court and the Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged, where the casting director insisted he was too young for any of the title parts. Instead, they offered him the role of the fourth man. “I'd have to understudy all three parts,” he said, “I really didn't want to.” He wanted the Royal Court. “My agent said you have an offer for this. It's more money than the Royal Court. Eight weeks and it's done.” Connor passed on the job. “I thought I made a mistake,” he continues, “but I ended up getting the Royal Court and booking Tom Hanks' Band of Brothers shortly after. I felt like, oh, good, it's finally happening but just as quickly it was gone.” Connor's scene in Band of Brothers didn't make the final cut. According to Tom Hanks, Connor had “dead eyes.”

What would have broken most actors turned Connor into a success. At least on a podcast. It's called Dead Eyes, a podcast where he attempts to unravel the mystery behind why Tom Hanks actually fired him. “The podcast is about failure and success in show business. It's also my valentine to his work. An actor's success and failure is such a big part of the journey,” he says. It's about failure, perspective, and having a sense of humor.

Turning the Tables

After Band of Brothers, Connor admits he wasn't looking to get back into show business. As fate would have it, however, he managed to book a bit part on Broad City and meet Chris Gethard. “Chris Gethard was the underdog at UCB when I took a class of his. It was kind of a crazy class. It was supersized, no structure, and really insane. Chris is drawn to weirdos.” When the class ended, Chris took his show to public access and asked Connor to join. That was all the momentum he needed.

Nowadays life is more than just Dead Eyes and bit parts. It's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, his pet project The George Lucas Talk Show, and touring with the band Guster as an improv comedian. Connor jokes that he “lowered the bar for how bad a show Guster could do — I had the potential to really drag them down if my comedy didn't quite click on any given night.” But with him there, he insists it was also a chance for him to raise the ceiling a little higher.

That's a Wrap

It's been 5 years and Connor's convinced that he's lucky. He's just an actor, he says, with no fallback or dry spells. “I've learned the key is to not panic and not take it personally.” He doesn't focus on the future but on the now. For him, acting isn't a matter of life and death; it's the decades of mishaps and misfortunes that have given him perspective. He's prepared if his goals don't work out. “It's a weird balancing act. You can't get too invested in the outcome. You can only control so much.” Another thing, he insists his connection to Tom Hanks isn't seven degrees of separation. “It's two,” Connor jokes. “We can't have a plague without Tom Hanks being connected to it.” Another unexplainable mishap in his journey.

“One of my first memories was going to see Star Wars in 1973 when I was three. Most of my time here was playing with those toys, which ties into me being an improviser and an actor. The George Lucas Talk Show is the logical extension of what I want to do as an adult.”
▶ Tune in · The George Lucas Talk Show · YouTube · Sundays 8pm ET

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