Appearances: Media
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May 28, 2008 at 1:00 am
Baltimore Magazine Sits Down with Local One Man Show
When Parkville’s Brandon Hardesty began uploading his film re-enactments and funny faces videos to YouTube, he had no idea just how many people would notice. Perhaps his first clue was when Geico Insurance contacted him to use his first “Strange Faces and Noises I can Make” video; soon after he was invited to re-enact the 2008 Best Picture Oscar nominees on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and he recently returned from Los Angeles, where he met with agents and managers.
"It's all very surreal because it happened so fast," Hardesty tells Baltimore Magazine’s Jess Blumberg. "People spend years trying to get where I am, so I feel like I took a shortcut or something."
Just a few years after debuting in Baltimore Lutheran School’s production of “Godspell,” and while still attending Towson University, Brandon’s YouTube popularity translated into a full-time career.
"YouTube is definitely a launching pad for acting talent," Hardesty says. "It's great because there is no filter so anyone can see anything."
For his next series of viral flicks, he plans to turn the cameras onto himself, dramatizing the most embarrassing moments of his life. When pressed for details on why he would want to relive such painful events, he quips, "because they're hilarious!”
Source: Baltimore Magazine
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May 27, 2008 at 1:00 am
Express Train to Hollywood
Due to the internet and sites like YouTube, amateurs now have a chance to show off their talents to the world, and some people in show business are taking notice. Sometimes internet popularity transitions into TV and films, and Brandon Hardesty is one such example.
"I've sort of taken an express train to Hollywood," Brandon says in an article by Sarah Lynch of greatreporter.com. "I have definitely skipped over a lot of obstacles."
Gone are the days where aspiring actors go the traditional route of waiting tables, getting parts in independent films, and eventually breaking into the big time. Brandon paved his own way, and it all started on a whim. He was watching “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at his home in Parkville, Maryland, and decided to videotape himself re-enacting the final scene where Charlie’s grandpa asks Wonka about the lifetime supply of chocolate.
"I had a little digital video camera and I told my mom what I wanted to do," says Brandon. "I was looking for a good mustache for Charlie's grandpa, and she grabbed lint from the dryer and Scotch-taped it to my face."
His friends and family thought his videos were funny, so he decided to do more and upload them to YouTube. To his surprise, they became a hit. Next, he did a video of him doing nothing but funny faces, uploaded that, and heard from an ad agency that wanted to use the video in a Geico commercial. To top it off, he was offered a role in the independent film “Bart Got a Room,” starring William H. Macy.
"We are looking for that new creative thing that is out there for us to develop and build a new show around, a new personality around, some sort of brand entertainment," said Clay Smith, a 29-year-old talent agent with the Independent Artists Agency in New York, who has been using YouTube for several years to find people.
But not all internet sensations are as lucky as Brandon. Clearly the cream rises to the top. Or the lint, as the case may be.Source: GreatReporter.com
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April 24, 2008 at 1:00 am
“Bart Got a Room” at the Tribeca Film Festival
“Bart Got a Room,” the independent movie that marks Brandon’s first feature film, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2008. The story of Danny (Steven J. Kaplan), a teenage boy looking for the perfect prom experience and getting embarrassed by his wacky parents (William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines), the film is also the directorial debut for writer-director Brian Hecker. Brandon plays Craig, Danny’s know-it-all best friend.
In the question and answer session for the film, Hecker revealed that it is essentially the story of his own life, and all the characters were dressed and made up accordingly. Introducing his father – “Jew fro” intact - to the crowd, he pointed out that "It was life imitating art imitating life."
“Genius comic actor” Brandon attended the Q & A session along with the rest of the actors. Brandon was cast when a producer saw his YouTube videos after doing a search for “Joe Pesci.” According to Hecker, Pesci was venting to one of “Bart”’s producers about the amount of Pesci-imitators on YouTube. Curious, the producer looked up “Pesci imitations” and stumbled upon Brandon’s videos.Brandon’s getting great reviews, and could be one of the first Web 2.0 stars to successfully jump into film.
Source: TribecaFilmFestival.org
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April 9, 2008 at 1:00 am
Variety Raves over Brandon and "Bart Got a Room"
Variety gave "Bart Got a Room" and “a hilarious Brandon Hardesty” rave reviews, also naming the film as one of ten being eyed by executives at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Bart follows Danny (Steven J. Kaplan), a nerdy high school senior searching for a last-minute date to the prom while trying not to freak out about his parents’ divorce. Brandon plays Craig, Danny’s know-it-all friend who dispenses such wisdom as, "What other evening in your whole life is as big? Maybe your wedding. But odds are that will end in divorce anyway."
