Chris Vass to Teach Hollywood Acting Techniques in Athens!

By Yiota Preka
Just a few days before his short trip to Athens, the famous Greek actor who has made Hollywood his new home talked exclusively to Greek Reporter for his upcoming acting seminar in Athens and his life and work in the city of the stars!

What should we expect to see and learn at you seminar?
The seminar refers to the Chubbuk Technique. Ivanna Chubbuk is my acting teacher and one of the most respected and talented acting coaches in Hollywood, with students such as Halle Berry and Brad Pitt. We will be talking about her technique, which uses the actor’s own experiences to unlock the part. Also, we will see which acting techniques which are used in auditions today and how the actor can do to better promote hiself to the industry.
And finally, we will get to know how actors work in Hollywood and which techniques they use. The good news is that we are going to hold another seminar in Greece, which will be taught by Ivanna, herself. We hope to hold it around this Christmas.

You left a year and a half ago and things seem to be going well for you in Los Angeles. What can you tell us for the two movies you’ve been in?
Thank God, I think so far things are going well. I‘ve participated in two films, “Love at First Sight” which is a short film and has been to the Cannes festival, but also in “Geocachers”, an action film that comes with suspense and….popcorn, expected to be released in cinemas in about a month! We shot it in Nebraska last summer and had so much fun! I really anticipate to how it will look in the big screen. I would love if it was released in Greece as well!

But I’ve seen a few of your commercials on the internet, as well…!!!!
Yes, of course. I’ve done two commercials for Gamestop. I play a Russian talk show host. They were played in various websites for about a month.

When you arrived in the States, did you feel like you needed to prove things you had already proven in Greece?
Not at all. This trip had nothing to do for me with proofs of any kind. It was a personal need, something which I was thinking for a very long and it was time to do it. I just felt that I wanted grab my stuff and go. I wanted to come here in Los Angeles in this city, the city of the actors and where we all struggle to achieve the same goal. People here live and breathe to be actors. This kind of competition is very productive. I like it that here you don’t know how high you can get. However, certainly you get here and you don’t know anyone, you have to to start from scratch.

Do auditions make you nervous?
Auditions are definitely a stressful part of this job, but you just have to live with it. Here there are auditions everyday and what the directors are very specific in what they’re looking for. Say for example we need a man from a Mediterranean country, e.g. Italian, Spanish or Greek, 32-35 years old, brunette, weighting these pounds and this tall. And when you arrive there, the other actors look like your clones! Nevertheless, I never thought of quitting. And I cannot deny that before I did “Geocachers” I went to 80 auditions and I was never casted.

Finally, do keep up with the Greek TV series and productions?
Absolutely! Firstly, I was very thrilled with “Dogtooth” by George Lanthimos. Great movie, a movie which was a sort of disturbing to the American audience. In my opinion, it is crucial that it was nominated for an Academy Award, even though it didn’t win it. “To Nisi” (The Island) is also a series with outstanding aesthetics. You know, I believe in Greece and Greek actors. We have very good directors and people who can really act. We are in lack of a productive system.