The title is an oft-repeated remark in the film which becomes the comic benchmark: Bart (Chad Jamian Williams) is the school’s biggest nerd, but even he managed to get both a date to the prom and a hotel room.
Variety describes the performances as “dynamite across the board, with youthful newcomers holding their own with comic pros [William H.] Macy and [Cheryl] Hines,” in this true life tale from writer-director Brian Hecker.Source: Variety.com/BartReview
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March 31, 2008 at 1:00 am
Brandon profiled in USA Today
USAToday’s profile on Brandon Hardesty details his journey from You Tube phenomenon to his first real movie role in 2008’s "Bart Got a Room." Before landing the supporting role in the independent comedy, Brandon was best known for his re-enactments of movie scenes on You Tube, in which he plays every part himself. But when his videos were mentioned in a website blog, his hits skyrocketed and Hollywood came knocking.
In February, he made a video appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," where he presented his take on the five best-film Oscar nominees; he then landed representation at Endeavor, one of the top talent agencies in Los Angeles. A "Bart" producer discovered Brandon after googling “Joe Pesci” and coming across the Goodfellas re-enactment. Impressed by Brandon’s “incredible range,” "Bart" director Brian Hecker cast him in his film. "Clearly there was tremendous talent there,” he says.
Brandon considers his re-enactments to be an homage to stars he loves, not cruel imitations. “When I'm doing Joe Pesci in 'Goodfellas,' Pesci already did all the hard work, digging into the character, choosing the tone, everything," Brandon says. "I'm just trying to copy it. Maybe I'm adding a little of me in the process. Who knows?"
A lot has changed since Brandon balanced a camera on a stack of VHS tapes in his spare time between college classes and bagging groceries at a supermarket. "So much has happened to me in the past few weeks, it's rather unbelievable," he says. "I'm not sure what's going to happen next.”Source: USA Today.com
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February 9, 2007 at 1:00 am
Brandon Hardesty is Wall Street Journal Comedy Pick
Writer Jacob Hale Russell of The Wall Street Journal profiles Brandon and details some of his best film re-enactments of classic scenes in "Goodfellas," "The Princess Bride," and "Oceans 11." From Wallace Shawn's wine-tasting "battle of wits" in "The Princess Bride," to a “technically complex” scene in "Oceans 11," Russell calls the re-enactments “some of the best amateur comedy on the Web.”
Brandon filmed these beat-by-beat re-enactments in his basement after his parents went to bed. He posted them on You Tube, where they were seen by Edwin Marshall, a partner at production company Harbor Light Entertainment, who signed Brandon to a three-year contract. "Brandon is very talented...sort of a Jim Carrey rolled into John Candy," Marshall said.
Brandon also posts spoofs of familiar movies, such as the popular “Chad Vader,” about Darth Vader’s younger brother, and a seven-minute improvised monologue where he portrays a slightly disturbed British man living in a crawl space under the stairs.
His re-enactments and original spoofs earned him a tremendous online following, with fans beginning to request certain scenes.Source: The Wall Street Journal
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May 19, 2006 at 1:00 am
Reel Homage
Village Voice writer Julian Dibbell reviews the “cinematic genius” of Brandon Hardesty’s one-man film re-enactments posted on YouTube. Describing Brandon as “a doughy, schlub-faced 19-year-old college student and checkout clerk,” Dubbell marvels over his use of a ball of Scotch-taped dryer lint to stand in for Grandpa Joe’s mustache in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”
Brandon’s tributes rise above their low-budget details. Dubbell writes, “The viewer's emotional arc moves from the soft prejudice of low expectations through growing astonishment at Hardesty's uncanny, note-for-note re-creation, arriving in the end at an almost tragic sense of the gap between fandom and professionalism.”
That gap has been mined before, and the result is often yanked off a website for infringing on derivative rights. Brandon will likely not risk that, since his uploads probably fall under the Fair Use Act. Any studio planning to sic their legal department on him would be foolish, since the re-enactments provide free publicity.
Not only that, but they are an example of some of the best creative efforts on the Internet. Dubbell calls the re-creations, “Web culture at its finest: Funny, loving, democratic, hybrid, weird.” Who could deny that to the fans?Source: VillageVoice.com
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